asusctl

asusctl^AUR allows ROG & TUF laptop owners to control their laptops from a CLI, it supports keyboard control (brightness, RGB and backlight effects), setting a custom charge limit, changing system power profiles, setting custom fan curves and controlling AniMe matrix displays.

Installation

Install the asusctl^AUR package or alternatively from a custom repository, then enable the asusd.service systemd service.

Some Laptops may require a custom version of Linux for all supported features to work. see custom kernel for details.

Configuration

asusctl stores its configuration files in /etc/asusd, Aura and AniMe profile files are stored in /usr/share/asusd and the asusd-user user specific file is ~/.config/rog/rog-user.cfg.

RGB/Keyboard backlight

Supported laptop models are stored in /usr/share/asusd/aura_support.ron, if your laptop is not working out of the box then you can add it to this list to see if its supported. See README.md for details.

If you still have no support then you should open an issue on the projects Gitlab page.

Custom effects

Defining custom effects is handled by a Systemd service and settings are stored at ~/.config/rog/rog-user.cfg. To make use of custom effects you should enable the asusd-user.service user unit.

Note: This is only necessary if your laptop supports custom effects, predefined effects (such as Pulse, Static and Breathe) should work with no extra steps.

See the asusd-user section of the ASUS Linux manual for details.

AniMe matrix display

For laptops that have an AniMe matrix display, the settings and options to control it are stored at ~/.config/rog/rog-user.cfg.

To make use of it under Linux you first need to enable the asusd-user.service user unit.

See the asusd-user section of the ASUS Linux manual for details.

Usage

Issuing the command asusctl on its own will output a list of supported options. You can also use subvalues to list options from subcategories, for example asusctl bios will list all options from the BIOS subcategory.

When dealing with subcategories, your current setting can be queried by swapping the case of the flag. Uppercase flags make changes, lowercase flags query current setting. For example asusctl bios -o will return the current panel overdrive state while asusctl bios -O true will set it to enabled.

Show supported options

The following command is used to display all the options your laptop supports:

$ asusctl -s

Charge limit

Set a battery charge limit with the following:

$ asusctl -c limit

where limit is between 20 and 100.

Note: A charging limit of 75 is suitable for a laptop that is unplugged often. 60 is a good value for one that is left plugged in most of the time

RGB/Keyboard backlight

Use the following commands to toggle LED modes:

Next mode:

$ asusctl led-mode -n

Previous mode:

$ asusctl led-mode -p

Panel overdrive

If your laptop supports panel overdrive it can be toggled with the following command:

$ asusctl bios -O <true/false>

Power profiles

Quiet, Balanced and Performance modes are supported.

Change power profiles with the following:

$ asusctl profile -P profile

or use the following to cycle through all profiles:

$ asusctl profile -n

You can set a power profile in /etc/asusd/asusd.ron if you wish to have one automatically loaded during boot.

Note: Power profile switching requires the power-profiles-daemon package to be running.

Using the MUX switch

Switching to discrete graphics only (MUX switch)

supergfxctl is capable of detecting whether the MUX switch is enabled or not and does not cause the display manager to fail if it is enabled. Using other Optimus managers with asusctl to control a MUX might cause issues.

Switching to discrete graphics is done with the following command:

$ asusctl bios -D 0

and then rebooting.

Switching back to Optimus mode

Switching to Optimus mode is done with the following command:

$ asusctl bios -D 1

and then rebooting.

Using the MUX switch with a Wayland client

Switching over to the dGPU should work as normal on Wayland clients however NVIDIA GPU users should consult NVIDIA#Wayland before trying to switch. NVIDIA GPUs still have some issues running certain applications under Wayland.

rog-control-center

Many functions of asusctl can be controlled in a GUI, it is packaged as rog-control-center^AUR or can be obtained from the custom repository.

If your laptop has RGB, backlighting effects or an AniMe matrix display then using this tool will drastically improve your ability to control them.

Custom fan curves

Using rog-control-center it is possible to define custom fan curves for both the CPU and GPU, for each of the supported power profiles.

Warning: This feature seems to be very unstable. If, after you enable it, you experience general stuttering, videos dropping frames or other seemingly power related issues you should disable it and leave it off.