Installing Ubuntu 24.04 on the
Asus ROG G14 (RTX 5060 Blackwell)

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2026) is a hardware marvel — but for those of us in MLOps, cloud computing, or deep learning, Windows is often just the "bootloader" for our real work in Linux. Running Ubuntu on a machine with a brand-new Blackwell RTX 5060 and specialized ASUS hardware requires more than a default install. This guide covers the entire journey.

Before leaving Windows, document the hardware to ensure your Linux environment matches the silicon's capabilities.

1. Verifying System Architecture

echo $env:PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE
# Output: AMD64  →  confirms 64-bit x86 architecture

2. Identifying the Blackwell GPU

The RTX 5060 is based on the Blackwell architecture (GB206 die) and supports FP4 precision — a major leap for AI/ML inference efficiency. Before partitioning, use GPU-Z in Windows to verify the hardware ID and ensure the "Standard" NV driver is active.

BIOS Adjustments (Crucial)

Restart and press F2 to enter BIOS. Two settings matter:

• 1
  Disable Secure Boot — community drivers like asusctl often struggle with Secure Boot signature enforcement.
• 2
  Set Graphics to "Standard" or "Hybrid" — leaving it on "Eco" mode can cause the Ubuntu installer to miss the NVIDIA card entirely.

Partitioning

Use Disk Management in Windows to shrink your C: drive. Allocate at least 200 GB for Ubuntu — enough for heavy Docker images and MLOps datasets without constantly running out of space mid-training.

I chose Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS for stability over the short-term release cycle.

During installation, always check "Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi" — this pulls in the initial NVIDIA proprietary drivers automatically.

On a stock Ubuntu install, you lose control over fan curves, keyboard LEDs, and power profiles. The old PPAs are deprecated for 24.04, so we build asusctl and supergfxctl from source.

1. Install the Rust Environment

asusctl is written in Rust for performance and memory safety.

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env

2. Install Build Dependencies

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y libdbus-1-dev libudev-dev libfontconfig-dev \
  libpango1.0-dev libglib2.0-dev libxml2-dev libhandy-1-dev \
  libseat-dev git curl build-essential libssl-dev pkg-config

3. Compile and Install

# asusctl — fan curves, keyboard LEDs, charge limit
git clone https://github.com/asus-linux/asusctl.git
cd asusctl && make && sudo make install

# supergfxctl — GPU mode switching
git clone https://github.com/asus-linux/supergfxctl.git
cd ../supergfxctl && make && sudo make install

4. Enable Services

sudo systemctl enable --now asusd
sudo systemctl enable --now supergfxd

GPU Mode Switching

With supergfxctl installed, you can toggle how the RTX 5060 behaves — a massive quality-of-life upgrade depending on context:

Battery Health

Staying plugged in at the library for hours at a time accelerates battery degradation. Capping charge at 80% meaningfully extends long-term battery health — especially important given how the G14's slim form factor limits thermal headroom:

# Limit charge to 80% — set once, persists across reboots
asusctl -c 80

Final Verification

# OS architecture — should output x86_64
uname -m
# x86_64

# Confirm Blackwell compute capability
nvidia-smi -q | grep "Compute Capability"
# Compute Capability: 10.0  ← Blackwell confirmed