This article will show you how to set up your Acer Nitro 5 laptop with almost any Linux distribution, including working RGB, brightness, and fan control.

RGB:

This laptop has a four-zone RGB light on the keyboard that doesn't work on Linux by default. However, a developer named “JafarAkhondali” has made it work on Linux. The project is called “acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module” and is available as an open-source module on GitHub.

The installation is simple:

first, check whichsystem initializeryou are using with the command:

ps --no-headers -o comm 1

If it says “systemd,” copy and paste the following into your terminal:

git clone https://github.com/JafarAkhondali/acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module
cd "acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module"
chmod +x ./*.sh
sudo ./install_service.sh

if it says “openrc” the copy and paste the following to your terminal :

git clone https://github.com/JafarAkhondali/acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module
cd "acer-predator-turbo-and-rgb-keyboard-linux-module"
chmod +x ./*.sh
sudo ./install_openrc.sh

Now reboot and boom, your RGB is working!

It's working, but how do you control it?

It can be controlled through the CLI using a Python script (reference), but there is a GUI tool developed by “x211321” which can be installed as follows:

• To install this on _Debian-based distros (Ubuntu, Pop!OS, Mint, Zorin), Fedora, and openSUSE, packages are available on GitHub: RGB-Config-Acer-gkbbl-0

• To install this on Arch Exodia OS, the predator-sense-GUI package can be downloaded and installed from here: exodia-repo

Now the RGB is working properly, so let's move on to the Display Brightness.

Display Brightness :

Display brightness can be adjusted by adding a kernel parameter to the boot options.

On Distros Using the GRUB Bootloader, you can do this by editing the GRUB configuration as follows:

• From a terminal (or after pressing Alt + F2), run:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

• Find the line starting with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT and add acpi_backlight=native to the end. For example:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_backlight=native"

• Save it and run the update command in the terminal:

sudo update-grub

• Now Reboot

On Distros like Pop OS using Kernelstub in place of grub its much simple just run the following command and reboot:

sudo kernelstub -a "acpi_backlight=native"

Now your brightness should be fixed.

Fan Control:

Nitro 5 has a dual fan setup and can be controlled using a cli tool called NBFC-linux avalable on github — NBFC-linux

unfortunatly their is no gui tool avalable yet to control fan speed!

Installation —

copy and paste the following code :-

git clone https://github.com/nbfc-linux/nbfc-linux.git
cd nbfc-linux
make PREFIX=/usr confdir=/etc && sudo make PREFIX=/usr confdir=/etc install
sudo systemctl enable nbfc_service

configuration :-

sudo nbfc config --recommend

the above command would list all the models avalable something like this :

Acer Nitro AN515–58
Acer Nitro AN515–51
Acer Nitro AN515–43
Acer Nitro AN515–42
Acer Nitro AN515–45
Acer Nitro AN715–51

Dont worry if your model is not listed , Try each configuration and one of the following would work.

use the following command to set the config:

sudo nbfc config --set <MODEL>

Now start nbfc-linux:

sudo nbfc start

To control the speed the following command can be used :

sudo nbfc set -f 0 -s 100
sund nbfc set -f 1 -s 100

• here “-f ” denotes the fan number (our nitro has 2 fans 0 and 1).

• and “-s” denotes the speed of fan ranging form 0 to 100.

• “-a” is used to set the speed to automatic as follows:

sudo nbfc set -f 0 -a
sund nbfc set -f 1 -a

I recommend to set the speed to automatic as it would save your battery life.

Camera

To fix the camera, there was a patch by Giuliano69, but it only worked for a few people. So, I decided to apply it differently. Instead of directly patching the kernel, my implementation loads the patch every time the system boots using a systemd service.

USAGE

Check if it's present on your laptop or not.

lsusb | grep "Quanta Computer"

If it shows something like this:

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0408:a060 Quanta Computer, Inc.

Then the camera is detected. If not, the patch may not work for your device.

Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0408:4035 Quanta Computer, Inc.

then you can proceed.

Disable Secure Boot

Since the module is not signed, you will get an error like this:

insmod: ERROR: could not insert module /usr/lib/modules/uvcvideo.ko: key was rejected by service

Install Required Packages

ubuntu

sudo apt install build-essential

Fedora/Nobara

sudo dnf install kernel-devel

clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/PrabhatProxy/Quanta-HD-User-Facing-0x0408-0x4035_linux.git && cd Quanta-HD-User-Facing-0x0408-0x4035_linux

build and install

chmod +x install_driver.sh
./install_driver.sh

Now your camera should be working most probably!

Now everything should be ready to use the Acer Nitro 5 with Linux as a daily driver.

Feel free to drop a comment if you face any issue 😊