Background
In my previous post, I wrote about opening the bottom of Asus Tuf A16 and installing a second M.2 NVMe SSD. My objective for the hardware upgrade was dual booting Windows 11 and Debian 13 where each operating system would get its own drive. Well, I was spending virtually all the time in Debian and nearly none in Windows. After just one week, I wiped Windows 11 from the original SSD and Debian 13 became the sole operating system on the laptop.
My biggest issue with Windows 11 on the A16 was modern standby (a.k.a. connected standby). My A16 frequently crashed in sleep/suspend. When the laptop was not crashing in sleep/suspend, it would wake up by itself and not go back to sleep. Asus was also a culprit here by disabling all other sleep modes, including s3, in A16’s firmware. Modern standby was so unstable that I decided to ditch Windows 11 at first opportunity.
Running Debian Trixie 13 on the A16 actually got a little bumpy from time to time. However, none of the issues encountered so far would make me to go back to Windows.
Post-Installations
The installation went without a hitch. The post-installation steps were similar to HP 14’s steps, except for a few places.
Add myself to sudo group
The very first thing I did post installation was add my user account to sudo group.
su - root
usermod -aG sudo [user]Customize Gnome
The first two applications I installed in Gnome were Tweaks and Extension Manager.
sudo apt install gnome-tweaks gnome-shell-extension-managerHere is the latest list of my favored Gnome extensions:
- Activities Icon & Label (user-installed)
- Apps Menu (system)
- Battery Health Charging (user-installed)
- Bing Wallpaper (user-installed)
- Blur My Shell (system)
- Burn My Windows (user-installed)
- Caffeine (system)
- Dash to Dock (system)
- Frippery Move Clock (user-installed)
- NoAnnoyance (system)
- OpenWeather Refined (system)
- Removable Drive Menu (system)
- User Themes (system)
- Workspace Indicator (system)
There are two new extensions on this list: Battery Health Charging and NoAnnoyance. Debian 13 package library includes some Gnome shell extensions and they can be installed via apt command. Those are marked (system) in my list. Extensions marked (user-installed) are installed via Extension Manager.
Using Gnome Tweaks, I have enabled Maximize and Minimize buttons on the windows title bar and moved them to the left. Not all applications follow these settings though. Notable exceptions: FileZilla and ksnip.
In Gnome Settings, Locate Pointer is enabled in Accessibility > Pointing & Clicking so when I press left Ctrl button on the keyboard, the desktop will display a visual cue on the pointer location.
Gnome is very customizable, especially component appearances. Site like gnome-look.org has many different user-contributed themes for various parts of Gnome desktops. Each theme comes in a zip file. Download, unzip, and move the decompressed contents into appropriate directory. Icons go to ~/.icons while themes belong in ~/.themes. You may have to create the directory yourself if this is your first time. Use Gnome Tweaks to complete the change. Like everything else on the web these days, be careful what you download.
I installed icon theme MacTahoe to put the finishing touch on my Gnome desktop. This theme altered most but not all icons.
Setup Firewall (UFW)
I installed Uncomplicated Firewall (UWF) because it was easy to setup. I also made sure it stayed up on subsequent reboots.
sudo apt install ufw
sudo ufw enableReplace Firefox-ESR with Regular Firefox
Debian 13 bundles the ESR (extended support release) version of Firefox but I prefer working with the regular version. Mozilla has instruction on how to install regular Firefox on Linux, including Debian.
Install Applications & Development Tools
Here is the latest list of my favored Linux applications and development tools:
- DBeaver CE [database management]
- Docker [container]
- Filezilla [file transfer]
- Firefox [browser]
- Geekbench 6 [benchmark]
- GIMP [image manipulation]
- gThumb [image viewer]
- JetBrains Toolbox [JetBrains tools management]
- ksnip [image annotator]
- Postgres 17 (installed via Docker) [database]
- PyCharm [Python IDE]
- Rhythmbox [music player]
- Solaar [Logitech devices utility]
- Steam [gaming store & platform]
- Tilix [terminal]
- VLC
There are two new applications on this list: Solaar and Steam. More on these two items later in this post.
Run Geekbench
After desktop configured and applications installed, I ran Geekbench 6 to get a sense of Debian 13 performance.
Sleep / Suspend
In contrast to Windows 11, Debian 13 has no trouble with sleep/suspend and sleep mode s0 on the A16. Microsoft called it modern standby while Linux Kernel called it s2idle. Asus have disabled all other sleep modes, including traditional s3, in A16’s firmware so s0 is the only one available. According to this Arch Linux Wiki page, Linux does not make use of the network connectivity feature in this sleep mode so it is unaffected by its possible side-effects: trouble re-entering sleep/suspend, battery drain, and laptop running hot with lids closed. I hope it stays that way for Linux on laptops and PCs. I have zero interest in trading stability for feature and no desire to have my laptops and PCs act like smart phones.
Steam & Linux Gaming
Playing my favorite MMORPG, Guild Wars 2, on Debian 13 with Steam sealed the deal for me. Screenshots of the game are shown below. I captured the game this way to show that I actually ran the game from Steam on Debian 13.
After a dozen hours of game play without running into any major issues, I knew I did not need Windows anymore. Kudos to developers at Valve and Wine. Their work allow me to play Windows games without Windows. Developers at Wine have been working on Windows compatibility layer for Linux since 1983. Wine now runs on macOS as well. Steam’s Proton, Windows compatibility layer for Steam games, is based on Wine.
Debian has detailed instruction on how to install Steam. I installed Steam, installed Guild Wars 2 in Steam, added a launch option to use my existing account, and started playing the game. Steam took care of managing Proton behind the scene. I did not have to do anything else. It was that easy.
Issues & Fixes
Media Keys
Most media keys on the A16 do not work in Debian 13. The only media keys working are volume control, microphone toggle, and keyboard lighting. Since Gnome Control Center can adjust display brightness and other settings, I really do not miss the non-working media keys at all.
USB A Ports
From time to time, the USB A ports on the A16 would stop working when the laptop wakes up from a long sleep/suspend. The occurrence is random and the issue also affects the laptop’s built-in webcam which is connected via an internal USB interface. This issue does NOT affect the USB C ports on the A16. I have not found a solution that can prevent this problem but I have found a way to fix it while the laptop is up and running. When USB A ports stop working, find their sysfs node in file /proc/acpi/wakeup. The sysfs node is a series of number in the format of ####:##:##.#. In this instance, it is one of the XHC devices that has the status disabled. The following two-step commands will reload the driver for the affected device.
echo -n "####:##:##.#" | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/xhci_hcd/unbind
echo -n "####:##:##.#" | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/xhci_hcd/bindBattery Charging Options
Standard Debian 13 install does not have any battery charging options. Gnome extension Battery Health Charging save the day. It limits battery charging to 80% by default like most devices these days.
Logitech M575
I use Logitech M575 wireless trackball and Logitech Unifying Receiver with the A16. Debian 13 support basic functionalities of aforementioned Logitech devices but advanced features require an utility like Solaar. I use Solaar to change M575’s sensitivity and re-map its buttons using its Rule Editor. Note: I have to run Solaar as an administrator in order for M575 to work properly.
Steam
While I got my favorite game working on Debian 13 with Steam, some issues surfaced as well. The main one was stuttering. Guild Wars 2 stuttered more on Debian 13 than Windows 11, even with shader compilation. It did not affect my enjoyment of the game so I had not looking into this issue further.
Another issue was the Steam client itself. Steam client on my A16 could not be launched by simply clicking on the application icon. It also could not be launched when invoked by Steam games. Both situations would end up with a few zombie processes behind the scene and nothing else after about thirty seconds to a minute had passed. My work-around was launching the Steam client directly to Store page or Library page using the context menu (right-click on application icon to bring it up) and keeping the application open.
Final Thoughts
I can not remember not owning at least one computer running Windows since PC clones took over the personal computing world in the late 80s. As 2025 winding down, I have no computers running Windows for the first time and will most likely stay that way. I have used Windows 3, 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 10, and finally 11 on my personal computers over the years. For me, XP represents the peak Windows experience and that experience has been in decline ever since. Is 11 the worst? I need to think about that one. 11 is definitely the worst version since 2000 in my opinion.
Where do I go from here with my A16?
Since I have no computers running Windows, I want to try out Wine. Proton is only for Steam games. VMs require full Windows license. There is one Windows-only application that I would like to get it working on my A16 if possible: Exact Audio Copy, an audio CD ripper. I may install Wine on my Mac too and do a Linux vs Mac comparison.
I definitely want to try out other games from my Steam library on my A16. My Steam library is small, about 40+ games. Many are Windows only but will work under Proton. Need to see them for myself. Not having a Windows computer means I will only buy Steam games that have native Mac or Linux versions or will work under Proton. I also want to find ways to boost discrete GPU performance and reduce stuttering. Will document the whole experience.
This post was composed in Firefox on Asus Tuf A16 running Debian 13. All screenshots were captured on the A16. Some screenshots were post-processed in GIMP or ksnip on the A16. No AI tool was used.