Preliminary note:
I know this web site is actually about 'Debian Administration' so if this article, which also deals with the underlying hardware and linux driver issues, appears offtopic please notify me so I can move it elsewhere.

All information in this article refers to the Asus UL30A-QX130V with BIOS v211.

The first thing I did is what I always do on a new system with Windows preinstalled: install the latest firmware update, since it is convenient to do it this way before replacing Windows by Linux since most vendors still fail to provide BIOS flashing support for linux (actually the only vendor I know to support it on some of their products is DELL) and unsupported ways can fail, especially on laptops (my mom's laptop refused to even power on after flashing its BIOS with coreboots' "flashrom" the other day, ouch).

I ended up installing Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) on the UL30A using the Alternate installer. This is not really straight forward since you need to get the Alternate Installer image onto a USB stick first (or setup net booting) and the recommended way to do this - http://www.pendrivelinux.com/create-a-ubuntu-9-10-live-usb-in-windows/ - will not work with the Alternate Installer. However, one of the methods provided at http://help.ubuntu.com/community/USB%20Installation%20Media should work. Alternatively, if you have another Ubuntu desktop, you can use the 'USB start media creator' (usb-creator-gtk) application recent versions provide. The version in Karmic (have not tested other versions of usb-creator-gtk) works fine with the Alternate Installer ISO.

When installing Ubuntu, you should select manual partitioning, since you do not really want a 12G swap partition (WTF!) it would setup by default. You may (or not) also want to preserve the first partition (a hidden partition with an NTFS file system on it) which is the Express Gate partition. If you remove it Express Gate will no longer work - which is fine for me, but your mileage may vary. Apparently Splashtop (the original non-Asus-branded title of this software) is not really installed on a SSD in this case, it is just invoked by a NAND-flash contained boot loader which will print an error message on screen and reboot if you power the laptop up using the left hand side Express Gate button after having removed the Express Gate partition.

Once I had completed the installation, I ended up with a kernel image which was of a later patch level than the modules I had installed. This negatively impacted the loadable kernel modules, i.e. neither ethernet nor wireless worked. A dirty workaround of adding a symlink to the old modules worked around it. A better way is probably to make sure you have the modules installed for the kernel you are using whenever you upgrade it.

I also installed the linux-backport-modules package so that I could have access to the latest modules. I did not actually test whether they are neccessary, though. Most critical stuff (chipset, CPU, graphics, keyboard, NIC, USB) seemed to work fine without them, too.

I finally ended up with this:

# cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.6.31-16-generic (buildd@crested) (gcc version 4.4.1 (Ubuntu 4.4.1-4ubuntu8) ) #53-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 8 04:02:15 UTC 2009
#

# lspci -nn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a40] (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a43] (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2937] (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2938] (rev 03)
00:1a.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 [8086:2939] (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:293c] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2940] (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:2942] (rev 03)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 6 [8086:294a] (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:2934] (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:2935] (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:2936] (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 [8086:293a] (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation ICH9M-E LPC Interface Controller [8086:2917] (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller [8086:2929] (rev 03)
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 100 Series [8086:0083]
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Attansic Technology Corp. Atheros AR8132 / L1c Gigabit Ethernet Adapter [1969:1062] (rev c0)
#

# lsusb
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 058f:6366 Alcor Micro Corp. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b036 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0b05:1751 ASUSTek Computer, Inc. 
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
#

Everything worked fine out of the box with the following exceptions:

* the Elantech touchpad is incorrectly detected as a Logitech USB mouse: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/418282

* the webcam image is flipped upside down, apparently due to an issue in the lib4l-0 version shipping with Karmic; the Lucid (Ubuntu 10.04) version as available at http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/libv4l-0 may fix this, if it does not try to follow the instructions provided by Hans Goede around page 21 of http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=838210; a possible workaround (which I have not tested) is also mentioned at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8256802; some applications (such as 'cheese') also allow for flipping the image upside down

* the SD 5-in-1 card reader is detected but fails to detect any media (I tested with two different SDHC media only), so they cannot be mounted; according to the Asus driver download website this device is an "Alcor AU6433 Card Reader"; the vendor website is at http://www.alcormicro.com/en_content/c_product/product_01b.php?CategoryID=7&IndexID=1; this bug is being tracked at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/366478

* some people seem to have issues with the Bluetooth device not being detected; This can be a BIOS bug which according to the BIOS changelog on the Asus support website has been fixed as of version 209: "Fix the issue that MF210 3G card and Bluetooth cannot be detected." I am currently using BIOS v211 and Bluetooth seems to work out of the box (though I have no other Bluetooth device to test with).


Reviews:
http://www.liliputing.com/2009/10/asus-ul30a-review.html
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/asus-ul30a.aspx
http://hothardware.com/Articles/Asus-133-UL30A-CULV-Notebook-Review/
http://gryniewicz.com/blogs/dang/2009/12/18/linux-on-asus-ul30a-x5/
http://www.linlap.com/wiki/asus+ul30a

More reviews at tuxmobil.org, linux-on-laptops.com and linuxcompatible.org


Manual:
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/UL30A/E4790.zip

Downloads:
http://support.asus.com.tw/download/download.aspx?model=UL30A&os=8

Troubleshooting:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/Old/AsusUL30A
http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=3&model=UL30A
https://launchpad.net/~asus-ul30

Debian HCL entry:
http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/ASUS/UL30A-QX130V

Hacking ExpressGate / Splashtop:
http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11610

---

lshw Output:

id:	computer
description:	Notebook
product:	UL30A
vendor:	ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
version:	1.0
serial:	[REMOVED]
width:	64 bits
capabilities:	smbios-2.5 dmi-2.5 vsyscall64 vsyscall32
configuration:	chassis = notebook uuid = [REMOVED]

id:	core
description:	Motherboard
product:	UL30A
vendor:	ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
physical id:	0
version:	1.0
serial:	[REMOVED]
slot:	MIDDLE

id:	firmware
description:	BIOS
vendor:	American Megatrends Inc.
physical id:	0
version:	212 (12/28/2009)
size:	64KiB
capacity:	960KiB
capabilities:	isa pci pnp upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int17printer int10video acpi usb smartbattery biosbootspecification netboot

id:	cpu
description:	CPU
product:	Genuine Intel(R) CPU U7300 @ 1.30GHz
vendor:	Intel Corp.
physical id:	4
bus info:	cpu@0
version:	Genuine Intel(R) CPU U7300 @ 1.30GHz
serial:	[REMOVED]
slot:	Socket 478
size:	1300MHz
capacity:	1300MHz
width:	64 bits
clock:	200MHz
capabilities:	fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx x86-64 constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 xsave lahf_lm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority cpufreq

id:	cache:0
description:	L1 cache
physical id:	5
slot:	L1-Cache
size:	64KiB
capacity:	64KiB
capabilities:	internal write-back data

id:	cache:1
description:	L2 cache
physical id:	7
slot:	L2-Cache
size:	3MiB
capacity:	3MiB
capabilities:	internal write-back unified

id:	cache
description:	L1 cache
physical id:	6
slot:	L1-Cache
size:	64KiB
capacity:	64KiB
capabilities:	internal write-back instruction

id:	memory
description:	System Memory
physical id:	20
slot:	System board or motherboard
size:	4GiB

id:	bank:0
description:	SODIMM Synchronous 800 MHz (1.2 ns)
product:	N/A
vendor:	N/A
physical id:	0
serial:	[REMOVED]
slot:	SODIMM0
size:	2GiB
width:	64 bits
clock:	800MHz (1.2ns)

id:	bank:1
description:	SODIMM Synchronous 800 MHz (1.2 ns)
product:	N/A
vendor:	N/A
physical id:	1
serial:	[REMOVED]
slot:	SODIMM1
size:	2GiB
width:	64 bits
clock:	800MHz (1.2ns)

id:	pci
description:	Host bridge
product:	Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub [8086:2A40]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	100
bus info:	pci@0000:00:00.0
version:	07
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
configuration:	driver = agpgart-intel
resources:	irq : 0

id:	display:0
description:	VGA compatible controller
product:	Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2A42]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	2
bus info:	pci@0000:00:02.0
version:	07
width:	64 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	msi pm bus_master cap_list rom
configuration:	driver = i915 latency = 0
resources:	irq : 28 memory : fe400000-fe7fffff memory : d0000000-dfffffff(prefetchable) ioport : dc00(size=8)

id:	display:1
description:	Display controller
product:	Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2A43]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	2.1
bus info:	pci@0000:00:02.1
version:	07
width:	64 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	pm bus_master cap_list
configuration:	latency = 0
resources:	memory : fe800000-fe8fffff

id:	usb:0
description:	USB Controller
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2937]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1a
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1a.0
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = uhci_hcd latency = 0
resources:	irq : 16 ioport : d880(size=32)

id:	usb:1
description:	USB Controller
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2938]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1a.1
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1a.1
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = uhci_hcd latency = 0
resources:	irq : 21 ioport : d800(size=32)

id:	usb:2
description:	USB Controller
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 [8086:2939]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1a.2
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1a.2
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = uhci_hcd latency = 0
resources:	irq : 19 ioport : d480(size=32)

id:	usb:3
description:	USB Controller
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:293C]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1a.7
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1a.7
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	pm debug bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = ehci_hcd latency = 0
resources:	irq : 18 memory : fe9fbc00-fe9fbfff

id:	multimedia
description:	Audio device
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293E]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1b
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1b.0
version:	03
width:	64 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = HDA Intel latency = 0
resources:	irq : 22 memory : fe9f4000-fe9f7fff

id:	pci:0
description:	PCI bridge
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2940]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1c
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1c.0
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = pcieport-driver
resources:	irq : 24

id:	pci:1
description:	PCI bridge
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:2942]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1c.1
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1c.1
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = pcieport-driver
resources:	irq : 25 memory : fea00000-feafffff

id:	network
description:	Wireless interface
product:	Centrino Wireless-N 1000 [8086:83]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	0
bus info:	pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name:	wlan0
version:	00
serial:	[REMOVED]
width:	64 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration:	broadcast = yes driver = iwlagn ip = [REMOVED] latency = 0 multicast = yes wireless = IEEE 802.11bgn
resources:	irq : 29 memory : feafe000-feafffff

id:	pci:2
description:	PCI bridge
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 6 [8086:294A]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1c.5
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1c.5
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = pcieport-driver
resources:	irq : 26 ioport : e000(size=4096) memory : feb00000-febfffff

id:	network
description:	Ethernet interface
product:	AR8132 Fast Ethernet [1969:1062]
vendor:	Atheros Communications [1969]
physical id:	0
bus info:	pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name:	eth0
version:	c0
serial:	[REMOVED]
capacity:	100MB/s
width:	64 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	pm msi pciexpress vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration:	autonegotiation = on broadcast = yes driver = atl1c driverversion = 1.0.0.1-NAPI firmware = N/A latency = 0 link = no multicast = yes port = twisted pair
resources:	irq : 30 memory : febc0000-febfffff ioport : ec00(size=128)

id:	usb:4
description:	USB Controller
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:2934]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1d
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1d.0
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = uhci_hcd latency = 0
resources:	irq : 23 ioport : d400(size=32)

id:	usb:5
description:	USB Controller
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:2935]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1d.1
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1d.1
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = uhci_hcd latency = 0
resources:	irq : 19 ioport : d080(size=32)

id:	usb:6
description:	USB Controller
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:2936]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1d.2
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1d.2
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = uhci_hcd latency = 0
resources:	irq : 18 ioport : d000(size=32)

id:	usb:7
description:	USB Controller
product:	82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 [8086:293A]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1d.7
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1d.7
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	pm debug bus_master cap_list
configuration:	driver = ehci_hcd latency = 0
resources:	irq : 23 memory : fe9fb800-fe9fbbff

id:	pci:3
description:	PCI bridge
product:	82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1e
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1e.0
version:	93
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	pci bus_master cap_list

id:	isa
description:	ISA bridge
product:	ICH9M-E LPC Interface Controller [8086:2917]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1f
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1f.0
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	33MHz
capabilities:	isa bus_master cap_list
configuration:	latency = 0

id:	storage
description:	SATA controller
product:	ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller [8086:2929]
vendor:	Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id:	1f.2
bus info:	pci@0000:00:1f.2
logical name:	scsi0
version:	03
width:	32 bits
clock:	66MHz
capabilities:	storage msi pm bus_master cap_list emulated
configuration:	driver = ahci latency = 0
resources:	irq : 27 ioport : cc00(size=8) ioport : c880(size=4) ioport : c800(size=8) ioport : c480(size=4) ioport : c400(size=32) memory : fe9fb000-fe9fb7ff

id:	disk
description:	ATA Disk
product:	ST9320325AS
vendor:	Seagate
physical id:	0.0.0
bus info:	scsi@0:0.0.0
logical name:	/dev/sda
version:	0002
serial:	[REMOVED]
size:	298GiB (320GB)
capabilities:	partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration:	ansiversion = 5 signature = d9b3496e

id:	volume:0
description:	Linux filesystem partition
physical id:	1
bus info:	scsi@0:0.0.0,1
logical name:	/dev/sda1
serial:	[REMOVED]
size:	297GiB
capacity:	297GiB
width:	256 bits
capabilities:	primary bootable encrypted luks initialized
configuration:	bits = 256 cipher = aes filesystem = luks hash = sha1 mode = cbc-essiv:sha256 version = 1

id:	volume:1
description:	Extended partition
physical id:	2
bus info:	scsi@0:0.0.0,2
logical name:	/dev/sda2
size:	243MiB
capacity:	243MiB
capabilities:	primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended

id:	logicalvolume
description:	Linux filesystem partition
physical id:	5
logical name:	/dev/sda5
logical name:	/boot
capacity:	243MiB
configuration:	mount.fstype = ext2 mount.options = rw,relatime,errors=continue state = mounted

id:	scsi
physical id:	1
bus info:	usb@2:5
logical name:	scsi4
capabilities:	emulated scsi-host
configuration:	driver = usb-storage

id:	disk
description:	SCSI Disk
physical id:	0.0.0
bus info:	scsi@4:0.0.0
logical name:	/dev/sdb

id:	battery
description:	Nickel Cadmium Battery
physical id:	1
version:	08/11/97
slot:	In the back

id:	network
description:	Ethernet interface
physical id:	2
logical name:	vboxnet0
serial:	[REMOVED]
capabilities:	ethernet physical
configuration:	broadcast = yes multicast = yes