Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro

Resources

The Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro is a productivity laptop released in 2022. It comes in a few varieties, with 2 choices of CPU and screen size, which also affect the RAM and SSD size:

	Intel Core i5-1240P	Intel Core i7-1260P
13.3 in	8 GB RAM	8 GB RAM
13.3 in	256 GB SSD	512 GB SSD
15.6 in	8 GB RAM	16 GB RAM
15.6 in	512 GB SSD	512 GB SSD

This laptop is extremely light at 0.87 kg (13.3 in model) / 1.16 kg (15.6 in model), yet quite powerful. It features a 12th generation Intel CPU, 8 GB / 16 GB of RAM, a 256 GB / 512 GB SSD, a 1920x1080 AMOLED screen, and a good selection of ports. Hardware is largely supported and the system can be made very usable, though doing so requires proprietary firmware blobs. The lack of a dedicated GPU makes it unsuited for heavy graphics or gaming workloads.

Hardware

BIOS

Hold F2 to enter the BIOS upon boot. Hold the power button to forcefully shut down the computer.

Standard

Device	Make/model	Status	Vendor ID / Product ID	Kernel driver(s)	Notes
CPU	Intel Core i5-1240P / Intel Core i7-1260P	Works		i915	Alder Lake architecture.
RAM	8 GB / 16 GB LPDDR5	Works
Disk	256 GB / 512 GB NVMe SSD	Works		nvme
Ethernet	ASIX AX88179A Gigabit Ethernet	Works	0b95:1790	cdc_ncm
Display	13.3 in / 15.6 in 1920x1080 AMOLED	Only in software
Camera	SunplusIT 1080p	Works	2b7e:c556	uvcvideo
Fingerprint scanner	LighTuning ETU905x	Untested	1c7a:0582
Network card	Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 160 MHz	Works	8086:0094	iwlwifi
Sound card	Intel Alder Lake PCH-P HD Audio Controller	Works	8086:51c8	snd_hda_intel

Ports

1 USB-A
1 USB-C
1 Thunderbolt
1 HDMI
1 MicroSD card
1 3.5 mm audio jack

Firmware

Install DMC, GuC, and HuC firmware as detailed in Intel firmware. Update microcode as detailed in Intel microcode.

Kernel

Enable UEFI support:

KERNEL

Processor type and features --->
    [*] EFI runtime service support (EFI=y)

To boot using EFI stub:

KERNEL

Processor type and features --->
    [*] EFI runtime service support (EFI=y)
        [*] EFI stub support (EFI_STUB=y)
            [ ] EFI mixed-mode support (EFI_MIXED=n)

Enable NVMe support:

KERNEL

Device Drivers --->
    NVME Support --->
        <*> NVM Express block device

Enable sound support:

Note
Although this is an Alder Lake system, the Tiger Lake SOF driver is the correct one here. The Alder Lake SOF driver will not work!

KERNEL

Device Drivers --->
    <*> Sound card support --->
        <*> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture --->
            [*] PCI sound devices
            HD-Audio --->
                <*> HD Audio PCI
                <*> Build Realtek HD-audio codec support
                <*> Build HDMI/DisplayPort HD-audio codec support
            <*> ALSA for SoC audio support --->
                [*] Intel ASoC SST drivers
                <*>   Skylake Platforms
                [*]   HDAudio codec support
                <*> Intel Machine drivers --->
                    <*> Skylake+ with HDA Codecs
                [*] Sound Open Firmware Support --->
                    <*> SOF PCI enumeration support
                    [*] SOF support for Intel audio DSPs
                    <*> SOF support for Tigerlake

Enable the ports:

KERNEL

Device Drivers --->
    [*] USB support --->
        <*> Support for Host-side USB
        <*> xHCI HCD (USB 3.0) support
    <*> Unified support for USB4 and Thunderbolt --->

Enable Ethernet support:

KERNEL

Device Drivers --->
    [*] Network device support --->
        <*> USB Network Adapters --->
            <*> Multi-purpose USB Networking Framework
            <*>   ASIX AX88179/178A USB 3.0/2.0 to Gigabit Ethernet
            <*>   CDC NCM support

make.conf

FILE /etc/portage/make.conf

COMMON_FLAGS="-march=native -O2 -pipe"
RUSTFLAGS="-C target-cpu=native -C opt-level=2"

CPU_FLAGS_X86="aes avx avx2 f16c fma3 mmx mmxext pclmul popcnt rdrand sha sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3"

VIDEO_CARDS="intel"

# Tell sys-firmware/intel-microcode to only install microcode for this computer's CPU.
MICROCODE_SIGNATURES="-S"

Configuration

Brightness keys

The laptop's AMOLED screen is currently unsupported by the kernel. Instead, the brightness must be adjusted in software, using color correction. On X, emerge x11-apps/xrandr:

root #emerge --ask x11-apps/xrandr

Determine the output's name by running:

user $xrandr --listmonitors

Monitors: 1
 0: +*eDP-1 1920/294x1080/165+0+0  eDP-1

Here the output is named eDP-1. Then try setting the brightness to 50%:

user $xrandr --output eDP-1 --brightness .5

This process can be automated with a script such as this:

FILE /usr/bin/brightness

#!/bin/sh

BRIGHTNESS_FILE="${HOME}/.local/brightness"
OUTPUT="eDP-1"
INCREMENT=5

if [ -f "${BRIGHTNESS_FILE}" ]; then
	BRIGHTNESS=$(cat "${BRIGHTNESS_FILE}")
else
	touch "${BRIGHTNESS_FILE}"
	BRIGHTNESS=100
fi

case "${1}" in
	up)   [ ${BRIGHTNESS} -lt 100 ] && BRIGHTNESS=$((${BRIGHTNESS} + ${INCREMENT})) ;;
	down) [ ${BRIGHTNESS} -gt 0   ] && BRIGHTNESS=$((${BRIGHTNESS} - ${INCREMENT})) ;;
esac

xrandr --output ${OUTPUT} --brightness $(echo "scale=2; ${BRIGHTNESS}/100" | bc)
echo ${BRIGHTNESS} > "${BRIGHTNESS_FILE}"

This script allows a user to run brightness up and brightness down to change the brightness in increments of 5%. It stores the current brightness in ~/.local/brightness, allowing it to be preserved across shells and reboots. brightness (without any arguments) can be run to restore the brightness from this file in case something else messes the brightness up (for example, if X resets the color correction on startup).

The brightness keys can then be bound to call this script when pressed.

Volume keys

Install media-sound/alsa-utils:

root #emerge --ask media-sound/alsa-utils

Then bind the volume keys to the following commands:

Raise volume by 5%:

user $amixer -q set Master 5%+

Lower volume by 5%:

user $amixer -q set Master 5%-

Toggle mute/unmute:

user $amixer -q set Master toggle

External resources

References