ASUS ExpertBook B9406CAA with Omarchy

The first owner completed an Omarchy 3.6 installation by switching virtual terminals whenever the live display stopped redrawing, then confirmed that disabling Panel Replay restored a normally updating accelerated desktop. Omarchy later added a live-image safeguard and an exact-model installed-system rule.

In practice Installation is demonstrated and the original owner verified the underlying workaround. The current code contains both delivery paths, but no owner has yet reported a clean end-to-end Omarchy 4.0.2 installation on this laptop.

Current installer The live-image change merged April 24 so the installer could keep drawing on this panel. Project source

Sources ExpertBook B9406CAA Omarchy report, Omarchy live-image display fix

After the original Panel Replay stall was bypassed, the Xe graphics driver, accelerated Hyprland session and internal panel worked in the direct Omarchy report.

In practice That establishes a working accelerated desktop, not trouble-free HDR or self-refresh behavior.

Sources ExpertBook B9406CAA Omarchy report

Omarchy 3.6 stalled after one frame, and Arch and Fedora owners found that the brightness slider did not change the panel. A DPCD backlight override restored brightness. Panel Replay remains inconsistent: openSUSE still needed disables on Linux 7.2, while a separate Linux 7.2.2 test found that disabling Panel Replay alone caused PSR2 corruption and that PSR1 was the usable mode.

In practice Brightness has the clearest fix. Display self-refresh and HDR still need an exact-machine check; Omarchy 4.0.2's Panel Replay rule is not proof that every panel state is stable.

Omarchy 4.0.2 Two installed-system hooks add the model-specific Panel Replay argument and the DPCD brightness argument. Project source

Sources ExpertBook B9406CAA Omarchy report, ExpertBook B9406CAA Fedora hardware report, Arch brightness-control report, CachyOS brightness confirmation, openSUSE Panel Replay follow-up, Linux 7.2.2 PSR1 display proposal, Omarchy 4.0.2 ExpertBook display setup, Omarchy 4.0.2 Panther Lake backlight setup

Exact-machine tests say keyboard-backlight writes and Fn-key changes work, but the firmware read path always returns zero. The support project withdrew its earlier write-path diagnosis and added optional ambient-light control. Three owners separately found that the speaker-mute LED stays lit regardless of the actual mute state.

In practice Manual lighting works, but software cannot query its true level and the keyboard can return dark after boot. The optional ambient-light service is project support, not an Omarchy feature. The speaker-mute indicator remains misleading; the microphone-mute indicator worked in the Pop!_OS report.

Sources openSUSE daily-use report, Chimera Linux SoundWire regression report, Pop!_OS component and mute-LED report, Current B9406CAA Linux support project, Corrected B9406CAA keyboard-backlight support

Omarchy, Fedora and Pop!_OS owners had clicks but no pointer motion because libinput rejected the touchpad's pressure data. Masking the pressure axes restored motion, clicks, scrolling and taps. An openSUSE owner later reported normal pointing after setup.

In practice Omarchy 4.0.2 applies the exact-device quirk automatically. The quirk gives up pressure-based palm rejection, and there is no later Omarchy owner confirmation.

Omarchy 4.0.2 The installer applies the reported libinput quirk only to this touchpad on this model. Project source

Sources ExpertBook B9406CAA Omarchy report, ExpertBook B9406CAA Fedora hardware report, Pop!_OS component and mute-LED report, openSUSE daily-use report, Omarchy 4.0.2 ExpertBook touchpad setup

An openSUSE owner first enrolled and used the fingerprint reader with a patched libfprint build. The original Omarchy owner separately verified enrollment, matching, rejection, suspend recovery and login integration. The support maintainer later detected the reader and read an existing enrollment with stock libfprint 1.94.100.

In practice The reader has a current upstream-package path; a custom libfprint build should no longer be necessary on distributions shipping 1.94.100 or later.

Exact-device support Omarchy's fingerprint change merged April 27 after tests on this machine. Project source

Sources openSUSE daily-use report, Omarchy FT9349 fingerprint support, Stock libfprint fingerprint result

The Fedora diagnostic showed the Intel wireless interface up. The exact-machine support maintainer reports unstable Wi-Fi 7 behavior and obtains a stable Wi-Fi 6 connection by disabling 802.11be mode.

In practice Basic wireless is present, but the retained evidence does not establish reliable Wi-Fi 7. The stable reported setup deliberately falls back to Wi-Fi 6.

Sources ExpertBook B9406CAA Fedora hardware report, Current B9406CAA Linux support project

Internal audio worked on Linux 7.0 for Chimera and Fedora owners, but Linux 7.1 exposed a phantom RT722 SoundWire device and could leave no ALSA card. The correct B9406-specific quirk landed upstream, and the exact-machine support project now applies an adaptive DKMS backport only to installed kernels that lack it. Separate owners still report boot-muted tweeters and a speaker-mute LED that never changes.

In practice The support project reports its DKMS overlay installed for three kernels, then verifies a working card, calibrated speaker path and microphones on its running Linux 7.2 system. Omarchy 4.0.2 does not ship that path, and its own two delivery pull requests remain open. Verify headphones separately rather than treating card registration as the final result.

Open Omarchy fix Two coordinated pull requests would select a B9406-patched Panther Lake kernel; neither is merged. Project source

Sources Chimera Linux SoundWire regression report, ExpertBook B9406CAA Fedora hardware report, CachyOS audio reports, Pop!_OS component and mute-LED report, Upstream B9406CAA SoundWire quirk, Persistent B9406CAA audio backport, Open Omarchy B9406 audio-kernel change, Open Omarchy B9406 kernel package change

Fedora detected the Shinetech camera through uvcvideo. A separate exact-machine support test produced a frame after the current camera firmware was recognized.

In practice That supports ordinary camera output. It does not establish IR face login or video-call quality under Omarchy.

Sources ExpertBook B9406CAA Fedora hardware report, Current B9406CAA Linux support project

The openSUSE owner reported at least five successful sleep-then-hibernate cycles. The support maintainer separately completed two s2idle cycles with audio, storage, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth returning.

In practice Suspend has positive exact-machine evidence on two current Linux stacks, but not from an Omarchy 4.0.2 owner.

Sources openSUSE daily-use report, openSUSE Panel Replay follow-up, Current B9406CAA Linux support project

The factory configuration has two Thunderbolt 4 ports with display output and HDMI 2.1 TMDS. The Fedora owner reported that Thunderbolt audio did not work, but no retained exact-model Linux report evaluates a monitor, dock or complete display path.

In practice Port presence is not a compatibility result. Treat USB-C monitors, docks, power delivery, HDMI video and external audio as separate tests.

Sources ASUS B9406CAA-XSP76T specifications, ExpertBook B9406CAA Fedora hardware report

One openSUSE owner observed 7–10 watts with Chrome open at 10% brightness and estimated six to seven hours of browser use. The support project reports roughly 2–2.5 watts after adding thermald and intel-lpmd, but provides no controlled endurance test. A Windows review measured 16.1 hours in its Wi-Fi test.

In practice Idle draw, browser use and full-run battery life are different measurements. The Linux endurance figure remains an estimate, the support-project figure is an idle configuration result and the Windows result shows hardware capacity rather than expected Omarchy runtime.

Power profiles The USB-C-aware profile switch merged May 2 after exact-machine validation. Project source

Sources openSUSE daily-use report, ExpertBook Ultra measured review, Omarchy USB-C power-profile fix, Current B9406CAA Linux support project