Try changing the ID line from “neon” to “ubuntu” in /etc/os-release.
Already done.
with modded os-release the Install is Ok but after reboot some apps don’t work anymore (exemple : Firefox). Even if I revert to original os-release
OK, firefox aside, did the driver install, and do you now have profiles?
Yes. for sure I’ve done some tests.
I’ve done the drivers install twice on KDE Neon and tested twice to be sure it was not a mistake.
I found 2 audio output cards : one for the HDMI output and one for the Realtek analog output (names changed by the AMD driver I suppose) but are different from the ones I got with original KDE Neon and different from Kubuntu naming.
The naming of the outputs on these cards are also different but the outputs are still stereo and there is no way to change them to anything resembling to surround in the mixer.
I get the same new card names (from AMD driver) in pavu control and, in the advanced options, no way to access to the ac-3, DTS, e-ac3, dts-hd, … options. instead of these surround options, I have a latency slider (like with the original Neon driver).
When listing the available devices in MPV : $ mpv --audio-device=help , there are a lot of output devices (ALSA, pulse, …) and some are named to be for surround for ALSA only but when I try to force MPV to use them by configuring manually the mpv.conf file and then typing $ mpv AC3test.VOB I get errors from MPV saying error on output (AO error).
Only when mpv.conf file is set on “auto” allows audio but in stereo and obviously it use pulseaudio.
One thing I’m thinking too:
Could it be a wrong reading of the HDMI capabilities protocol ? KDE Neon don’t read all the HDMI capabilities (or wrongly) so, the system think there’s no surround capabilities on HDMI and only stereo.
Have you tried testing the speakers in the KDE system settings?
Are all 6 channels (speakers) in the test window?
Are all 6 channels correctly positioned in the test?
Yes. whatever number of channel I choose only stereo : (front) right and left
And I have no choice from system (exemple : speaker-test -t wav -c 6) to test all the others speakers.
As a remainder : This milt-chanel audio over HDMI problem occurs only on AMD based units. The exact same KDE Neon (boot from external SSD) works fine on Intel based units.
Are you connecting HDMI to mainboard or video adapter?
I use chain for audio:
Source → (Fedora 40 KDE) → (PipeWire) → Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 6700XT → (HDMI) → TV LG 55NANO866NA (Pass Through) → (optical cable) → receiver Pioneer SX-SW606 → (audio cables) → 5+1 speakers
and 5.1 is works, but it is needed to use audio mode “Movie” on receiver for true 6 channel sound (in most case audio mode “Auto” (auto definition) it works well but in not in this case). If I don’t use “Auto” than audio is downmixed to 3 channels (L-C-R) only.
My main unit act as media center. It’s a tiny but powerfull PC based on AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS / 32GB RAM / 4TB RAID SSD. It’s connected the same as you : PC HDMI > HDMI/S/PDIF spliter > TV (the S/PDIF from the splitter go directly to an Onkyo Receiver/AMP > 5.1 speakers). All this works fine in Windows.
Yes. I agree. I had none of these problems with Fedora 40. AMD multichannel worked OOB with ALSA, pulseaudio and pipewire.
Fedora 40 (KDE) worked very well for desktop PCs and multi-channel audio.
But Fedora 40 had others drawbacks for my needs especially with tablet mode and handheld (and it’s not debian too).
So why I don’t use Fedora 40 on desktop and KDE Neon on tablets and handheld? Because I don’t want to use different Linux distros for each of my PC (3 laptops, 2 tablets 2 in 1, 3 desktops and an AMD Z1 handheld).
That’s why my choice was for KDE Neon… It has (almost) everything I need except support for this crappy AMD multichannel surround over HDMI nobody can solve until now.
If necessary and if I can’t solve this I will reconsider to go to Fedora 40.
You may be on to something… the HDMI routine checks the output and automatically configures it based on what it finds. So for instance, the HDMI output to my TV has surround profiles, but is locked into stereo due to the input being only stereo. It may be an ID problem. But… he is not even seeing the profiles.
It works in Kubuntu but not Neon which is odd. Kubuntu 24.04 is still on 5.27 but with a much newer 6.8 kernel. I am thinking its a kernel problem. Could something as stupid as the cable be the issue?
Don’t give up. It took me a couple of months of hair pulling to get 2 dedicated GPUS running 4 monitors with three different resolutions using a mix of DVI and HDMI (1 each per GPU) to play nice with each other, but once I did, it was extremely satisfying. Ultimately nobody here was actually able to help me, I had to just keep studying and trying things myself (including building Plasma, then ultimately the entire system from source). Once I did figure it out, in retrospect it seemed like a simple problem to fix, and it was - with 20/20 hindsight. Sadly, surround over HDMI was not part of my setup - I predominately use an external multi-channel XLR based recording interface for media production work.
You did say it worked with Kubuntu, is that correct? If so, I would use that. It is virtually identical to Neon on the user facing side of things and is significantly more accessible to less experienced users than Neon is. Neon does assume a certain level of expertise.
Shadow.
I thought the same thing about the reading of HDMI protocol but the same PC works without a glitch under Windows and Kubuntu based on 22.04 LTS (I had no time to test everything in Kubuntu 24.04 and, btw, it had no screen auto-rotate).
We’re near to find and point the problem but I don’t know enough Linux to say what exactly is wrong, where to look and even more to correct the issue.
I just realized that you said you were using ryzen 9… wasn’t that just released a month ago? If so, I am leaning toward the issue being with the kernel, especially as you are using a brand new gCPU. Open Synaptic and search for linux-image and install the HWE kernel option, which is an advanced hardware option. Given you are using the latest Ryzen 9, this may solve your problem, but I suspect even that may be too old. You may need to actually go to 6.9 with that CPU to get full functionality, especially WRT the amd-pro driver. Kubuntu is on 6.8. Neon is on 6.5. If it is actually a Ryzen 9, then Neon is not the right OS for you. You need Arch or something. (edit - no wait, you said it works in 22.04… so that is not the issue.)
No. No. LOL. you make a confusion between the new Ryzen 9xxx and the Ryzen serie 7xxx. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS was out one year and half ago. The “9” before the 7940HS mean it’s for professional use and it was the most powerful Mobile APU in it’s time. nothing to do with the new desktop series 9xxx. The Ryzen 9 7940HS include also (because it’s an APU) a Radeon 780m (Radeon 7xxx series) for mobile which act almost like a Nvidia 1060.
You can find these Ryzen 9 7940HS APUs in many mini-PCs and some (gaming) laptops (Asus, Lenovo, …) because they are really powerful in a 45W package.
You made a typo on your first post… it says “Ryzen 9 9740” lol. Still, give the HWE a shot… it was what people had to use when the 7000 series was released.
LOL. Yes. had no time to correct befor you read it.
What is HWE ?
HWE is a kernel that had patches applied to allow bleeding edge hardware to be used. While the 7000 is no longer bleeding edge, you have nothing to lose (but a bit more time) seeing if it, or the low latency option, change things for you.
OK. So let’s try this library.
Stay tuned. I do it immediately.
When typing “HWE” in the synaptic search box there are lots of packages which are raizing. Any idea which one to chose from?
Found : linux-generic-hwe-22.04-edge and installed. Reboot…
After reboot I’ve lost the auto-rotate feature… continue testings for multi-channel audio…
… No surprise… Same problem for HDMI audio > No surround profiles.
Reloading a new backup image…
Just tested a new distro : Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu, Debian) but cinnamon.
Everything works out of the box (OOB) : Screen auto-rotate, Surround over HDMI, …
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