Following JLP suggestion, I’ll open a new thread on how to re-enable automatic screen rotation on Tablet PCs.
Here’s my problem:
I own 3 tablet PC (Dell 5175) working fine on Windows. Because of the recent Microsoft vision of Windows OS, I wanted to migrate these 3 tablet PCs to Linux.
After testing many Linux distributions, my familly decided to opt for a KDE (plasma) version for all the PCs we own (desktop and tablet PCs). After many testings, finally 2 distros raised : KDE Neon and Kubuntu.
But… nothing is simple… while KDE Neon is perfect for tablet PCs, it’s a nightmare for a true multimedia home center (it don’t recognize the multi-channels digital audio on AMD PCs). Kubuntu, on the other hand, works perfect with multi-channels digital audio on AMD PCs but dont work with screen auto-rotate for tablet PCs.
I don’t want 2 different Linux versions for all my family PCs (3 desktops, 3 tablets PCs and 2 laptops)
Here we are to my problem : how to add screen auto-rotate in Kubuntu to work like on KDE Neon ?
After JLP advise, I checked for the presence of the following packages on my Kubuntu by using muon package manager :
iio-sensor-proxy : installed
monitor-sensor : Not avail in the list for dl
libQt5Sensors5 : installed
qt5-sensors : Not avail in the list for dl
libQt6Sensors6 : not installed
qt6-sensors : Not avail in the list for dl
I tested with screen-rotator and screen-rotate.sh (based on xrandr) and they (almost) work but with many bugs (inverted touchpad ) and they are not well integrated in Kubuntu.
I even tested Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (gnome) which natively recognized the tablet PC sensors and rotation but as soon as I upgraded it to KDE, everything concerning the screen rotation was lost and no way to retrieve it (except with screen rotator). I tested almost every distro based on Debian with KDE and almost all were unable to do screen auto-rotate except with “KDE Neon” (but that one don’t full-fit my needs) .
This experiment made me think it was a KDE related misconfiguration.
So I’m asking : How to retrieve the screen auto-rotate on KDE ?
Any advise KDE devs ?
Wayland has auto-rotate out of the box, with no futzing. Neon and Plasma 6 default to using that.
Kubuntu (I assume 24.04?) uses xorg, but you can add a wayland session option by installing plasma-workspace-wayland
As for audio issues with neon, that is running *buntu 22.04 (and thus has the same hardware support), but soon will migrate to a 24.04 base, and a full pipe-wire/wireplumber setup that may be what your AMD sound needs for full functionality. Either that or the slightly newer kernel version it will gain.
But I think for your purposes, just try the wayland session. That’s what I did when I had a convertible laptop a couple of years ago.
The only Kubuntu I tried until now was / is the stable release 22.04 LTS. My politics is to wait before to rush to latest versions.
But I tried also (for testing purposes) the “unstable” version of KDE Neon (6.1?) with same results concerning the AMD digital audio output over HDMI with no success. Perhaps a driver problem at the kernel level? I’ve opened a dedicated thread on this subject : [Digital multichanel audio using AMD HDMI support problems]
Back to auto-rotate. Yes, I know Ubuntu is Xorg (and gnome) and it has very good auto-rotate features. I also installed KDE over Ubuntu (22.04 LTS and 24.04 LTS) but as soon as I’ve done the “upgrade” to KDE, Ubuntu loose every screen auto-rotate features. That’s why I though it was a “by default” feature in KDE (to not support auto-rotate).
JLP confirmed me it’s not the case and said it’ just a matter of missing libraries but I don’t know which ones and what methodology and settings to apply to re-install them and to make them to work.
So, I’m asking for help.
Meantime, I’ll try to install kubuntu 24.04 LTS to see if it has the auto-rotate feature.
Just installed the Kubuntu 24.04 LTS on one of my Dell 5175 2 in 1 (tablet PC). Still no OOB screen auto-rotate for tablet PCs and no options in the configuration penels to enable it.
Sigh…
I also installed KDE Neon testing-20240627-1611. Screen auto-rotate work OOB. Will try again to use the AMD digital audio over HDMI.
As I mentioned previously, you need to use a wayland session for this, no matter the distro. Xorg does not have auto-rotate, without the “hacky” scripting.
Kubuntu 24.04 does not include the the Wayland login option option by defualt. You need to install plasma-workspace-wayland to add this as an option at login. Neon on the other hand does includes this, and Plasma 6 defaults to Wayland as the login choice over x11. Kubuntu does not.
Kubuntu 24.04 is almost 6 months old, so is not quite the shiny and new LTS release, btw. For your purposes, I think Kubuntu 24.04 is a better choice for screen rotation. I do not recall exactly, but I don’t think I had good support for it before Plasma 5.25 or 5.26, which you won’t have in the 5.24 in the old 22.04 LTS release.
What is “JLP?”
afaik Ubuntu and Gnome are Wayland, even in 22.04.
Adding full KDE to Ubuntu Gnome (or vice versa) is known to cause some oddball issues here and there. What you saw might be one of them.
Again, that’s very useful information you gave me claydoh. That’s good to know.
I don’t understood everything about the subtle differences between KDE, Wayland and Plasma. It will be super useful if someone can write a short guide for noobs like me.
Your post make me think how to migrate to Wayland then. Is it easy for someone like me or it’s at dev level or distro level ?
If I read you well, it’s better to wait the next “official” releases? Well, I’m (not yet) in hurry for a new Kubuntu or KDE Neon releases if they will (can) handle all my needs.
Or do you know an other Linux distrib based on debian (with KDE) which can handle screen auto rotate and good support of multi-channel audio over HDMI (for that last point I’m convinced it’s a low level / driver) problem ?
For info, I tested these distribs:
Ubuntu (22.04 LTS and 24.04 LTS. both based on Gnome)
Kubuntu (based on 22.04 LTS and 24.04 LTS)
KDE Neon (6.0 and testing edition)
Linux Mint
Fedora 40 (KDE but not debian)
OpenSuse
All of them has / had his own advantages and drawbacks but none of them fulfilled my needs (lacking at some point). Finally, the ones who are the most closest to my needs are : Kubuntu and KDE Neon
JLP is a person (a KDE dev?) who replied to my questions on the other thread I opened concerning multi-channel audio over AMD HDMI (you posted a message there too)
Concerning KDE over Gnome in Ubuntu what can I say… I’m not afraid to make some “against nature” experiments… to see what happens. LOL … I found a howto manual on the KDE site explaining how to achieve this. But it was just experiments.
Hopefully, I can generate a full (and virgin) copy on external SSDs of any of the distribs I have to make experiments (thanks to Ghost) on all the PC units I have and roll back if necessary.
I’m a complete noob on Linux but my job (Networks and Windows computer certified expert) and the Linux community helped me a lot to understand better the Linux philosophy.
) and they are not well integrated in Kubuntu.
?