Asus PN50

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The Asus PN50 is a Mini PC based on AMD Ryzen mobile processors, This page aims to provide some information for a proper Gentoo setup.

Compiler configuration

Package app-portage/cpuid2cpuflags can be used to setup correct CPU_FLAGS_*.

FILE /etc/portage/package.use/00cpu-flags

*/* CPU_FLAGS_X86: aes avx avx2 f16c fma3 mmx mmxext pclmul popcnt rdrand sha sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3

The following command can be used to verify CPU related info.

user $grep -m1 -A3 "vendor_id" /proc/cpuinfo

vendor_id	: AuthenticAMD
cpu family	: 23
model		: 96
model name	: AMD Ryzen 5 4500U with Radeon Graphics

The following configuration shall be applied:

FILE /etc/portage/make.conf

COMMON_FLAGS="-march=znver2 -O2 -pipe"
CFLAGS="${COMMON_FLAGS}"
CXXFLAGS="${COMMON_FLAGS}"

Note on MAKEOPTS: there are lots of discussions related to the best way to configure how many parallel make jobs can be launched from Portage. An example for Asus PN50, using the following command output:

user $lscpu

Architecture:                    x86_64
CPU op-mode(s):                  32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order:                      Little Endian
Address sizes:                   48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
CPU(s):                          6
On-line CPU(s) list:             0-5
Thread(s) per core:              1
Core(s) per socket:              6
Socket(s):                       1
NUMA node(s):                    1
Vendor ID:                       AuthenticAMD
CPU family:                      23
Model:                           96
Model name:                      AMD Ryzen 5 4500U with Radeon Graphics

would suggest, since 6 logical CPUs are available, 6 physical cores each with 1 thread, to setup MAKEOPTS variable to:

FILE /etc/portage/make.conf

MAKEOPTS="-j6"

However, considering also the fact that higher the value of MAKEOPTS, higher the RAM request is (and hence possible usage of swap ) it is suggested to lower the value coming from previous computation, or at least to make such considerations.

Kernel

The information reported on this page have been tested with the following kernel:

• 5.4.80-gentoo-r1-x86_64
• 6.1.67-gentoo-x86_64

Note: earlier kernel versions are also supported

Firmware

Dedicated firmware files provided by sys-kernel/linux-firmware are needed to have full Asus PN50 functionalities.

The following minimum firmware files are suggested:

user $cat /etc/portage/savedconfig/sys-kernel/linux-firmware

# Remove files that shall not be installed from this list.
amd/amd_sev_fam17h_model3xh.sbin
amd-ucode/microcode_amd_fam17h.bin
amdgpu/renoir_dmcub.bin
amdgpu/renoir_ce.bin
amdgpu/renoir_mec2.bin
amdgpu/renoir_sdma.bin
amdgpu/renoir_gpu_info.bin
amdgpu/renoir_mec.bin
amdgpu/renoir_rlc.bin
amdgpu/renoir_ta.bin
amdgpu/renoir_pfp.bin
amdgpu/renoir_asd.bin
amdgpu/renoir_vcn.bin
amdgpu/renoir_me.bin
intel/ibt-20-1-3.ddc
intel/ibt-20-1-3.sfi
iwlwifi-cc-a0-50.ucode

After sys-kernel/linux-firmware has been emerged, the following files shall be present:

user $tree /lib/firmware/

/lib/firmware/
├── amd
│   └── amd_sev_fam17h_model3xh.sbin
├── amd-ucode
│   └── microcode_amd_fam17h.bin
├── amdgpu
│   ├── renoir_asd.bin
│   ├── renoir_ce.bin
│   ├── renoir_dmcub.bin
│   ├── renoir_gpu_info.bin
│   ├── renoir_me.bin
│   ├── renoir_mec.bin
│   ├── renoir_mec2.bin
│   ├── renoir_pfp.bin
│   ├── renoir_rlc.bin
│   ├── renoir_sdma.bin
│   ├── renoir_ta.bin
│   └── renoir_vcn.bin
├── intel
│   ├── ibt-20-1-3.ddc
│   └── ibt-20-1-3.sfi
├── iwlwifi-cc-a0-50.ucode
├── regulatory.db
└── regulatory.db.p7s

In order to properly boot the system, at least amd, amd-ucode and amdgpu firmware files shall be compiled within kernel.

FILE /usr/src/linux/.configKernel configuration for firmware loader

#
# Firmware loader
#
CONFIG_FW_LOADER=y
CONFIG_FW_LOADER_PAGED_BUF=y
CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE="amd-ucode/microcode_amd_fam17h.bin amd/amd_sev_fam17h_model3xh.sbin amdgpu/renoir_asd.bin amdgpu/renoir_ce.bin amdgpu/renoir_dmcub.bin amdgpu/renoir_gpu_info.bin amdgpu/renoir_me.bin amdgpu/renoir_mec2.bin amdgpu/renoir_pfp.bin amdgpu/renoir_rlc.bin amdgpu/renoir_sdma.bin amdgpu/renoir_ta.bin amdgpu/renoir_vcn.bin amdgpu/renoir_mec.bin"
CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR="/lib/firmware"
# CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER is not set
CONFIG_FW_LOADER_COMPRESS=y
# end of Firmware loader

Hardware

The information reported on this page have been tested on the following hardware:

• Asus PN50 AMD Ryzen 5 4500U

Graphics

Asus PN50 provides AMD® Radeon Vega (6) Graphics.

user $lspci | grep -i vga

 04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Renoir (rev c3)

3D hardware acceleration is supported using Linux firmware code (see Kernel section).

The kernel module to be loaded (or built in kernel) is amdgpu. In addition, the experimental HW support shall be enabled on the kernel command line to load amdgpu, for example:

KERNEL Kernel command line

BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.4.80-gentoo-r1-x86_64 root=UUID=6e1d35b8-5e2a-4bdb-8fc0-2f4b70dee0ac ro ''amdgpu.exp_hw_support=1''

X11 Driver

The following configuration shall be used:

FILE /etc/portage/make.confVideo card configuration

VIDEO_CARDS="amdgpu radeonsi"

X11 driver x11-drivers/xf86-video-amdgpu shall be emerged.

Package x11-apps/mesa-progs can be used to verify if 3D hardware acceleration has been properly enabled.

user $glxinfo | grep -i render

[...]
direct rendering: Yes
[...]
OpenGL renderer string: AMD RENOIR (DRM 3.35.0, 5.4.80-gentoo-r1-x86_64, LLVM 11.0.0)
[...]

Peripheral connectivity

Ethernet controller

Asus PN50 provides a 10/100/1000 Mbps RJ45 Ethernet.

user $lspci | grep -i ethernet

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0e)

The kernel module to be loaded (or built in kernel) is r8169

Wi-Fi controller

Asus PN50 provides Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (802.11ax), 2x2, up to 2.4 Gbps with Bluetooth 5

user $lspci | grep -i network

03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (rev 1a)

The kernel module to be loaded (or built in kernel) is iwlwifi.

Dedicated kernel microcode is also needed (see Kernel section)

Package net-wireless/wpa_supplicant can be emerged to easy handle Wi-Fi device.

Bluetooth support

Asus PN50 Bluetooth support may be found on USB bus.

user $lsusb | grep -i bluetooth

Bus 005 Device 003: ID 8087:0029 Intel Corp. AX200 Bluetooth

Package net-wireless/blueman can be emerged to easy handle Bluetooth device.

See also

• Ryzen — a multithreaded, high performance processor manufactured by AMD.
• AMDGPU — the next generation family of open source graphics drivers using the new Display Core (DC) framework for Vega, Raven Ridge and later GPUs. It is however also capable of handling newer AMD/ATI Radeon graphics cards based on GCN1.0+, namely the Southern Islands, Sea Islands, Volcanic Islands, and Arctic Islands chipsets.
• AMDGPU-PRO — the next generation closed source graphics component that operates on top of the open source AMDGPU drivers for newer AMD/ATI Radeon graphics cards.
• AMD microcode — describes updating the microcode for AMD processors.