ASUS ROG Ally X Audio Support Being Fixed Up Ahead Of Linux 6.12

In addition to the ASUS ROG Ally X revision of this handheld gaming console having more (and faster) system memory, doubling of the battery capacity, upgraded storage, improved cooling, and other refinements over the original ROG Ally gaming handheld, there is a different audio amplifier. In turn a Linux kernel patch is needed to fix-up the audio support on the ASUS ROG Ally X as well as needing to fetch a new firmware binary.

Queued yesterday into the Linux sound subsystem's "for-next" Git branch is this patch to fix the audio support on the ASUS ROG Ally X handheld. The patch message explains:

"This patch enables the TI TAS2781 amplifier SoC for the ASUS ROG ALLY X. This is a design change from the original ASUS ROG ALLY, creating the need for this patch. All other Realtek Codec settings seem to be re-used from the original ROG ALLY design (on the ROG ALLY X). This patch maintains the previous settings for the Realtek codec portion, but enables the I2C binding for the TI TAS2781 amplifier (instead of the Cirrus CS35L41 amp used on the original ASUS ROG ALLY)."

That patch is in sound.git's for-next branch rather than the fixes branch, thus expected to appear in the Linux 6.12 cycle rather than the ongoing v6.11 cycle.

In addition to needing that kernel patch, a new firmware blob is required for the ROG Ally X audio too. The patch message adds:

"One other requirement must be met for audio to work on the ASUS ROG ALLY X. A proper firmware file in the correct location with a proper symlink. We had reached out to TI engineers and confirmed that the firmware found in the Windows' driver package has a GPL license. Bazzite Github is hosting this firmware file for now until proper linux-firmware upstreaming can occur. https://github.com/ublue-os/bazzite

This firmware file should be placed in /usr/lib/firmware/ti/tas2781/TAS2XXX1EB3.bin with a symlink to it from /usr/lib/firmware/TAS2XXX1EB3.bin"

So look for that fixed up audio support in Linux 6.12. That goes along with other ASUS ROG Ally X Linux quirks and other driver support work we've been seeing the past few weeks.

Separately, as of yesterday in the sound subsystem's for-next branch is HP G12 laptop audio support should you be using one of those newer HP laptops.