pommed doesn't work on my 4th gen MacBook Pro 15"

[gorillayue]

Hey guys,
I know this has been the problem that is discussed over and over again, but I just want to confirm that if any one out there using MacBook Pro 4th iteration ( released on Feb 2008 ) could get pommed working on the new release Ubuntu 8.04 LST Hardy cuz apparently mine (pommed 1.15) doesn't do anything.

[emmeelle]

I have e macbook pro (last generation) and ubuntu 8.04:
pommed doesn't work!!!

So I cannot use special keys (sound, brightness, etc).

I hope this problem will be solved as soon as possible!!!

[cyberdork33]

use a newer version of pommed. It is available in the mactel-support PPA.

https://edge.launchpad.net/~mactel-support/+archive

[gorillayue]

Hi Cyberdork, I've tried pommed 1.16, here is what i got when trying to build it:

$ tar -zxvf pommed_1.16~mactel1.tar.gz
.
.
. (output from tar not shown)
$ cd pommed-1.16~mactel1/
$ make
make -C pommed OFLIB=
Package dbus-1 was not found in the pkg-config search path.
Perhaps you should add the directory containing `dbus-1.pc'
to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable
No package 'dbus-1' found
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/mike/pommed-1.16~mactel1/pommed'
gcc -g -O2 -Wall -DDBUS_API_SUBJECT_TO_CHANGE -I/usr/include/alsa -c -o pommed.o pommed.c
pommed.c:39:32: error: smbios/SystemInfo.h: No such file or directory
pommed.c: In function ‘check_machine_smbios’:
pommed.c:559: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘SMBIOSGetVendorName’
pommed.c:559: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast
pommed.c:573: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘SMBIOSFreeMemory’
pommed.c:579: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘SMBIOSGetSystemName’
pommed.c:579: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast
make[1]: *** [pommed.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/mike/pommed-1.16~mactel1/pommed'
make: *** [pommed] Error 2
$

[cyberdork33]

you have missing dependencies. you do not need t build it anyway. binaries are in the mactel-support ppa. you can add the repo or just go to launchpad and download it.

[gorillayue]

Under System > Preference > Keyboard > Layouts, if I choose Keyboard Model as 'MacBook/MacBook Pro (Intl), I got the error message window pops up:

Error activating XKB configuration.
It can happen under various circumstances:
- a bug in libxklavier library
- a bug in X server (xkbcomp, xmodmap utilities)
- X server with incompatible libxkbfile implementation

X server version data:
The X.Org Foundation
10400090

If you report this situation as a bug, please include:
- The result of xprop -root | grep XKB
- The result of gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd


Does it have anything to do with pommed ?

[gorillayue]

you have missing dependencies. you do not need t build it anyway. binaries are in the mactel-support ppa. you can add the repo or just go to launchpad and download it.

sorry man, could you explain it in a little more detail please?
I'm pretty ignorant about how this works. Also, it seems 1.16 hasn't been officially released yet. sudo apt-get install pommed can only get me 1.15 version of it

[cyberdork33]

sorry man, could you explain it in a little more detail please?
I'm pretty ignorant about how this works. Also, it seems 1.16 hasn't been officially released yet. I couldn't find pommed 1.16 in launchpad. Only 1.15 is there.
I was talking about the mactel-support ppa page in launchpad which I already linked to.
https://edge.launchpad.net/~mactel-support/+archive (https://edge.launchpad.net/%7Emactel-support/+archive)

you should see pommed 1.16 listed as in the ppa. Click the little triangle to expand the details and you can see several different package files.

Actually pommed 1.17 is out now I think.
http://alioth.debian.org/projects/pommed/

debian binaries are here:
http://packages.debian.org/lenny/i386/pommed/download
http://packages.debian.org/sid/amd64/pommed/download (http://packages.debian.org/lenny/i386/pommed/download)

[gorillayue]

I was talking about the mactel-support ppa page in launchpad which I already linked to.
https://edge.launchpad.net/~mactel-support/+archive (https://edge.launchpad.net/%7Emactel-support/+archive)

you should see pommed 1.16 listed as in the ppa. Click the little triangle to expand the details and you can see several different package files.

Actually pommed 1.17 is out now I think.
http://alioth.debian.org/projects/pommed/

debian binaries are here:
http://packages.debian.org/lenny/i386/pommed/download
http://packages.debian.org/lenny/i386/pommed/download

ok, i have successfully installed 1.16, but things stay the same ...

[seaward]

Hi,

I'm having the same problem. Having installed Pommed 1.6 using Synaptic Package Manager and the repository URL given above and then resetting just in case it might help, I get nothing but the normal function key responses.

Anyone got any more ideas on what to do here?

Oh, and the 1.17 release... I added the debian repo to my sources list but using Synaptic didn't bring up the 1.17 release as an option.

What's the best method for debugging a problem like this? (I'm extremely new to Ubuntu)

Cheers

[gorillayue]

Hi,

I'm having the same problem. Having installed Pommed 1.6 using Synaptic Package Manager and the repository URL given above and then resetting just in case it might help, I get nothing but the normal function key responses.

Anyone got any more ideas on what to do here?

Oh, and the 1.17 release... I added the debian repo to my sources list but using Synaptic didn't bring up the 1.17 release as an option.

What's the best method for debugging a problem like this? (I'm extremely new to Ubuntu)

Cheers


I have been playing around with with for long, and seems no progress. I guess maybe we should wait for the official release of 1.16 or 1.17 to come out. For the current 1.17, by the way, mine couldn't even let me install, saying my libasound get messed up in some sort, but I did install that thing. Oh well, I mainly use ubuntu for programming and work, so I guess no hotkey, no touchpad is not the end of the world for me. But if anyone could point me to the right path on solving this problem exclusive to MBP 4th gen, it would be very appreciated.

[cyberdork33]

I have been playing around with with for long, and seems no progress. I guess maybe we should wait for the official release of 1.16 or 1.17 to come out. For the current 1.17, by the way, mine couldn't even let me install, saying my libasound get messed up in some sort, but I did install that thing. Oh well, I mainly use ubuntu for programming and work, so I guess no hotkey, no touchpad is not the end of the world for me. But if anyone could point me to the right path on solving this problem exclusive to MBP 4th gen, it would be very appreciated.IDK what you mean by "official" but pommed 1.17 is the latest stable release...


apparently 1.17 has a dependency on a newer version of libasound that is not in the ubuntu repo.

[seaward]

Edit: Reinstalling Linux.

[seaward]

OK, cracked the sucker. Had to recompile the kernel as stated here: Bug #207127: FN Key Doesn't Work in Hardy With MacBook Pro Fourth Generation (https://bugs.launchpad.net/mactel-support/+bug/207127)

However, my Device ID was different from the one stated in the bug report. I discovered the correct ID with lsusb, which gave a list of all my Devices. I then checked the verbose lsusb output of each Apple device until I found the one corresponding to my keyboard and altered the hid-quirks.c file accordingly.

For the record, my keyboard was 0231, not 0230 as stated in the bug report.

It is also interesting to note that xev doesn't respond to the FN key being pressed even though it works fine for normal usage.

[cyberdork33]

OK, cracked the sucker. Had to recompile the kernel as stated here: Bug #207127: FN Key Doesn't Work in Hardy With MacBook Pro Fourth Generation (https://bugs.launchpad.net/mactel-support/+bug/207127)

However, my Device ID was different from the one stated in the bug report. I discovered the correct ID with lsusb, which gave a list of all my Devices. I then checked the verbose lsusb output of each Apple device until I found the one corresponding to my keyboard and altered the hid-quirks.c file accordingly.

For the record, my keyboard was 0231, not 0230 as stated in the bug report.

It is also interesting to note that xev doesn't respond to the FN key being pressed even though it works fine for normal usage.
Fn shouldn't have an output unless utilized along with another key. For example, Fn+F1 would have a different value than F1.

Please post your findings to that bug report if you haven't already.

[seaward]

Fn shouldn't have an output unless utilized along with another key. For example, Fn+F1 would have a different value than F1.

Aha, well that explains that then.

I am experiencing further odd behaviour since patching the kernel.


Muting sound stops brightness controls from working until reboot. Restarting Pommed daemon doesn't correct this.
UI skin for the Volume pop-up is different to the one used for Brightness.


EDIT:

Fixing number 2 is accomplished by going to System->Preferences->Keyboard Shortcuts and disabling the built-in Gnome volume controls.
Fixing number 1 is a little more complicated. Upon booting into Ubuntu, open a terminal and issue the following commands:

sudo killall -1 pommed
sudo pommed -f > /dev/null &
exit

Then run gpomme from Applications->Accessories->pommed GTK client.

This solution is definitely not ideal, as it needs to be performed every time the user boots into Ubuntu.

[jtslau]

Got pommed working on my Macbook Pro (4,1) Penryn, Hardy

First open and append the options file.
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options

Add the following at the end of the file, so that the Apple Device ID is finally added back in.

options usbhid quirks=0x05ac:0x0230:0x00000800,0x05ac:0x0231:0x00 024800,0x05ac:0x0232:0x00000800

Save and restart

Afterwards, add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list so that pommed 1.16 can be used:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mactel-support/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/mactel-support/ubuntu hardy main

exit and on the console, update apt and install/update pommed (and optionally gpomme):

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install pommed gpomme

This worked for me, hopefully it will work for you too. Note that this is only reiterating what everyone has contributed on this thread (and some other ones as well) Thanks.

[cyberdork33]

Afterwards, add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list so that pommed 1.16 can be used
Note, that I will likely be attempting to create some packages for pommed 1.18 which adds support for additional keyboards very soon.

[Jp81]

Got pommed working on my Macbook Pro (4,1) Penryn, Hardy

First open and append the options file.
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options

Add the following at the end of the file, so that the Apple Device ID is finally added back in.

options usbhid quirks=0x05ac:0x0230:0x00000800,0x05ac:0x0231:0x00 024800,0x05ac:0x0232:0x00000800
----


This fixed my keyboard problems, but I am still unable to start pommed. When I attempt to run pommed (v. 1.16), I get following error:
$ sudo pommed -d
Found 0 devices
E: No suitable event devices found

Edit. I got pommed working (had to use evdev as keyboard driver), but I still can't adjust screen brightness and keyboard backlight.

[seaward]

Hey jp, a good place to start debugging problems is to open a terminal window and kill the pommed daemon like so:
sudo killall -1 pommed

Then restart pommed in the foreground with debugging messages enabled by running
sudo pommed -d

Have a check through the output and see if there are any obvious problems being reported. Also, try pressing your various function keys while pommed is outputting to the terminal window and note any odd errors etc.

I actually have to run pommed in the foreground with logging enabled (sudo pommed -f) in order to get it to work properly.

[Jp81]

The problem occured, because I had blacklisted evdev. With kbd driver I can now adjust screen brightness. However I can't control the keyboard backlight with functions keys. When I press Fn+ F5 or FN+F6 neither xev nor pommed show any output.

[lat2005]

Guys,

I had also many problems and tried pommed in different ways(compiling etc.)

I stumpled upon this page for us, 4gen users:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MacBookPro/Penryn


I got the wireless working way before this, but the fn key never worked.
Doing what this page says fixed it perfect. Everything from delete to home and end.
Now, after I restarted, I went to synaptic, uninstalled everything related to pommed (search for it) and then reinstalled it. My fn key works and so does the control of everything such as brightness, volume etc.

[phico]

Tested on MBP 17" 4th gen

Screen light & sound works ok.

Keyb light does not work, I got this warning message :
Could not open /sys/class/leds/smc::kbd_backlight/brightness

Any idea ?

Thx

[cyberdork33]

Tested on MBP 17" 4th gen

Screen light & sound works ok.

Keyb light does not work, I got this warning message :
Could not open /sys/class/leds/smc::kbd_backlight/brightness

Any idea ?

Thx
What version of pommed are you using? Try the newest (not in the repos).

[phico]

Hi,

I was using 1.16

I have just compiled and tried 1.20 but I get the same behaviour :

I: DMI machine check: running on a MacBookPro4,1
W: Could not open /sys/class/leds/smc:kbd_backlight/brightness: No such file or directory
W: Could not open /sys/class/leds/smc::kbd_backlight/brightness: No such file or directory
E: Could not create timer: Function not implemented
E: Could not create timer: Function not implemented

Should I mention I run ubuntu 64 bit

[kosumi68]

The smc led is part of applesmc. Last time I checked there was support for the MacbookPro in applesmc, but perhaps something else differs between the penryn (4,1) and earlier versions. I had a similar problem with the MacbookAir, which required a patch of applesmc (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5200983&postcount=46).

[phico]

Hi,

I gave it a try recompiling the kernel with F5 F6 redefined but still don't work .. but you might be right it must be related

I posted here the procedure to install pommed 1.20 on a MPB 4th generation :

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=198453

(see function keys section)

[The_Doctor]

Hi,

I've got pommed v1.20 installed. Volume, eject, and screen brightness work, but keyboard backlight does not. lsmod shows the applesmc module is loaded (although I just loaded it after boot and put it in /etc/modules, maybe a reboot will help)

pommed -d reports the following when I hit the keyboard brightness keys:

KBD: inhibit clear 0x08 -> 0x00

pommed's developer's site didn't seem to have much info other than a websvn... is he/she aware of this problem?

[cyberdork33]

For the keyboard backlight, try this link... from the FAQ:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4437462