[SOLVED] New kernel driver for the BCM5974 touchpad (Macbook Air, Penryn)

Something simple to try: remove lirc and associated libs.

Why?

My MacBook Pro 4,1 USB hub has keyboard, touchpad and IR device on it.

Maybe lirc is messing up other devices on this bus?

It seems to have worked for me, but it is still early minutes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by philcolbourn

Something simple to try: remove lirc and associated libs.

Why?

My MacBook Pro 4,1 USB hub has keyboard, touchpad and IR device on it.

Maybe lirc is messing up other devices on this bus?

It seems to have worked for me, but it is still early minutes.

---

Hi Phil, (/me just back from holidays)

Good plan as such and I'm happy that it seems to work for you, but I don't even have lirc installed so it can hardly be the issue in my case. So far it has not showed up again (that is, it has only manifested twice) which makes identifying the cause tricky...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JonasPetersson

Hi Phil, (/me just back from holidays)

Good plan as such and I'm happy that it seems to work for you, but I don't even have lirc installed so it can hardly be the issue in my case. So far it has not showed up again (that is, it has only manifested twice) which makes identifying the cause tricky...

---

It was early minutes...

What I know: you need to have pm remove and re-install the bcm5974 module before and after sleep.

Add a file to /etc/pm/config.d that contains this:
SUSPEND_MODULES="bcm5974"

And... don't sleep with LibreOffice/OpenOffice running.

That's it. Something is badly wrong with LibreOffice/Nvidia/trackpad that causes LibreOffice to run slow when refreshing, the bcm5974 module can die and it seems to happen to those with Nvidia module installed.

I can go a whole day without the problem with LibreOffice running, and other days I have to kill LibreOffice and rmmod/modprobe bcm5974 if I forget and leave it running.

[unbuntu noob]hi, i am trying to install ubuntu v11 narwale on my macbook air 3,2
i made it through about 5 pages of this thread.

my tractpad is almost unusable. keep acting like i did a mouse click and doing unpredictable things generally.

did the driver update on the first page. then started reading all the code tweaks to get it to work (?).

so is there a simple - install this drive solution? or do i need to finish reading the 15pages of trial and error?

thanks.
[/unbuntu noob]

edit: just read this thread.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1799460
might just move on and look into a pc laptop or just go back to my old macbook pro that has unbuntu running (seemingly fine)

Hey all--trying to get this driver working on the new MacBookAir4,2.

I posted at xf86-input-mtrack: The Other Multitouch Trackpad Driver but now I'm wondering if I should have asked here.

dmesg doesn't give any indication of a problem but synclient -l says no driver loaded. I am having trouble trying to isolate who "owns" this problem--this kernel driver or the xorg driver.

Any tips/advice is appreciated.

Thanks!


Update: I made some minor modifications to bcm5974.c to add support for the MacBookAir4,2. The patch is available here; the deb and all other files are available as well.

I had some problems getting the driver to load (blacklisting usbhid didn't work) so I ended up using /etc/rc.local as a workaround. Suggestions welcome. (More details can be found in the MacBookAir4,1/2 thread.)

To solve:

bcm5974: could not read from device

edit /etc/default/grub
and change:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i8042.nopnp=1"


This will also make your touchpad settings persistent.

Hello,

I tried several suggestions like the one on the first page and doesn't work in Ubuntu 12.04. The system update fails and the later installation fails as well.

I have a MBP 5,2 and the touchpad works very badly. For all those desperate just plug any decent mouse and move on. I plugged in the Apple Mighty Mouse and works like a charm with right-click and everything. I also tried Logitech mouses and they work tip top too.

My advice ... "don't get too attached to things" :) be pragmatic and use a viable solution instead.

HTH,
Giovanni