8.04: Non-responsive touchpad on Penryn MacBook Pro

[cyberdork33]

It seems recompiling the Kernel to give Fn support is the culprit here. I am clearly missing something in the process. I cannot for the life of me imagine what it could be, though - I'm recompiling a generic Ubuntu kernel which matches the version in Update Manager. I've started the appletouch module but the touchpad still isn't registering.

Truly odd. If anyone has any suggestions for additions/changes I could try in order to get the touchpad working again, I would be very grateful.

Yea, I don't think appletouch makes a difference on these new pads either. I would guess from what info you have posted that there is some option not enabled in your compiled kernel that is in the ubuntu kernel (or a patch). Are you compiling the Ubuntu source?

[seaward]

I'm using the method as described in the Community Docs, under Kernel/Compile.

Basically,

sudo apt-get build-dep linux-image-$(uname -r)
apt-get source linux-image-$(uname -r)

Followed by a brief edit of the drivers/hid/usbhid/hid-quirks.c file to enable Fn functionality. Then it's on to:

debian/rules updateconfigs
sudo CONCURRENCY_LEVEL=2 AUTOBUILD=1 fakeroot debian/rules binary-generic

Finally, I install the freshly built debs with dpkg -i.

Are there other sources I should be building from?

As a brief aside, is there anyone tasked with creating a MacBook Pro 4th Gen page in the community docs? Is it necessary at this stage? If so, I'd like to help with the creation of it.

[cyberdork33]

Are there other sources I should be building from?

As a brief aside, is there anyone tasked with creating a MacBook Pro 4th Gen page in the community docs? Is it necessary at this stage? If so, I'd like to help with the creation of it.

You seem to be doing it right. seems strange.

there is no "4th gen page" yet. I added a note to the top of the Macbook Pro SantaRosa wiki page that shows the main differences, but nothing better has been written. It may just need to be a mod to the currrent page.

[_alex_]

Hey guys,

I'd be willing to chime in with helping create the page for the new Macbooks.

seaward, I found it easier to just use the hid modules from the compiled custom kernel to replace the ones in the generic kernel. That way the fn key works as well as the touchpad, in the sense that i can move the mouse and left click (scrolling and right clicking does not work however).

I've also been looking at the source to see if I can figure out how to issue a patch for the fn key that will work on all new Macbooks... If anyone wants to help out please let me know

[cyberdork33]

I've also been looking at the source to see if I can figure out how to issue a patch for the fn key that will work on all new Macbooks... If anyone wants to help out please let me know

Alex, I think I saw your post in the bug report on this. If you would like, I can approve you for a mactel-support team membership where you will have access to a ppa where you can upload packages for people to use. Is there anyway you can just define an array of IDs so that in the future, new IDs can just be added to the array and the keyboard supported?

[_alex_]

Alex, I think I saw your post in the bug report on this. If you would like, I can approve you for a mactel-support team membership where you will have access to a ppa where you can upload packages for people to use. Is there anyway you can just define an array of IDs so that in the future, new IDs can just be added to the array and the keyboard supported?

cyberdork33, that's pretty much how it is set up right now. The array is:
hid_blacklist[] in drivers/hid/usbhid/hid-quirks.c

Essentially the hid module checks if a quirk for the Vendor ID and corresponding Device ID exists, if so the quirks are applied.

As I describe in my recent post to the bug report, it's just a matter of adding the Keyboard Device IDs for the latest Macbooks (the ones with the multitouch touchpads). I just need to verify that I got the IDs right and then I can make a patch.

I'd be up for the mactel-support membership, although this patch really should go upstream as every distro is affected.

[cyberdork33]

Ok, from the code snippets I had seen, it looked like they were just defining single constants or something. I am no programmer

I'd be up for the mactel-support membership, although this patch really should go upstream as every distro is affected.

I am not saying that shouldn't be done... in fact, it should be the main goal. but until then, we can make changes available to Mac users...

These keyboard fixes do not seem to be high on the priority list at the moment. and some are even marked as 'triaged'. So it could be quite a while before they make it into the Ubuntu repos.

Whether you would like to post this patch there or not, it would really be helpful to have people with a understanding of linux code such as you helping out.

[_alex_]

Guys, success!!!

Here's how to get the fn key working without any patches / kernel recompiles:

If you have a Macbook Pro 4,1, add the following line to the end of /etc/modprobe.d/options:

options usbhid quirks=0x05ac:0x0230:0x00000800,0x05ac:0x0231:0x00004800,0x05ac:0x0232:0x00000800

If you have a Macbook Air, add the following line to the end of /etc/modprobe.d/options:

options usbhid quirks=0x05ac:0x0223:0x00000800,0x05ac:0x0224:0x00004800,0x05ac:0x0225:0x00000800

Reboot. Try deleting a file (fn+delete).

If this does not work for you let me know the output of "lsusb -v" so that I can add another option to the one above for your Keyboard Device ID.

Edit: Touchpad confirmed to work with the above.

Cheers,
Alex

[seaward]

_alex_, great stuff. Certainly the line added to /etc/modprobe.d/options makes the fn key work (with the change to 0x0231 on my comp) however, I lose the touchpad after adding the line and rebooting. Unbelievable. I would love to find someone else with the International Keyboard Layout to see if the same is happening to them.

Anyway, the fix you've come up with speeds up the process of switching between having touchpad and fn compatibility considerably. And also means I don't have to use a recompiled kernel. Many thanks!

EDIT: I've appended the instructions provided to the Santa Rosa MacBook Pro wiki page, where the other Penryn revisions are. It's getting a bit crowded up there, so I'll have a go at putting together a Wiki page purely for the 4th gen MBP when I get some free time this evening.

[cyberdork33]

Here's how to get the fn key working without any patches / kernel recompiles:

Add the following line to the end of /etc/modprobe.d/options:

options usbhid quirks=0x05ac:0x0230:0x00024800

Reboot. Try deleting a file (fn+delete).

GREAT PROGRESS!

_alex_, great stuff. Certainly the line added to /etc/modprobe.d/options makes the fn key work (with the change to 0x0231 on my comp) however, I lose the touchpad after adding the line and rebooting. Unbelievable. I would love to find someone else with the International Keyboard Layout to see if the same is happening to them.

Well that is actually very interesting as we now know that adding the ID is what is killing the touchpad.... Just curious, what is your touchpad ID?