macbook pro (late 2016) keyboard/touchpad support

English Hardware
1

I was able to install Leap 15 on a late 2016 macbook pro 13-inch and everything is working except the keyboard and touchpad. I found a github project that describes how to get them working, but I think it may be specific to debian based distros:

https://github.com/cb22/macbook12-spi-driver

I tried to install dkms and the kernel headers and run

sudo dkms install applespi/0.1

But I get the error:

Your kernel headers for kernel 4.12.14-lp150.11-default cannot be found at
/lib/modules/4.12.14-lp150.11-default/build or /lib/modules/4.12.14-lp150.11-default/source.

I then tried to modify the makefile to correct the kernel directory, but dkms still gives the same error and make also fails.

I am in over my head on this one and have never messed with the kernel before. Does anyone know how to get this working for openSUSE? I would hate to have to install a different distro =(

Thanks

2

Update:

I found another github project that has better instructions on how to get the keyboard and touch-pad working:

https://gist.github.com/roadrunner2/1289542a748d9a104e7baec6a92f9cd7

I have been able to get the keyboard and touch-pad working on Kubuntu so at least the laptop is usable now, but I am still very interested if anyone knows how to adapt this for openSUSE Leap 15.

Thanks!

3

I had a quick look at this.The packages required for building can be installed with…

sudo zypper install git kernel-devel dkms

The dracut-related instructions should be ok.

I think this should be ok as is…

git clone https://github.com/roadrunner2/macbook12-spi-driver.git
pushd macbook12-spi-driver
git checkout touchbar-driver-hid-driver
sudo ln -s `pwd` /usr/src/applespi-0.1
sudo dkms install applespi/0.1
popd

See how far you can get, and come back if any further advice needed or issues encountered.

4

Hi
@OP it would e interesting to see the 4.18 kernel and how it goes. I would suggest grabbing a live USB release of Tumbleweed and boot from that (option key when booting and select the USB device). Some of those modules already exist in this kernel…

5

…or maybe try the current stable kernel perhaps?
https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/

6

I can get to:

sudo dkms install applespi/0.1

But it fails with:

Your kernel headers for kernel 4.12.14-lp150.11-default cannot be found at
/lib/modules/4.12.14-lp150.11-default/build or /lib/modules/4.12.14-lp150.11-default/source.

I noticed this line in the make file:

KDIR := /lib/modules/$(KVERSION)/build

So I attempted to point that to /use/src/… , but I ended up with the same error when running dkms install and a bunch of different errors when trying to run make directly. I am not sure these were appropriate things to try as I have not really learned make or dkms yet…

7

I will try tumbleweed again… I am pretty sure I tried it briefly on accident (instead of Leap 15) and had to use a usb keyboard and mouse, but I will try a full install and then run ```zypper dup``.

8

I’m recommending the package called “touchegg” to get the touchpad gestures working. There is also a gui package with it called “touchegg-gui”.
Use kernel 4.18x and higher. Kernel 5.0x is coming after kernel 4.19x!!

See: https://software.opensuse.org/search?utf8=✓&q=touchegg

Add this repository to your Tumbleweed Software Manager:

https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/X11:/Unity/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/

See video at: https://github.com/JoseExposito/touchegg

Good luck!

Roman

9

Likely ‘kernel-default-devel’ is not installed.

10

I had it installed. I have the entire kernel developer pattern installed.

11

Trying Tumbleweed now and it hangs on “loading initial ramdisk”.

Only happening with Tumbleweed from a usb stick and not with Leap 15… not sure what is different. I tried removing the “splash=silent” in the boot config but gained no new information…

12

Check the Tumbleweed ISO. Are the checksums the same?

13

Looks good


$ sha256sum -c openSUSE-Tumbleweed-DVD-x86_64-Snapshot20180820-Media.iso.sha256 
openSUSE-Tumbleweed-DVD-x86_64-Snapshot20180820-Media.iso: OK
sha256sum: WARNING: 14 lines are improperly formatted