keyboard not working on microsoft surface laptop 2

[AVLinux]

no on board keyboard on live or once installed
thought once installed that it would just be a different keyboard layout
the above is the text copied

OK..

Well in doing some looking around and Googling, its a pretty common issue with Linux Distributions and the MS Surface... It would appear there are some specific hardware requirements that need to be enabled in the Kernel and I would guess our AVL-MXE Kernel is not targeted specifically to support the Surface, the Linux Kernel is pretty miraculous in the the amount of Hardware it supports from new machines all way back to machines that are 10-15 years old but that doesn't mean there are not some Gaps especially in something as specialized as Microsoft's flagship PC..

So here is a fairly recent post about a similar problem in Ubuntu: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1254696 ... e-laptop-3

The solution it points to indicates installing a 3rd party Kernel that is dedicated and set up for the Surface.. I can't really vouch for this or condone it because I don't know anything about it and if you are to do this you may have problems or you may find that the hardware on your Surface is supported well but the tuning of the Kernel is not great for doing Multimedia work which is the whole purpose of AVL-MXE..

Here is an interim thing you can try... unfortunately I'm kind of throwing you in the deep end as a new user but it's not terribly difficult. I'm going to suggest you try an alternate Kernel in AVL-MXE called the 'Liquorix' Kernel, here's how to do that.. You may need a USB keyboard or something to use with the Surface that you have installed AVL-MXE on, you are also going to need internet access, if that is possible, if not we're DOA..

- To do this... Go to the Menu-->System-->Synaptic Package Manager

- You will be asked to put in the 'root' password you set up when you installed AVL-MXE and then Synaptic Package Manager will open..

- Hit the 'Reload' button in the top left corner and let it finish downloading the Package information..

- In the 'Quick filter' search for this exact phrase: 'linux-image-liquorix-amd64' and you will see a list of Packages with similar names, scroll down until you find these exact packages:
*NOTE they appear as already installed on the particular system I'm posting this from..

liquorix.png

- Once you find them, select both the 'headers and image' packages and check them off to install..

- Hit 'Apply' in the upper left corner and allow Synaptic to retrieve and install them until it completes.

- Reboot the Surface and it should automatically boot the newly installed Liquorix kernel and then you can see if it has the necessary drivers for the Surface keyboard and we can go from there..

[wangers88]

ok can try tomorrow its midnight here in Australia
Thank you
have

[SwampRabbit]

@AVLinux Wouldn’t installing that kernel be much easier using MX Package Installer > Popular Apps > kernels?

Could be a lot easier solution for a newcomer since it’s less steps.

Or did I miss something in the thread?

[AVLinux]

@AVLinux Wouldn’t installing that kernel be much easier using MX Package Installer > Popular Apps > kernels?

Could be a lot easier solution for a newcomer since it’s less steps.

Or did I miss something in the thread?

No reason, just long established Debian Habits.. I'm still adapting myself, for single package seek and destroy I still am more used to Synaptic. For blanket updating and grabbing Test or Backports stuff I use MXPI. Either way you have to open an app and search for the item I suppose..

[SwampRabbit]

No reason, just long established Debian Habits.. I'm still adapting myself, for single package seek and destroy I still am more used to Synaptic. For blanket updating and grabbing Test or Backports stuff I use MXPI. Either way you have to open an app and search for the item I suppose..

Gotcha, wasn't sure if the Liquorix kernel from the repo you have added to AVL-MXE might be newer or include anything else.

Kinda surprised that the keyboard doesn't work OOTB on the Surface 2.

[cinclus]

I am at building a 1000HZ-surface-kernel based on sketchy instructions (and having no understanding of the git-system):

https://github.com/linux-surface/linux- ... rom-Source

If success I shall report back.

[cinclus]

Success! I shall writeup later my notes. Never built a kernel without any problems such as this one. But instead of using the kernel from the git repository I used the 5.10.38 kernel source from the MX test repository and patched it with the surface patch-set. After merging the surface configuration fragment only changed the timer ticks and preemption configuration.

[JayM]

Please include a subsection with step-by-step instructions for configuring and compiling the kernel in your write-up, if you don't mind. I haven't done that since Linux kernels were still monolithic and best practice after installing a Linux system was to custom-configure the kernel for your computer, and I think it would be fun to try that again one day.

[cinclus]

You can find general information on the support of the different Surface devices by a Surface kernel:

https://github.com/linux-surface/linux- ... ure-matrix

My build environment was a fresh hard disk Installation from MX-19.4_May_x64.iso on a generic Intel platform (Asus H97M-Plus).

First install from MX-Testrepo the packages linux-source-5.10 and linux-config-5.10.

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alt_user@MX194MAY:~
$ cd /usr/src

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src
$ sudo xz -d linux-config-5.10/config.amd64_none_amd64.xz

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src
$ sudo cp linux-config-5.10/config.amd64_none_amd64 linux-source-5.10/.config

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src
$ sudo apt install build-essential binutils-dev libncurses5-dev libssl-dev ccache bison flex libelf-d

*)

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src
$ sudo tar xf linux-source-5.10.tar.xz 

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src
$ cd linux-source-5.10

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src/linux-source-5.10
$ sudo make menuconfig

To select the timer frequency 1000Hz, go to Processor type and features>Timer frequency
To select the preemption model, go to General Setup Preemption model: Preemptible Kernel (Low-Latency Desktop)

Exit and save the new configuration.

For a warmup and to test if everything is setup correctly before building a patched kernel I have built the generic 5.10 kernel:

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src/linux-source-5.10
$ sudo make -j `getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN` bindeb-pkg test

Now for building the patched kernel you need the set of surface patches and the specific configuration fragment for the patches, both of which I have downloaded first to my local Download directory.

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux ... .10.config

**)
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux ... oemb.patch

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux ... wifi.patch

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux ... ipts.patch

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux ... -gpe.patch

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux ... -hid.patch

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux ... -sam.patch

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux ... plug.patch

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux ... over.patch


N.B. I did not use the patches 0009xy - 0011xy from:

https://github.com/linux-surface/linux- ... tches/5.10

Apply each path:

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src/linux-source-5.10
$ sudo patch -p1 < ~/Downloads/0001-surface3-oemb.patch
...
alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src/linux-source-5.10
$ sudo patch -p1 < ~/Downloads/0008-surface-typecover.patch

Merge the surface configuration fragment:

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src/linux-source-5.10
$ sudo ./scripts/kconfig/merge_config.sh .config ~/Downloads/surface-5.10.config

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src/linux-source-5.10
$ sudo make clean

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alt_user@MX194MAY:/usr/src/linux-source-5.10
$ sudo make -j `getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN` bindeb-pkg surface

PS. *) Forgot to write-up the command for extraction of the kernel-source. Added.
PPS. **) The URL-markups of the download-links went wrong. Corrected

[wangers88]

finally got onto network and that keeps failing to
sorry to bother you guys
also do you have a on screen keyboard installed in the operating system as that could help if others get into problems
...this laptop was found 6 months ago so no great loss.. but it would have good as a second laptop to try things out on