USB Apple keyboard M2452 fiddly hid_generic

ceratophyllum · 2018-10-26 12:45:18

I know this keyboard is ancient, but I love the way it looks, the real, not chiclet keys, and the built-in USB ports placed where the ADB ports would be in the old days.

Problem is, at startup it often doesn't work. I think it is some conflict with another usb_this_and_that module because the keyboard is working at the grub menu, but does not work later when the login: prompt is reached. I'm just booting to console, no Xorg. Plugging and unplugging causes the caps lock light to blink on for a second but the keys still do not work.

The system is a Thinkpad T440p. Built-in keyboard and trackpad are working.

If I rmmod hid_generic and then modprobe hid_generic, the Apple keyboard starts to work. Sometimes I have to repeat this load/unloading 3 or four times before the keys start working. I tried moprobing hid_alps, and hid_logitech and sometimes it starts working, sometimes not. Once in a while, the keyboard just works w/o doing anything at all.

I have tested the keyboard on other systems and it is working normally.

I'm on the 4.14.78-1-lts kernel to avoid achey breaky ZFS updates.

>lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8008 Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 006: ID 3938:1047  
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 05ac:0201 Apple, Inc. USB Keyboard [Alps or Logitech, M2452]
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 05ac:1001 Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub [ALPS]
Bus 003 Device 005: ID 5986:0268 Acer, Inc 
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 8087:07dc Intel Corp. 
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

>lsmod | grep usb

usbhid                 57344  0
btusb                  53248  0
btrtl                  16384  1 btusb
btbcm                  16384  1 btusb
btintel                16384  1 btusb
bluetooth             626688  5 btrtl,btintel,btbcm,btusb
hid                   131072  3 usbhid,hid_alps,hid_generic
usbcore               286720  7 xhci_hcd,ehci_pci,usbhid,uvcvideo,ehci_hcd,btus,xhci_pci
usb_common             16384  1 usbcore

Last edited by ceratophyllum (2018-10-26 12:46:50)

Arch Linux

#1 2018-10-26 12:45:18

USB Apple keyboard M2452 fiddly hid_generic

Board footer