Arch Linux

jcarneal

Member

Registered: 2016-01-25

Posts: 10

Keyboard not working on macbook with latest ISOs - No applespi?

Hello,

I am trying to install Arch Linux on a 2016 macbook air and I have downloaded both the Jan 1 and Feb 1 2022 ISOs.

When I boot with either of those I see the menu prompt to select a boot option for Arch, but no keys work at all on the board to select one or to hit enter.  Thus I am unable to actually boot into arch from the ISO.  I suspect that is because applespi, which is needed for these models, was not included in the latest ISOs.

Would appreciate if someone can confirm that and either suggest a fix or add the spi back to the ISO as appropriate.

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

[Edit - Also tried with a USB keyboard and still nothing]

Last edited by jcarneal (2022-02-02 15:38:53)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,657

Re: Keyboard not working on macbook with latest ISOs - No applespi?

The menu prompt at the beginning relies entirely on proper EFI/BIOS functionality of your mainboard, you are at the boot loader, no kernel is running there. Too unfamiliar with Macs to know whether you need to "sanction" device access somewhere.

jcarneal

Member

Registered: 2016-01-25

Posts: 10

Re: Keyboard not working on macbook with latest ISOs - No applespi?

Ah yes, that's true, so likely not applespi. 

However, I have confirmed that it's not a mac hardware thing because an old ISO I had laying around does work just fine.  I'll see if I can go back and figure out exactly where the ISOs stopped working, but I don't have any other ideas on what to test here.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,657

Re: Keyboard not working on macbook with latest ISOs - No applespi?

Could be a bug in a recent systemd-boot version but didn't find much on a quick look at the issue tracker.

Last edited by V1del (2022-02-02 16:17:27)

nl6720

The Evil Wiki Admin

Registered: 2016-07-02

Posts: 595

Re: Keyboard not working on macbook with latest ISOs - No applespi?

You should be able to boot by simply waiting (without pressing any keys) for the timeout of the default boot entry.

I have the same issue with my non-mac laptop.
It's possibly caused by https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/21772.

jcarneal

Member

Registered: 2016-01-25

Posts: 10

Re: Keyboard not working on macbook with latest ISOs - No applespi?

Whatever it is, it's a recent change.

archlinux-2021.12.01-x86_64.iso - works
archlinux-2022.01.01-x86_64.iso - does not work

Regarding the timeout boot option, that's also true (to a point).  Apparently if I just select the ISO EFI and touch nothing else a 15s timeout will appear and boot into the OS.  The keyboard even appears to work there!

However, the moment I press enter or an arrow key (or probably anything else), the 15s timeout disappears and it will not boot after any amount of time.

nl6720

The Evil Wiki Admin

Registered: 2016-07-02

Posts: 595

Re: Keyboard not working on macbook with latest ISOs - No applespi?

I reported it to upstream: https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/22428 .

jcarneal

Member

Registered: 2016-01-25

Posts: 10

Re: Keyboard not working on macbook with latest ISOs - No applespi?

Great, thanks very much everyone.

an4s911

Member

Registered: 2021-12-04

Posts: 8

Re: Keyboard not working on macbook with latest ISOs - No applespi?

Yes, I've had the same problem. Did anyone find any fix?

nl6720

The Evil Wiki Admin

Registered: 2016-07-02

Posts: 595

Re: Keyboard not working on macbook with latest ISOs - No applespi?

systemd 250.4-1, which contains the fix, is now in core, so archlinux-2022.04.01-x86_64.iso will work.

If you need a working ISO right now, grab one (that's from 2022-03-13 or newer) from the releng CI pipeline artifacts. E.g.: https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … x86_64.iso