Introduction

This page explains how to install the kernel modules for the Keyboard, Audio, Touchbar and the Ambient Light sensor with DKMS. You will need a patched kernel.

Do you need to do this?

Is your keyboard working? If no, then you'll need the BCE module. If you have a Touchbar, is it working? If no, then you'll need the apple-ibridge module.

To get started with this guide, first install the dkms package.

You may have been using an outdated kernel or your distribution may have been using kernel modules that do not match the ones listed below (check using dkms status or ls -l /usr/src). If the version of apple-bce in the output is 0.1, you have to uninstall the old modules first to avoid any compatibility issues by running:

sudo dkms uninstall -m apple-bce -v 0.1
sudo dkms uninstall -m apple-ibridge -v 0.1
sudo rm -r /usr/src/apple-bce-0.1
sudo rm -r /usr/src/apple-ibridge-0.1
sudo rm -r /var/lib/dkms/apple-bce
sudo rm -r /var/lib/dkms/apple-ibridge

Installing modules

1. Installing the BCE (Buffer Copy Engine) module for Keyboard and Audio

   • If you are on arch, you can use Aunali1's apple-bce-dkms-git package

   • Otherwise, run sudo git clone https://github.com/t2linux/apple-bce-drv /usr/src/apple-bce-r183.c884d9c

     • Create a dkms.conf file in /usr/src/apple-bce-r183.c884d9c and put in the following:

       PACKAGE_NAME="apple-bce"
       PACKAGE_VERSION="r183.c884d9c"
       MAKE[0]="make KVERSION=$kernelver"
       CLEAN="make clean"
       BUILT_MODULE_NAME[0]="apple-bce"
       DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[0]="/kernel/drivers/misc"
       AUTOINSTALL="yes"
       

   • Now run sudo dkms install -m apple-bce -v r183.c884d9c. If on a live ISO, use sudo dkms install -m apple-bce -v r183.c884d9c -k x.x.x-mbp instead and change x.x.x-mbp to the kernel that you have installed, as by default dkms will try to build the module for the kernel that the live iso is using, which will most likely be older.

2. Installing the Touchbar and Ambient Light sensor modules

   • Run sudo git clone https://github.com/t2linux/apple-ib-drv /usr/src/apple-ibridge-0.1
   • Now run sudo dkms install -m apple-ibridge -v 0.1. If on a live ISO, use sudo dkms install -m apple-ibridge -v 0.1 -k x.x.x-mbp instead and change x.x.x-mbp to the kernel that you have installed, as by default dkms will try to build the module for the kernel that the live iso is using, which will most likely be older.

3. Load the modules into the kernel

   Note: This is only necessary if you wish to use the modules right away. If you are installing modules from a live iso the commands will fail as the modules have only been installed for the kernel you specified.

   sudo modprobe apple_bce
   sudo modprobe apple_ib_tb
   sudo modprobe apple_ib_als
   

The Touchbar and keyboard should work, for audio, you'll need some config files, refer to the Audio Config guide.

Make modules load on boot

Ubuntu users may skip this step as it's already set up in their distro. If the modules are still not loading on boot, then you may follow this section.

echo "apple-bce
apple-ib_tb
apple-ib-als
brcmfmac" >> /etc/modules-load.d/t2.conf

If you don't want (for example) the touch bar modules, you can ommit them from this command. brcmfmac is needed to use the internal wifi chip, refer to the wifi guide for details on how to set that up.

Module configuration

The Touchbar module offers some modes to set. In /etc/modprobe.d/apple-tb.conf, set fnmode (options apple-ib-tb fnmode=x) to one of the following options:

• 0: Only show F1-F12
• 1: Show media and brightness controls, use the fn key to switch to F1-12
• 2: Show F1-F12, use the fn key to switch to media and brightness controls
• 3: Only show media and brightness controls
• 4: Only show the escape key

Note :- Ubuntu has /etc/modprobe.d/apple-touchbar.conf added by default instead of /etc/modprobe.d/apple-tb.conf. Thus, its advised to rename apple-touchbar.conf to apple-tb.conf before editing.

Fixing Suspend

Copy this script to /lib/systemd/system-sleep/rmmod_tb.sh

Now run :-

sudo chmod 755 /lib/systemd/system-sleep/rmmod_tb.sh
sudo chown root:root /lib/systemd/system-sleep/rmmod_tb.sh

It unloads the Touchbar modules as they can cause issues for suspend.

Fixing broken Keyboard Backight controls

If the Keyboard Backlight is not getting adjusted using the keyboard keys, then pass the acpi_osi=linux kernel parameter. An example of passing a kernel paramter using GRUB on Ubuntu is given here.

Use ambient light sensor to automatically change brightness (if not working already)

You can use this script. Make sure you have the apple-ib-als module loaded.

Issues

The apple_ib_als module can cause issues, if you find your computer hanging at shutdown, or having BCE errors at boot, try blacklisting it sudo sh -c "echo blacklist apple-ib-als" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf or removing it from /etc/modules-load.d/t2.conf.