Pinephone keyboard: How to unloading kb151 module to allow the user land driver to fu

[talpa]

Hello

On my pinephone running mobian (unstable) the kb151 kernel module is automatically loaded
and makes the keyboard sort of functional if it is connected while the phone is switched on.

However I can't figure out how to press the F keys (required to switch to another VT for instance to run sway)

ppkb-i2c-inputd on the other hand allow me to use the F keys, only on caveat:

I have so far not been able to get ppkb-i2c-inputd to function (it does nothing) unless I'm connecting the keyboard after the phone has booted
(which is probably quite risky as the phone is powered on)

rmmod kb151 isn't enough it seems

My question: Does any one know how to switch from kb151 to the user land ppkb-i2c-inputd driver?

Regards Visti

[vgnmnky]

Did you manage to figure this out? It's surprising that so few people are posting about not being able to use F1 to F10 (eg F5 for refresh). Is it actually fine for most people?

[talpa]

Both no and yes

No because I still don't know how to dynamically unload the kb151 module and getting the user land driver to work.

Yes because blacklisting the module in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf by adding a "blacklist kb151" enables me to use the userland driver after a reboot

I have also tried to add  kb151.disable_input to the kernel parameters as suggested by megi's blog post: https://xnux.eu/log/#058 
I did this by adding it to U_BOOT_PARAMETERS in /etc/default/u-boot then running u-boot-update and after a reboot confirming that it was added by examining /proc/cmdline

For some reason this wasn't enough and I then tried to outright blacklisting the module which work even if being somewhat static

[delib]

"My question: Does any one know how to switch from kb151 to the user land ppkb-i2c-inputd driver?"

i2c is apparently not yet in the PPP kernal.  A pine64 person has mentioned needing to work on this in the next few days. (from IRC: #mobian channel on OFTC)

[Zebulon Walton]

I've found the userland driver works fine if you blacklist the kb151 module so it never loads and run ppkb-i2c-inputd from a systemd unit file or other means. However if the kb151 module is loaded, the userland driver won't work even after kb151 is unloaded from the kernel. (This is on the regular Pinephone running Mobian, not the Pro.)

About the only downside I see to blacklisting kb151 is that the hardware keyboard cannot be used to enter the unlock key if you are using full disk encryption. Given the choice though I prefer to unlock the drive with the onscreen keyboard and have the better key mapping when userpace loads up.