Installing FreeBSD on Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 - Loss of Keyboard Functionality During Boot

gladiola

gladiola

I have pulled an SSD out of a working Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 and replaced it with a fresh one. I am attempting to install BSD. However, when I do the install, I lose on-box keyboard functionality. I can still provide keyboard input through an external USB keyboard.

Have you installed BSD on a Microsoft Surface Laptop 4? How did you get past this problem?

REF: https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Microsoft_Surface_Laptop_4_(15-inch)#Section_Technical_Specifications
Attempted a GhostBSD install, and it also failed similarly.
I was able to get Kali Everything Live to work on the machine on first boot. The hunt begins.
DragonflyBSD failed to boot at all.
Back to FreeBSD. We can see a kbd0 and a kbd1 in dmesg. There is also a kbdmux mentioned.
 
There were so many proprietary driver problems with the wifi, keyboard, and trackpad that kicked in when any kind of installer was run that I gave up. This equipment was probably a huge rip-off for the first owner. Purchasing this level of vendor lock-in is just a waste. Once again, we can't recommend Windows products for much else than pentesting targets.

Thanks for your time.
 
I think the issue isnt 1 is just 1 of those problems... take a blu vivo 5 mini for example and a microsoft surface now if i:
#clicks #add: have 3 sequential and the first one doesnt work , that would be the issue with a System on a Chip, they have
their own BIOS, they have their own Embedded_Program, but atop of the BSD Driver you'd ALSO have to be able to support
whatever Chip it actually is therefore resulting in however many different Kernel-Ports just like it is with the Android-Kernel,
theres no Magic Solution: well there is its the same thing its just thats whats going on..... The CPU is the DSP , the DSP uses another DSP ,
 

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gladiola said:
Have you installed BSD on a Microsoft Surface Laptop 4? How did you get past this problem?
Click to expand...
I've run into the same issue with FreeBSD with a Surface Pro 5, and assumed it was the detachable keyboard.

Having had lots of experience with Linux on these damn devices, I was not interested in banging my head against a wall further; it continues to run a patched Linux kernel and Chimera or Void Linux. You need to incorporate the Surface Linux project patches (or some of them) for many Surface devices in order to have reliable resume from sleep without locking up the wifi chip or the whole device at times. Camera support on my device is non-existent, too.
 
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