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.
 
FreeBSD-14.1-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img
GhostBSD-24.04.1.iso
dfly-x86_64-6.4.0_REL.iso
kali-linux-2024.2-live-everything-amd64.iso
 
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.
 
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