Clevo P150EM/P170EM Sager NP9150/9170 backlit keyboard driver beta testers needed

Yes you can install the deb like that but if you are on ubuntu you can use the ppa ( this way you can check updates automatically )

open terminal and digit: sudo clevokbledui

that's it

 

Yea I tried using the ppa which I did the following

Code:

george@george-P15xEMx:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fortune-c/ppa-fortune
[sudo] password for george: 
You are about to add the following PPA to your system:
 
 More info: https://launchpad.net/~fortune-c/+archive/ppa-fortune
Press [ENTER] to continue or ctrl-c to cancel adding it

gpg: keyring `/tmp/tmpiEGWbC/secring.gpg' created
gpg: keyring `/tmp/tmpiEGWbC/pubring.gpg' created
gpg: requesting key 5523841E from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: /tmp/tmpiEGWbC/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
gpg: key 5523841E: public key "Launchpad PPA for Fabrizio Fortunato" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1  (RSA: 1)
OK
george@george-P15xEMx:~$ sudo su
root@george-P15xEMx:/home/george# echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/fortune-c/ppa-fortune/ubuntu quantal main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
root@george-P15xEMx:/home/george# echo "deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/fortune-c/ppa-fortune/ubuntu quantal main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
root@george-P15xEMx:/home/george# exit
exit
george@george-P15xEMx:~$ sudo apt-get update
------------------------Bunch of unneeded output---------------------------------
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/fortune-c/ppa-fortune/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/source/Sources  404  Not Found

W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/fortune-c/ppa-fortune/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/binary-amd64/Packages  404  Not Found

W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/fortune-c/ppa-fortune/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/binary-i386/Packages  404  Not Found

E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
george@george-P15xEMx:~$ 

So that's why I ended up using the deb rather than trying to figure why I was getting 404's

 

On my Malibal after rebooting Ubuntu /sys/devices/platform/clevo_wmi is gone? I reinstalled, rebooted again and the same thing? Is there a reason for this?

Thanks again for the hard work

 

The ppa has only a deb-package for Ubuntu 12.10 (quantal). You are using 12.04 (precise), that's why you are gretting the 404 Errors...

 

How are you loading the module after reboot?

You have to set up you distribution to install the module on every boot. That "insmod" command has to happen somewhere. Many distributions have a way to "autoload" modules on bootup. What you are experiencing is perfectly normal.

Also on bootup the module right now only knows to make the keyboard dark blue (default for me) so we still need to make some scripts to save/restore the state on reboot. (It works on suspend/wakeup)

 

Yeah that's something i would add on the UI, have you managed to install via alien?

 

Sorry I have not even looked. I don't know what alien is. I want to check it out it's just that I work full time (40 hours a week) and am a part time PhD student and have midterms this week and next week so I am just so stressed out I can't stand it. I promise you I will look and get back to you. I was hoping someone would make a UI so I am eager to see it.

 

BTW: installing and using your GUI worked for me (through the ppa)

 

Was looking for someone to say that Thank you ^^
Anyway i got second release now you can get it from github or ppa.
I've added support for saving current state of left/middle/right regions colors and brightness ( till now )
Enjoy ^^

 

Well that makes a lot of sense made an edit to my /etc/rc.local and now that module is loaded at boot been a while since I've messed with anything like this

So now I have my keyboard state restored after a reboot/sleep, I have all my animations and colors I had on my windows partition so I'm a happy camper now thanks to everyone who helped make this happen!

 

No problem. Glad you are enjoying it!

 

@klystron34, did you have time to look into the bluetooth bug yet?
BTW: turning off Wifi doesn't work either.

 

No time yet. I just finished my midterm yesterday then I have a project due Monday. Then I need to finish side work by the end of next week. Then hopefully I'll have time for that.

You can turn off the LAN with /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 stop on my machine. That actually turns off the light. But yes, the hotkey does not work.

 

How do you send the code to turn bluetooth off, is that an acpi-call?

 

klystron34 - Thanks a ton for this, it built and works perfectly on Arch Linux 64bit, currently 3.7.10-1 kernel.
izifortune - I tried getting the UI working but got several python errors, I fixed a few but ended up over my head. I'm guessing it's some issue with python on my lappy. I'll pull it again at a later date and see if it wants to work out.

Thanks for the effort you both put in on this, it's great to get the keyboard lights back on after waking from sleep without having to hit the fn key combo,\as well as being able to change the lighting

 

@corpdecker, could you check if you have the bluetooth/wifi-bug where bluetooth and wifi can't be turned off with kernel 3.7 and newer. Thanks

 

You're welcome.

 

Thank you so much klystron34. You are the MAN! *brofist*

I wanted to do this, but I didn't even know where to start, let alone how to proceed. Awesome job too, it works without a hitch.

I was able to successfully get this installed on Ubuntu 12.04. I'm currently running kernel 3.5.0-26.

To help and give back a little something to the internet community, I've posted a tutorial on how to get the module loaded over on the askubuntu forums.

Thanks again!

 

You're welcome. Thanks for the thanks.

 

Here's a neat trick I just enabled:
Anytime my screensaver turns on, I have my keyboard flash in a pattern.
When I disable the screensaver, the keyboard goes back to normal.

Here's how I did it. These instructions are for Ubuntu, but can probably be modified for your distro of choice.

1) Install Cuttlefish

2) Create a script in ~/bin/ called " keyboard-pattern-on.sh". It should contain the following code:

Code:

#! /bin/bash
echo 1 >| /sys/devices/platform/clevo_wmi/kbled/left_right

3) Create a script in ~/bin/ called " keyboard-pattern-off.sh". It should contain the following code:

Code:

#! /bin/bash
echo 1 >| /sys/devices/platform/clevo_wmi/kbled/pattern_off

4) Make sure both of the scripts are executable (chmod u+x _name>)

5) Add this line to the bottom of the file: /etc/sudoers

Code:

ALL ALL=NOPASSWD: /home/*PUT-YOUR-USERNAME-HERE*/bin/keyboard-pattern-on.sh, /home/*PUT-YOUR-USERNAME-HERE*/bin/keyboard-pattern-off.sh

6) Test the scripts. After step 5, you should be able to execute the scripts with sudo without having to supply a password (sudo /home/*PUT-YOUR-USERNAME-HERE*/bin/keyboard-pattern-on.sh). (I'm not sure, but you might have to logout and then log back in. Also, make sure you use the full pathname for the file )

7) Create a Cuttlefish "Reflex"
-Give it a name like "Keyboard Pattern - ON"
-"Show Notification" = No
-"Activated by Stimulus" = Yes
-Click the button next to "Stimulus"
-Category = "Screensaver", Type = "Screen is locked", Click OK
-Click on "Reaction" tab
-Click the "+" sign to add a reaction
-Category = "Applications", Type = "Start application (advanced) mode"
-Click "OK"
-"Executable" = /usr/bin/sudo
-"Parameters" = /home/*PUT-YOUR-USERNAME-HERE*/bin/keyboard-pattern-on.sh
-Click "Back"

8) Create a Cuttlefish "Reflex"
-Give it a name like "Keyboard Pattern - OFF"
-"Show Notification" = No
-"Activated by Stimulus" = Yes
-Click the button next to "Stimulus"
-Category = "Screensaver", Type = "Screen is unlocked", Click OK
-Click on "Reaction" tab
-Click the "+" sign to add a reaction
-Category = "Applications", Type = "Start application (advanced) mode"
-Click "OK"
-"Executable" = /usr/bin/sudo
-"Parameters" = /home/*PUT-YOUR-USERNAME-HERE*/bin/keyboard-pattern-off.sh
-Click "Back"

If all has gone according to plan, whenever you enable your screensaver (CTRL + ALT + L), the keyboard pattern will start. Whenever you unlock your screensaver, the keyboard pattern will stop.
Good Luck!

 

Hi klystron34

I just found out about this module yesterday. Kudos to you, this is amazing. I have tried packaging it in RPM format for openSuSE linux with dkms support (may work with other rpm based distros also, I dont know), they can be found in my repo here:
Index of /repositories/home:/wildnux

(exact url for opensuse 12.3 where you can see the rpm: Index of /repositories/home:/wildnux/openSUSE_12.3/noarch)

Do you give permission to package and keep this module in the repo there? I just want to make sure that you are OK with this. Please let me know if I should make any changes there, or if i am not supposed to package it. I will take it down immediately.

1. I renamed the directory to clevo_wmi
2. I added one text file named version with just "20130306" as content. (its not used anywhere, i just left it there)
3. I added dkms.conf file with the following contents:

PACKAGE_NAME="clevo_wmi"
PACKAGE_VERSION="20130306"
MAKE[0]="make KVERSION=$kernelver"
CLEAN="make clean"
BUILT_MODULE_NAME[0]="clevo_wmi"
DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[0]="/kernel/drivers/acpi"
AUTOINSTALL="yes"

 

Not a problem. I released it under the GPL so yuo can freely distribute it. I would have released it under the BSD license but the kernel nazis allow module authors to export things to GPL only licenses. In this case, the WMI stuff.

Anyway, enjoy! I just like my name on things is all. Good for my career.

 

I had added klystron34 as Author.. I found your name in the c file, so added it

 

I really apologize to interfere, but i am a beginner and i read the whole thread but it seems to be like a foreign language what you are talking here. I cannot change the keyboard colors with an hotkey control program (the colors are stuck in red) in my Clevo P150em. Perhaps I shouldnt have asked you due to my lack of knowledge but i am really grateful if you could refer me something. This is the program but it wont work properly to me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lj7ispiHXk
I apologize and thank you again!

 

Fatbardh,

This thread is for people changing keyboard colors with a Linux driver I wrote to enable this functionality since Clevo/Sager do not support Linux.

I booted Windows windows however and tested the KB hotkey driver and had success with it. I can tell you that the default colors should be blue. To test this, please unplug your laptop and remove the battery for 30 seconds and put it back in, then reboot. The keyboard should come up blue. If it comes up red then I think you have a problem with your keyboard.

The reason you unplug the battery is the keyboard colors are controlled with the embedded firmware in a microcontroller that is outside of our control. I have had this microcontroller freeze up on me while trying to talk to it in the past to get the keyboard to work and had to pull the battery in order to get the computer to boot up again.

Hopefully your "stuck on red" problem is just a glitch in the microcontroller and pulling the battery will allow it to reset and you will be good again!

 

I have a new Clevo p170em laptop and a xubuntu13.04 installed system on it and only the blue colour works as a keyboard background illumination, with win8 there were more colours.
So, I am really hopeful that you guys have resolved this issue, however frankly I am illiterate in programming and in linux kernel. So is there any chance for me to get these leds working? I tried the PPA version, but it failed to install anything.
Thank you so much for your effort and help!

 

Maybe the PPA guy can help you. My guess is that it installs the kernel module. Try installing it and then typing "sudo modprobe clevo_wmi" and then "lsmod" to see if it shows up in the list. If it does it should be working. Read up earlier in the thread to find out how to access the LEDs.

 

@klystron34: any news on our bluetooth problem?

 

I posted that I had figured out how to turn it off, but actually,I haven't. It shuts off for a moment then comes back on. When it does it's like inserting a usb device and all the modules for it get loaded again. That's really weird....

Update: The really weird thing is it's timed. Sometimes it does nothing, and sometimes it shuts off for a whole second and then comes back on. The fact that the kernel will detect it as a new device being inserted (the bluetooth hciX count keeps going up. I'm on 10 now.) means that I think the EC is doing it.

 

sounds like the same behaviour, as when pushing Fn+F12 (same with Wifi)

What do you mean by EC?

 

EC is embedded controller. The super I/O chip has an embedded intel MCU. I forget what instruction set it's compatible with, but it's there. When I was figuring out the keyboard stuff I had disassembled it.

What kernel did the BT stuff work witih last?

BTW, nothing at all happens when I hit fn+f12.

 

Testposting, because I can't go to page 9 anymore...

 

Try clearing your browser's cache or change your posts per page layout in your NBR settings.

 

Works again

It worked last with 3.6.0 (all minor releases like 3.6.11 work too)
It's broken since 3.7.0rc1

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1131976

 

Pete,

I do not see any difference in the ACPI stuff. I am wondering if it has something to do wtih USB code. I find it interesting that when I send the WMI command to turn off BT dmesg shows USB remove/insert. Perhaps the EC is expecting the OS not to rescan if that key is hit? I don't see any events for it being hit, though. That is something I haven't figured out yet.

I am stumped on the BT problem, pete. My suspicion is one of the standard ACPI commands to acquire control of something is also disabling this functionality. I also can't use the soft key on the wifi, either. However if I stop my wifi stuff in software the light goes out.

Anybody tried this driver on the new clevo models that came out recently?

 

AFAIK multi-device mPCIe cards (WiFi + BT) work by having the WiFi take over the PCI 'standard' connectors and the BT take over the USB data connectors supplied by the standard (check a pinout of mPCIe and you will see they have a USB Data+ and Data-); this means the BT card is actually a USB device (just that it draws 3.3v rather than 5v), which can set the culprit on the USB changes

Give it a look, I still don't have a Clevo laptop but would very much like seeing fixes for them and everything mostly working before I get mine

Does someone have a patch between the latest working kernel (3.6.11 I believe) and 3.7.0rc1?? I'm on holiday and don't have a proper linux machine one me and would very much like to avoid downloading both and Diff'ing then on my phone

 

maybe we should try to bisect the kernel, to find the bluetooth bug.
but my Clevo P150EM is in for repair right now

 

Hi!

Just reporting in to say that the module works under gentoo with kernel 3.12.6.

Thanks!

 

Same here

But were you able to turn off Bluetooth (including the LED) with software too?

 

Hello, is this driver possibly going to work on a Clevo P177sm?

If so, how I should install it? I've never installed a driver before!

Thanks!

 

Hello,

I have recently bought a Clevo P150SM-A and I've used this driver to successfully use the backlight. However we only functions that are working are the "random", "LeftRight", "randomflicker", "singlefade", "outmid" and "pattern off".

Brightness, choosing a specific color for a specific part of the keyboard and the FN+/ (or FN+* FN+- FN++) are not working.

If I manually change the "random" for example with sudo su -c 'echo 1 > random' it works fine, my keyboard shows random patterns.

If I change "left" with sudo su -c 'echo 100 > left' the left side doesn't change at all.

I'm willing to help with some testing as I'd really like to improve this driver to work fine on the P150SM as well

P.S. I'm on Ubuntu 14.04 and I've compiled this from the source.

Thank you!

 

Big thanks for this valuable driver !

Will test it as soon as I have a backlit clevo

 

I have the same problem.
Sager NP8268-S (Clevo P150SM-A) and using Fedora 20

P.S. is it possible to burn out the backlight by playing around with values in "raw"? Because after trying a few values for a minute or two, mine stays off now no matter what I do...
P.P.S. nevermind -- problem lingered after reboot, but not after hard power cycle

 

I have the Clevo P170SM-A and I just installed the repo provided by wildnux and I installed the package dkms-clevo_wmi. How do change the colors on my keyboard now? I just download opensuse 2 days ago and i have it dual booted with windows 7, but i would really prefer to spend all my time on linux and this dark blue backlight gets really boring and kind of annoying at times. to be honest I don't even know what I installed but the summary said "Support for clevo laptop (P1xOEM and others) backlit keyboard/WMI. Is there also a UI that goes with the support or am i going to need to do something in the konsole. Any help will be appreciated, please and thank you.

 

I've just compiled and installed the module. I can see all of the drivers in the proper location (/sys/devices/platform/clevo_wmi/kbled), I can change the values in the files with sudo su -c 'echo 1 > random' and the like and I can see the values changing in the Caja window (I'm in Linux Mint 17 Mate) but nothing changes for the keyboard. As soon as I insmod'd the driver, my keyboard went dark and nothing seems to budge it.

What can I do? I'm assuming it will come back on reboot as I haven't made the module permanent.

Statik

 

You need to write a 1 to "pattern_off" and then you can use left/right/middle.

Try echo "9" > brightness

Someone else wrote this one. For mine there is no UI. Mine was not meant to be a final driver it was just meant to show others how to do it and hopefully someone will do something better.

Someone earlier in the thread wrote a simple UI for it though in Python I think. Look for it.

Sorry for being gone so long, Pete. I have given up on ever turning that stupid light off I'm afraid.

 

Not sure how dead of a horse this issue is, I honestly didn't read the whole thread.

If you followed the instructions here: kernel - Reverse-Engineer Driver for Multi-colored Backlit Keyboard on Clevo Laptops - Ask Ubuntu

Then my script will work as a nice bridge for you to interface with. You can specify colors as command parameters or as you go.

[Bash] Color Keyboard Script - Pastebin.com

(also copied out below)

Code:

#! /bin/bash
#changes keyboard colors on clevo laptops. Tested on P170EM
#Noah B.

#Prompt for root
[ "$UID" -eq 0 ] || exec sudo bash "$0" "$@"

off=000
white=111
green=100
red=010
blue=001
yellow=110
purple=011
aqua=101

left=$1
l_code=000
middle=$2
m_code=000
right=$3
r_code=000

#LEFT SIDE

if [ -z "$left" ]
then 
	echo "Enter desired color for the left side:
	(off/white/green/red/blue/yellow/purple/aqua)"
read -p "Color choice: " left
fi

eval "l_code=\$$left"

echo $l_code > /sys/devices/platform/clevo_wmi/kbled/left

#MIDDLE

if [ -z "$middle" ]
then
        echo "Enter desired color for the middle:
        (off/white/green/red/blue/yellow/purple/aqua)"
read -p "Color choice: " middle
fi

eval "m_code=\$$middle"

echo $m_code > /sys/devices/platform/clevo_wmi/kbled/middle

#RIGHT SIDE

if [ -z "$right" ]
then
        echo "Enter desired color for the right side:
        (off/white/green/red/blue/yellow/purple/aqua)"
read -p "Color choice: " right
fi

eval "r_code=\$$right"

echo $r_code > /sys/devices/platform/clevo_wmi/kbled/right

 

Hey guys.
So I went ahead and followed this guide: http://askubuntu.com/questions/1845...lti-colored-backlit-keyboard-on-clevo-laptops
It worked and I can change my colours but I can't get the module to load at boot.
When I try this step:
sudo cp ~/dev/clevo-wmi-code/clevo_wmi.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/
I am confronted with the answer: "cp target `/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/' is not a directory.
I'm pretty much illiterate when it comes to this stuff so any advice would be great!
Thanks

 

Hello, recentley I discovered this kernel module and decided to try it, and first of all: Thank you very much, I have been wanting to control the lights in my keyboard for some time now.

So, now to my situation, I don't really know if my keyboard is a clevo (it's a laptop keyboard, any ideas on how to check this?), but the driver seems to be working (at least a little bit), but just a few things:
- Brightness seems inverted: 0 puts full brightness and 10 turns the lights off
- The colors in left, middle, right don't change anything... however setting 10 in any pattern (random, left_right, out_mid, etc) works and actually changes the colors of the different parts.
- My keyboard has 2 other colors (touchpad and power button)

I have experience as a programmer, but never read a kernel module, and reading through the code was not as intuitive as I thought I might be.

Any tips for understanding it a little better? or any ideas on how to test to set the colors manually, or what might be wrong?

Thanks.