I'm struggling to get the backlight on the keyboard to work on a MBA 5,2. I'm running Debian 11.
I had a lot of hope for `pommed`, but when installing, I get the following error:
$ sudo apt-get install pommed
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
pommed
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/55.3 kB of archives.
After this operation, 147 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Selecting previously unselected package pommed.
(Reading database ... 66049 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../pommed_1.39~dfsg-5.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking pommed (1.39~dfsg-5.1) ...
Setting up pommed (1.39~dfsg-5.1) ...
Job for pommed.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status pommed.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
invoke-rc.d: initscript pommed, action "restart" failed.
● pommed.service - LSB: Apple laptops hotkeys event handler
Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/pommed; generated)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2022-01-14 10:18:41 PST; 19ms ago
Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
Process: 3917 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/pommed start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
CPU: 5ms
Jan 14 10:18:41 commandos systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Apple laptops hotkeys event handler...
Jan 14 10:18:41 commandos pommed[3918]: pommed v1.39 Apple laptops hotkeys handler
Jan 14 10:18:41 commandos pommed[3918]: Copyright (C) 2006-2011 Julien BLACHE <jb@jblache.org>
Jan 14 10:18:41 commandos pommed[3918]: Unknown Apple machine: MacBookAir5,2
Jan 14 10:18:41 commandos pommed[3918]: Unknown Apple machine
Jan 14 10:18:41 commandos pommed[3917]: Starting Apple laptops hotkeys events handler:
Jan 14 10:18:41 commandos systemd[1]: pommed.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 14 10:18:41 commandos systemd[1]: pommed.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 14 10:18:41 commandos systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Apple laptops hotkeys event handler.
Processing triggers for dbus (1.12.20-2) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.4-2) ...
Trying to start the service manually, I get:
$ sudo systemctl start pommed.service
Job for pommed.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status pommed.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
Checking `sudo systemctl status pommed.service`, just regurgitates part of the output from installing:
$ sudo systemctl status pommed.service
● pommed.service - LSB: Apple laptops hotkeys event handler
Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/pommed; generated)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2022-01-14 10:27:51 PST; 8min ago
Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
Process: 492 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/pommed start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
CPU: 8ms
Jan 14 10:27:51 commandos systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Apple laptops hotkeys event handler...
Jan 14 10:27:51 commandos pommed[494]: pommed v1.39 Apple laptops hotkeys handler
Jan 14 10:27:51 commandos pommed[494]: Copyright (C) 2006-2011 Julien BLACHE <jb@jblache.org>
Jan 14 10:27:51 commandos pommed[494]: Unknown Apple machine: MacBookAir5,2
Jan 14 10:27:51 commandos pommed[494]: Unknown Apple machine
Jan 14 10:27:51 commandos pommed[492]: Starting Apple laptops hotkeys events handler:
Jan 14 10:27:51 commandos systemd[1]: pommed.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 14 10:27:51 commandos systemd[1]: pommed.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 14 10:27:51 commandos systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Apple laptops hotkeys event handler.
Running `journalctl -xe`:
Jan 14 10:40:48 commandos systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Apple laptops hotkeys event handler...
░░ Subject: A start job for unit pommed.service has begun execution
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ A start job for unit pommed.service has begun execution.
░░
░░ The job identifier is 824.
Jan 14 10:40:48 commandos systemd[1]: pommed.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ An ExecStart= process belonging to unit pommed.service has exited.
░░
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
Jan 14 10:40:48 commandos pommed[1240]: pommed v1.39 Apple laptops hotkeys handler
Jan 14 10:40:48 commandos pommed[1239]: Starting Apple laptops hotkeys events handler:
Jan 14 10:40:48 commandos systemd[1]: pommed.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ The unit pommed.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 14 10:40:48 commandos pommed[1240]: Copyright (C) 2006-2011 Julien BLACHE <jb@jblache.org>
Jan 14 10:40:48 commandos systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Apple laptops hotkeys event handler.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit pommed.service has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ A start job for unit pommed.service has finished with a failure.
░░
░░ The job identifier is 824 and the job result is failed.
Jan 14 10:40:48 commandos pommed[1240]: Unknown Apple machine: MacBookAir5,2
Jan 14 10:40:48 commandos pommed[1240]: Unknown Apple machine
Running `pommed` manually:
sudo pommed -f
I: pommed v1.39 Apple laptops hotkeys handler
I: Copyright (C) 2006-2011 Julien BLACHE <jb@jblache.org>
pommed configuration:
+ General settings:
fnmode: 1
+ sysfs backlight control:
initial level: -1
step: 1
on_batt: 6
+ ATI X1600 backlight control:
initial level: -1
step: 10
on_batt: 80
+ Intel GMA950 backlight control:
initial level: -1
step: 0xf
on_batt: 0x40
+ nVidia GeForce 8600M GT backlight control:
initial level: -1
step: 1
on_batt: 6
+ Audio volume control:
card: default
initial volume: -1
step: 10%
beep: yes
volume element: PCM
speaker element: Front
headphones element: Headphone
+ Keyboard backlight control:
default level: 100
step: 10
auto on threshold: 20
auto off threshold: 40
auto enable: no
idle timer: 60s
idle level: 0
+ CD eject:
enabled: no
device: /dev/dvd
+ Beep:
enabled: no
beepfile: /usr/share/pommed/goutte.wav
+ Apple Remote IR Receiver:
enabled: no
E: Unknown Apple machine: MacBookAir5,2
E: Unknown Apple machine
I don't know why mba 5,2 isn't known. Also, in the wikis for installing on mba's it doesn't list 5,2 only 5,1 and 6,1.
I assume that it's checking for known hardware. Is there a way I might be able to hack it to allow 5,2 to see if it works? I just assume if there's no wiki for mba 5,2, that maybe nobody has tried it. Maybe trick it into thinking it's a 5.1 machine?
I'm out of ideas, hope someone here can help me.
Ty.
