Kali on Surface Pro 3: Type Cover 3 will not work

[Sirius38]

So, while i was messing around in my Java class I created a live boot USB of Kali and a few other Linux Distros. I've made these before so I know what I did was mostly correct (and I verified that they do indeed work by using them on my other devices); however, when i tried to boot from my new Surface Pro 3 I found that the trackpad on the type cover works, but the keyboard does not. Does anybody know of a special driver i may need or if there is a work-around I can use?

 

[skittle]

Known problem. You will have to compile a custom kernel with a patched driver for the typecover3.

You can find the patch here:
https://lkml.org/lkml/2014/11/3/1016

This patch has been merged into kernel 3.19 so you can just use that instead of applying a patch and compiling your own. Kind of defeats the purpose of running Kali though as the the main feature of Kali is a custom kernel to play nice with all the 'hacking' tools.

 

[Sirius38]

Known problem. You will have to compile a custom kernel with a patched driver for the typecover3.

You can find the patch here:
https://lkml.org/lkml/2014/11/3/1016

This patch has been merged into kernel 3.19 so you can just use that instead of applying a patch and compiling your own. Kind of defeats the purpose of running Kali though as the the main feature of Kali is a custom kernel to play nice with all the 'hacking' tools.

Blegh, I was afraid of that... I guess I'll keep digging for another way or I'll play with the kernal during tonight's class.

Thanks for the info! ^_^

 

[skittle]

The only 'other' way is usb or bluetooth keyboard. All driver for Linux are built into the kernel. Thus the only way to get new drivers is to update the kernel.

Here is patched kernel for Ubuntu 14.04, You can download these kernel binaries and probably just drop them into your Kali installation and it will work (you must configure your GRUB to boot from these kernel)
https://github.com/rubiojr/surface3-kernel

Apperently also updating to latest wireless firmware from marvell will fix wifi and bluetooth issues.

 

[Sirius38]

The only 'other' way is usb or bluetooth keyboard. All driver for Linux are built into the kernel. Thus the only way to get new drivers is to update the kernel.

Here is patched kernel for Ubuntu 14.04, You can download these kernel binaries and probably just drop them into your Kali installation and it will work (you must configure your GRUB to boot from these kernel)
https://github.com/rubiojr/surface3-kernel

Apperently also updating to latest wireless firmware from marvell will fix wifi and bluetooth issues.

Thanks Skittle! You're a beautiful piece of candy, though i wasn't having issues with wifi which was weird.

 

[Scriptkiddie123]

The only 'other' way is usb or bluetooth keyboard. All driver for Linux are built into the kernel. Thus the only way to get new drivers is to update the kernel.

Here is patched kernel for Ubuntu 14.04, You can download these kernel binaries and probably just drop them into your Kali installation and it will work (you must configure your GRUB to boot from these kernel)
https://github.com/rubiojr/surface3-kernel

Apperently also updating to latest wireless firmware from marvell will fix wifi and bluetooth issues.

Thanks Skittle! You're a beautiful piece of candy, though i wasn't having issues with wifi which was weird.

So, did it work?