Add kext to support touchpad gestures

[adam-lebon]

I rencently install OSX by following this guide and I am surprise how complete it is. The only thing drawback was the touchpad which got a poor support when using the VoodooPS2Controller.kext.

I successfully got a full support of the touchpad by installing the VoodooI2CSynaptics.kext and the touchpad is now a pleasure to use.

Here you can find attached a screenshot from touchpad settings, which was almost empty before using this kext:

Sincerely Adam

[erenatas]

Good work! Have you checked the power consumption?

1. On a fresh start
2. Waking up from sleep
3. While using the touchpad (w/ case 1 & 2)

[adam-lebon]

In fact I have two XPS 15 with OSX : On my second hackintosh which run on Catalina 10.15.0, the touchpad works pretty well without the synaptics kext:

CPU consumption on catalina 10.15.0 with VoodooPS2Controller

On my first hackintosh, I updated OSX to 10.15.1 yesterday and the touchpad feelling wasn't great anymore (like described in the readme.org) The usage of VoodooI2CSynaptics saved me, it's why I am making this PR

CPU Consumption on Catalina 10.15.1 with VoodooPS2Controller (for the keyboard) and VoodooI2CSynaptics (for the touchpad)

I don't know if sleep is working well because the screen turn black but the keyboard backlight stay on, but power consumption seems to be the same as after a fresh start.

[adam-lebon]

I will update my second hackintosh to Catalina 10.15.1 to check if this kext is really mandatory. I will update this PR during the day.

[adam-lebon]

I just finished the 10.15.1 update and I can confirm that this update breaks gesture support, resulting in a horrible user experience.

Here you can find a screenshot from touchpad settings just after the update:

And after adding the VoodooI2CSynaptics.kext:

[bavariancake]

Thanks for the PR!

You mentioned VoodooI2CSynaptics is better than VoodooPS2Controller. Currently the VoodooI2CHID driver should load for the touchpad - what are the differences between VoodooI2CSynaptics and VoodooI2CHID?

I just finished the 10.15.1 update and I can confirm that this update breaks gesture support, resulting in a horrible user experience.

Did you update the kext cache after the OS update? Just in case - I usually forget to do it.

[bavariancake]

Ping @adam-lebon. Have you been able to update the kext for Catalina?

[erenatas]

Ping @adam-lebon. Have you been able to update the kext for Catalina?

I'mma test it in a bit. I will be doing a rebase first, then will test.

[erenatas]

@bavariancake, ok so I have tested it In 10.15.1, and It works. But kernel_task is really high which I don't really like it.

EDIT: I am not sure if it was working before but sleep does not work. I have rebased your latest master branch with @adam-lebon 's branch and I have also done sudo kextcache -i /

This screenshot is when I keep using the touchpad.

And this is when I do not:

I am also planning to try this on your EFI: https://github.com/LuletterSoul/Dell-XPS-15-9570-macOS-Mojave/issues/47

[toonvanstrijp]

Any update on this? :D

[frbuccoliero]

I would like an update too. @adam-lebon @erenatas

[duongleh]

Actually, on the latest version of this EFI folder, all the basic touchpad gestures are fully supported and it works really well!

[erenatas]

I would like an update too. @adam-lebon @erenatas

The performance and battery life is crippled on macOS so I have stopped working on it.

[toonvanstrijp]

@duongle26 are they also working in catalina cause I'm using the latest version of this EFI folder but still don't have any touchpad gestures. Any idea what could be wrong?

[duongleh]

@ToonvanStrijp yeah I'm on Catalina and it works really well. A fresh install of macOS might be helpful.

[toonvanstrijp]

@duongle26 But are you using the VoodooI2CSynaptics.kext? Cause I did a fresh install yesterday and I'm running 10.15.3 but the touchpad gestures don't work without the VoodooI2CSynaptics.kext for me.

[toonvanstrijp]

Update:

I've played around a little, and used LuletterSoul/Dell-XPS-15-9570-macOS-Mojave#47

I replaced the SSDT-I2C.aml and SSDT-I2C.dsl and now the touchscreen is disabled as I would expect and this causes to stop the high kernel_task.

But I guess that the GPIO pinning as described in https://voodooi2c.github.io/#GPIO%20Pinning/GPIO%20Pinning

Isn't done correctly cause as you can see in the video below the kernel_task is very low, but when using the touchpad (moving the cursor around) it shoots up.

Can someone help me fix this issue, because I think this will improve battery life much right?

[jaromeyer]

@ToonvanStrijp A spike in kernel_task when using the trackpad is normal when using GPIO interrupts. The other option would be to run the trackpad in polling mode which would result in kernel_task constantly using 15-20% of the CPU. Polling mode is what is enabled by default for the touchscreen.

• GPIO interrupt mode: very low kernel_task while idle but spikes when using the trackpad
• polling mode: constant medium-high kernel_task usage, default for touchscreen because GPIO mode is broken for touchscreen

[toonvanstrijp]

@jaromeyer but will this effect the battery life / performance? :)