msi_ec in xanmod kernels works out of the box

[steumac]

Hi all,
maybe it's already known in this community, but I just wanted to let you know that I installed that kernel and the MControlCenter worked out of the box, without installing the ec_sys module.

[mutchiko]

whats your laptop model?
also, please copy the output of cat /sys/devices/platform/msi-ec/shift_mode

[steumac]

Notebook: MSI summit E16Flip A12UCT-034IT

msi-debian:~$ cat /sys/devices/platform/msi-ec/shift_mode
cat: /sys/devices/platform/msi-ec/shift_mode: No such file or directory

msi-debian:~$ ls /sys/devices/platform/
ACPI000C:00/ coretemp.0/ INTC1041:00/ microcode/ PNP0C0C:00/ power/ rtc-efi.0/ USBC000:00/
ACPI000E:00/ efivars.0/ INTC1055:00/ MSFT0101:00/ PNP0C0E:00/ reg-dummy/ serial8250/
ACPI0011:00/ i8042/ INTC1070:00/ NVDA0820:00/ PNP0C14:01/ regulatory.0/ snd-soc-dummy/
acpi-cpufreq/ INT33A1:00/ intel_rapl_msr.0/ pcspkr/ PNP0C14:02/ rtc_cmos/ uevent

[mutchiko]

you dont even have the driver installed, please read this: https://github.com/BeardOverflow/msi-ec and follow the guide to help you add support for your device

[steumac]

As I said, it works out of the box, I don't need the driver.
If this can be of any use:
mac@msi-debian:~$ lsmod | grep msi_ec
msi_ec 12288 0

mac@msi-debian:~$ lsmod | grep ec_sys
ec_sys 12288 0

I just installed MControlCenter and it works.
Hope this is useful info and someone can confirm it.

[mutchiko]

MCC has a fallback mode that is a hit or miss, there is a good chance that performance selection is not doing anything.
the reason why the msi driver is the preferred solution, is because the ec_sys might mess up the laptop very bad if it writes wrong values to the embedded chip. i've seen hard bricked laptops, you don't want that.

its your choice in the end, future versions of MCC will less likely work without the msi-ec driver, better get your laptop supported now before that happens, the guide is easy enough for anyone to understand.

[steumac]

Thank you for your support mutchiko,
since the kernel loads both of the modules msi_ec and ec_sys, should I install the msi_ec driver as well or MCC would use msi_ec module?

[mutchiko]

MCC automatically chooses the module it needs (if available) to get the job done.
the only thing you need to do is actualy install the module (msi-ec), the one in the kernel is very basic and incomplete in terms of features and supported laptops.

currently, msi-ec is being improved by the minute so it becomes ready to be upstreamed to the kernel, in the future, you install the new kernel and get the driver IF YOUR LAPTOP IS SUPPORTED.

follow the guide to add support for your laptop before the module get upstreamed so you wont need to install the driver manually.

MCC is also being improved to fix bugs and to make sure it warns the user that it is in fact not working in case the driver isn't installed, ec_sys module however is optional.

you can build and install this fork to see how things would look like in the future
https://github.com/mutchiko/MControlCenter/tree/next-release-fixes