An open source kernel extension enabling keyboard backlight, AutoDim & fan control for Clevo Hackintosh. Fully tested on Clevo P9XXEN_EF_ED, but it should even work on most Clevo's laptops provided with full-colour backlight keyboard.
The keyboard backlight is controlled through the numeric keypad and restored during boot and sleep/wake. Native NVRAM is necessary and supported by Clevo P9XXEN_EF_ED, however, the kext should even work with emulated NVRAM (not tested).
- Backlight directly controlled from numeric keypad (same Windows® keys)
- Backlight colour, on/off and light level saved in NVRAM
- Backlight automatically restored during boot and sleep/wake
- Up to 9 preset keyboard backlight different colours
- Airplane led used to indicate Shift-Lock enabled/disabled
- Fully customizable
- Configurable backlight intensity levels
- AutoDim, an automatic keyboard backlight dimming including: configurable Activation, Dim or OFF and Dimming wait time, restore previous backlight intensity on key stroke, configuration customizable in SSDT-ClevoService.dsl
The below features are requiring ClevoServiceAgent running (v. 1.2.0+):
- Keyboard backliighting OSD icon
- Full Airplane compatibility with Wifi/BT power on/off
- Wifi/BT OSD icon
The keyboard backlighting is fully controlled from numeric keypad according to Clevo's standard keys:
- Change colour with
Fn / - Turn ON/OFF with
Fn * - Decrease backlight with
Fn - - Increase backlight with
Fn +
The AutoDim reduces, or completely turns OFF, the backlight If the keyboard is not used for the preset time.
It is fully controlled from ACPI with three properties: KbdAutoDimTimerActive, KbdAutoDimActive, KbdAutoDimTime
It is activated setting the property KbdAutoDimTimerActive to true, or false for deactivate it.
The property KbdAutoDimActive is used to control whether the keyboard backlight will be dimmed, setting to true, or turned off, setting to false, after the waiting time is elapsed.
The waiting time is set with KbdAutoDimTime. The number must be in the range from 5 to 1800 (seconds).
Therefore, if the AutoDim is activated with KbdAutoDimTimerActive = true, the keyboard backlight is automatically reduced at the minimum with KbdAutoDimActive = true, or completely turned OFF with KbdAutoDimActive = false, after the wait time KbdAutoDimTime. Pressing any key, the backlight intensity is restored.
All the above properties can be modified in the CONF method of CLV0 device included into SSDT-ClevoService.dsl file.
The boolean values can be set using the well known method ">y" for true and ">n" for false. (Thanks RM)
If the CONF method is not found or a property is missing, the default loaded values are the following:
- KbdAutoDimTimerActive = true
- KbdAutoDimActive = true
- KbdAutoDimTime = 180
It is not mandatory to change all properties at once, only the needed ones can be changed. You may want to check all the above properties in IORegystryExplorer looking at ClevoService driver attached to CLV0 device.
The CONF method may also include two properties for controlling the backlight intensity levels, KbdDimmingLevel and KbdLevels.
KbdDimmingLevel is the intesity of the backlight when dimmed, if AutoDim is active.
KbdLevels is an array containing four backlight levels used by ClevoService to change the backlight intesity when Fn - or Fn + keys are pressed.
Index zero is the lowest, three the highest. The value is in the range 0÷255.
Those properties can be added to the CONF method otherwise the default values will be used instead.
In order to simplify the installation process, an SSDT (.dsl) file has been included in the package. However, some DSDT's methods need to be patched in order to properly work with provided SSDT. The file also includes the methods to manage the three fans.
- Open the SSDT-ClevoService.dsl with MaciASL and save it as
.amlfile into Clover/OpenCore EFI ACPI/patched folder. - Install the ClevoService kext into
/Library/Extensionsfolder using your preferred kext installer or using terminal - Rebuild kext cache and reboot
The following methods must be patched in Clover/OpenCore config.plist ACPI section changing the method name:
Rename _WAK => XWAK
* Comment: _WAK to XWAK, Find: 5F57414B, Replace: 5857414B
Rename _Q14 => XQ14 (Check your DSDT, Airplane key could be different)
* Comment: _Q14 to XQ14, Find: 5F513134, Replace: 58513134
Rename _Q50 => XQ50
* Comment: _Q50 to XQ50, Find: 5F513530, Replace: 58513530
Starting from version 1.2.0, the ClevoService kext includes in its PlugIns folder the ClevoServiceAgent file, which is needed for some OSD features and Wifi/Bluetooth power on/off. This is a low-level agent used by ClevoService that must be launched during boot.
For an easier installation procedure, the launching com.fjhk.ClevoService.agent.plist file is already provided. Simply install it in the OSX /Library/LaunchAgents/ folder with the below terminal commands (without asterisk):
* sudo cp yourPath/com.fjhk.ClevoService.agent.plist /Library/LaunchAgents
* sudo chmod 644 /Library/LaunchAgents/com.fjhk.ClevoService.agent.plist
* sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchAgents/com.fjhk.ClevoService.agent.plist
then reboot.
Note that you have to change yourPath with the full directory's path where you saved the .plist file.
The ClevoService kext must be installed in the /Library/Extensions folder (no injecting) otherwise the agent cannot be loaded.
In order to check whether the agent is correctly installed and running, open Activity Monitor app and search for ClevoServiceAgent: it must be present, otherwise OSD icons and Wifi/BT power on/off won't work.
Below the terminal commands for unload and uninstall the .plist agent launching file (without asterisk):
* launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/com.fjhk.ClevoService.agent.plist
* sudo rm /Library/LaunchAgents/com.fjhk.ClevoService.agent.plist
ClevoService is using the device DCHU for backlighting and it should be available in your original DSDT. However, if missing, search for method WMBB in the device WMI. At least one method must be available in your DSDT otherwise the keyboard backlight won't work. For any issue, you may want to install the debug version checking the system log for more details. The Kext has been compiled with XCode 10.2.1 and fully tested in Mojave 10.14.6 and Catalina 10.15.5 (Min OSX 10.11).