Uniwill laptop extra features

On laptops manufactured by Uniwill (either directly or as ODM), the uniwill-laptop driver handles various platform-specific features.

Module Loading

The uniwill-laptop driver relies on a DMI table to automatically load on supported devices. When using the force module parameter, this DMI check will be omitted, allowing the driver to be loaded on unsupported devices for testing purposes.

Hotkeys

Usually the FN keys work without a special driver. However as soon as the uniwill-laptop driver is loaded, the FN keys need to be handled manually. This is done automatically by the driver itself.

Keyboard settings

The uniwill-laptop driver allows the user to enable/disable:

  • the FN lock and super key of the integrated keyboard

  • the touchpad toggle functionality of the integrated touchpad

See ABI file testing/sysfs-driver-uniwill-laptop for details.

Hwmon interface

The uniwill-laptop driver supports reading of the CPU and GPU temperature and supports up to two fans. Userspace applications can access sensor readings over the hwmon sysfs interface.

Platform profile

Support for changing the platform performance mode is currently not implemented.

Battery Charging Control

Warning

Some devices do not properly implement the charging threshold interface. Forcing the driver to enable access to said interface on such devices might damage the battery [1]. Because of this the driver will not enable said feature even when using the force module parameter. The charging profile interface will be available instead.

The uniwill-laptop driver supports controlling the battery charge limit. This either happens over the standard charge_control_end_threshold or charge_types power supply sysfs attribute, depending on the device. When using the charge_control_end_threshold sysfs attribute, all values between 1 and 100 percent are supported. When using the charge_types sysfs attribute, the driver supports switching between the Standard, Trickle and Long Life profiles.

Keep in mind that when using the charge_types sysfs attribute, the EC firmware will hide the true charging status of the battery from the operating system, potentially misleading users into thinking that the charging profile does not work. Checking the current_now sysfs attribute tells you the true charging status of the battery even when using the charge_types sysfs attribute (0 means that the battery is currently not charging).

Additionally the driver signals the presence of battery charging issues through the standard health power supply sysfs attribute.

It also lets you set whether a USB-C power source should prioritise charging the battery or delivering immediate power to the cpu. See ABI file testing/sysfs-driver-uniwill-laptop for details.

Lightbar

The uniwill-laptop driver exposes the lightbar found on some models as a standard multicolor LED class device. The default name of this LED class device is uniwill:multicolor:status.

See ABI file testing/sysfs-driver-uniwill-laptop for details on how to control the various animation modes of the lightbar.

Configurable TGP

The uniwill-laptop driver allows to set the configurable TGP for devices with NVIDIA GPUs that allow it.

See ABI file testing/sysfs-driver-uniwill-laptop for details.

References