I built custom kernel modules for the keyboard backlight of this laptop (https://github.com/corcoran/chromebook_keyboard_backlight_driver) and they worked! And I got them installed properly and loaded at boot! This is not an experience I ever had in my past linux-using life, and it's hard to tell whether it's because linux got better or because I know a lot more about what I'm doing now.
@loam I keep thinking I'm gonna jack something up really bad and have to start over, because that's what always used to happen, but so far I've just been smoothly making things work right. It's crazy
@rustyk5 very nice!!! so far i haven't had a compelling reason to operate on kernel drivers, let alone that skill set..
but i have been using linux as my main OS for about a year now and although it was a bit of a rocky experience at first, nowadays i feel a bit incapacitated on a windows machine. linux is really nice
@rustyk5 hmm that sounds doable.. the words "kernel" and "driver" are both just kinda scary at first 😅
@loam I mean, skill set in this case was literally "follow the direction in that repository README." Still, it's nice when things work!