Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13.3
Device | Status | Modules |
Video | Working | i915 |
Wireless | Working | iwlwifi |
Bluetooth | Working | btusb |
Audio | Working | snd_hda_intel |
Touchpad | Working | ? |
Webcam | Working | uvcvideo |
USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 | Working | ? |
Function/Multimedia Keys | Working | ? |
The Mi Notebook Air 13.3 is an aluminuim Ultrabook. It is a product by the Chinese Company Xiaomi and is currently only available in China or through import online-shops. Using the Intel Core i5 6200U @ 2.3 Ghz and the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, it provides good power for a decent price.
The installation should be going without any problems, if you follow the following steps.
Contents
Pre-Installation System Settings
It is actually very easy getting the Arch Installation Medium to boot properly. Prior to booting the Arch installation ISO enter the UEFI menu by pressing F2 during Boot.
- Security -> set password
- Security -> Disable Secure Boot
- reset the password by setting the password again but letting the "New Password" fields blank
Installation of Arch can proceed normally. Refer to the Installation guide for more info.
Graphics Card Configuration
The Mi Book has an Intel, as well as a Nvidia GPU.
Intel Only
If you want to completely disable the Nvidia GPU and save batterylife, do the following:
- Install the xf86-video-intel package
- Blacklist the nvidia and xf86-video-nouveau kernel modules Kernel modules#Blacklisting
/etc/modprobe.d/nouveau.conf
blacklist nouveau blacklist nvidia
- Install bbswitch to turn off the card
/etc/modprobe.d/bbswitch
options bbswitch load_state=0 unload_state=0
Intel/Nvidia Hybrid Configuration
You can enable hybrid GPUs by either using Bumblebee or NVIDIA Optimus. Bumblebee is generally better for battery-life and compatibility but not officially supported by NVIDIA.
Refer to the respective articles.
Input
Touchpad
To use the touchpad like a normal one, you have to use xf86-input-libinput. If you use xf86-input-evdev, your touchpad acts like a touchscreen (e.g it maps your movements directly to your screen). But if you are using xf86-input-synaptics (although you really should not, because it is deprecated (see Synaptics)) things are only working sporadically. This configuration of libinput using XOrg configuration files enables two finger gestures, tap-to-click and 2-and 3-finger clicks (for right- and middle-click respectively).
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-touchpad.conf
Section "InputClass" Identifier "libinput touchpad" Driver "libinput" MatchIsTouchpad "on" MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*" Option "Tapping" "on" Option "ClickMethod" "clickfinger" Option "NaturalScrolling" "true" EndSection
Fn-Keys
On this notebook the Fn-keys are enabled as default (e.g. pressing F1 mutes the sound). If pressing the keys does nothing you are most likely using a Window manager and not a Desktop environment. Use the respective configuration files to bind the keys to their use. For example Xbindkeys or i3's bindsym
.
Most Fn-keys return the correct keycodes. Here is a table containing that information:
Fn-F-Key | Keycode |
---|---|
F1
|
XF86AudioMute
|
F2
|
XF86AudioLowerVolume
|
F3
|
XF86AudioRaiseVolume
|
F4
|
XF86MonBrightnessDown
|
F5
|
XF86MonBrightnessUp
|
F6
|
Super_L + P
|
F7
|
Nothing
|
F8
|
Super_L + Tab
|
F9
|
Nothing
|
F10
|
Turns Keyboard backlight on/off
|
F11
|
Print
|
F12
|
Insert
|
Display Calibration
Factory display calibration is poor. In lieu of a colorimeter, try the ICC profiles at tlvince/xiaomi-mi-notebook-air-13.
NVM Express SSD
linux-nvme
Andy Lutomirski has created a patchset which fixes powersaving for NVME devices in Linux. Currently, this patch is not merged into mainline yet. Until it lands in mainline kernel use the AUR or repository linked below.
linux-nvme — Mainline linux kernel patched with Andy's patch for NVME powersaving APST.
- https://github.com/damige/linux-nvme || linux-nvmeAUR (check out [1] for compiled packages)
Troubleshoothing
Backlight
If you use a tool like xorg-xbacklight in its default configuration, nothing happens, because the path to the backlighting variable is not standard. To fix this issue, you have to use a X-Org configuration file:
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-backlight.conf
Section "Device" Identifier "Card0" Driver "intel" Option "Backlight" "intel_backlight" BusID "PCI:0:2:0" EndSection
WiFi
If you are having issues with the auto-detected WiFi drivers, that is because there is a conflict between two of them, as you can see using rfkill list
To solve it, block the wrong driver:
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
blacklist acer-wmi
Note, this issue is fixed in kernel version 4.9 and above.