Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air 13.3 (2016)
The Mi Notebook Air 13.3 is an aluminium 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.
| Hardware | PCI/USB ID | Working? |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | Yes | |
| Wireless | Yes | |
| Bluetooth | Yes | |
| Audio | Yes | |
| Touchpad | Yes | |
| Webcam | Yes | |
| Thunderbolt | Yes |
The installation should be going without any problems, if you follow the following steps.
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.
nvme0n1, not sda.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.conf
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 . If you use , your touchpad acts like a touchscreen (e.g it maps your movements directly to your screen). But if you are using (although you really should not, because it is deprecated (see Synaptics)) things are only working sporadically. This configuration of using XOrg configuration files enables two finger gestures, tap-to-click and 2-and 3-finger clicks (for right- and middle-click respectively).
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.
To reverse to normal Fn keys just press: Fn+Esc
Most Fn-keys return the correct keycodes. Here is a table containing that information:
| Fn-F-Key | Keycode |
|---|---|
F3 |
|
XF86MonBrightnessUp | |
Turns Keyboard backlight on/off | |
Print | |
Display Calibration
Factory display calibration is poor. In lieu of a colorimeter, try the ICC profiles at tlvince/xiaomi-mi-notebook-air-13.
Hardware information
The output of lspci is
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 08) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 520 (rev 07) 00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21) 00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 (rev 21) 00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 21) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1) 00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1) 00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP LPC Controller (rev 21) 00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21) 00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio (rev 21) 00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21) 01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM108M [GeForce 940MX] (rev ff) 02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 8260 (rev 3a) 03:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM951/PM951 (rev 01)
The output of lsusb is
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp. Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05c8:03a2 Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co., Ltd (Foxlink) Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Troubleshooting
Backlight
If you use a tool like 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:
Audio Jack
If you want to use the microphone from the headset plugged in the combo jack input add this line to alsa config:
And reboot the machine.