Brain dump: MateBook X running Debian Linux
First Huawei MateBook X was released in 2017. It came with proprietary Microsoft Windows 10 and there was very little information available on its Linux support.
I am running Debian on it. This repository documents what works and what does not.
| Device | Model | Works | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-7200U | 💚 Yes | 4 cores (2 real ones), power states etc work out of the box (TODO: document) |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 💚 Yes | via standard kernel driver (TODO: document) |
| Memory | 8192 MB | 💚 Yes | |
| Display | 13.3 inch 16:9, 2160x1440 (2K) | 💚 Yes | resolution is correctly detected by xrandr, backlight control does not work via native function keys, but works via additional scripts (see Display Backlight) |
| Storage | LITEON CB1-SD256, 256 GB | 💚 Yes | via standard kernel driver (TODO: document) |
| Soundcard | Intel Kaby Lake-U/Y PCH - High Definition Audio with Dolby ATMOS | 💚 Yes | via standard kernel driver, it also works fine with pulseaudio (TODO: document) |
| Speakers | "Dolby ATMOS" | 👁️🗨️ Kinda | Right now only left speaker works, but it is not noticable as the sound feels quite "centered". I'm hoping a kernel update or some other fix for it will come out eventually to address this. |
| Ports | 1 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 1 USB 3.1 Gen2 | 💚 Yes | USB-PD works only via left port, but it is a hardware limitation of the laptop |
| Fingerprint Reader | proprietary sensor made by Huawei | 🚫 No | It is located on the power button, which itself is fully functional |
| Wifi | Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 (a/b/g/n/ac) | 💚 Yes | requires kernel 4.12 and firmware from Debian Testing (TODO: document) |
| Bluetooth | Intel (idVendor:0x8087, idProduct:0x0a2b) | 💚 Yes | (see details below) |
| Airplane Mode | Wifi+Bluetooth | 💚 Yes | (see details below) |
| Battery | 40 Wh Lithium-Polymer | 💚 Yes | Everything works: current status, chargin/discharging rate and remaining battery time estimates |
| Lid | ACPI-compliant | 💚 Yes | Works as expected: I can just close the lid and it sleeps |
| Keyboard | 👁️🗨️ Mostly | Some function keys do not work (eg. display brightness control), but there is ongoing dev in aymanbagabas/Huawei-WMI/issues/2 | |
| Touchpad | 💚 Yes | Tap-to-click can be enabled via libinput (see details below) |
|
| Port Extender | USC-C dongle included with laptop | 💚 Yes | Full-size HDMI works as expected |
Been testing it with Debian Stable + backported kernel 4.12. I've installed laptop-mode-tools (instead of TLP) and minimalist i3-wm (instead of Gnome). With this setup and my workflow (mostly browser + ssh) the battery lasts for around 6-7 hours. Switching to more intensive things like code compilation or video encoding for prolonged time cuts battery to around 4 hours.
TODO: document laptop-mode-tools
I prefer natural (reversed) scrolling and tap-to-click. Both behaviors are disabled by default, but can be easily enabled via libinput.
To test, change a property manually:
$ xinput list | grep Touchpad
↳ ELAN2201:00 04F3:3056 Touchpad id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
$ xinput list-props 10 | grep Tapping\ Enabled
libinput Tapping Enabled (280): 0
$ xinput set-prop 10 280 1
$ xinput list-props 10 | grep Tapping\ Enabled
libinput Tapping Enabled (280): 1
To make it permanent, create /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf with:
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "touchpad catchall"
MatchIsTouchpad "on"
Driver "libinput"
EndSection
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "tap-by-default"
MatchIsTouchpad "on"
MatchDriver "libinput"
Option "Tapping" "on"
Option "NaturalScrolling" "true"
Option "AccelSpeed" "1"
#Option "TappingButtonMap" "lmr"
EndSection
Backlight control may not work out of the box in userland tools such as xbacklight.
To activate it, create /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-intel.conf with:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "intel"
Option "Backlight" "intel_backlight"
EndSection
Reload X11. Now xbacklight +10 should increase brightness by 10%. Hardware keys do not work yet, but one can to bind this to any keyboard combination (eg. Mod4 (Windows key) + F1 (brightness key))
If you want to get visual feedback on every change consider using backlight-ctrl.sh.
Tested with a mouse (MX Anywhere 2S) and worked as expected.
Following apt install bluetooth from BluetoothUser guide should be enough.
I also installed blueman and run blueman-applet & for a handy tray icon in i3 status bar.
Bluetooth registers itself as an USB device and default power saving settings may be too aggressive for wireless mouse and keyboard. In my case mouse was unable to wake up from autosuspend so for now I just disable it on boot:
# Prevents the Bluetooth USB card from autosuspending, which (as of this edit) borks it
# Include this somewhere it gets called at boot, for optimal effect; e.g. /etc/rc.local
# Credit: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2159645&page=6&p=12926730#post12926730
BTUSB_DEV="8087:0a2b"
BTUSB_BINDING="$(lsusb -d "$BTUSB_DEV" |
cut -f 1 -d : |
sed -e 's,Bus ,,' -e 's, Device ,/,' |
xargs -I {} udevadm info -q path -n /dev/bus/usb/{} |
xargs basename)"
echo "Disabling autosuspend for Bluetooth USB device: $BTUSB_BINDING..."
echo -1 > "/sys/bus/usb/devices/$BTUSB_BINDING/power/autosuspend_delay_ms"If you are using a power management solution, you may want to see instructions below:
I use
tlpfor power management. I had to setUSB_AUTOSUSPEND=0in/etc/default/tlpto prevent random outages of USB and bluetooth (requiring a cold restart to correct). #
If you use laptop-mode for power management, disable or tweak suspend rules in /etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/bluetooth.conf.
Works as expected.
rfkill list shows current status of radio interfaces:
rfkill list ~
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
11: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
Toggling "airplane mode": rfkill block all / rfkill unblock all