The upcoming Linux 6.18 kernel cycle will present better support for Xiaomi Redmibook laptops thanks to a WMI driver being queued into the x86 platform drivers “-next” branch for providing better handling of the keyboards found with these laptops.
The “redmi-wmi” driver is set to premiere in Linux 6.18 behind the REDMI_WMI build option as a new WMI driver for Redmibook keyboards.
This driver enables WMI-based hotkey events to properly trigger under Linux with the Xiaomi Redmibook laptops. This is needed to have working Fn keys under Linux as well as enabling a Xiaomi-specific AI button found on the keyboard. They keyboard backlight controls should also now be working thanks to this new driver.
With this driver the Xiaomi “AI button” on the keyboard will trigger Linux’s “KEY_ASSISTANT” keycode that can then be used by Linux desktop environments for launching any desktop assistant programs.
This Redmibook Linux driver was created by open-source developer Gladyshev Ilya. With this driver now in the platform-drivers-x86.git’s for-next branch it’s set to be submitted for the upcoming Linux 6.18 merge window.
