I would like to share with you a very cool project that develops drivers for correct operation of Microsoft Surface devices on Linux. I myself use Surface Pro 6 with these drivers and everything works like a charm (battery life is good, cameras work, stylus, keyboard, touchscreen, screen). The developers are gods. From myself, I would recommend using Fedora Linux distribution, as I got the best battery life on it and didn’t experience any additional bugs. If you don’t like GNOME, you can try spins.

Lemmy community. tiddeR community

Links to project resources:

Awesome additional resources:

  • Simplesyrup@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Linux on any portable device is a must, Windows is just too bloated like carrying around your entire house on your shoulders

  • Reygle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Yeah it works- and has for quite a while. My SP3 ran Ubuntu fine back in the day, but it didn’t save it from being an unservice-able piece of shit with failing hardware that overheated in 5 seconds flat.

    • FarLine99@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Xournal++ and Rnote are the best options for hand written notes. Both available as a Flatpak from Flathub.

  • rizoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’m currently running EndeavorOS on my Surface Laptop 4. I’ll admit it was a pain to get working right, especially since I have the amd model, but damn once it’s working its so nice.

  • jonne@infosec.pubEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    That’s actually very tempting. I always liked the form factor of the surface but I didn’t want windows for it.

  • Zeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Greetings from a Surface Book 2 running Fedora 38! Everything works nicely (dtx included), battery life is great. Switching from W10 to Linux on this machine was probably one of the best decisions I could make.

  • dinckel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    It’s actually pretty funny. Back around 2018 I bought an XPS13, being hailed as the golden standard of linux support on a laptop, and my buddy bought a Surface Pro (3 or 4, cant remember). With these patches, his machine not only ran better, but also had 4x the battery life, compared to my fully supported (on paper) machine

  • rDrDr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Very intersting thanks for the heads up.

    My Surface Book 2 is quite long in the tooth at this point, windows drags on it but I imagine linux would fly. I’m surprised to see such extensive support for it.

  • telllos@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    1 year ago

    I’m somehow really surprised by the linux community embracing the surface. It’s a horrible piece of hardware. It’s designed to be short lived. Hard to repair or upgrade. Limited connectivity. Etc. I’ve had user come back with their surface where the battery had pushed the screen out.

    • beneeney@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I’m a huge Linux shill, but man I love the surface pro. It’s just such a sexy device lmao. I’ll mainly run Windows on it, because I at least need one Windows device for my work. The surface pro 9 has and easily replaceable battery which is a huge draw for me.

    • eternal_peril@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I cannot say I agree.

      I am a road warrior, a linux admin and a salesman. I have my SP9 ARM and while ARM on Windows has been a disappointment, the hardware is top notch and does everything I need.

      Plus I work in very dirty environments, so it is nice to be able to buy a new keyboard when needed

    • interesting_bat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      It’s the best “laptop” I’ve ever owned. Overly expensive, but it’s legitimately the first laptop I’ve had that hasn’t died in a few years. It feels like Microsoft’s response to the Mac-book.

      It’s exceptionally bad if one wishes to repair or upgrade, as you stated. Outside of that though - performance, reliability… it’s been pretty good.

      As I typed this I remembered that in the past year it’s started hard locking seemingly at random requiring a full shutdown via holding the power button. So, not quite as consistent as a Mac-book.

      • zombuey@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I have a microsoft laptop studio and I love it. I had the previous Surfacebook pro and they have solved everything with the studio.

      • telllos@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        There are hundreds of better alternatives, to a MS surface. For linux enthusiasts, hardware should be very important, as important as the software, OS your running.

          • telllos@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            1 year ago

            Like I said, the format to me is the problem, any similar format will have glued or soldered component. It’s highly anti DIY by design.

            In a portable computer, I want 14inch screen, Replaceable RAM, SSD and battery, HDMI, USB-A, USB-C, a SIM slot. Maybe SD card and ethernet. I want a laptop format because it’s much more comfortable to work on the go. My work PC is a HP X360 1040 G8. It’s a pretty solide machine it’s not heavy. But HP has soldered the RAM on the motherboard, it has no Network connector and no SD card reader.

            HP has also removed the possibility to swap keyboard layouts in their professional range, which is very annoying!

            But as people buy into Apple and MS bullshit. Other manufacturers will follow into making computer as unrepairable or upgradable as possible.

            • FarLine99@lemm.eeOPEnglish
              2·
              1 year ago

              I agree that we shouldn’t support such an unrepairable devices. But it is too good not to use it. Sorry. My principles went away here 😁

            • HidingCat@kbin.social
              2·
              1 year ago

              So ergo, no real alternatives. People like the 2-in-1 form factor enough for MS to keep on selling them, and that’s why there are people who want to run Linux on them.

  • li10@feddit.ukEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    I guess I’m missing something, but I don’t understand buying a MS hardware product and then installing Linux, surely just buy a different product in the first place?

    Same with people buying Google Pixel’s and then removing the stock Android. Isn’t the Pixel’s hardware rubbish, and the only reason to buy it the software?

    I’m pro Linux, just not seeing the point of giving money to these companies and then installing Linux… I think some people do it with the Pixel as a protest, which makes little sense when they’ve given money to the company :/

  • Space Sloth@feddit.dkEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    If I ever have to ditch my iphone for a different device OS, I’ll definitely play around with the Linux distros made for phones. Like, lineageOS looks so cool!

      • DAVENP0RT@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        Android is, or at least started as, a Linux kernel. I’m not sure where it sits relative to Linux today.

        • Sean@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          Uses the Linux kernel but there are real Linux distros for certain phones now (though in Beta)

        • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          The OS we use on computers and servers was originally called GNU, from GNU project. Linux is one program GNU systems uses, the kernel that communicate with hardware, manage memory and more. But Linux kernel stick.

          Most people now call it Linux and Linux kernel. Android only has Linux kernel, an important piece of the system but only one and not the one that user directly interact with.

  • iturnedintoanewt@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    It’s all fun and giggles until you try to use the cameras. Most recent models are not only incompatible, but unlikely to be compatible anytime soon. SP7 owner using KDE Neon for years.

    • wawowiwe@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Surface Go 2 with Manjaro Gnome as a daily driver here, everything works fine, even the camera.

      • iturnedintoanewt@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        Theres some long convoluted explanation where cameras these days are not just a sensor, but a whole tiny ICC computer handing all the image processing, with little to no documentation. The effort required to make these work is very high, and i believe there’s like a single guy working on these.