this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
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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.

Links to project resources:

Awesome additional resources:

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Microsoft wants to give Linux a nice warm hug and then squeeze and squeeze and all the warmth disappears this is actually quite a high pressure oh that hurts Microsoft no ow are those needles coming out of your arms I think I hear bones splintering and screaming oh no it's me I'm screaming I'm hearing myself screaming I'm turning into

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Very poetic description of EEE.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Fwiw, this is NOT an official Microsoft release, it's like Asahi Linux, where the community made it Linux-compatible

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

Yeah, I thought it was pretty clear because I talked about some "project" ❤️

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/79Jj0jWXyWo

https://piped.video/6_EHEmz_j4o

https://piped.video/BreV6N0GApk

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This is cool, but if Microsoft would <3 Linux, they would do this themself.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Trigger is activated 😏

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I applaud Linux on as many laptops as possible. But given Microsoft's history of EEE, bad security practices and multiple and on going privacy violations I would really not recommend using anything Microsoft. If you must use fx Surface I would recommend buying a used one. Or better yet a used Thinkpad or similar enterprise laptop used.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Security? Maybe. Privacy? Too hard and nonsense to implement hardware tracking to spy on 1% of users without Windows.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (8 children)

Agree on privacy. And why bother when Intel/AMD have their Management Engine (ME) and AMD their equivalent.

But why support a company like Microsoft when they have a long history of prioritizing profit over user freedom (FOSS/EEE), security and privacy?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Because there is no such well made 2-in-1 device from System76, Tuxedo or some another good manufacturer.

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[–] kabe 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Surfaces are abysmal for repairs and upgrades, as well. They're literally glued together like a smartphone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

This is why I bought the Dell 5290 2-in-1. It can be opened and the battery and ssd can be replaced for cheap.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It is weird, I agree. But I don't think there is some another way to do it with so thin case and good performance.

[–] kabe 7 points 11 months ago

I'd argue it's significantly more preferable to have a laptop that's a little thicker but you can safely open in a couple of minutes with a screwdriver, but your mileage may vary.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

oh lord that pic is unnerving

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

oh lord that pic is unnerving

Fixed!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Cool! But why does the surface in the picture run windows?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Obviously emulated

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It does (not) 😃

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I really like the Dell 5290 2-in-1. Not a surface but with 16 gigs of ram and an Intel i7-8650 CPU its a very capable tablet. It runs Linux well and everything just works. The downside is most DE's are not optimized for a tablet. I found KDE with the maliit-keyboard is the most usable combination.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Awesome configuration. Also use Plasma with Maliit keyboard. Also found it the best configuration!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Looks like they do not work. After doing some online searches I see people asking but no solutions. You would need a stand alone USB camera if you needed that functionality.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Change c:\Users\username to /home/username in Windows 12, Redmond.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I also recently got a Surface Pro 6. I got it used for $200, but it was in great condition, low battery cycles, and came with one of the keyboard covers. As you said, everything works. Gnome in Wayland is pretty good for touchscreen. I also got a third party pen for it that works great in Krita and xournal++.

I wish using it as a tablet was a bit better supported in Gnome or other DEs, and the battery life is only ... OK. Still, as a thin and light linux tablet I can carry in my bag to work on light tasks or look up content it's fantastic. The keyboard cover also makes it great for typing, programming, or opening remote shells on the go.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I wanted a small device to take notes on for school, but that I could also do development on for my cs classes. Got a surface go 3, put fedora (gnome) on it, added the surface kernel, and it's honestly a better tablet experience than windows. I use xournal++ for notetaking and the stylus and touchscreen all work great.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It is awesome experience, agreed! You can try Rnote, Xournal++ in concept but way better UI. Xournal++ has better PDF support though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Yeah I draw over a lot of pdfs so that support is pretty important. The UI isn't great but I can at least customize it, and I've gotten it to a place I'm happy with.

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[–] Imhotep 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I'm looking for a device to read comics (bandes dessinées, the taller A4 format), newspapers, rss feeds

I use an ipad for now, but I'd like to get rid of it

It needs high definition (at least 1440p) in a 12" or 13" screen. (11 too, less ideal), and to stay cool while reading/light browsing

I would love for this to be a Linux device.
Could this be it? What would be the cheapest option?

edit: a surface pro 3 at 200€?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Aw, no Surface RT tablet support. Mine is a paperweight at this point Windows RT is almost nonfunctional.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Expected 🤷

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[–] Baconsaur 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Using a Pro 6 with Linux (Arch now, but used Ubuntu and Fedora in the past). I wouldn’t say that camera works like a charm, far from that.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (6 children)

My Surface Go 1 is a really great Linux device with Fedora on it and I use the usb-c to have it displayed on a big screen when necessary. Sadly the cameras don’t work yet..

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (5 children)

i run debian sid on a surface go and i love it. my daily driver, and one of my favorite PCs in a very long time.

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[–] Parastie 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm running EndeavourOS on my Surface Pro 7. Only 2 things are not working, the camera and I haven't figured out how to get rotation to work. I am using Wayland compositor with KDE Plasma and occasionally Hyprland.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

There is no way to get camera working on SP7, it is not supported. To get autorotate work install iio-sensor-proxy, enable autorotation in Screen settings and uncheck "only in tablet mode" checkmark under enable autorotation button 🙂

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