this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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45
anyone using a surface tablet? (self.linux)
submitted 1 year ago by turkelton to c/[email protected]
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hi

I'm thinking about getting one and was looking at YouTube videos but none really showed it in use.

Like how keyboard works and all that.

Does anyone here have experience?

Thanks

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I used a pro 7+ for a while with Fedora on it and it ran just fine. The stylus worked generally well, too. Eventually I put Win 11 back on it to be able to use the camera (it was not yet supported by the linux-surface project and still may not be?) and it worked well enough with WSL that I kept it that way. I generally spent my time in firefox and windows terminal with little to no trouble at all (after de-clawing windows the best I could).

Note that the keyboard is about what you'd expect for such a flat thing. I'm pretty sure it's rubber dome and not butterfly switches. It's not a great experience but it's no worse than your average laptop.

[–] TCB13 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The sole reason why I'm thinking about getting a Surface is because it would make the perfect Linux tablet for quick tasks such as browsing the web, writing emails etc. that has a decent design. To be frank I would like to see it become more lightweight and thin like an iPad. Too bad we can't get Linux to boot and work in iPads, perfect hardware.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Have you checked out Pinetab 2? It had a great form factor IMO and is nice and light. (520g vs. 466-495g for iPad depending on model.)

[–] TCB13 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yes, it looks very close to what I want and I really like the price, but a sub-2Ghz CPU doesn't seem like a good investment. Maybe a future PineTab3 will be more reasonable for me. I'm not even sure if it runs Debian/Gnome properly with everything working, software support seems shady at best. Oh and I need a Portuguese keyboard and they don't sell keyboards for languages other than English.

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

Makes sense, it is indeed intended to be a low powered tablet. Pine64’s whole thing is that they make the hardware and the community figures out the software: for example, 3 months post release there still aren’t wifi/bluetooth drivers. I love mine but I can definitely see why it’s not for everyone, plus I use an English keyboard so I don’t have that restriction.

[–] TCB13 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well if they at least made other keyboard I would might "bite the bullet" when it comes to software. But c'mon... a tablet released without working wifi?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yep. You gotta attach a dongle or tether your phone for now. I personally tether.

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

I have a surface pro 7 running arch and plasma desktop. Everything but camera works. It is pretty sweet. I mostly use it in touch mode with virtual keyboard, pinch to zoom, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Which virtual keyboard do you use?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have one running manjaro gnome. Works great for me, but sometimes i have trouble with the onscreen keyboard showing up over the browser (both firefox and chrome). Other than that, it works just fine.

[–] turkelton 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can you tell me more about the typing experience of the onscreen keyboard?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I believe it's just the built-in wayland keyboard. It works just fine, but looks a little ugly for my tastes. If an app doesnt automatically bring up the keyboard, just swipe up from the bottom of the screen and itll come up

Other than that, its a pretty standard touchscreen keyboard. Youre not gonna be doing any "homerow typing" but its easy enough to use, especially in portrait mode. Landscape is a bit long for my thumbs.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Surface pro 5 running Pop_OS. Aside from the battery life, I love it. Works fantastically.

[–] turkelton 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How is the on screen keyboard?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I barely if ever use it since I use the flip cover keyboard but it shows up and is usable.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I've tried Linux on my Surface Go. It was awful but not in the way you'd think it would be.

Pros: Honestly Linux made the anemic processor on it feel snappy again. I couldn't play the newest games, linux is not a miracle worker. But compared to the bloated experience its better than Windows 10.

Cons: The smallest features didn't work. SD reader never worked. Needed the Surface firmware to get the webcam to work and even then it was worse than it was on Windows. No good on screen keyboard software, and from my testing no DE had a good tablet mode.

Plus the giant red "unsecured" bar on boot was an eye sore.

I know Linux is has more compatibility on different Surface models so maybe it was just my Go. Or perhaps it was Manjaro. Either way if you don't have a machine yet maybe look at other laptop/tablets

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I have a Surface Laptop Go running debian. This model is a laptop not a tablet, but it works fine for me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Nobara worked for me without any changes