this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023

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Linux for Microsoft Surface devices. It is reality! (upload.wikimedia.org)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by FarLine99@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world

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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.

Lemmy community. tiddeR community

Links to project resources:

Awesome additional resources:

User experience from Michael Horn.
Installation instructions (non-official): Link. Link.

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[–] rDrDr@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] Simplesyrup@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

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

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[–] KidDogDad@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

How does stylus support work? Are there good Linux apps for hand writing notes?

[–] Sethayy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

With my limited experience cause I broke my pen tip, the support for the OS is good but almost no apps support it, beyond the FOSS artistry ones

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[–] beta@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Howdy! Just wanted to share that drivers for Surface devices (at least my Surface Laptop and a family member’s Pro) are now in the newer Linux kernel versions and you should only need this if you’re using an older kernel version. That being said, Linux Surface might add some nice improvements.

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[–] Kritoke@lemmy.one 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I have Fedora on a refurb Surface 3 (not pro). It is okay, but I run into issues with chromium browsers freezing it. Still tweaking power settings, i heard it’s related to that. Might try Nobara since I hadn’t heard of it, probably has better defaults.

[–] FarLine99@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

Maybe you should try it out. Nobara has cool modifications.

[–] stagen@feddit.dk 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

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!

[–] dustojnikhummer@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

LineageOS is an Android distro

[–] DAVENP0RT@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

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

[–] sean_lemmy@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

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

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[–] Kushan@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I've got an old Surface Go I still use when travelling. I only ever really use it for watching videos, streaming from emby and the like. Occasionally I plug in a USB-C hub to plug it into a TV. Would this work well for that? I can see the surface go is listed as supported and it looks pretty feature complete, if it can make it run a bit faster and not give me any grief, I might give it a go.

[–] FarLine99@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

I think it will be good experience. Try Fedora with GNOME (Workstation) firstly.

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