this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2024
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Have you installed Linux on a Microsoft Surface Pro? If so, what was your experience? (self.linux)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by Kalcifer to c/[email protected]
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I'm looking for a cheap and portable tablet that I can use for writing. Microsoft Surface Pro tablets, at least around the gen 4 models, are rather cheap to buy used, and they seem decently well made. Naturally, were I to buy one, I would have to install Linux onto it.

I've been peripherally aware of the Linux Surface project for some time now. I looked at it recently, after having not for some time, and it seems that they have really made good progress compared to what I remember, and it's making me much more interested in trying to install Linux on a Surface Pro.

Having never owned a Surface Pro, I'm not sure which models are the most reliable and sturdy. I'm not looking for something that's the flashiest; I want something that works well. I want something pragmatic — something akin to the idea of an older era of Thinkpad (eg T460). I want a pen with low input delay and good accuracy, reliable and responsive touch controls, and a decent display. I was thinking the Surface Pro 4 might be a good choice, but it's hard to know as there aren't many videos out there of people installing Linux on them, so I'm wondering what your experience has been with Microsoft Surface Pro's and installing Linux on one.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

They all work very well with the Linux Surface Kernel. Just make sure the model you prefer is listed. My Surface Laptop 4 with Debian is running just fine, but you can choose almost any distribution.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I installed some arch variant with a custom kernel that included the drivers on my SP3 a few years ago. Performed great, stable. Battery was meh, lost maybe 30% capacity which was pretty par for the course but maybe could have improved with more tuning. Tried using it primarily as a tablet and that sucked. Ran scripts to do things like help with palm rejection but it was just a poor tablet experience overall. Not that Windows provides a significantly better one. But certainly more usable.

It's been 5 years though so maybe everything is better 🤞 . Please tell me if it is, I am thinking about flashing that same SP3 back to linux to be a dashboard somewhere.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

It's not terrible now, but it's still not where you'd want it to be. I installed Fedora KDE spin on a surface pro 7 early this year and didn't lose as much battery as you. Palm rejection is not where it should be but is better than it was 5 years ago with a few tweaks.

I'm not a big tinkerer anymore so someone with time and energy could probably do a better job with it. I think my personal biggest problem is that I did it on an external drive just to test it out and lost interest. I never use the damn thing anyway, Linux or not. I just don't touch a computer outside of work except for my phone and some mini PCs I've set up as gaming consoles.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

There is surface-linux, a project with custom stuff in it.

[–] Atomic 4 points 3 months ago

I installed Debian on it. Works great, sometimes the rotation is iffy but my surface also only has 4gb of ram. Either way, it runs way better on Debian than windows

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

I couldnt make it work as a tablet. The virtual keyboard is rarely ever working. Not even for entering the user session. And most apps are not designed for things like scroll or other gestures.