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by hirvi74 761 days ago
Surely one can run some sort of Linux disto on these surfaces, no?

I would imagine support might not be 1:1 with all the features as Windows 11 might support, but probably good enough. It'd be a sacrifice I'd be willing to live with.
3 comments
PrivateButts 761 days ago
When I last checked in on Linux running on a 2-in-1 a year or two ago it wasn't good. There are some minor hardware issues with Surfaces specifically (webcam and some other random stuff doesn't work without a ton a work) but what really killed it was the X/Wayland mess. Had tons of showstoppers in tablet mode because some applications wouldn't recognize the OSK, or would trap me in an dialog until I grabbed a mouse and keyboard. There were some distros who's login screen was unusable when touch only as well, but I'd have to dig up my notes to remember which one. Might be time soon for another tablet experience roundup now that there's a new Ubuntu LTS out.
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VyseofArcadia 761 days ago
I haven't tried since the Surface Pro 3, so maybe this has changed, but the answer was "yes with major caveats". A quick search suggests this is still the answer. Several bits of hardware[0] still rely on drivers that haven't been upstreamed to the Linux kernel proper yet, so you'd best be prepared to run a custom kernel. Some things like the webcam don't work at all.

And then there's booting. You will probably have to monkey with secure boot, which means dual booting can be a pain. Big, popular distros are starting to support secure boot, so it might just work, but it might not. And I'd be kind of shocked if MS didn't take the opportunity to ditch legacy x86 baggage[1] to completely lock down boot and make it impossible to run anything but Windows.

In summary, on older Surface devices, yes you can run Linux but you have to pretend it's 20 years ago and Linux is still a pain to get running. On ARM? Good luck.

[0] basically all input methods. Touchpad, keyboard, touch, and pen.

[1] and the freedoms such baggage still carries

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shepherdjerred 761 days ago
It's probably possible, but I doubt it's something I'd want to do.
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