I have a couple of Surface tablets that I’d like to put Linux on if possible. The one I want to try first is a 5th gen Surface Pro. If all goes well I would then try it on a Surface Go 2 and hopefully could keep the cellular access.

What resources are available for doing this? The little I’ve read so far makes me think that it is a buggy process and maybe not worth the effort involved.

  • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    I have an OG surface 1. I recently installed Ubuntu on it and it’s fucking awesome. I had to make a few tweaks to get a better on screen keyboard but that’s it. Everything worked out of the box.

    And the Gnome desktop works perfectly for a tablet.

    • Kraven_the_Hunter@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      5 months ago

      This is good to hear! Do you have the surface keyboard and pen? I’m guessing the keyboard is probably straightforward, and there probably aren’t many uses for the pen other than precision touching the screen, which is fine.

      • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
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        5 months ago

        I do not have the keyboard, but I do have the pen.

        The pen doesn’t work like it does in Windows. It’s effectively a mouse. When you click the side button it immediately does a right click without even touching the screen.

          • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
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            5 months ago

            Well, like I said, it works like a mouse. I haven’t tried it in these applications, but I would assume there wouldn’t be any pressure sensitive drawing.

            It’s possible I need to install the proper module for it. I haven’t explored that yet because it’s not really what I need.

          • reallyzen@hachyderm.io
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            5 months ago

            @chrisgestapo @cyborganism I have a Thinkpad Yoga where the touchscreen is a wacom tablet, and the included pen works with variable pressure for brush strokes like it should.

            And indeed Gnome, with its big fat rounded buttons/toggles works very well.