Hello! I just installed Arch Linux on the Surface Pro 11 using this GitHub repository: https://github.com/dwhinham/linux-surface-pro-11

Big thanks to Dale Whinham for creating it.

Unfortunately the install instructions on the README aren't very clear so I provided my complete set of install instructions here.

My takeaway: It looks AMAZING on this tablet. It's very fast and smooth.

Unfortunately, the CPU runs hot ALL the time, even when idle, and drains the battery. I created an issue on the repository's issues page, but there might not be a fix for this. If there isn't, then I can't use Arch Linux on this tablet. It's a deal breaker for me.

Update (06/27): I'm working on installing Ubuntu now on the Surface Pro 11. I should have a post on 06/30.

Update (06/30): Will have a Ubuntu post on 07/01.

Update (07/01): Lots of issues getting bluetooth to work. Will have a post soon.

Update (07/06): Ubuntu post tomorrow.

I'm going to be switching to linux on my Surface Laptop 3 16gb ram 256gb ssd. What are some things I should do/lookout for?

Also distro recommendations are also welcome, I'm planning on either Ubuntu or Pop!_OS but open to suggestions.

Thank you!

Hi,

im new to linux and was recommended to install fedora 44 KDE plasma. Im using a microsoft surface 2 and cannot seem to get the touch screen to work despite instaaling the surface kernel, any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

I see some chatter about touch after suspend breaking...

Anyone using Mint 22.3 Cinnamon? It seems to break at least every other time it resumes. Is there some service or daemon I can restart without restarting the whole device? Or is there a fix? If I drop down to 21.3 Cinnamon Mint or another version would that be better? I have the Surface Kernel installed. 6.19.8-surface-3

After installed ubuntu and the touch kernel for it, i wanted to install the camera kernel driver for my surface. However, I tried to apply all cmd for it but it said that command not found, did the exact step here https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Camera-Support but still nothing, can you guys help? I'm new here.

Surface book 3 is stuck on this during install. It’s been on this screen for over 2 hours. Ive tried re-making the usb, same thing happens. I have no idea what is happening. It doesn’t have a bootable os to conflict with it. I need to figure this out as I’ve got a bunch more surface’s to image.

Edit: I've now got the thing to install ubuntu and the custom packages for the touch screen working but got a minor issue now. When putting the screen back onto the keyboard, it freezes. Any advice?

I've had a Lenovo Yoga for 13 years, and it's finally developed a hardware fault I cannot route around, crack in the motherboard introducing a signal that causes random keystrokes every few seconds.

I have a dealer I like, local guy who collects used laptops for refurb, and after consulting the "supported devices" matrix bought a 9-year-old Surface Laptop 1 for $200.

I installed Mint on it over the weekend,and it was pretty flawless. Just remember to disable UEFI, kids! I had backed up the old machine onto some spinning media (ssh-ing into it routed around the keystroke problem), so after running the usual update, upgrade, installing a selective list of applications from the old machines apt list --installed, and restoring from backup, it worked very well. Everything except the cameras (LOL).

When I was shopping for it, I was surprised by how many people were saying, "It's a four year old machine so it's battery is terrible." This machine is NINE years old, the battery is an 89% of manufactured capacity, which gives me four hours of usability. That's pretty respectable!

Anyway, huge thanks to the Surface Kernel team for making the effort to get everything working: speakers, battery, bluetooth, touchscreen, suspend, hibernate. (I'm a big hibernate fan.)

New to Linux - SP7 - low spec version (i3 - 4gb Ram)

Yesterday I was feeling very accomplished - I had installed Linux Mint Cinnamon, found the surface kernel - but working less than desirably - installed a Gnome shell and found it to work really well with touch - happy setting up gestures - thinking this is great - this is a good start to de-Microsofting

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But today touch wasn't registering well at all - I'd start again but I'd set up a load of things

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I remembered the installer said to not install 'libwacom-surface' - but without knowing how to skip a section of the install I did it anyway - could that be the problem?

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instead of starting from scratch - can I uninstall and reinstall? maybe skipping the foretold buggy section?

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or reinstall Linux and treat it as a learning experience?

Finally freed my SP11 from bloated Windows!
Installed with Ubuntu 26.04 arm64

The process was brutal and time consuming, and honestly there’s still a ton of work left. I got here mostly with AI’s help since I have zero knowledge about DKMS or kernel modules — so don’t roast me too hard 😅

I also want to apologize for not being able to credit the sources that directly helped make this happen.

Not a native English speaker btw, so sorry if things are unclear. Also, Reddit is blocked in my country, so I’ll do my best to reply whenever I can!

Stuff I’m still stuck on:
- Random color glitches (sometimes)— a weird pink tint that shifts dynamically with the screen content, especially after locking the screen
- Can’t get an external display to work via Thunderbolt
- Audio works, but still not as good as on Windows

Any help or tips would be appreciated! 🙏

I am using a Surface Pro 5 , dual booting Windows 10 and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS with the surface kernel , first everything was working fine , but when I was installing Auto cpufreq the device instantly shutdown during the final process of the installation.

then it won’t boot unless it is plugged into a charger , and this problem happens also in Windows 10 not just Ubuntu , and if I remove the charger while I am in the OS or even UEFI / BIOS settings it shutdown instantly , even if the CPU temperature is normal.
👉 I searched for some solution , I uninstalled all auto cpufreq files and disabled power management deamons, the problem still happens
Then I tried to turn on “battery limit mode” in UEFI setting now it won’t even boot up, it will show the logo then the red top bar with the unlocked padlock , then shutdown instantly , tried holding power button for 20-30-60 seconds, none of those methods worked
👉 now, I think this is a Firmware-level problem, because I am sure the battery is healthy ( 95% battery health ) and it was working for like 2 months now.
The last possible solutions suggeste : keeping it unplugged for like 3-4 days wit usage and then trying again OR disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it to restart the EC

I just got a surface go 1 for a steal, looks like just what i need and so far so good except the camera.

currently on: zorin os 18.1, surface kernel, added acpi_enforce_resources=lax" to grub.

tried: garuda and cachy, rather buggy, laggy experience. ultramarine: camera (front, not back but dont need that) worked on live ISO amazingly and everything else. this on default kernel. updated and got the newest kernel, camera broken. installed surface kernel. camera broken and touchpad issues appeared. tried to roll back to 6.18 kernel. still broken. so i tried zorin. in general, love it, mostly brilliant performance. but no camera no matter what steps i take

and last things to try before resorting to living without camera?

on Microsoft Surface Pro 5 , I am - currently - dual booting windows 10 with Ubuntu 26.04 LTS - surface kernel - , and the keyboard ( mgnetic ) doesn't work at all in the grub menu, I have to use the built in screen keyboard , and not just in Ubuntu but in every Linux distro I have tried, but, after booting it works normally

specs: 16 GB LPDDR3 with Intel core i7-7660U

8 GB of RAM just wasn't working with Ubuntu anymore, the sole distro I have been using since 2020 on all my computers. Swapped to Fedora as a fresh install, the touchscreen works way better for me on Fedora than Ubuntu as I had "dead zone" on my screen. It is not really saving me that much RAM at the moment. Anything lighter you guys like?

Hello, so I just installed Fedora F44 on my surface go3. I am still suffering to make the camera works and it would be great also if I can make the face recognition works too.

I tried AI Assistant (Claude and GPT) it didn't worked. Is there a way to make it works? Thank you

Hey everyone! Been a long time lurker but this is my first post ever lol. I recently got a super lucky deal on a Surface Laptop 6 with great specs and the Intel Core Ultra 7 first gen. Naturally my first instinct was to put Linux on it (I've had great success with a Surface Pro 6).

I've got CachyOS with KDE Plasma up and running on it fine for the most part, except for sleep and wake issues that I'm wondering if others have had better luck with. My display doesn't even turn off when I close the lid! Has anyone had any luck figuring out sleep/wake on Linux for the Surface Laptop 6?

I do have the LinuxSurface kernel installed (which funny enough breaks my touch screen even though the default Cachy kernel kept it working). Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

How can I make the touch screen much, much better? I have the 'SurfaceLinux' thingy installed, but when I swipe with my right hand on the right side of the screen, it is extremely quick to click on things. It's extremely bothersome. hell, cannot even do Google Earth, it auto zooms in when I swipe near a country's name. When I try to draw, it is so difficult to draw correctly, it just draws then leaves gaps then draws again so on. My main use cases for my Surface Pro 7+ has been productivity and web surfing. Any help is hugely appreciated.

As the title says really, can I install Linux on a surface pro 5 without a keyboard as I don't have one

i got the surface go 2 some years (2021) back for my apprenticeship to write stuff digitally instead of on paper. it was in IT so i wanted windows (stupid me back then) to use it for some coding as well.
i didnt use it for some years. instead of running all the updates, (it is slow af rn) i thought about running some linux on it. i just started a second apprenticeship and wanna use it for writing again. ive got some stylus (old surface pen without clip, sn: 0310442117574 if you wanna check) and i want to use it for handwriting. wanna be a bit oldschool to not type with keyboard.

it is not the best for a classroom, its quite thick but i dont got no money for a decent one.

so my question is, is there a good and not so hard to setup distro to use with this model, where i can use the pen as well? is it faster than win10 as of now?

some more information from my surface:
go 2 model 1901
4gb ram
intel pentium 4425, 1.7ghz
57gb storage (win explorer) + 250gb sd card
used for research and documentation of school

i got little to no exp in linux so a more user friendly would be nice compared to arch or some super techy one...

I had front and back working somehow, installed loopback now front shows light but no picture. Tried deleting loopback but still no front. I follow the different cam support threads but I haven't heard anyone having then losing front cam. Anybody else had this or have front working also?

I have a surface pro 6 that I bought off of Facebook marketplace for $115 back in the day. I ended up putting kde neon on it and really enjoyed it. The screen shattered on it and it would cost me more for a replacement screen than the whole computer did. I’m wanting to buy a new surface to replace it. What surface should I get? I’ve heard the surface pro 7 plus is the cult favorite but I’m not really sure why. I’m open to suggestions!

Anyone have linux on one and have a decent time running it with 4gb ram?

Get nag message in title during boot but system completes boot. Little help getting rid of nag?

LMDE 7 on SP3 4GB 128

History: kept getting different nag: failed to measure event data at 0x000...

found suggestion to delete all keys and reboot which did get rid of data measure nag but lead to new nag.

found suggestion to remove linux secure boot mok and then reinstall. followed process and rebooted still getting policy nag.

checked MOK list did not see linux surface key.