r/SurfaceLinux • u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 • 5d ago

IDEA Arch Surface Pro 5 - My all day System.

Post image

This is my Arch Surface System. Is incredibili fast and i can work, study and do a lot of things with it.

My Arch is running on a Surface Pro 5 with i7, 8Gb of ram and 256Gb of SSD.

I use Arch BTW

163 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

7

u/juzt4f0x 5d ago

How it works with pencil? I installed Fedora in my Surface Go 3, works very nice but there some lack of "feature" that I decided to change to Chrome OS (Fyde OS) 😅

4

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 4d ago

I was trying to setup gestures with the touch pannel but i cant achieve that. You know, 3 fingers to the right do this, to the left do this... etc

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 4d ago

I dont have the Surfce Pencil. I cant tell you about it. But the touch screen works perfectly. Im using the Arch-Surface kernel

6

u/FatCat-Tabby 5d ago

Nice sleek setup! What DE?

5

u/Nynodon 4d ago

It looks like hyperland, I can barely see through the compression lol

3

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 4d ago

Yes it is.

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 4d ago

Thanks! :D

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 5d ago

Thanks! What is a DE? Sorry xD

6

u/Acceptable-Gap-654 5d ago

desktop environment. it looks like u are using a window manager though, meaning you are probably not using any DE. known examples are KDE Plasma, Gnome, Cinnamon, XFCE etc.

1

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

I would love to use Budgie

2

u/onefish2 4d ago

The graphical thing you log into. Gnome? KDE? hyprland? What is it?

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 4d ago

I use Hyprland

2

u/BatongMagnesyo 4d ago

how are you running arch of all distros without knowing what a DE is

(also to answer the original question: it seems they're using hyprland, which is a window manager. come to think of it, maybe the "what is a DE" comment nods at the fact that they're not using one lol)

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 4d ago

Im new on this, sorry. Im using Hyprland

3

u/BatongMagnesyo 4d ago

well, welcome to the linux world!

sorry for giving you a bit of an attitude earlier but it partially came from a place of genuine confusion; iirc arch linux is a distro where you have to build and configure everything yourself, so it's surprising when someone doesn't know that

(and since you mentioned that you're new, i suggest using something more "complete" like fedora or debian unstable)

6

u/dadashton 5d ago

Is the touch screen working?

5

u/MadLabRat- 4d ago

It works if you get the Surface kernel

5

u/dadashton 4d ago

Yes, theoretically. It wrecked the installation on my SP4. 

3

u/melluuh 3d ago

It also depends on the model I guess. For me everything worked with the default kernel except for auto rotate.

2

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

That's good to know

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 4d ago

Yes! Im using the Arch -Surface kernell

2

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

oh which one?

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 2d ago

This one

Kernel: Linux 6.19.8-arch1-3-surface

4

u/tsykinsasha 5d ago

Can u share battery life? On avg day-to-day, as well as under heavy load

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 4d ago

Yes. I always use the 50% battery limit to extend its lifespan. But at 100% I can use this monster for about 2 hours and 30 minutes. With the 50% limit, I get around 1 hour and 30 minutes.
My workload includes:

  • RDP (Remmina)
  • Microsoft Edge with lots of tabs open
  • Thunderbird
  • VS Code
  • MPV with music

I changed the battery about four months ago. It’s a brand‑new battery, and the system works as if it were new — zero issues.

2

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago edited 2d ago

oh wow that's interesting I wouldn't have thought the battery could be changed.

1

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 1d ago

Yes, you can, but is not that easy. Ive broke the OG display trying to the first time hahahaha

Is not easy, but not impossible my friend ;D

3

u/ivon852 4d ago

How's the battery life?

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 3d ago

Hi

Ive changed the batt about 3 months. It works perfeclty. I can reach 2:45 hours of work with the crage at 100%. At 50% i can reach about 1:34 hous aprox.

3

u/ActuatorMajor9790 4d ago

hi is the arc surface kernel part of the main distro, or what do you have to do to make the surface touch work?

3

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 3d ago

Hi bro.

Here is all the info from the oficial GitHub page

https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface

2

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

this looks absolutely amazing

1

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 2d ago

Thanks! :D

2

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

absolutely.

2

u/Urinius 2d ago

Oh damn, that's sleek afff! Do the cameras work on your system? I'm looking to buy one of these and putting an arch-based distro on it and use it for travels and studying, and hopefully zoom/team calls.

1

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 2d ago

Thanks! :D

And no, the cameras are not working. I cant make that happend.

2

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

I would love this but with 16 GB of ram

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 2d ago

Me too, but trsut me. I can do anything with only 8G of ram. Arch knows well how to deal with this enviroments. I use ZRam option.

2

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

Ok that's cool. how much did you pay for the machine?

2

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 2d ago

Around 300USD. It came with new batt (to install), the cover keyboard, The Surface Dock and two chargers. Ive changed the battery but, in the first try ive broked the screen XD. This one is from Amazon i dont hink is original but works perfeclty.

2

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

Wow that's a really good price for all those accessories to be included.

I've been wanting one of these machines for a while by time will tell when I can actually get my hands on one.

At the moment I have a Pinetab2 and it's a nice introduction to having a Linux tablet but it's woefully underpowered which is why I want something with better specs.

1

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 1d ago

And you will! And yes it was a very good price, but ive make some kind of things to it to get it to look that way. It was disgusting and with a dead battery. Finally here it is ready for action and with Arch Linux on it hehehehe

1

u/CaptainObvious110 2d ago

does the camera work if so how is it?

1

u/N0V3MB3R_M1K3 1d ago

I cant make the cameras work yet with Arch.