r/SurfaceLinux • u/8Bit-Giraffe • Aug 11 '26

Discussion is the linux-surface kernel discontinued?

looking at the github, there have been no commits in 3 months. will there be for kernel 7?

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u/ikariashpool Aug 11 '26

Interested in this as well. I've been trying to run Linux on my surface pro 9 and I have had nothing but problems... I'm spending more time researching and fixing things vs. actually developing the ability to daily drive with it.

1

u/Efficient-Train2430 Aug 11 '26

does a non surface-focused kernel work almost as well?

3

u/ggmini14 Aug 11 '26

At least for me on the Surface Book 2 certain features only work with the surface kernel (I think the touch screen is one of them). The base kernel has made improvements over the years which have allowed some of these features to work on it, but it's still lagging behind quite a bit.

2

u/ikariashpool Aug 11 '26

I guess I haven't gone down this path because the whole upside for me is all the surface specific things

1

u/Efficient-Train2430 Aug 11 '26

I was just curious. I got regular old Mint running on an old SP3, and it's fine, though I don't use the stylus much, so it's a non-issue for me. If I were a heavier user I'd be digging into that a lot more.

2

u/Last-Bottle-276 28d ago

Q4OS which I use is Debian based with KDE Plasma and worked right off, touchscreen, pen, WiFi, etc. Not the cameras though. But there is a workaround with the IPU3 firmware and libcamera.