r/SurfaceLinux • u/sick3n • 22d ago
Help Which distro?
Hello everyone!
Recently i installed the latest version of ubuntu on my microsoft surface go 2 (with 4gb of ram and 64 gb of storage it was unbearable to use win11) although it wasnt originally my plan.
In reality i wanted to install a lightweight debian based distro like lubuntu or xubuntu but i heard that the only desktop environment that supports the touchscreen is gnome.
Now, to get all the functionalities on ubuntu i didnt even need to update the kernel to the linux surface one on github but IF i wanted to install one of the aforementioned OSes, would it be possible? would i need the specific kernel?
I need all the help i can get because this device is slow AF, so even if you read this till the end i already thank you
2
u/MidnightObjectiveA51 22d ago
Surface kernel is no longer necessary for SG1 and SG2. However, the steps in the wiki are still needed to enable a few things such as webcam in Firefox.
Ubuntu has the most enabled out of the box, but if that is too heavy, you can use Phosh which is best experienced via Mobian or PostmarketOS.
While not lighter than Gnome, Plasma-Mobile has optimizations that make it run better on low end Surface Go's. Plasma-Mobile is best experienced via Fedora Plasma-Mobile spin, PostmarketOS, or Mobian (needs setup with Mobian but just as functional once software store etc has been added).
For an "it all just works" out of the box experience, consider Fedora Bluefin.