I’m 43 and not really starting using Linux. I’ve dabbled with distros on and off over the years, but I never made the full switch because work always had some program or policy that just wouldn’t play nice with Linux. With all the crappy Microsoft decisions, bloatware, and ads I decided to try and use Linux exclusively on a personal device, and I’m absolutely loving it!
I’ve been working with Ubuntu as my main distro, and I’ve also been playing around with distros on a Raspberry Pi. To really challenge myself, I installed Linux on an old Surface Pro 3, and guess what? It just works! I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth the setup was and how well it performs.
I missing any key steps or tips to make the experience even better on a Surface? Any insights would be greatly appreciated. I was planning to buy a new tablet that runs Linux but this is working better than expected. I’m really enjoying the flexibility and control Linux offers and want to keep this momentum going.
I have read up and tried plenty, just looking for some perspectives out there specific to your tablet experiences.
EDIT Thank you for all the suggestions and insights! I’m going to continue using the Ubuntu build for the next few months. Still lots more to learn, but I’m excited to see how this goes. I have everything setup I need to function as a Linux only tablet experience. <sigh of relief> no more dependency on Windoze.
EDIT 2 I have been using Ubuntu for a few weeks and it generally works. The touch has been great but I do notice it is a bit buggy at times and the virtual keyboard leaves a lot to be desired. I did read this article today that talks about their experience more on a Surface Pro 4. https://www.binwang.me/2024-07-12-A-Review-of-Linux-on-Surface-Pro-4.html
Gnome works quite well on a larger touch-screen. Edit: ah, Ubuntu should have that by default.
It worked immediately without much fuss. That’s why I was scratching my head. Was it always this easy!? I’m enjoying the experience so far
What changed to make it happen? I am so done with other OS and Linux does everything I need. I really need to learn more about what’s happening and how to better use it so I can further customize and configure.
You might want to look at Surface Kernel for Linux. The link below shows their matrix of features on various Surface products and support within the Surface for Linux kernel. You would install Ubuntu and then install these updates to make Surface hardware function better. They have a lot of bespoke hardware in their laptops and tablets that aren’t supported by the Ubuntu Linux Kernel out of the gate. https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Supported-Devices-and-Features#feature-matrix
Ok this is getting to the question I had. I found a few YouTube videos that went into detail about updating the kernel. I was wondering what’s the purpose when it was working as well as it has. I’m going to try to do this and follow the guides. Initially I had to overcome a BitLocker issue and a bug where I couldn’t overwrite the partition. Once I finally got Ubuntu running I was ready to dive into making it touch compatible, but it was already there. I suspect this makes it even better
Whoa, I don’t know why I’ve never considered Linux on a tablet. I have a couple that are gathering dust in a closet, and if this is doable, it sounds like a fun project!
On this Surface Pro, touch, rotation, and even the pen is working! I didn’t expect it to just work and it is.
The pen?! Damn, that’s impressive.
The one I might use is a an old Galaxy Note. I wonder if I’ll have similar luck.
I’ve been daily driving a Lenovo X230 tablet for the last four years. I use Xournal++ to take notes with the pen in classes and at work. Works great!
I use ThinkPad X1 yoga with Fedora 40 (Gnome)
- Enable fractional scaling and install Display scale switcher gnome extension - makes it easier to increase scaling when in tablet mode for easier touch input.
- logging in on a touchscreen can be a pain, in particular entering the password with on-screen keyboard. Special characters and numbers are not shown by default. On windows you have the option to use pin instead with a numeric keyboard. If you have a fingerprint reader compatible with linux that might work for login (mine doesn’t).
- Linux is very terminal-oriented, but Gnome terminal is unusable on a tochscreen. never mind typing commands - try scrolling long outputs - you can’t scroll with touchscreen, it will just start selecting text (i dont remember how this works in Windows)
- Google chrome supports gestures, so you can swipe left/right on the page to navigate back/forward. This does not with Firefox. Chrome also has a more touchscreen-friendly UI you can enable in chrome://flags/#top-chrome-touch-ui (Touch UI layout) although I haven’t noticed a significant difference.
- while you’re messing with google flags you may want to change Preferred Ozone platform to Wayland - this fixed blurry scaling for me
I was looking at Lenovo and this is good input. It sounds like everyone is not a fan of the tablet keyboard and the terminal is straight bollocks no matter the distro. I keep hearing Fedora and Wayland. I’m going to have to learn about them a bit more.
Is there a DE with an onscreen keyboard that can be used in the terminal?
The onscreen keyboard used with Plasma (steam deck as well) is missing CTRL and other keys needed when navigating a terminal. It also fails to pop up on electron apps.
You can get a small Bluetooth keyboard. They make them really tiny, for this exact use case (smartphones and tablets).
Since this is a Surface you can probably find one that’s been specifically designed to integrate with it (act as a cover).
Gnome is the go to for accessibility but it has a phone-like keyboard
This extension
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/6595/enhanced-osk/
Gives the full pc keyboard
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work on GNOME 46 yet. But looks like the porting is almost done!
