So back to Copilot for research (which frankly led me astray with FydeOS though it still looks good on paper).
https://linuxvox.com/blog/ubuntu-microsoft-surface/
https://waydro.id/
https://windowsforum.com/threads/revive ... ux.365576/
https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_EHEmz_j4o
Linux on Surface Laptop gen 1
Re: Linux on Surface Laptop gen 1
Made the persistent USB image with Rufus. That part was easy.
Wayland is nice. Audio quality is thin, though it does go plenty loud. Just doesn't have the right EQ/DSP stuff. I made two videos comparing this which I'll upload to Youtube or something.
However, ultimately it seems like I am not going to be able to install the Surface Linux kernel into the live USB boot system. But Ubuntu did work. Touchpad, keyboard and wifi worked.
I think if I want to go any further, I need to just shrink the Windows partition (after freeing up space) and play that way. I will have to decide if Windows can manage my dual boot or if Grub needs to.
However, ultimately it seems like I am not going to be able to install the Surface Linux kernel into the live USB boot system. But Ubuntu did work. Touchpad, keyboard and wifi worked.
I think if I want to go any further, I need to just shrink the Windows partition (after freeing up space) and play that way. I will have to decide if Windows can manage my dual boot or if Grub needs to.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Re: Linux on Surface Laptop gen 1
Interesting way to try different distros via web VNC session: https://distrosea.com/
Re: Linux on Surface Laptop gen 1
Big update. Bought a high end Samsung 128GB USB stick. This laptop has only one USB 3 port so I used a hub to connect both the boot stick and this new stick. I was able to boot and install Ubuntu to the new USB stick as if it was a hard drive. Very cool. Got the Surface Linux kernel installed (which was effort with Copilot) and then also worked around a way for it to automatically boot that kernel (way more effort, with Copilot). Then I fought even LONGER to make hibernate and resume work. Oh, and standby just won't work. Auto screen brightness doesn't work (I think this is documented). Touch works after the Surface Linux kernel.
But everything else seems to. Currently installing Waydroid to check that out.
But everything else seems to. Currently installing Waydroid to check that out.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Re: Linux on Surface Laptop gen 1
I think this is quite respectable for a full operating system running on a USB drive.
Two finger scrolling is inconsistent between apps. Feels pretty close to Windows in GNOME at least.
Speaking of GNOME, I was able to connect to some Microsoft services like mail, calendar, contacts and files. Onedrive is mounted in the file system and kinda works. Nothing offline and it's laggy compared to Windows but it works. Typical Linux experience.
Speaking of GNOME, I was able to connect to some Microsoft services like mail, calendar, contacts and files. Onedrive is mounted in the file system and kinda works. Nothing offline and it's laggy compared to Windows but it works. Typical Linux experience.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Re: Linux on Surface Laptop gen 1
Just putting this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFBxlMqGVPo
My reply just to be lazy:
My reply just to be lazy:
I bought a higher end Samsung USB 3 USB stick and installed Ubuntu to it (had to use a USB hub because this machine only has one USB port but that worked). I wanted to see how my Surface Laptop (1st gen) did with Ubuntu 26.04 and the Surface Linux kernel. Unfortunately, I have hours of terminal window time. Fortunately, Copilot has helped me through it. I don't believe there is a single distro that will give me an out of the box experience. I had to fight just to get hibernate working, the Surface Linux kernel automatically booting and the machine WILL NOT SLEEP (I believe it is unsupported period). The precision touchpad is also pretty crap under Linux compared to Windows; works great in GNOME proper (like the file browser) but a total dice roll everywhere else and mostly not great. Linux is still a solid 10 years behind here. Audio quality is worse and I had to spend significant time installing and tuning an EQ system and it's still not as good. Lost WIndows Hello which I liked. Lost auto backlight brightness. Unfortunately on this hardware there are a lot of downsides to Linux. I did briefly try FydeOS but my keyboard and wifi wouldn't even work in setup and I gave up. Also had problems with the video driver and even after that, Youtube was still serving videos with the av01 codec which my hardware cannot decode in GPU. So I had to install the enhanced version of h264ify just to get it to load vp09. Forget native Onedrive support. Yes, it is "natively supported" in GNOME but it's not even close. Workaround after workaround after workaround.
So in my experience, yeah, if it doesn't work 100% out of the box, you are going to A) spend a LOT of time in the terminal and B) probably still end up with some jank that doesn't work.
But after all of that complaining my Windows based options are not great, either. I could try Windows 11 but I suspect my experience there won't be that great, even though I do embrace the MS account, 365 and Copilot. Just talking about speed and I guess updates with an unsupported install. And staying on Win 10 has its own risks. For now I think all I can do is what I am doing: dual boot Ubuntu off USB and keep Windows 10 on the SSD if I need it. Not having sleep support might be my current #1 gripe with my Linux experience so far and if someone knows a way to make this work, I am all ears.