Just putting out feelers, anyone here run Linux on a surface pro 4 or 5? What distro did you use, and how did it go?

Edit: I’ve pulled the trigger on a Surface Pro 4. I’ll make a new post in a week with my early impressions, which distro I’ve gone with, etc etc etc.

  • SturgiesYrFaseOP
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    1 year ago

    So would you say more or less fiddling about than with a regular laptop/desktop install(barring the additional need for the surface kernel install)?

    I’m fine with extra fiddling about, that’s part of the fun, but if it’s not really functional at the end of the fiddling then that’s not so fun.
    The ones I was looking at didn’t come with the stylus, so that’s a hurdle to jump at a later date.

      • SturgiesYrFaseOP
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        1 year ago

        Fair dues. Sadly the trigger is pulled, and the seller says no givesies backsies. At the very least I’ll have another thing for my wife to be angry at me for having in my home lab!

    • version_unsorted
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      1 year ago

      Everything was pretty smooth after getting the right GNOME extensions installed for me. In the project wiki there is even an archlinux repo so you don’t need to compile the packages from the AUR. The stylus was the only troublesome part, but like I said, I think my stylus has issues, so I don’t think I can blame it on the Linux setup.

      It was a good time getting the UI tuned in and customized. I had no idea so many good extensions existed for GNOME.

      • SturgiesYrFaseOP
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        1 year ago

        I’m so confused right now. Basically no one is sitting in the middle ground in this thread… Either I’ve made a horrible decision, wasted £90, and I’ve set myself for a load of pain with no reward at the end, or basically the exact opposite…

        • version_unsorted
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          1 year ago

          My sympathies lol. I’ve been a long time Linux user. Sometimes my experience can be optimistic but in this case I remember things working pretty well. Definitely post your experience here and feel free to DM if you need a hand with something.

          • SturgiesYrFaseOP
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            1 year ago

            Thanks bud, much appreciated 👍

            I’m no longbeard wizard, but I’ve gone through the manual arch setup a few times, and done my fair share of distro hopping. I think I’ll be able to run through this without too much issue. Just not sure who to believe, or if it really boils down to luck of the hardware draw.

            In any case, I’m looking forward to playing around with my new toy, and hopefully it’ll work how I want it to.

            Might shoot you a dm and pick your brain if I get stuck.