ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- I bought a 1st gen Surface Go for cheap. With only 4GB RAM and 64 GB of eMMC storage, of course I installed Linux on it.
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, PopOS 22.04 LTS, Fedora 39
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• a stormy night ♫
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The biggest mistake was probably expect it to work like a Mac or a Windows laptop.
My biggest mistake is expecting everything to work.
Everything works when I install Linux Mint on my other machines.
I think you misunderstand... He doesn't expect it to work like a Mac or Windows... He expects things to "work" just like a Mac or Windows... You know... like it's functional, you don't have to do serious command line stuff.. like an average person can operate things in a reasonable way. It doesn't have to work _exactly_ like the other two... It just has to _work_.
Or to install it on a Surface Go ... these things are finicky and difficult to get support for Linux. Out of the box experiences you'll get with computers that use more standard hardware.
@@zeighy Things "just work" with Linux on Macbooks because there are enough people wanting and willing to install Linux on them. That and Macbooks are everywhere , whereas Surfaces it seems were mostly leased to businesses and schools.
@@ej_tech That's because It's a Surface device. They sometimes don't work with Windows.
just discovered your channel while searching what distro is best for my Surface go, great video, very funny and informative!
The camera is possible, down in the surface-linux project they have a set of commands to download and re-compile the camera library to work. I have Linux on my gen 1 surface go now for several months and no its not always ideal but it runs better than windows did.
If parsec was available via flatpak, it would have worked on fedora too (at least it should have)
Linux and Microsoft Surface, huh? Hope your poor soul recover. Also thanks a lot for your old video about ssd + hdd on any laptop. Really helped me back in high shcool. Cheers!
I use an Surface Go 2 with Fedora 40 and almost everything works very fine. The camera not so quite but that's an secondary thing.
Do you use dual boot? @@gelbphoenix
6:13 On KDE6 it's just Go into touchpad settings, adjust the slider for scroll speed and click "apply". So that that you have to do a bunch of maths to adjust your touchpad scroll speed must be a GNOME issue.
TH-cam keeps recommending me Linux content, very nice
That's why I don't use Ubuntu as my main Linux distro OS. For Linux Surface, I use Big Linux. It is way way way easy in both tablet and laptop or desktop.
bro, your content style is nice.
: ) THANKS MUCH for sharing! I was looking to do same with daughters old surface to get a Linux 2 in 1 : ) ALL the BEST and Cheers ! : )
I'm on dualboot with fedora and a completly stripped down Version of Windows 11.
I never tried mint on my surface go 3, but Fedora worked best for me.
Surface go 2 with Ubuntu works pretty well , except that it doesn’t enter deep sleep on suspend but rather a moderate sleep that wakes quickly but causes your battery to deplete. Battery depletion is minimized by disabling the sd slot in bios.
At the price of 80 dollors I got it for last month. Not perfect but works well for my amateur radio go machine. I won’t cry if I drop it or fall on it while hiking up a mountain !
I have the same surface go 4gb/64gb. I recently installed debian with Gnome and it runs extremely well. with Windows performances are very slow, with debian it seems another PC completely, i can even run a qemu-kvm Virtual Machine with windows 8.1 embedded just for running office (ms excel) and still have good performance in the debian browser, wirhout even stopping the vm.
I had ubuntu on my surface pro go, and I recently changed it to suse tumbleweed w/ kde and it works better than ubuntu. but yours is the base model
bro if you are using flatpak anyways why switch to ubuntu???? like it comes preinstalled with fedora too 😭😭😭
All the distros you tried use the GNOME desktop environment on their main edition, which is to blame for the lack of a graphical setting for the touchpad scrolling speed. You should try a KDE spin of a distro, KDE has that setting and many other settings that you'd want that gnome doesn't include for some reason. But it wouldn't make for an entartaining video segment. It also has some goodies specifically for tablets with "tablet mode" that makes the ui bigger when only the touchscreen is available, customisable gestures from screen edges , and a better on-screen keyboard AFAIK, though I'm not sure about how it does overall beacuse I don't have a tablet.
Also there's no reason you couldn't install parsec on fedora if it's available on flathub, probably missed something in the Flatpak setup. But alas distros tend to not have a good out-of-the-box UX nowadays mostly due to a focus and conflicts on how things work under the hood. Great that you have done a great effort to make it work for you when a lot of people don't bother. Nice video editing too
Estou nessa luta com meu Dell Latitude 5175 M5. Tentando achar um linux que fique bem. Até agora o mais próximo disso foi distros com KDE Plasma 6 / 6.1
ran into similar issues with the touchpad scrolling in GNOME
and also went through that whole process to change it
absolutely ridiculous... they really have to add something in the settings bc it makes it almost unusable for me
thankfully KDE plasma has an actual UI for changing this easily
& you can also adjust the touchpad scroll speed in firefox in about:config, mousewheel.default.delta_multiplier_x/y/z
Linux will by design use free memory as cache to improve system performance. But that cache is instantly released and available when software needs the memory. So instead of having lots of unused memory laying around doing nothing, Linux is using it to speed up the system. It even says so in your video where 1.6GB of the 1.7GB used memory was marked as used for cache. Windows does something similar btw. They just don't tell you about it unless you ask, to avoid users complaining about high memory usage.
ngl Fedora is pretty good. So much so it's the distro I chose after I gradually shifted my use from Mint. Though I still use Mint on my old laptop before I got my new PC which I installed Fedora on. Actually started with Fedora Cinnamon since I tried out GNOME and it just wasn't for me but I still do study using GNOME from time to time. Studying/Practicing to use Linux in general is still very much leaning to tech-savy users because honestly a lot of things rn are very prone to breaking on hardware that weren't made for Linux lmao, this is a fun video to watch!!
It feels like if Ubuntu likes hardware, it will run like a butter.
If Ubuntu doesn't like hardware, then it's user's problem - figure it out, recode entire OS or whatnot.
I wonder why people don't want to go to Linux after that?
ngl, I used Linux Mint and never had similar issues, but I also never used Surface Go.
Thank you for struggling in this adventure before I convert my surface go into a Linux device.
Ive been using Arch Linux on my surface pro 6 for like 8 months, its a decent experience
KDE works better on Surface. I have a Fedora KDE and it just works! On screen keyboard works too
Kubuntu also works very well on a Surface Go as both a tablet and a laptop. In tablet mode I use the maliit keyboard and firefox. I found that it didn't work well as a tablet with gnome.
KDE works surprisingly well with touch, I always imagined GNOME would be better (since it looks like a tablet interface) but it was janky, at least last time I tried.
NixOS + KDE quickly conquered all my computers, laptop desktop and tablet alike.
Kubuntu works very well on the Surface Go. Both in tablet mode (with maliit keyboard and firefox) and as a laptop with the keyboard. KDE Plasma seems much better than gnome for tablets / convertibles.
does your surface go have only an enabled and disabled option for secure boot, all the tutorials have a "microsoft and 3rd party ca" option but mine doesn't. did you manage to enable secure boot
@@mintybudgie Hi, Yes, mine only has the option for Secure Boot either on or off. I leave it on (and TPM2).
Yes, I only have the option to turn off or on Secureboot. I leave it on. Thanks
@@guyburdick9323so if i install mx linux and the surface kernel, then can i just turn secure boot to enabled
I used to daily a weird Surface Go 1 4gb and NVME storage with Windows. Everything runs smoothly except when the disk starts reading/writing. I didn't expect the user experience with linux on surfaces to be that difficult. I now use this cheap, little i7 8th gen dell using Ubuntu and it's been pretty reliable except this weird bug that stutters the audio.
it might be a bit late, but chrome os flex on these works very well (i installed it on my surface go 2)
9:53 Ubuntu is full SNAP'py, Fedora love flatpacks😂❤❤
I tried using Linux on my Go 3 6500Y 8GB model. The biggest problem is actually cooling and processor, especially when hooking onto a monitor. Current browsers and websites are just a bit too much for this processor inside of such a limited chassis. I encountered several blank screens due to overheating.
try Thorium Browser. I generally use firefox, but i have also a Go3 6500y, with Thorium its cool and efficient ;)
Holy shit why is touchpad scroll speed is so hard to change on Ubuntu, on KDE Plasma it's just in touchpad settings
This video unironically gets me so excited
I tried it with fedora plasma all i gotta say is that it runs like butter
My little brother and I tried Linux on his Surface 3 and it didn't work well at all, that's just because Micro$oft just doesn't like users installing anything other than Window$ and thus has made a bunch of questionable design choices.
I think Ultramarine Linux will be a good solution that will allow use Parsec without any problems, since this distribution is a properly preconfigured Fedora. Thanks to this, Flatpak should work out of the box.
At the moment of writing this comment, Ultramarine does not yet have installation images based on Fedora version 40 - but you can upgrade from version 39 to 40 without any problems.
As for GNOME being a bit more RAM consuming, I think "zram" will be able to smooth out this disadvantage a bit.
So, if you intend to use zram, at the same time make sure to increase its (and not only its) performance by disabling Meltdown/Spectre patches. Because they reduce the overall CPU performance by up to 10~20% (depending on the CPU model).
By the way, Chris Titus Tech showed this in one of his videos, namely in "Speed Up Linux"
Did you try newer Mint- Cinnamon or LMDE or Mint Mate or Debian Mate or Gnome? I thought the touch worked on other devices with other DTE's?
Ever heard of linux mint ? would have made everything a lot easier
I remember I put Linux on a sg1 base and I tried duel booting with 64gb of ram. Linux would sometimes fail to boot cuz it ran out of space and I would have to live boot to clean the partition
Does your unit heat-up really bad? I got Surface Go 3, installed Linux Mint but it heats up with only 2 browser with one tab each running.
I put some android x86 on it before, and now just end up using the go with windows 11 for RDP another windows 11.... Somehow the window RDP is the best to remote another RDP computer....
$60? That's really cheap. How about PeppermintOS?
Was able to install ChromeOS on usb drive and it works ok, but it heats too much.
Edit: You can get Windows 10/11 recovery from Microsoft. Dunno if that would be better/faster.
Peppermint is just debian with a few tweaks, the kernel isn’t the newest so compatibility may be worse
Windows 11 asks far too much from these base model Surface Gos. Remember the reviews - the Go was underpowered when it RELEASED.
🤙🏻 would Ubuntu touch work better?
Yupp i was screaming and i have indeed lost my voice...
But thanks ima buy myself a nice surface go for my ipad replacement
You should have given a shot to atleast one of the arch based distros like endavour or garuda tbh
And this is the biggest problem with Ubuntu...these flatpaks and snaps or whatever. Fedora runs on that thing just fine and if you use the "RPM" package manager?.....you'll be good to go!
Gnome de with an arched based distro would probably be cool
So sad that Linux can't work for you. I just install Fedora 40 on my aspire switch 12, it was the best experience than original windows. I got the ram usage around 1.8gb after installed all the applications. All the drivers and touch screen works.. Just a small nick picker but manageable.. I never going back to windows for this old touch laptop.
Yeah that's the difference between a manufacturer using standard laptop components vs some weird proprietary configuration.
Try fydeos, maybe it's a better experience
couldnt you have used the Parsec Flatpak on Fedora as well? isnt flatpak distro unspecific?
Just installed Tiny11 on my Surface Go 1 - Seems better than the stock Windows 10 it had
does it get regular windows updates. even if it doesnt, enjoy trying to use 24h2 cause it's gonna brick your laptop cause the surface go cpu doesnt have popcnt
Hi. Try to install tiny windows 11. I installed this version of Windows on all my devices and am very happy. It works simular to Linux, but everising works correctly 👌
"Ooh, dankpods" LMAO
Pretty funny video :) Great job!! Did do a video on the Linux tablet (x86), that could be a good surface replacment :)
Hi there! I am currently looking to buy a surface go (1st gen or maybe 2nd gen, have not decided yet) to use for coding (I am starting to learn coding and looking for backend blockchain development) and need to use it when outside the home (i have a pretty decent pc at home) was wondering if using linux would be better for this purpose compared to windows and if so, which one should i install? Thanks a lot
hi! it is FAR far better. i personally installed fedora 40 (gnome) on my surface go 2 a few days ago and with a few enhancements here and there, it works like an actual tablet now. the touch input feels wonderful, its already somewhat fast in power save mode, and ofc even faster when its not. with windows i always felt like it took ages to boot, it heated up super fast, and none of the inputs felt like they were particularly designed for a tablet, everything just felt stiff and wonky, as if it is designed for a desktop/laptop experience (i know, shocker). alas, fedora is fairly easy to install and to get into and gnome is the perfect desktop environment for a more minimal tablet-like PC experience. coding works really well on it, and its portability is great. you might have to tweak around with its battery though, for some reason the battery goes down fast whenever its on standby mode. havent figured out a fix for that yet. if you havent bought one yet, i'd recommend a surface go 2 with 8gb of ram.
How about chrome flex? Does it work?
I have a 8gb 128gb surface go 1824. Anyways you can test with custom roms?
The first mistake was not using base debian instead of ubuntu
10:54 The linux chad I am (just joking) would rather recommend using some easy-to-use container so you can have all the ubuntu apps you want on any other distro. The most simple I can think of for this use is Distrobox (but your app will run a bit slower than on native ubuntu of course)
hahahaha, why it's soooooo dramatic, and I loved it :v
Gnome is not the best touch desktop anymore. KDE Plasma would've spared you a lot of time because it gives you all the configurations easily. Sometimes overwhelmingly many configurations, but it's all there.
I was thinking of booking from sd card in the back
Linux saves more battery than Windows on Surface devices?
it's more or less on paar with windows, at least on surface products.
any particular reason for running ubuntu 22.04 instead of 24.04?
I'm running 24.04, no issues so far.
No. You should use 24.04 before 22.04 because 24.04 has a newer kernel (Linux kernel 6.8) standardly installed. That should give you more compatibility when using Ubuntu on a Surface device.
Started doing it before 24.04 officially came out. Option to upgrade to 24.04 won't be available until July so I would have needed to do a clean install...again.
@@ej_tech Why not using Fedora then? 1. Even with the F39 iso you can immediately upgrade to F40 and 2. the Parsec Flatpak should also function on Fedora.
Yeah, I get so burned by how dismissive the Linux community is about things in general.
For what it's worth, I have the Surface Go 2 running Debian. However, I did the more unhinged approach of "I dont want any dang desktop environments, this should be like a tablet with its restrictions removed".
It works, but it wasn't without pain.
I'm doing this soon with the Surface Pro 7
what exactly do you use it for, id switch to arch in my dreams on my surface pro 5 but i use after effects and animate too much
Try fyde Os
Same type
Now use windows 11 dualboot android😊
I like the effort you put into this video. I'm not going to lie; I enjoyed the whole thing! I would do the same, and while watching I feel like it is me ... the lots of open tabs on multiple devices :D everything ... Good job! (I have liked and subscribed btw)
Yo tenía problemas con genome,todos los días se me bloqueaba.Busque información y instale KDE plasma y desde entonces no e vuelto a tener problemas.Kde + Fedora son increíbles en mi surface Go
Sad end
Try with ChromeOS Flex, it's lightweight and touch friendly
Trie ubuntu 24 04
Avg ultra proprietary hw issues lmao
Complaining about Linux not working on Microsoft made hardware? Ehm.
Windows will bog down that tablet, but so would Ubuntu LMAO
I hope your soul has had the spiritual healing required after attempting to break through Microsoft's special curated Fort Knox
I think the Lenovo Yoga tablets MIGHT actually work a lot better than MS's locked down hellscape tablet.
the struggle of installing Linux...
Never buy a Surface device to run Linux on. NEVER
Not immediately installing Arch or even Endeavor? Womp womp
Try Mint !
The usual Linux challenges - compounded by the really quite nasty closed off bios, hardware, and surface shit. I support a fleet of surface kit at work, and have done for years. Not a fan. Cheap nasty hardware, and cheap nasty firmware. The models that have that removable keyboard - are a better thing, because the number of failing keys/keyboards in the non removable models is unfunny..
The problem wasn't Linux, the problem was the Surface.
Your to slow getting to the point be a man & not a woman.
Cry baby. But you can't expect anything else when a person is a Mac person.
Linux sucks