Microsoft Surface Laptops and Tablets

I've already had lots of concerns about continuing to use windows, but recall and copilot in general send me reeling. I'd like to start migrating to Linux on both my machines, but right now it would be much easier to do so on my laptop than my main PC just yet.

The main concern I have is that I've had rough times with drivers on laptops running Linux, so I want to assess the QoL of Linux on Surface. I've dug around already on reddit and lemmy and seen some mention of the Surface Linux drivers that exist, but I'm hoping to get a personal account of as close a scenario as mine would be.

I'm big on KDE Neon, and I want to run it on my Surface Laptop Studio. Can anybody tell me if you've done the same or similar, and how is it? What's the most trouble you've run into?

I'm also using Plasma 5 on my Surface Laptop Studio! Wayland brought a lot of touch advances, but unfortunately the onscreen keyboard still does not work with every application.

Personally, I think KDE Plasma is great for convertibles/touchscreen laptops, but still has a ways to go before I'm comfortable using it with touch on the Surface. Windows 11 is still the best "touch-optimized desktop environment" I've used, unfortunately, but I'm expecting good things as more apps are ported to Wayland!

Getting Windows RT 8.1 to Download Updates from a Clean Install

Update 2 and TLDR: The solution that fixed error 8007000e on my Windows RT 8.1 Surface 1 is at the bottom of the post. Follow the instructions carefully.

Now some editorializing, feel free to skip to the instructions:

I’m always irritated when I clean-install Windows and have to figure out why Windows Update is broken this time. This is a problem for Windows 7 and Windows RT 8.1, not to mention long-forgotten Vista.

Of these, RT may be the worst. Windows RT on Surface 1 is locked down hard. It can only install some Windows Store apps, and nothing from the internet. It can’t even go onto the Microsoft Update Catalog website because of… processor incompatibility? The 32-bit ARM processor is naturally incompatible with most software you’re accustomed to using, including Chrome or Firefox (not even Edge). Microsoft also has no intention of releasing a 32-bit ARM version of Windows 10 (which a clean install often breaks locked-down OEM OSs), so support will probably run out next year.

There’s hubbub about x86 and x64 emulation for ARM-based Windows. Don’t get your hopes up, that’s all for the ARM64 Windows 10 version that isn’t public yet.

If I can fix the error, my Surface 1 tablet ought to meet my current needs as a study tablet if. Windows 8.1 turns out to be a pretty competent tablet OS, I really like the split-screen feature. I prefer Win10, though, because immersive apps irritate me. Win RT 8.1 came with Office RT 2013, and it does a lot of the regular things I need it to, but I’m disappointment that it can’t do more. With no 32-bit ARM versions of Zoom or Teams, the end-of-usability for this study tablet is within sight.

Update: A rando posted a comment on a Microsoft help forum with the direct links for the files to fix Win RT’s update problem from clean install, just a few separate standalone updates. It fixed my update problem.

It’s always randos that have the answers, never Microsft. Microsoft’s “solution” for RT’s broken Windows Update is to go onto your Windows Update app and download the latest updates. That is their unironic solution, even labeling it a “workaround”! Microsoft “helpfully” insists that these updates can only be downloaded via the Microsoft Update app.

I’ll share the update links here when I re-find them. Reddit seems to be the Google-able repository for fixit info, so think of this as an archival post. With the updates, your Windows Update should work correctly and your tablet can update, until support ends.

Update 2: Here’s the useful comment, posted by OvidioPR on 10 April 2020 and edited for Reddit:

I downloaded all of the following packages and installed them in this order, turning wifi off before each install:

1. Download and install update KB-2919442: http://download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919442-arm_506ed7113697c597c2859d295d562fa4311834ec.msu

2. Download and install update KB-2932046:http://download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2932046-arm_fe6acf558880d127aef1a759a8c2539afc67b5fb.msu

3. Download and install update KB-2919355: http://download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919355-arm_a6119d3e5ddd1a233a09dd79d91067de7b826f85.msu

Reboot when asked to do it

4. Download and install update KB-2938439: http://download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/03/windows8.1-kb2938439-arm_4a536d9ddcd9993cbe4fbc309ebd50a18d65f954.msu

Reboot again

5. Download and install update KB-2937592: http://download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2937592-arm_860c83a0cccc0519111f57a679ae9f9d071315e5.msu

Reboot again

6. Download and install update KB-3173424: http://download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/crup/2016/06/windows8.1-kb3173424-arm_e11b6837c0586d2b8d887f3bc33b3372fe83c8c7.msu

7. Download and install update KB-3172614: http://download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/updt/2016/07/windows8.1-kb3172614-arm_3d918d6c809bf6f57c8fcefa5db5c739e1754426.msu

Reboot again

Turn on wifi and search for updates.

This worked perfectly for me, be very patient as some of these updates take several minutes to install.

Copied from: https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsRT/comments/p6jtyk/getting_windows_rt_81_to_download_updates_from_a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb