Linux for Microsoft Surface devices. It is reality!
I would like to share with you a very cool project that develops drivers for correct operation of Microsoft Surface devices on Linux. I myself use Surface Pro 6 with these drivers and everything works like a charm (battery life is good, cameras work, stylus, keyboard, touchscreen, screen). The developers are gods. From myself, I would recommend using Fedora Linux distribution, as I got the best battery life on it and didn't experience any additional bugs. If you don't like GNOME, you can try spins.
Microsoft wants to give Linux a nice warm hug and then squeeze and squeeze and all the warmth disappears this is actually quite a high pressure oh that hurts Microsoft no ow are those needles coming out of your arms I think I hear bones splintering and screaming oh no it's me I'm screaming I'm hearing myself screaming I'm turning into
I applaud Linux on as many laptops as possible. But given Microsoft's history of EEE, bad security practices and multiple and on going privacy violations I would really not recommend using anything Microsoft. If you must use fx Surface I would recommend buying a used one. Or better yet a used Thinkpad or similar enterprise laptop used.
I really like the Dell 5290 2-in-1. Not a surface but with 16 gigs of ram and an Intel i7-8650 CPU its a very capable tablet. It runs Linux well and everything just works. The downside is most DE's are not optimized for a tablet. I found KDE with the maliit-keyboard is the most usable combination.
I also recently got a Surface Pro 6. I got it used for $200, but it was in great condition, low battery cycles, and came with one of the keyboard covers. As you said, everything works. Gnome in Wayland is pretty good for touchscreen. I also got a third party pen for it that works great in Krita and xournal++.
I wish using it as a tablet was a bit better supported in Gnome or other DEs, and the battery life is only ... OK. Still, as a thin and light linux tablet I can carry in my bag to work on light tasks or look up content it's fantastic. The keyboard cover also makes it great for typing, programming, or opening remote shells on the go.
I wanted a small device to take notes on for school, but that I could also do development on for my cs classes. Got a surface go 3, put fedora (gnome) on it, added the surface kernel, and it's honestly a better tablet experience than windows. I use xournal++ for notetaking and the stylus and touchscreen all work great.
I'm running EndeavourOS on my Surface Pro 7. Only 2 things are not working, the camera and I haven't figured out how to get rotation to work. I am using Wayland compositor with KDE Plasma and occasionally Hyprland.
My Surface Go 1 is a really great Linux device with Fedora on it and I use the usb-c to have it displayed on a big screen when necessary. Sadly the cameras don’t work yet..
I have an old Surface Book 1. I have windows 11 on it and it works ok. I can't run anything heavy on it of course but little web browsing and zoom meeting etc. works fine. I really enjoy the awesome camera and face id login.
I am worried with Linux install, the camera will not be as good. If someone can confirm their experience on SB1, I can be convinced to install Linux on it.