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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Surface Laptop 3 running Kubuntu, such an improvement over what it was "designed" for. (lemmy.world)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

(Copypasting an answer to another comment on this post, slightly modified, here, so it reaches more people.)

I had a MS Surface too a while back.
After installing Linux, it felt like a totally different device. Just like you, I thought "That is how it was supposed to be!".

I strongly recommend you to try the silverblue-main-surface-image from universal-blue.org.

Why?

Because you need the linux-surface-kernel for it to work properly. Otherwise, most functions, like touchscreen, webcam, adaptive brightness, auto-rotate and more won't work at all.
You can install the kernel on other distros too, but it might break. I had that already happening. On uBlue, it's baked in and won't break. And if it does, you can just roll back.
It comes with Gnome by default and provides you a great touchscreen experience
And you can install Waydroid easily, which gives you access to Android apps. Distrobox is already pre-installed and gives you access to the software of every distro available, including Arch.

I don't recommend using another DE than Gnome for that. Especially those "light weight" ones like XFCE are horrible for touchscreens, and if you use a browser, those few hundred MBs RAM less used by them is negotiable.

Gnome is, like it or not, king for devices like that. The gestures on touchscreen, big icons, and more, is only surpassed by Android.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

silverblue-main-surface

Do you know where I can find simple clear explanation on how to do a fresh install of this? I'm kind of a noob... I've installed standard Fedora on a Surface and it works well but I have a few bugs.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Go to https://universal-blue.org/installation/ and download the image. It's a net-installer, so you can use a small USB stick too. Then just install it the way you would any other distro, e.g. Fedora Workstation. Done.

For me, that didn't work at the time due to internet problems. If you encounter issues, do the following:

Go to https://fedoraproject.org/silverblue/ and download the normal Silverblue version there and install it the same way you did the Workstation.
Go to https://universal-blue.org/images/, open your terminal and rebase. Do that by pasting rpm-ostree rebase ostree-unverified-registry:ghcr.io/ublue-os/silverblue-surface (I think that's the correct image) and wait for it to download and apply.
Reboot
Open the terminal again and paste rpm-ostree rebase ostree-image-signed:docker://ghcr.io/ublue-os/silverblue-surface:latest. Wait and reboot again.
It isn't as elegant as the first option, but if it doesn't work, then consider the alternative steps.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You are a champion! Thank you for this info! I’ve been wanting to install something else on my Surface pro 7 since I started using W11 on it and immediately disliked it. Your comment just turned that into a much easier process for my weekend!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You're welcome! Glad to help.

Just remember that Silverblue/ the immutable desktops are still relatively new. For more information, read my newest post about image based desktops. It's hopefully written in a way everyone can understand it, no matter the prior experience :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

I appreciate it! I’ll take a look at that post as well.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Thank you so much!!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Just to comment here. I installed KDE Neon on my SP7+. It took a bit of messing with the UEFI secure boot, but after that trouble...it's been mostly problem free for a couple of years, since I did it. I reckon it's just easier to have it all baked in, in my case I kinda preferred KDE neon as my choice first.