Arch and Gentoo - Best Surface Feature Support?

This page summarizes the projects mentioned and recommended in the original post on /r/SurfaceLinux

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  • linux-surface

  • Clear Linux - I really wanted to get this working because of the optimizations the Intel builds into their distro. I was able to install the latest desktop version, and as long as I used an external USB keyboard and mouse, I was able to use the system. However, I was never able to figure out how to properly build the patched kernel to support the Surface devices. If anyone wants to play around with Clear and their Surface, you can check out this kernel patch repository. However, even if you can get those Surface patches applied to the Clear Linux kernel build process, they're actually 3 years old, so it doesn't appear to be maintained.

  • archlinux-installer-script

    Arch Linux install script. Only performs the minimal steps for booting into arch. 75 lines of script with full progress messages and tutorial.

  • Archlinux - My current configuration. I'm a longtime Gentoo user and I know that there are strong similarities between Gentoo and Arch. However, even as a long time Gentoo user, I actually appreciate how Arch takes some of the complexity out of building your own rolling release Linux installation. Having said that, it's not for beginners. For example, the normal Arch installer is simply a number of command line actions that you execute, as documented on their install page. They do have a "helper" app, Archinstall, which does allow you to quickly get Arch installed, but when it rebooted for me, I didn't even have a DE installed. I had to use the Arch tools to install Gnome, as well as GDM, and a bunch of other stuff to get things working correctly. However, I think that the Linux Surface support of Arch is very good. You can see from the project webpage that Fedora and Arch both have great support. I was able to easily install all of the correct kernel Linux Surface patches by installing the Arch linux-surface package from the Surface Linux repository, and then automatically build the kernel in one step. But then I also had to manually add the new Surface kernel to the EFI boot menu. Once I did that and booted into the Surface kernel, I noticed that pretty much everything is working correctly, (except the cameras). I'm going to try installing the git version of libcamera to see if the latest version supports the SP9 cameras, but for now, I'm happy with Arch on my SP9. The main reason is I believe that the most current support will be available through Arch.

  • InfluxDB

    Power Real-Time Data Analytics at Scale. Get real-time insights from all types of time series data with InfluxDB. Ingest, query, and analyze billions of data points in real-time with unbounded cardinality.

    InfluxDB logo
  • linux-surface

    Linux Kernel for Surface Devices

  • Archlinux - My current configuration. I'm a longtime Gentoo user and I know that there are strong similarities between Gentoo and Arch. However, even as a long time Gentoo user, I actually appreciate how Arch takes some of the complexity out of building your own rolling release Linux installation. Having said that, it's not for beginners. For example, the normal Arch installer is simply a number of command line actions that you execute, as documented on their install page. They do have a "helper" app, Archinstall, which does allow you to quickly get Arch installed, but when it rebooted for me, I didn't even have a DE installed. I had to use the Arch tools to install Gnome, as well as GDM, and a bunch of other stuff to get things working correctly. However, I think that the Linux Surface support of Arch is very good. You can see from the project webpage that Fedora and Arch both have great support. I was able to easily install all of the correct kernel Linux Surface patches by installing the Arch linux-surface package from the Surface Linux repository, and then automatically build the kernel in one step. But then I also had to manually add the new Surface kernel to the EFI boot menu. Once I did that and booted into the Surface kernel, I noticed that pretty much everything is working correctly, (except the cameras). I'm going to try installing the git version of libcamera to see if the latest version supports the SP9 cameras, but for now, I'm happy with Arch on my SP9. The main reason is I believe that the most current support will be available through Arch.

  • archweb

    Arch Linux website code

  • Archlinux - My current configuration. I'm a longtime Gentoo user and I know that there are strong similarities between Gentoo and Arch. However, even as a long time Gentoo user, I actually appreciate how Arch takes some of the complexity out of building your own rolling release Linux installation. Having said that, it's not for beginners. For example, the normal Arch installer is simply a number of command line actions that you execute, as documented on their install page. They do have a "helper" app, Archinstall, which does allow you to quickly get Arch installed, but when it rebooted for me, I didn't even have a DE installed. I had to use the Arch tools to install Gnome, as well as GDM, and a bunch of other stuff to get things working correctly. However, I think that the Linux Surface support of Arch is very good. You can see from the project webpage that Fedora and Arch both have great support. I was able to easily install all of the correct kernel Linux Surface patches by installing the Arch linux-surface package from the Surface Linux repository, and then automatically build the kernel in one step. But then I also had to manually add the new Surface kernel to the EFI boot menu. Once I did that and booted into the Surface kernel, I noticed that pretty much everything is working correctly, (except the cameras). I'm going to try installing the git version of libcamera to see if the latest version supports the SP9 cameras, but for now, I'm happy with Arch on my SP9. The main reason is I believe that the most current support will be available through Arch.

  • linux-surface-overlay

    Gentoo Overlay with surface kernel and other utilities from linux-surface repo.

  • Gentoo - I never did install it on my SP, and I'm pretty sure I won't now. I love Gentoo, and spent many a night compiling away, but when I started to look through things like editing the make.conf, I realized how much I appreciate Arch's approach. If you're interested in trying Gentoo on your Surface, there is at least some support in Gentoo for it, including this howto, this YT video, and this Gentoo overlay, (but again it's 2 years old).

  • SaaSHub

    SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives

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NOTE: The number of mentions on this list indicates mentions on common posts plus user suggested alternatives. Hence, a higher number means a more popular project.

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