I salvaged a Microsoft Surface Go gen 1 from the scrap pile and installed Linux on it. Most stuff seems to work ok but I can’t get screen rotation working in Gnome. I know its not a sensor issue because it works under plasma-mobile, and if I run monitor-sensor I can see its detecting mottion even under Gnome.

I tried installing the older version of iio-sensor-proxy-git suggested here but that made no difference: https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/issues/689

I also tried the screen rotate extension, however the AUR version made no difference and when I tried downloading it from the web it just said it was incompatible. I don’t think it would solve the problem anyway because Gnome realises its in tablet mode and has the option for auto-rotate, it just doesn’t do anything. I’ve also tried the Fedora live iso and its the same there.

Alternatively can anyone suggest a good on screen keyboard for KDE? I’ve tried maliit and plasma-keyboard but they’re missing keys like ctrl and tab etc which makes using the terminal horrible. Thats the main reason I’m even using Gnome because the on screen keyboard is great.

Edit: Turns out I just had to go back to the extension web page and enable it.

  • wltr@discuss.tchncs.de
    2·
    1 month ago

    I wonder how these laptops behave with Linux. I checked the prices for used ones, they’re quite good in my area. I don’t know about their repairability, but the rest look quite good.

    • Infernal_pizza@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      2·
      1 month ago

      Not sure if you’ve seen but there is a custom kernel for surfaces that you can install which should get most stuff working: https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface?tab=readme-ov-file

      They have a feature matrix so you can see which features should work depending on the model. However I haven’t tried installing it yet because the surface go is so old everything except the camera seems to work with the standard kernel.

      • wltr@discuss.tchncs.de
        2·
        1 month ago

        Thanks! I’ve heard of the kernel, yet never had any chance at testing. It’s great to know the old devices are upstreamed, as I might want price over everything else. I’m looking for a laptop that I’d be able to do some tasks, but not everything. I have no idea whether it’s a good idea to get Surface, but it looks quite good.

        • Infernal_pizza@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
          2·
          1 month ago

          Yeah Linux is great at resurrecting obsolete devices! This one was in the trash pile because it can’t run Windows 11. I can’t really comment on whether it’s a good idea to buy one though since I got this one free and I’ve not done much with it yet. It’s missing the keyboard cover and pen as well so I’m using it as more of an iPad/Android tablet alternative than a laptop.

          • wltr@discuss.tchncs.de
            2·
            1 month ago

            I understand, I’d see if I can get one for cheap, I’m not hurrying. I’d love to learn whether it’s good as a tablet, would be pretty great to have a tablet running Linux!

            • Infernal_pizza@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
              2·
              1 month ago

              Feel free to ask me in a few weeks and I’ll let you know! I’m going to try Waydroid as well, then it’s basically an Android and Linux tablet in one

              • wltr@discuss.tchncs.de
                2·
                12 hours ago

                Hey, I’ve found the model previous to yours! For money, but it has a keyboard cover, which I need. It’s not too expensive, about $30 / €25 / £22. I’m thinking of getting one. Do you have something to add about yours? I’m mostly interested in how it runs Linux. My research has shown it’s decent for its price.

                • Infernal_pizza@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
                  2·
                  10 hours ago

                  Which model have you found? Mine is a first generation Surface Go so I didn’t think there was a previous model?

                  I’ve honestly been quite impressed with it so far though, it seems to run Linux quite well! I didn’t even have to use the Surface kernel as everything worked fine with the standard kernel. The touchscreen worked fine straight away with no config needed. The gyroscope works as well for auto-rotate, although you may need to do a bit of config to get your DE to recognise it (there’s a GNOME extension to fix it). I even managed to get secure boot working with custom keys.

                  I found it a bit tricky at first as it was difficult to find an on screen keyboard that had extra keys such as tab, eventually I switched from KDE to GNOME as their on screen keyboard was the best. You probably won’t have that problem if you’re getting the keyboard cover anyway, and tbh if you don’t need a good on screen keyboard KDE may be the better choice for a touch screen.

                  I’m also quite impressed with Waydroid. There is a bit of a performance hit from it being virtualised rather than an actual Android tablet, but considering how weak the CPU is the performance is still pretty good. Its fairly noticeable if you compare the performance of a native web browser vs an Android browser running through Waydroid, but depending on what you’re doing it’s nice to be able to run Android apps since they’re more touch focused. It also doesn’t have perfect compatibility, I couldn’t get IronFox to work at all.

                  The only bit that was a bit dodgy was the camera, you need to install libcamera for it to work and even then some programs don’t recognise that you have a camera, or if it does you just get a green screen. But I have no need for the camera so I don’t really care. Switching to the Surface kernel didn’t help either so I’ve stuck with the standard kernel.