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GNU/Linux on the Microsoft Surface Go
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<h1>GNU/Linux on the Microsoft Surface Go</h1>
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<div id="article-date">2024-11-27</div>
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<p class="tags">
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<a href="/index/microsoft.html" class="tag">microsoft</a>
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<a href="/index/tablet.html" class="tag">tablet</a>
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<a href="/index/surface.html" class="tag">surface</a>
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<a href="/index/gnu/linux.html" class="tag">gnu/linux</a>
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<p>Interestingly, the best GNU/Linux tablet is actually made by Microsoft. The
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Surface Go (first generation) is a tablet released in 2018. The performance is
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nothing amazing, but unlike most tablets, you can actually make use of the
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performance it does have; it doesn't feel slow for normal tablet tasks either.
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Besides that, it has a 10" screen, front and back cameras, a kickstand, stylus
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support and a detachable keyboard — but the latter two are sold separately.
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</p><p>There are five models, and I've got the middle one:
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</p><ul><li><p>4 GB RAM, 64 GB eMMC, no mobile data
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</p></li><li><p>4 GB RAM, 128 GB NVMe, no mobile data
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</p></li><li><p>8 GB RAM, 128 GB NVMe, no mobile data
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</p></li><li><p>8 GB RAM, 128 GB NVMe, LTE
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</p></li><li><p>8 GB RAM, 256 GB NVMe, LTE
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</p></li></ul><p>All of them use the
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<a href="https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/122697/intel-pentium-gold-processor-4415y-2m-cache-1-60-ghz.html">Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y</a>
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CPU; you can read the details yourself, but we're not focusing on raw
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performance here. An upside to this weak CPU is that the Surface Go is fanless
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and completely silent.
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</p><h2>Design</h2><p>The tablet itself weighs 0.52 kg and it's 8.3 mm thick. The whole body is
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magnesium; it feels like a quality product. The screen bezels are a bit thick,
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but that's not a problem for me and it also allows the screen to be fully
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rectangular. The kickstand is very useful and stable.
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</p><p>A minor issue is that it only has one USB-C port, but there's also a proprietary
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magnetic charger port, a headphone jack and a microSD card slot, which is hidden
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under the kickstand. You can also charge over USB using any regular phone
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charger.
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</p><p>The keyboard cover is made from some sort of fabric which is interesting, and
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mine had broken edges, but I don't mind. It's good, I'm not very used to it yet,
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and it's smaller than a laptop one. It's still very useful and it also has the
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arrows and function keys. The trackpad is what you would expect, but I prefer to
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use the touchscreen or stylus as it's faster. A mouse would be the fastest, but
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I'm not going to carry one around. In case you don't want to use it, but still
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want to keep it attached, folding it behind the tablet automatically disables
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it.
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</p><p>The stylus is good. I'm not very experienced with styli, but it's thick, which
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I like, has 4096 pressure levels, a button on the side and another one on the
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top, which is also an eraser. It runs on a AAAA battery.
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</p><h2>Compatibility</h2><p>I used Linux Mint 22 MATE, and after installing the
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<a href="https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface">linux-surface</a> kernel using the
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provided instructions, everything worked. Krita recognised the stylus, including
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the eraser end, out of the box.
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</p><p>Scrolling with the finger on the touchscreen works very well in GTK apps and in
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Chromium, and you can hold to select. The stylus always selects text like the
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mouse. However, scrolling by swiping isn't possible in Firefox, Electron or Qt
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apps, where you must use the trackpad, scrollbar or arrow keys.
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</p><p>Otherwise, it's what you'd expect from a regular GNU/Linux system. The battery
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lasts about 4-6 hours of normal use which is more than I expected.
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</p><h2>Recommended software</h2><ul><li><p><a href="https://krita.org/">Krita</a>: for painting
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</p></li><li><p>Chromium: web browser, better touchscreen support
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</p></li><li><p><a href="https://github.com/JoseExposito/touchegg">Touchégg</a>: touchscreen and trackpad
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gestures
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</p></li><li><p><a href="https://launchpad.net/onboard">Onboard</a>: a fine on-screen keyboard
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</p></li><li><p>Everything else Linux Mint comes with
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</p></li></ul><p>I have yet to find a good stylus notes app.
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</p><h2>Conclusion</h2><p>If you want a portable machine with GNU/Linux, this is probably one of the best
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options for now. The advantage to being made by Microsoft is that it's a
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polished, quality product, which is more than a developer's toy.
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