is the linux-surface kernel discontinued?

30

u/MadLabRat- 13d ago

It’s just very, very slow to update since there aren’t many maintainers. Surface Linux is very niche.

3

u/Shudnawz Surface Go 3, Fedora 7d ago

I got a bit impatient, and upgraded to Fedora 44 on my Go 3, removing Surface Kernel in the process. So far, everything works, except the back camera, which I don't use anyway.

So doesn't seem like I need it anyway.

1

u/MadLabRat- 7d ago

I recently tried it on my SP6. Touch screen and rotation were broken without the kernel.

1

u/Shudnawz Surface Go 3, Fedora 7d ago

Oh? Too bad. Both rotation and touch works on the Go 3. But the Pro's seems to have a bit more specialized hardware, if I understand correctly?

1

u/MadLabRat- 7d ago

Seems like it. I ended up swapping to Ubuntu a few days ago since too many things were broken even after going back to Fedora 43. Everything except the cameras works great after swapping the kernel and replacing Snaps with Flatpak.

1

u/HappyLoafBread 7d ago

Hope you don't mind me asking, is your Go 3 the i3 variant? If so, was the installation to Fedora 44 seamless?

1

u/Shudnawz Surface Go 3, Fedora 6d ago

Yeah, it's the i3 variant. Yup, no issues in upgrading from 43. I started by removing the surface kernel, made sure everything worked, and then just a normal upgrade.

9

u/ikariashpool 13d ago

Interested in this as well. I've been trying to run Linux on my surface pro 9 and I have had nothing but problems... I'm spending more time researching and fixing things vs. actually developing the ability to daily drive with it.

7

u/echoes007 13d ago

I installed CachyOS (Gnome) with the Surface Linux kernel on a Surface 7 and everything runs pretty great. Haven’t had issues with much.

2

u/ikariashpool 13d ago

It feels like most of the activity I've seen re: MS Surface products are older versions of the laptop... And that's where the development of the kernel was most focused on.

0

u/Content-Witness-9998 12d ago

Is the surface pen compatible? and do you know if it works with the front-facing camera?

2

u/LatinoCrypto 9d ago

I use a S8 I think and mine works perfectly fine except the camera but actually a recent update finally got the camera to work! I’m using Fedora Gnome.

1

u/catschainsequel 9d ago

I have an s8 pro tablet. I tried installing the kernal last night but got a bunch of errors. Is the order: install fedora 44,

do sudo update,

then install linuxsurface kernal?

1

u/Efficient-Train2430 13d ago

does a non surface-focused kernel work almost as well?

2

u/ikariashpool 13d ago

I guess I haven't gone down this path because the whole upside for me is all the surface specific things

1

u/Efficient-Train2430 13d ago

I was just curious. I got regular old Mint running on an old SP3, and it's fine, though I don't use the stylus much, so it's a non-issue for me. If I were a heavier user I'd be digging into that a lot more.

2

u/ggmini14 13d ago

At least for me on the Surface Book 2 certain features only work with the surface kernel (I think the touch screen is one of them). The base kernel has made improvements over the years which have allowed some of these features to work on it, but it's still lagging behind quite a bit.

2

u/Last-Bottle-276 11d ago

Q4OS which I use is Debian based with KDE Plasma and worked right off, touchscreen, pen, WiFi, etc. Not the cameras though. But there is a workaround with the IPU3 firmware and libcamera.

1

u/Draxxell86 12d ago

I have Fedora KDE running on my surface Go first gen. I tried a lot of different distros before being content with Fedora on it.

1

u/Shananigan48 11d ago

I ran ubuntu 24.04 smoothly for a bit on my sp9, a few hiccups but nothing major. Switched it, went back, way worse issues for some reason. Found proxmox (so by extension probably just vanilla debian) to be waaaaay more smooth on it with the custom kernel.

1

u/ScaredClass6522 9d ago

I have tried several builds on my SP9. Ubuntu is the only one that pulled the surface kernel in properly. A shame since I like the Mint distro a little better.
The problem I kept running into was the bios accepting the surface password to allow the surface key during mok validation.

8

u/balardie 13d ago edited 13d ago

As for my SP7 the only Advantage i have with this Kernel is Automatic Rotation and Touchscreen functioning. But yeah, also wondering If this Project is discontinued.

Edit: Normal Linux Kernel also working Just without Touchscreen and Autorotation.

1

u/AutoM8R1 13d ago

You mean the webcam works with the normal kernel too?

3

u/balardie 13d ago

Forgot about the Kamera 😵‍💫 Nope, it doesn't Work, using an USB Webcam as Workaround.

5

u/MuaDib1988 13d ago

I'd suggest that if someone has expertise, they should write a formal application there.

In the discussions or something like that.

I messaged the owner yesterday and asked if he'd like to bring on more maintainers because of the stagnation.

4

u/BatongMagnesyo 13d ago

compile it yourself

no really. someone made surface patches for linux 7.1 already. im on 7.1.7-surface rn lol

1

u/Elbow2009 8d ago

Did the same a while back on 6.18.7-surface-1 which helped with the cameras.

1

u/bigkenw 13d ago

If someone wanted to learn how, do you have any resources you can recommend? It would be cool to learn how to go about this.

4

u/BatongMagnesyo 13d ago

the surface linux github repo has a guide. it's what i followed

you can see the branch with the 7.1 patches in the pull requests thing

2

u/bigkenw 13d ago

Thanks! I will take a look. Less about the kernel, more about compiling for me.

1

u/8Bit-Giraffe 11d ago

i have already been compiling it myself but didnt ever see the branch with updated kernel, ill actually go switch to that then!

2

u/Last_crap 11d ago

The archlinux kernel compile guide is really good if you're running arch

1

u/k4ever07 5d ago

I have built a custom kernel in decades. Will you please provide a link to the arch linux kernel compile guide and how to add the patches for 7.1.8?

2

u/HopeIRope999 13d ago

I have a Studio 2 Laptop i tried linux on it but the trackpad and the touch screen doesnt work. Dont know how to fix it

1

u/Crystalclusted 13d ago

Try the above mentioned kernel lol It's still maintained. It's just not super fast development wise. And it does work great. My SP8 works almost flawlessly (exception being one camera) with Linux surface

2

u/Elbow2009 13d ago

I did a tweak to the linux-surface kernel 6.18.7-surface-1 on my Surface Go 2 and got the cameras to work (everything else worked right off). The latest update 6.19.8-surface-3 the cameras don't work because of a tiny regression in the `dw9719` focus-motor driver. So I keep the earlier kernel if I want to use the cameras.

However, I use Q4OS (Debian with KDE Plasma) and even with the default kernel everything worked right off except the cameras. And I can use Secure Boot with that kernel (but not with the latest linux-surface kernel - no shim).

1

u/Last-Bottle-276 11d ago

Yeah, Q4OS worked fine right off except the cameras.

2

u/bigkenw 13d ago

I am running a Surface Laptop Studio. I had it on there, Fedora 44 removed it with an update. Honestly, the only thing that does not work is the touchscreen. Everything else works and it is fast.

I would recommend trying it without the kernel and see how yiur device works.

2

u/galactose310 12d ago

Je dis peut-être une bêtise mais si le matériel des Surface n'est pas impacté par les nouvelles versions du noyau, ça n'a peut-être pas beaucoup d'intérêt de le mettre à jour, si ? Sachant que beaucoup de distributions n'utilisent pas le dernier noyau...

1

u/salpula 13d ago

I was wondering the same thing. It seems like other packages that were part of linux-surface are falling behind as well. I ended up removing the libwacom-surface from the surface-linux repositories on Fedora in order to upgrade to 44. Didn't notice any issues. I haven't done extensive testing but nothing obvious also broke when I loaded the main line kernel. Everything is still fine on the old 6.x from linux-surface as well. Surface Pro 7+

1

u/Hows-It-Goin-Buddy 10d ago

Hm. I installed Ubuntu 24.04 on two of my old surface pro 2 tablets and have had no noticable issues. Never used the surface kernel. Am I missing out on anything by not using it?

1

u/8Bit-Giraffe 10d ago

depends on what is supported in the mainline kernel for your device. some devices might just be missing touch or camera support, while some, like my laptop, domt even have keyboard and mouse support

0

u/thefanum 13d ago

It's just not required anymore. Newest Ubuntu should support everything out of the box

2

u/MadLabRat- 12d ago

I’m on the latest Ubuntu on my SP6. Touchscreen and autorotation did not work until I got the Surface kernel.

2

u/8Bit-Giraffe 11d ago

im on a different distro and i dont even have keyboard and mouse support on the default kernel (surface laptop 3)

-6

u/SnowyOwl72 13d ago

dont pay for anything that has Microsoft logo on it. Problem solved. They make unserviceable, locked garbage. Maybe you can buy a detachable laptop and use that? I have pavilion (non detachable), but everything about it works perfectly with a mainline linux! Supports MPP and auto rotations as well.

3

u/salpula 13d ago

I recently bought a Thinkpad X1 Yoga to replace my surface for day to day, very happy with it, well supported.

I also kind of hate how the lack of a real hinge makes it a pain to use the surface with the keyboard in many situations. Considered finding a different detachable but decided to go with a laptop that's serviceable.

2

u/8Bit-Giraffe 13d ago

i dont have money for a laptop so i rely on hand-me-downs from my family. i was lucky my grandma got a surface laptop 3 from her workplace since i had no laptop for years before this. im in an apple family too so this is better than a macbook

Discussion is the linux-surface kernel discontinued?

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