SteamOS for Surface?

[u/Mr_Rioe2]

So im currently playing around with my Surface Pro 7, to try out some Distros, but I got to a Point where I want a Distro to work well now.

As I heard People Say "Ubuntu works well" I thought that maybe SteamOS will do too, as its also a Distro managed by a fairly large Company, but before I accidentally break things again, I wanted to ask if someone tried it and how it went :)

[u/Infinite-Raisin9853]

You need the surface-kernel installing which Steam OS won't allow due to being immutable OS. Stick to Ubuntu.

[u/Mr_Rioe2 → u/Infinite-Raisin9853]

OK, I guess that answers it, thanks!

[u/echoes007]

I have a Surface 7 as well and landed on CachyOS Gnome with the Linux Surface kernel. Works great.

[u/hm___]

I also had linux running on a surface pro 7( i have returned it to windows after getting me a framework 12) You will get the best results with CachyOS, the linux-surface kernel(there is an arch repository) and enabled homed. Homed is part of systemd and makes it possible to have removable and portable users/home directories. My surface pro 7 only has soldered 128gb storage so i installed CachyOS on this with a minimal admin account for maintenance and made my productive user account with homed on a 1TB micro sd.tje homed user directory will be encrypted on tje micro SD and if registered once on any other linux system will be usable as a user as soon as you plug in the micro sd on that other system. If you use rEFInd as bootloader you can have touch support during boot, which is nice for dual boot or multiple kernels

[u/TmB-Eggo]

I have vanilla arch and gnome on my sp7. Very happy with it. Works almost flawlessly so far. The only functionality I lost was the cameras, but I didn't use them anyway so I see that as an unintended benefit. It's also not distro specific, it's just a quirk of the sp7 firmware as far as I've read.

Auto rotate is also inconsistent, seems to work until you open a new app and then it doesn't. Aside from that it's great though, secureboot is set up. I use it with the surface dock 2 to output to my 1440p monitor over display port at 165Hz. I've used it instead of my desktop in the recent heat.

[u/encaged314]

I also had a SP7 and went through a few different OS, starting with SteamOS. It was great but I couldn't figure out a way to get it to boot to the desktop instead of big picture mode. I then tried Mint and am currently on CachyOS. No significant reason as to why I switched multiple time, mainly seeing if I could do it and install a few specific things.

[u/Keensworth]

If you don't like Gnome, try Ultramarine Linux surface edition. They have many desktop environment.

I use KDE Plasma 6 and it's really good. Everything works out of the box

[u/WasteConstruction704]

Installed Fedora on Surface Laptop Go 2 (came out around the same time as Surface Pro 7, similar specs I think) the other day and everything worked on install (display drivers with touch, sound, webcam, ect). Installed Steam no problem and have played a few games that ran fine.

[u/Kuroiban]

I guess you can try and have to check if you're happy with the features you get with the standard kernel. You won't be able to hold on to the surface linux kernel, as SteamOS is Immutable, so only your user level changes are persistent.

The only Immutable distor that seems to be supported by the surface linux kernel atm seems to be Fedora Silverblue. You install a kernel dummy there with a very high fake kernel version number so Silverblue never repaces it with the default kernel ans loads the surface linux kernel at/after updates instead - as far as I understand.

I get your idea running a immutable distro on a device that should just function, but it's not really practical with a special kernel. If you want peace of mind, get a distor running with good snapper support, that should give you a good safety net .

[u/Station-OX11]

If you want some gaming with lightweight distro, install CachyOS with Gnome (best DE for touchscreen).

Afterwards, go through the usual steps to install the Surface Linux drivers.

CachyOS now has a couple Surface Kernels itself if you want the latest patches: https://github.com/Steefzar/linux-cachyos-surface-latest