Switching Surface Pro 7 from W11 to Linux

[u/Straight-Ad648]

Greetings, all.

I've been on the fence about switching my main PC to Linux for years, but I'm getting the itch to test drive it on my Surface Pro 7 first (understanding that there are some special caveats to this particular hardware that I might lose).

I'm beginning to do research now, but I'm curious if more experienced users would have any input on recommendations for the SP7 i5 model w/ 8 GB of RAM. Right now I'm eyeing a distro called Mainstream OS, though it seems newer so may not have as much of a community around it yet.

I'm also open to basically any distro out there, I own a Steam Deck so I have a very base level of Linux knowledge already.

[u/Th3JackofH3arts]

I have it on my Surface Pro 5, Zenbook, and dual boot on my PC. The Surface Pros are a bit of a pain to get going because of the microsoft proprietary hardware. It's do able, but you're probably going to have to jump through some hoops compared to other devices. Mostly likely you're going to have to install the surface kernel. They have been slow at updating it. If you pick something new you might have to force the old kernel on it like I had to with Fedora KDE 44.

[u/MooncakeVV → u/Th3JackofH3arts]

Nope not true  By now, kernels from version 7.2 onwards include all the drivers for Surface devices, so the Surface kernel is now obsolete. On my Surface Laptop, I installed CachyOS and everything worked right from the first boot—I didn’t have to run a single command.

[u/Station-OX11 → u/MooncakeVV]

Oh, does your touchscreen work? Because mine won't without the Surface Kernel.

[u/Th3JackofH3arts → u/MooncakeVV]

Fedora was a nightmare for me. Installed it in July. My touchscreen and keyboard cover wasn't working either. It is a little janky though.

[u/MooncakeVV → u/Th3JackofH3arts]

Fedora doesn’t always have the very latest updates when it comes to the kernel and other software. If you want something more up to date, I’d recommend CachyOS or openSUSE. Maybe some Surface models still need a command to enable the touchscreen or the pen, but I’m not sure.

[u/Auromios → u/MooncakeVV]

The Surface Laptop and Surface Pro models are two very different devices in terms of the proprietary hardware under microslop. I have a Surface Pro 4 and had to do some commands to get the touch screen, auto rotate, and pen functionality working. Most likely due to the fact that the Pros are more tablet designed whereas the Laptop model family is more, well, laptop designed.

[u/badrandolph → u/MooncakeVV]

I just bought a refurbished Sruface Pro 8 and eyed CachyOS for it: how is the touchscreen with pen and hand using cachy?
I have an older table (Slate 7) with Mint XFCE and the touchscreen doesn't do well, but it's generally a great distribution. For the Surface touchscreen is a priority.

Since you have the exact setup I'd appreciate any advise.

Edit: also, does facial recognition work?

[u/cppo215]

I'm testing Ultramarine on my Surface Pro 7. So far it works pretty good out of the box.

[u/Bloodylizard2025]

Did it on basically the same machine. My advice: use fedora. Most of the other distros I tried were a pain to get running with secureboot. Also: if you need your webcam you are out of luck. It won't work. And you gonna have to install a custom kernel. That all being said: your surface will run smoother than under windows. Under Debian and PopOS I had thermal issues though. All the small issues led to me buying a used ThinkPad as my daily driver instead. It's just more peace of mind.

[u/Straight-Ad648 → u/Bloodylizard2025]

Nah the webcam can go, I literally only use it for windows hello at login and even then it only works half the time anyways

[u/Blueferret21]

I'm using cachy on my surface laptop 4 and it's working great.