Testing PostMarketOS with Gnome on my MS Surface GO 2
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I haven't had a great time with Linux on a tablet without a keyboard and mouse but PostmarketOS is 100% usable IMO. Even the on screen keyboard on the login screen works.
The app launcher UI is hilarious, the name is too long so it adds 3 more periods to it and cuts off even more of the name.
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x86, ARM, are intended to be multipurpose, right? So why tf does the OS running on it need multiple layers of abstraction and have the right drivers to support common features? Wouldn't it be possible to standardize the interfaces for audio, hw video acceleration, etc. so that you just need one audio driver for all x86 CPUs, another for ARM and be done?
I'm wondering about that too and I think that this question deserves another thread. Maybe that's because there are no (or are there?) PCs with other architectures than x86, vendors don't see a need for standards like device discovery and UEFI.
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Did you use the linux-surface kernel? It has additional community maintained patches for surface devices and detailed installation instructions for the best linux experience. From their feature matrix they seem to have full support for sgo2.
Not sure if its available on pmOS though.
No, if I figure out pmbootstrap and make a custom image I will try to get the custom kernel in. So far everything but the cameras seem to work.
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I also tested Linux on the Surface 2 Go once, I think Fedora, but it just wasn't smooth and stable enough. Constantly some kind of misbehavior. So I went back to Windows after all.
Yeah, I firefox and the login screen didn't work well with the onscreen keyboard when I tried fedora. I ended up using it with the keyboard attahed. That's why I was so excited when everything worked with PostmarketOS.
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So, h264 video playback at 1080px works flawlessly, and flac audio. What about
- other codecs
- hardware accel, e.g. for h265?
I was mostly just testing if I could use it without a keyboard and mouse. Which has not been the case with other distros I have tried. It's mostly firefox and the login screen having issues with the onscreen keyboard and the UI not scaling or accecpting touch input well that has been my problem with linux on a tablet.
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First mistake was using a microsoft device.
Daily driving a Surface Go 1 with Fedora since 2022.
It works really well except for cameras, sometimes bluetooth and being laggy 1 time out of maybe 30.
The last problem can solved just by plugging and unplugging the usb-c cable connecting it to a screen.
I’m really happy with it even if it’s not what I’d bought if I had gotten back to Linux already when I got it.
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The CPU might be the same, but the audio chip, trackpad, etc. might be different and require a new driver.
Yeah, but why isn't that handled in hardware or microcode?
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I haven't had a great time with Linux on a tablet without a keyboard and mouse but PostmarketOS is 100% usable IMO. Even the on screen keyboard on the login screen works.
I've been using Fedora KDE Plasma Mobile spin for a few months on my Go 2 and I've been pretty pleased with it as well, took ages to find a decent touchscreen compatible DE/WM, hadn't found PostMarket in my research somehow...
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Yeah, but why isn't that handled in hardware or microcode?
I'm not sure how you'd handle hardware in hardware.
Microcode is usually only run on the CPU, so in that case the implementation would be called "drivers". If you ran it on the device it would be called "firmware" and the OS still has to know how it address its interfaces somehow, and implementation is again called a "driver".
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I've been using Fedora KDE Plasma Mobile spin for a few months on my Go 2 and I've been pretty pleased with it as well, took ages to find a decent touchscreen compatible DE/WM, hadn't found PostMarket in my research somehow...
Nice! Does the onscreen keyboard work in the login screen? If it doesn't it probably will soon. My understanding is that the wayland onscreen keyboard issues have been fixed really recently.
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I haven't had a great time with Linux on a tablet without a keyboard and mouse but PostmarketOS is 100% usable IMO. Even the on screen keyboard on the login screen works.
Uh, nice. Been thinking about installing it on my Xiaomi tablet, but I'm a little bit scared..
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I'm wondering about that too and I think that this question deserves another thread. Maybe that's because there are no (or are there?) PCs with other architectures than x86, vendors don't see a need for standards like device discovery and UEFI.
there are no (or are there?) PCs with other architectures than x86
ARM, as mentioned. and RISC-V
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I'm not sure how you'd handle hardware in hardware.
Microcode is usually only run on the CPU, so in that case the implementation would be called "drivers". If you ran it on the device it would be called "firmware" and the OS still has to know how it address its interfaces somehow, and implementation is again called a "driver".
I mean some kind of unified interface spec and the hardware conforms to it?
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I mean some kind of unified interface spec and the hardware conforms to it?
Because when there's a new hardware function, the driver has to add support for it.
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Nice! Does the onscreen keyboard work in the login screen? If it doesn't it probably will soon. My understanding is that the wayland onscreen keyboard issues have been fixed really recently.
It does, that was one of the biggest draws for me!
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Daily driving a Surface Go 1 with Fedora since 2022.
It works really well except for cameras, sometimes bluetooth and being laggy 1 time out of maybe 30.
The last problem can solved just by plugging and unplugging the usb-c cable connecting it to a screen.
I’m really happy with it even if it’s not what I’d bought if I had gotten back to Linux already when I got it.
Not saying it can't be done. I know it can. And glad it can. Gives people who locked into buying a M$ product the option. That's part of the beauty of Linux and open source.
I just would never recommend anyone to go buy a surface for the sole purpose of running Linux.
I ran Arch on mine when I had it. And it had its drawbacks. When I bought my next machine, a Lenivo, I had so much better support. It made the whole experience that much better.
I hate Microsoft. And I hope they crumble. Every last bit of them.
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Not saying it can't be done. I know it can. And glad it can. Gives people who locked into buying a M$ product the option. That's part of the beauty of Linux and open source.
I just would never recommend anyone to go buy a surface for the sole purpose of running Linux.
I ran Arch on mine when I had it. And it had its drawbacks. When I bought my next machine, a Lenivo, I had so much better support. It made the whole experience that much better.
I hate Microsoft. And I hope they crumble. Every last bit of them.
What’s also great is that’s some evil company products like my wifés MacBook Pro 2012 or my Surface Go 1 might get cheaper than other friendlier devices once they aren’t supported anymore.
So, if you’re willing to go through some difficulties, you could get them for cheaper than something from Lenovo.
But yeah I ain’t a fan of these companies..
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What’s also great is that’s some evil company products like my wifés MacBook Pro 2012 or my Surface Go 1 might get cheaper than other friendlier devices once they aren’t supported anymore.
So, if you’re willing to go through some difficulties, you could get them for cheaper than something from Lenovo.
But yeah I ain’t a fan of these companies..
I have an older lenovo T590 that work great. And a T15. They can be had at reasonable prices. T590 has an 8th gen i7. The T15 has a 10th gen i7. They work well for me.
But yeah, absolutely get your point.
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