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Comment by jamesdutc | Hacker News Reader

Here's my review of (Arch) Linux on the Surface Go: https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/comments/94hjxv/surfac...

The results are similar. Support is slightly better on Linux (e.g., Bluetooth & IIO sensors work.) Linux support is better than on any of my other Surface devices (Surface Pro 2017, Surface Pro 3, or Surface 3 non-Pro.)

In short: almost everything works out of the box. (The major exception is the front- & rear-facing cameras.)

I have been using this device daily since release day. It's one of my favourite devices.

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My SO is looking for a simple back to school laptop and they are literally all 100% garbage. There's not a single worthwhile laptop under $700. I'm telling her to go with a Surface Go since they might actually have resale value and the specs are beyond anything remotely comparable. The 10 inch iPad Pro would be another great choice for someone in this market, but it looks like Microsoft has really stepped up the low end competition.

I'd suggest an older laptop off of eBay or the like, especially a ThinkPad (perhaps one of the small X2x0 series or one of the X1 series?)

The Surface Go is a good bargain. Costco has the best deal - 8GB version + Keyboard for $549 i believe. (plus you get the extra costco warranty)

The Costco deal is a 4GB/128GB model with keyboard that isn't available elsewhere.

Great post! I have yet to try Linux on the Go. So thank you for sharing. I'm also a huge fan of the Go.

I'd rather purchase hardware from a vendor that is not passively aggressive* towards Linux (or in the case of the article, OpenBSD) support.

*what I mean by this is, they don't pick shitty hardware from vendors to put into their system that has no kernel support. Better yet, there are OEMs who actively support Linux (Dell, Purism, etc), for example, on their systems. Support those folks, not folks like Microsoft.

The Go is an Intel-based chipset and they finally dropped the buggy as hell marvel chipset for wifi... What "shitty" hardware are you speaking of?

I love my SP4, may replace it with a Surace Go gen2 if they keep the formfacter/weight down like that.

Judging by the review there on reddit, cameras don't work, and the ath10k wifi chip doesn't work without screwing around with the firmware it requires to operate.

So write some drivers :)

BTW, The Qualcomm wifi chipset is a BLESSING and considering the Surface Go is < 1 month old i'm sure its only a matter of time before open source drivers improve for it.

> So write some drivers :)

Uh, I (and you, and everyone except Qualcomm) cannot do that. ath10k drivers are inherently broken without a proprietary firmware because "blah blah 802.11ac blah blah" waves hands around

The atheros chip in that microsoft thing has been around for quite a while.

>The atheros chip in that microsoft thing has been around for quite a while.

Nope.

The atheros chip is new, every single surface device used MARVEL and MARVEL was total crap - always having issues connecting, flaky drivers, poor standby experience. The surface go is the first device to not use marvel and i hope the next Pro's and Surface Laptops go atheros.

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath10k

> So write some drivers

This old adage has never made sense to me. Not everyone can write software (let alone device drivers).

There are, as far as I can tell, no Linux drivers for the OV2740 and IMX136 cameras (yet.)

It's unfortunate that the Qualcomm WiFi does not work out of the box. However, the fix is fairly easy, and day-to-day WiFi performance is solid: fast, stable, no issues resuming from hibernate/suspend.

I sympathise with the sentiment, but at the same time, there's something intensely satisfying about the repurposing of technology.

Perhaps as a compromise: in general try to buy hardware directly from real Linux/BSD vendors, with an exception for second-hand purchases (which don't directly benefit the original manufacturer) of Surfaces &c.

I would love to find a comparable device from a vendor that prioritises Linux support.

As far as I can tell, none such exist. There are many companies making "detachable"/"type cover" tablet devices, but I can't identify that can match the size, weight, and performance of the Surface series.

I think it might be possible to raise the issue of Linux support to Panos Panay's attention. I have some thoughts how one might go about doing that.

Thankfully, the situation with the Surface Go is very promising. If the same choices are made for the Surface Pro 5/Surface Pro 2018 and Surface Book 3, I think these will be solid devices for software programmers who want to use Linux (or BSD.)

And, as I said, I use my Surface Go on a daily basis for work. It's a fantastic piece of hardware. I really enjoy using it.

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