Surface tablets are niche but SO much more useful than the app-restricted alternatives from samsung or apple. Nuke windows and stick your fav distro with a tablet frontend on there and it becomes an incredibly versatile little machine.
I’ve never been into tablets, are Surfaces as easy to install Linux on as a PC? Is there any bootloader unlocking or anything like on a phone, or is it more like secure boot on a PC?
I had installed Linux on an old Chromebook and it would always offer to wipe the hard drive on every boot, so now I’ve assumed that some hardware isn’t as Linux friendly as others. I think a lot has changed since I got my desktop and the last laptop that I installed Linux on.
And are the Linux touch screen interfaces any good? I tried a Fairphone that was running something Linux and the touch interface was lacking. (It was a great tiny laptop for using a terminal though).
And last random thought… I loved the 10” netbook form factor back in 2009 or so. I think tablets are a similar size, but the weight is in the “monitor” part, I preferred the bottom heavy laptop form factor. Are the Surfaces okay for that, or top heavy enough that they can fall over and can’t have the angle adjusted finely like a laptop?
I terms of installation they are actually a PC. Just load your favorite distro on a USB stick and install it as you would on a Desktop. For me Ubuntu is working great on an older Surface Go, including touch.
The keyboard cover is highly recommended of course.
Surface are basically a tablet (=all hardware and weight in the monitor). You can get them with a cover that contains a keyboard but it is still top heavy (think of a normal cover for a tablet, but slightly more sturdy because of the keyboard).
There’s also a surface book that more or lees is like a laptop - from the looks of it. The bottom part with the keyboard is heavier, but only contains the keyboard, an USB hub and additional batteries. It’s till top heavy with it, as you can “detach the screen” and still have a fully functional “PC tablet”.
I got a second hand surface go 2 recently and it’s the perfect companion device. I wish marvel unlimited and the like had apps on windows but that doesn’t do me from using a different comic app and building up my own library anyway, probably for the better long term.
I just found out about mouse without borders yesterday and now my surface go 2 is like a portable monitor for my dev laptop when it’s not docked in my study. But because it’s still technically it’s own thing and not just an extended desktop, I can have documentation on it and scroll with the touchscreen when needed without messing up the mouse on the laptop screen, but if i need to properly interact with the tablet I can just use the mouse and keyboard on my laptop too.
I wish Windows Phone had stayed. More competition in the mobile space is good, and they had some functioning ideas. Eventually they gave up and turned into a pale Apple imitator before giving up.
that hype train was fun though. The standard microsoft loop.
Windows Tiles, Windows Phone, Zune, Tablets, AI, take your pick
NGL x86-64 tablets are legitimately much more useful than their competition.
Surface tablets are niche but SO much more useful than the app-restricted alternatives from samsung or apple. Nuke windows and stick your fav distro with a tablet frontend on there and it becomes an incredibly versatile little machine.
I’ve never been into tablets, are Surfaces as easy to install Linux on as a PC? Is there any bootloader unlocking or anything like on a phone, or is it more like secure boot on a PC?
I had installed Linux on an old Chromebook and it would always offer to wipe the hard drive on every boot, so now I’ve assumed that some hardware isn’t as Linux friendly as others. I think a lot has changed since I got my desktop and the last laptop that I installed Linux on.
And are the Linux touch screen interfaces any good? I tried a Fairphone that was running something Linux and the touch interface was lacking. (It was a great tiny laptop for using a terminal though).
And last random thought… I loved the 10” netbook form factor back in 2009 or so. I think tablets are a similar size, but the weight is in the “monitor” part, I preferred the bottom heavy laptop form factor. Are the Surfaces okay for that, or top heavy enough that they can fall over and can’t have the angle adjusted finely like a laptop?
I terms of installation they are actually a PC. Just load your favorite distro on a USB stick and install it as you would on a Desktop. For me Ubuntu is working great on an older Surface Go, including touch. The keyboard cover is highly recommended of course.
Surface are basically a tablet (=all hardware and weight in the monitor). You can get them with a cover that contains a keyboard but it is still top heavy (think of a normal cover for a tablet, but slightly more sturdy because of the keyboard).
There’s also a surface book that more or lees is like a laptop - from the looks of it. The bottom part with the keyboard is heavier, but only contains the keyboard, an USB hub and additional batteries. It’s till top heavy with it, as you can “detach the screen” and still have a fully functional “PC tablet”.
I got a second hand surface go 2 recently and it’s the perfect companion device. I wish marvel unlimited and the like had apps on windows but that doesn’t do me from using a different comic app and building up my own library anyway, probably for the better long term.
I just found out about mouse without borders yesterday and now my surface go 2 is like a portable monitor for my dev laptop when it’s not docked in my study. But because it’s still technically it’s own thing and not just an extended desktop, I can have documentation on it and scroll with the touchscreen when needed without messing up the mouse on the laptop screen, but if i need to properly interact with the tablet I can just use the mouse and keyboard on my laptop too.
I wish Windows Phone had stayed. More competition in the mobile space is good, and they had some functioning ideas. Eventually they gave up and turned into a pale Apple imitator before giving up.