can you run Linux on the Surface Go?

[Ashleyyyy]

i've seen quite a few video's on the Surface Go now, but if i'm gonna buy one i need to be able to run Linux. is this at all possible? 

[PlayStation 2]

It wouldn't surprise me if you could; you'd just have to make sure you have everything ready if you did.

[xriqn]

Probably will if the UEFI/BIOS allows booting from another medium to install linux.

[Ashleyyyy]

6 minutes ago, xriqn said:

Probably will if the UEFI/BIOS allows booting from another medium to install linux.

yeah that's what i was thinking. but i want to be sure it can. i'm trying to stay away from Windows 10 because in my opinion it's a broken piece of garbage. i don't want it anywhere near my everyday laptop... if i can't run Linux on it i will never buy one. 

[xriqn]

Just now, firelighter487 said:

yeah that's what i was thinking. but i want to be sure it can. i'm trying to stay away from Windows 10 because it's a broken piece of garbage. i don't want it anywhere near my everyday laptop... if i can't run Linux on it i will never buy one. 

If only 8.1 could run on that hardware.... 8.1's UI is trashy but it's a ton more stable than 10 or 7 from what I've experienced.

[lewdicrous]

People got linux working on previous surface devices so maybe yeah, but I don't think it'll be stable as of now.

 

[Mooshi]

Why not get an iPad at this point?

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

4 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

Why not get an iPad at this point?

Does this make your head hurt

 

[xriqn]

6 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

Why not get an iPad at this point?

Because apple is overpriced crap for mediocre hardware. You're literally paying for the now "trillion dollar" apple's company logo slapped on a blank, untasteful, white product.

[Mooshi]

5 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Does this make your head hurt

 

Haaaaaa brilliant

[Ashleyyyy]

9 minutes ago, xriqn said:

If only 8.1 could run on that hardware.... 8.1's UI is trashy but it's a ton more stable than 10 or 7 from what I've experienced.

i kinda liked 8.1... at least it was kinda consistent. metro apps had a look and the traditional desktop had a look. it was nice and seperate. now it's all over the place. the settings app is metro style but then the file explorer is the traditional desktop style and extremely annoying to use with a touchscreen. 8.1 in my opinion was a lot nicer to use than 10. not just for stability. 

 

11 minutes ago, lewdicrous said:

People got linux working on previous surface devices so maybe yeah, but I don't think it'll be stable as of now.

stability will come eventually. i'm more focused on the "maybe yeah" part for now  

 

8 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

Why not get an iPad at this point?

because i don't find iPad's useful at all. i had one, and all i did on it was watch youtube. the point is this. on an android tablet or iPad the ui really holds me back. i'd much rather have a full desktop OS that i can actually be productive on. 

 

2 minutes ago, xriqn said:

Because apple is overpriced crap for mediocre hardware. You're literally paying for the now "trillion dollar" apple's company logo slapped on a blank, untasteful, white product.

mediocre hardware? i think all current iPad's are faster than the Surface Go, but i could be wrong. i think Austin Evans showed that in his video with a load of geekbench score's from current iPad's and the Surface Go. but again, i could be wrong on that. 

 

 

[Mooshi]

2 minutes ago, xriqn said:

Because apple is overpriced crap for mediocre hardware. You're literally paying for the now "trillion dollar" apple's company logo slapped on a blank, untasteful, white product.

Apple is more polished than Linux will ever be and I'm not an Apple user. For the same form factor as the Surface Go, Apple's solution for artist types is more refined with their pencil than Microsoft is. No amount of bashing will change reality.

[xriqn]

1 minute ago, Mooshi said:

Apple is more polished than Linux will ever be and I'm not an Apple user. For the same form factor as the Surface Go, Apple's solution for artist types is more refined with their pencil than Microsoft is. No amount of bashing will change reality.

You only say apple is more polished than linux because it's a ton more locked down and has more software development. Other than that, linux and macOS are pretty much the same OS, just different forks of unix, hence why they're known as "unixoid" operating systems.

[lewdicrous]

20 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

stability will come eventually. i'm more focused on the "maybe yeah" part for now

Seeing as the device has just been released, I didn't find any information about anyone who has attempted to try it.

I did find these, but I don't know how useful they are:

Spoiler

 

[Ashleyyyy]

1 minute ago, Mooshi said:

Apple is more polished than Linux will ever be and I'm not an Apple user. For the same form factor as the Surface Go, Apple's solution for artist types is more refined with their pencil than Microsoft is. No amount of bashing will change reality.

agreed. but Apple do make some weird choices in my opinion. they don't make my perfect product. an 10 - 11 inch device that runs full macOS at decent speed with a good screen. 

 

but i'm very familiar and comfortable with Linux. and if i'm gonna do something that i can't do on Linux natively i'm gonna want to do it on something faster than a Surface Go anyway. 

 

2 minutes ago, xriqn said:

You only say apple is more polished than linux because it's a ton more locked down and has more software development. Other than that, linux and macOS are pretty much the same OS, just different forks of unix, hence why they're known as "unixoid" operating systems.

as someone who uses both i'm gonna say it, macOS is more polished than Linux is. basically i don't have to think about the OS when i'm using my MacBook. everything does what it's supposed to do. 

 

that said i do agree it's locked down a lot more than Linux is, and that's why my MacBook isn't my only computer. i can do so much more stuff in Linux that's just more annoying to do on macOS. i don't know of a playonlinux equivalent for macOS for example.

[ViscountStyx]

I considered throwing Ubuntu on my surface pro - but only have 128GB to play with space wise so dual booting wasn't really an option unless I only wanted a few GB to play with in windows.

 

Also, I tried a Ubuntu live USB (18.04) and the touch support wasn't there in the live CD - so I backed out of installing as there's no "official" touch driver for it per say.

[nanaki]

19 hours ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Does this make your head hurt

 

Haha nice. I was not aware that they had hackintosh to the point where it was compatible with that broad a range of hardware yet. Impressive honestly. Question do you have full video and audo support? Eg all supported vid ranges and the like? Also does hardware ecel work? 

Linux is a different beast because of wide driver availability for the different hardware but mac osx that was set up to only run some very specific hardware eg cpu vid and sound chip sets. Obviously it should be possible as osx is bsd under the hood so if hardware is supported in bsd then it should be able to be supported under mac osx. 

[nanaki]

19 hours ago, firelighter487 said:

i kinda liked 8.1... at least it was kinda consistent. metro apps had a look and the traditional desktop had a look. it was nice and seperate. now it's all over the place. the settings app is metro style but then the file explorer is the traditional desktop style and extremely annoying to use with a touchscreen. 8.1 in my opinion was a lot nicer to use than 10. not just for stability. 

 

stability will come eventually. i'm more focused on the "maybe yeah" part for now  

 

because i don't find iPad's useful at all. i had one, and all i did on it was watch youtube. the point is this. on an android tablet or iPad the ui really holds me back. i'd much rather have a full desktop OS that i can actually be productive on. 

 

mediocre hardware? i think all current iPad's are faster than the Surface Go, but i could be wrong. i think Austin Evans showed that in his video with a load of geekbench score's from current iPad's and the Surface Go. but again, i could be wrong on that. 

 

 

You obviously only ever ran 8 and 8.1 on touch screen. I agree it is a damn intuitive gui for touch fast to get around with swipes etc. But on non touch omg total garbage. 10 could use a touch centric gui for touch based devices eg a windows 8/8.1 gui. When installed on touch a easy access from ither gui toggle to change guis on the fly as desired. I mean if im sitting back relaxing reaching up to make use of my screen is a hassle when i can use the mouse that is much closer to me.But if im sitting up working and i do personally like the 8 gui on touch devices i could tap the toggle and go. 

[Ashleyyyy]

1 hour ago, nanaki said:

You obviously only ever ran 8 and 8.1 on touch screen. I agree it is a damn intuitive gui for touch fast to get around with swipes etc. But on non touch omg total garbage. 10 could use a touch centric gui for touch based devices eg a windows 8/8.1 gui. When installed on touch a easy access from ither gui toggle to change guis on the fly as desired. I mean if im sitting back relaxing reaching up to make use of my screen is a hassle when i can use the mouse that is much closer to me.But if im sitting up working and i do personally like the 8 gui on touch devices i could tap the toggle and go. 

i've never used 8 and 8.1 on a touch screen. i liked it a lot more than the current mess because you at least knew what you got in terms of u.i. for different things. 

 

and by the way, discussing hackintosh stuff is not allowed here... 

[nanaki]

3 hours ago, firelighter487 said:

i've never used 8 and 8.1 on a touch screen. i liked it a lot more than the current mess because you at least knew what you got in terms of u.i. for different things. 

 

and by the way, discussing hackintosh stuff is not allowed here... 

i was commenting to another poster about that who posted a link to a redit page