I salvaged a Microsoft Surface Go gen 1 from the scrap pile and installed Linux on it. Most stuff seems to work ok but I can’t get screen rotation working in Gnome. I know its not a sensor issue because it works under plasma-mobile, and if I run monitor-sensor I can see its detecting mottion even under Gnome. I tried installing the older version of iio-sensor-proxy-git suggested here but that made no difference: github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/…/689 I also tried the screen rotate extension, however the AUR version made no difference and when I tried downloading it from the web it just said it was incompatible. I don’t think it would solve the problem anyway because Gnome realises its in tablet mode and has the option for auto-rotate, it just doesn’t do anything. I’ve also tried the Fedora live iso and its the same there. Alternatively can anyone suggest a good on screen keyboard for KDE? I’ve tried maliit and plasma-keyboard but they’re missing keys like ctrl and tab etc which makes using the terminal horrible. Thats the main reason I’m even using Gnome because the on screen keyboard is great. Edit: Turns out I just had to go back to the extension web page and enable it.

I wonder how these laptops behave with Linux. I checked the prices for used ones, they’re quite good in my area. I don’t know about their repairability, but the rest look quite good.

Not sure if you’ve seen but there is a custom kernel for surfaces that you can install which should get most stuff working: github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface?tab=readme… They have a feature matrix so you can see which features should work depending on the model. However I haven’t tried installing it yet because the surface go is so old everything except the camera seems to work with the standard kernel.

Thanks! I’ve heard of the kernel, yet never had any chance at testing. It’s great to know the old devices are upstreamed, as I might want price over everything else. I’m looking for a laptop that I’d be able to do some tasks, but not everything. I have no idea whether it’s a good idea to get Surface, but it looks quite good.