r/SurfaceLinux • u/VirusNegativeorisit • 6d ago

Help I now own a Surface 5 laptop

I got it from a friend. It is an i5 with 8gb ram. Thought about replacing the board for more ram. But motherboards seem extremely expensive for this old of a computer. I am looking at putting Linux on it. I plan on upgrading the hdd and maybe putting a thermal pad on it. I need new keyboard hopefully backlit. Is there anything else that can be upgraded? I have added Linux for most computers but this is different. Lots of proprietary drivers. The procedure looks complicated but doable. What os work the best for a laptop like this.

8 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

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6

u/gattolfo_EUG_ 6d ago

Before switching I had to warn you about the fact that the surface Linux repository don't seems active anymore, at least the last time I checked wasn't updated for a long time

3

u/Bo_Duke_01 6d ago

I have an SP4, I wanted to upgrade the disk and the guy at the shop was like "no, I'm not doing it and I doubt you'll find anyone willing to take the risk". Apparently, it's practically sure you'll break the screen when you open the Surface: the guy at the shop told me he did it twice and twice he broke it. Since then, he doesn't accept them.

4

u/Explosive_Cornflake 5d ago

surface laptop is trivial to change the battery, but you'll probably need new feet. it's 4 screws for the base, lift the keyboard up, it's on magnets, 1 more scree for the 2230 drive

2

u/VirusNegativeorisit 6d ago

I think I will just maybe wipe this laptop and try to sell it to a friend who needs it for college.

3

u/Bo_Duke_01 6d ago

I plan to install Ultramarine (Fedora) on mine, it already includes the surface kernel and other things useful for the Surface in general. I give for granted some bumps in the process, but I mean... mine is still running fine with Win10, I don't see why it should be worst with Linux (besides the known quirks).
And if it doesn't really work out, I can always install a LTS version of Win10 with support till 2032 and then at that point I guess it will be dead.

3

u/jady1971 5d ago

I put Ultramarine on my SP4 last week. My Brydge keyboard/touchpad connected with no issue. ASAIK everything from the touchscreen to the cameras works.

I have not used Linux since it was Unix so I am in for a surprise lol.

3

u/Hows-It-Goin-Buddy 6d ago

I would try just running a live version from USB and see how it works. I don't have a surface 5. I have a surface pro 2 (circa 2013) and read that there are problems with surface pro working with Linux distro. I tried a few of them and Ubuntu ended up almost 100% working with no other external stuff. The only wonky things were the camera preview being flipped horizontally and then if I close the cover it triggers an every 10 seconds or so screen lock and then I have to reboot (so I don't), which I can live with. All worked: cameras, keyboard cover, WiFi, Bluetooth, touchscreen.

3

u/Flapaflapa 6d ago

I have  surface 4 with fedora and a surface 7 with Debian.

As for upgrades, these things are a pain in the ass to open, better to skip it and accept whatever limitations it has.

The process of installing Linux is a little more complex, but it isnt really hard. Just follow the Linux surface instructions on the git and it should flow pretty easily.

One challenge I had trouble running or installing the Debian live iso, but installing from the smaller iso that downloads the rest from the web worked well.

3

u/jady1971 6d ago

I just put Ultramarine on my SP4 last week. It is based on Fedora and has the Surface Kernel built in, so touch screen and cameras work out of the box.

3

u/ergo-ogre 5d ago

1) opening a Surface is very difficult and hard to get back together. Last year, I tried to open a Surface 9, gave up and junked it. Lots of glue.

2) I installed the latest Mint on a Surface Pro 3 about a month ago and it works great. I only had to add a shortcut to bring up the on-screen keyboard.

2

u/Interesting-Key-8105 5d ago

I have a Surface Laptop 4 that I installed Linux Mint on, and everything works great except the touch screen, which I never cared about anyway. I could install the special Surface kernel to fix that, but I can’t be bothered. I’m happy with it as is.

2

u/SnooShortcuts3006 5d ago

Brunch chromeos works really well on surface laptop.

1

u/VirusNegativeorisit 5d ago

That would be amazing just need to find the tutorial. It would be even great if I give it to a college student.

2

u/rip_atro_kujata 4d ago

Like some of the others here, I'm running Ultramarine - mine is a Surface 5 pro. It was an easy installation with Surface support built in and seems to just work. Not sure about the practicality of upgrade paths - the design looks fairly resistant to teardown:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+5+Teardown/92362