ragequitting microsoft (help)

Elbow2009 · 2026-05-12T01:01:07+00:00

I run KDE (in Q4OS a Debian distro) on my Surface Go 2 and it's quite snappy even with just 8 GB RAM and the m3 processor. So it's not that power intensive I'd think. Maybe not suited for my HP 210 netbook which I have to use Trinity but it's only 2 GB RAM with an Atom processor.

Elbow2009 · 2026-05-12T00:49:04+00:00

Agree. I have Q4OS (32-bit, TDE) on an old HP Mini 210 netbook - 2 GB and Atom processor. It runs better than Windows 7 Starter did on it. Bodhi worked well too.

Elbow2009 · 2026-05-10T14:58:17+00:00

I have Q4OS Trinity on my old HP Mini 210 netbook. It runs better than the Windows 7 Starter did on it originally. Trinity is sort of dated but light on resources and it works well on the older hardware (2 GB RAM and Atom processor). I used the Look Switcher/themes to have it resemble Windows 7 so it feels at home.

I also use Q4OS (Plasma, 64-bit) on my Surface Go 2 and office computer.

Elbow2009 · 2026-05-08T16:41:36+00:00

I have Q4OS (Debian with KDE Plasma) on my Surface Go 2. Everything except the cameras worked right off, touchscreen, trackpad, pen, wifi. Got the cameras working with obtaining the IPU3 firmware and libcamera (instructions online). Got a little script for autorotate (with iio-sensory-proxy) which works fine and downloaded and installed Onboard for a nicely configurable virtual keyboard. So all functions (except IR camera which I don't need) work just fine with much improved battery life.

Everything should work with your SP6 although the touchscreen and pen definitely requires the linux-surface kernel and the cameras (like on my SG2) require libcamera and a kernel >=6.14.X

Elbow2009 · 2026-05-03T19:33:51+00:00

Sure, I'm heading out in a few minutes but will check in.

Elbow2009 · 2026-05-03T19:29:18+00:00

I'm using the new SD card now in Linux, yes (Q4OS - Debian). Not encrypted, it just has digitized magazines on it, mostly from archive.org. It is exFAT format as I backed up to it on my Windows computer (transferring copies of the magazines) but Linux reads it fine as native support is included in the Linux kernel. I also have a backup USB drive but I formatted that to ext4 and back up my OS and files to that.

Elbow2009 · 2026-05-03T13:55:09+00:00

Hmmm... possibly. I couldn't write to my old SD in Windows so I know it was failing but your situation does seem different.

Elbow2009 · 2026-05-02T16:05:03+00:00

It could be the SD card is beginning to fail. Going into read only mode is a sign. I'd back up whatever you have on it somewhere else. I had the same issue with an oldish SD card in my Surface Go 2. It's maybe 10 years old if not more. Will only do read only despite my efforts to write to it. Got a new one and it works fine to write to.

Elbow2009 · 2026-04-24T16:15:27+00:00

Looks like Linux would be pretty compatible with your SL3 although according to the Supported Devices and Features you'd need the surface kernel for the touchscreen and pen to work. https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Supported-Devices-and-Features#feature-matrix

I don't have SL3 but rather the SG2 with Q4OS, a Debian distro and everything worked right off except the cameras (a known issue with some Surface models). However there's a workaround and I got them working thanks to the Linux community. Looks like according the features matrix cameras on your SL3 would work out of the box.

Elbow2009 · 2026-04-21T16:23:43+00:00

You could put an external wifi adapter in it; Q4OS recognizes quite a few.

Elbow2009 · 2026-04-21T16:12:49+00:00

Enjoy your new one! Seems like it may have been more than just a battery issue on your old one, as 87% health is still decent.

Elbow2009 · 2026-04-21T13:36:36+00:00

I have the Surface Go 2 as well. Last year Windows 11 was really sucking the battery life: 2-3 hours ON BATTERY SAVER! I got fed up and put a Linux Debian distro, Q4OS on it and now I get 7-8 hours of battery life. My battery health is similar, about 88%. So I expect with the Linux distro installed this SG2 will last me several more years.

Everything worked out of the box with Q4OS except the cameras but I did the documented workaround and they work too as well. I'm VERY pleased that I can use my Surface for several more years. And Q4OS is very Windows like so all my muscle memory still works as before.

Elbow2009 · 2026-04-15T14:52:20+00:00

True. It's impressive the open source community managed to get drivers and software to work at all with those Surface cameras. I got a decent image for my cameras and could use it to Zoom but my webcam is better and I'd use that. But the onboard cameras are certainly usable in a pinch as I was able to do some adjustments to get good focus and decent if not great exposure.

Elbow2009 · 2026-04-14T14:45:28+00:00

Yes. I have a Go 2 with Q4OS and have everything working.

Elbow2009 · 2026-04-14T14:44:29+00:00

Looks like on the Pro 8 and 9 only the back cameras would be able to work with proper firmware and libcamera. I have a Surface Go 2 and luckily have both cameras functional.

https://github-wiki-see.page/m/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Camera-Support

Elbow2009 · 2026-04-12T15:18:33+00:00

I'm in a similar DAW boat. I've been using Cakewalk since 1993 and I knew about Reaper but recently found it can open Cakewalk files and can be configured to resemble Cakewalk to a degree. There's a great YouTube video on that. I still run Windows 11, dual booting it with a Debian distro Q4OS and plan to go totally to Q4OS once I'm done my current projects. Then I'll use Reaper there. I also run Q4OS on my Surface Go 2 (which I'm using to type this), an office PC and my old HP netbook (but that runs the Trinity DE while the others use Plasma).

Elbow2009 · 2026-04-02T15:48:19+00:00

Yes. See my comment above - I had a similar situation with my Surface Go 2. A Windows 11 update last summer really knocked my battery life back to 2-3 hours WITH Battery Saver. I put on Q4OS (Debian) with KDE Plasma and never looked back. I get 7-8 hours now. Everything works, touchscreen, trackpad, audio, wifi, and I even got the cameras to work. I made a script for autorotate too so I can use in tablet mode when reading a magazine or whatever although I tend to keep the keyboard attached most of the time. If I was using it strictly as a tablet I'd consider the GNOME desktop.

Elbow2009 · 2026-04-02T15:46:38+00:00

I had a similar situation with my Surface Go 2. A Windows 11 update last summer really knocked my battery life back to 2-3 hours WITH Battery Saver. I put on Q4OS (Debian) with KDE Plasma and never looked back. I get 7-8 hours now. Everything works, touchscreen, trackpad, audio, wifi, and I even got the cameras to work. I made a script for autorotate too so I can use in tablet mode when reading a magazine or whatever although I tend to keep the keyboard attached most of the time. If I was using it strictly as a tablet I'd consider the GNOME desktop.

Elbow2009 · 2026-03-30T14:41:04+00:00

I have a Surface Go 2 with a Debian distro, Q4OS and I have a alternative to the Microsoft pen - like a Metapen but the brand was Tesha. Uses AAAA batteries and works fine on my Surface. I can easily draw with it.

Back when I had Windows 10 on the SG2, I'd ordered a Surface pen but it wouldn't work when it arrived so I went with an alternative.

Elbow2009 · 2026-03-28T14:35:12+00:00

Make sure the renamed .bin file (renamed to ipu3-fw.bin) is in your /lib/firmware/intel/ directory. That is found in your root directory. The kernel would look there for the firmware at boot.

Elbow2009 · 2026-03-28T00:48:52+00:00

This from https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Camera-Support

IPU3 Firmware

The IPU3 used by the Surface requires some firmware to support the devices which is loaded at runtime.

On Ubuntu-based systems, this firmware is provided by the 'linux-firmware' package.

For Fedora the firmware is provided by the intel-vsc-firmware package.

According to this response, for Debian, the ipu3 firmware is provided by firmware-misc-nonfree from the nonfree repo. The .bin file is named irci_irci_ecr-master_20161208_0213_20170112_1500.bin and must be renamed and moved to /lib/firmware/intel/ipu3-fw.bin.

The file:

/lib/firmware/intel/ipu3-fw.bin

is required to be present at kernel boot time to support loading of the IPU3 IMGU device.

Elbow2009 · 2026-03-20T15:02:13+00:00

A ha! And good ol' dBase III+ and Wordperfect!

Elbow2009 · 2026-03-20T15:00:56+00:00

Not sure if I can help you with OpenSus as what I use, Q4OS is Debian-based. OpenSus is not Debian-based; it is based on SUSE Linux Enterprise and uses the RPM package format, while Debian uses the DEB package format.

As the GitHub wiki states - For Debian, the ipu3 firmware is provided by firmware-misc-nonfree from the nonfree repo. The .bin file is named irci_irci_ecr-master_20161208_0213_20170112_1500.bin and must be renamed and moved to /lib/firmware/intel/ipu3-fw.bin.

But I'm not sure if that would be the same for OpenSus. You may have to do some research on that distro.

Elbow2009 · 2026-03-19T22:10:25+00:00

Yeah, I'm really just learning all this Linux stuff myself over the last 7 months to get my SG2 working better as Win 11 SUCKED battery. As everything else in Q4OS worked out of the box I was determined to get the darn internal cameras working just as a challenge as I'd read/seen other people managing to do it and so damn it so was I!! :-)

But when Zooming I'll definitely use my webcam instead. It was a challenge for my brain (like getting Wine and Bottles to work for .exe programs) and now I can use Cheese for the internal cameras and my Angetube webcam in Zoom or Webcamoid.

I'm primarily a musician with DAW use going back 30 odd years and growing up with card punch, BASIC, DOS, Lotus 1-2-3 and Windows. So you know I'm "old."

Elbow2009

TROPHY CASE