I would like to share with you a very cool project that develops drivers for correct operation of Microsoft Surface devices on Linux. I myself use Surface Pro 6 with these drivers and everything works like a charm (battery life is good, cameras work, stylus, keyboard, touchscreen, screen). The developers are gods. From myself, I would recommend using Fedora Linux distribution, as I got the best battery life on it and didn’t experience any additional bugs. If you don’t like GNOME, you can try spins.

Links to project resources:

Awesome additional resources:

  • FarLine99OP
    10•1 year ago

    Security? Maybe. Privacy? Too hard and nonsense to implement hardware tracking to spy on 1% of users without Windows.

    • @privsecfoss
      2•1 year ago

      Agree on privacy. And why bother when Intel/AMD have their Management Engine (ME) and AMD their equivalent.

      But why support a company like Microsoft when they have a long history of prioritizing profit over user freedom (FOSS/EEE), security and privacy?

      • FarLine99OP
        5•1 year ago

        Because there is no such well made 2-in-1 device from System76, Tuxedo or some another good manufacturer.

        • @privsecfoss
          0•1 year ago

          By all means use it if it suits your needs 🙂 My point is that there are alternatives, like fx Lenovo Yoga or similar, where you dont support Microsoft and their history of bad behavior.

          We all got different priorities and if it isn’t something on your radar, that’s fine. For me I would rather be without than buy a Surface for the mentioned reasons.

          • BraveSirZaphod
            1•1 year ago

            For sure, and to be clear, I do agree with you. Ultimately, we’ve all got our own priorities, and I can absolutely understand why someone might be reluctant to throw money at Microsoft; I’m certainly one of those people myself (obligatory “I use Arch”). My only point is that some people may simply think the devices are good and don’t have any qualms about supporting Microsoft, as is their right too.

            • @privsecfoss
              2•1 year ago

              I know Lenovo is no angel but still a single piece of sand compared to the vast desert of Microsoft in terms of bad bahaviour.

              We deserve System76, Tuxedo, Framework, PineBook etc. And if that doesn’t suit the use case a used Thinkpad, Macbook (a sandbox in the analogy) or Dell is OK options. There’s IMHO plenty of options that’s better than the desert of Microsoft 🙂

              • @russjr08@outpost.zeuslink.net
                1•1 year ago

                That’s completely fair on all accounts! I’d love to be able to try the offerings from the better companies some day, but money has been very tight and they’re definitely on the pricier side (for good reason of course) at least on my own scale of what I have available - the MacBook was given to me second hand so I didn’t find it myself or else I would’ve definitely spent the money on a really nice System76 laptop!

                • @privsecfoss
                  2•1 year ago

                  Same here! Rolling old Thinkpads because of the Linux compatibility, price and reparability is hard to beat. Would like to support the good companies more, but like the tinkering.

                  Our talk made me think about the ethics of tech companies in general. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a ‘Tech Companies Ethics Index’ kinda like Phoronix/Toms Hardware Guide is for hardware, but which documents and compare tech on fx the following consumer relevant parameters:

                  • Privacy
                  • Security
                  • Openness / FOSS / EEE
                  • User friendliness
                  • Reparability
                  • Other?

                  Sources could be: privacyguides, EFF, FSF, iFixit usere own experience and so on.

                  It could be run by users who also contribute to a git something and site something.

    • @m88youngling@lemmy.world
      1•1 year ago

      It sounds more like they are suggesting that you shouldn’t buy a Surface as to not support Microsoft’s stake in the market. But hardware level tracking does sound pretty spooky if they were actually able to pull it off and make it worthwhile. I’m with you though, I doubt it

      • FarLine99OP
        2•1 year ago

        It is not worth the hassle. And very easy to detect (network traffic f.e.)