Linux for an x86 Tablet

Ғылым және технология

Running Linux on an x86 tablet -- specifically a Microsoft Surface -- with a good onscreen keyboard (OSK) experience. This video shows how I researched and experimented with many distros to get to a functional and (nearly) final installation.
The website for the excellent Onboard onscreen keyboard is here: launchpad.net/onboard
Websites for the Linux distros included in the video are as follows:
Plasma Mobile: plasma-mobile.org/
JingOS: en.jingos.com/
Ubuntu Touch: ubuntu-touch.io/get-ubuntu-touch
PostMarketOS: postmarketos.org/
Ubuntu: ubuntu.com/
Manjaro: manjaro.org/
Linux Mint: linuxmint.com/
You can learn more about Linux Mint and Ubuntu, including how to obtain and install them, in my review videos here:
Linux Mint 20: My Top Linux Distro:
• Linux Mint 20: My Top ...
Ubuntu 22.04: An Excellent Linux Distro:
• Ubuntu 22.04: An Excel...
For additional ExplainingComputers videos and other content, you can become a channel member here:
/ @explainingcomputers
More videos on computing and related topics can be found at / explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / explainingthefuture
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:21 Mobile Linux
04:01 Plasma Mobile
06:24 JingOS
07:34 Ubuntu & Manjaro
11:11 Linux Mint
13:54 Onboard (keyboard) in Manjaro
15:25 Final Linux Mint / Onboard installation
#Tablet #Linux #OSK #ExplainingComputers

Пікірлер: 795

  • @MarkTheMorose
    @MarkTheMorose2 жыл бұрын

    Linux Mint triumphs once again. Recalling my earliest attempts at using Linux in the late 1990s, it's amazing how far it has improved, how much easier it is to install, and the wide array of hardware it works with, and on. Oh, and hello Nigel.

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Greetings! Nigel says "hi". :)

  • @rastamouse7861

    @rastamouse7861

    2 жыл бұрын

    Spoiler alert! Lol

  • @encycl07pedia-

    @encycl07pedia-

    2 жыл бұрын

    Linux Mint is, IMO, the best Linux OS overall. It's great for transitioning users. The only reason more of my PCs use Debian is because I wanted to install Xorg and a WM/DE myself (dwm). Unfortunately Linux Mint doesn't offer you the option of downloading a GUI-free version and none of the GUIs/DEs are dwm.

  • @tacokoneko

    @tacokoneko

    2 жыл бұрын

    well the way it looks to me, the real deciding factor here is choosing the best desktop environment for the device, because that provides the whole UI but it's true that the cinnamon DE is default on Linux Mint so it's convenient

  • @worldhello1234

    @worldhello1234

    Жыл бұрын

    Linux Mint is kinda bloated and if you prefer bleeding edge software Manjaro is the better option on the tablet. It might have been a problem with the version of that software.

  • @NomadicSage
    @NomadicSage2 жыл бұрын

    Now I realized why Chris loves Linux Mint so much, it just so reliable.

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    :)

  • @PeterJasper
    @PeterJasper2 жыл бұрын

    Great experiment. It would appear that Linux Mint has had more development (including Onboard) and support than the other distros... we all like Linux Mint.💻

  • @Bob-of-Zoid

    @Bob-of-Zoid

    Жыл бұрын

    I hate Linux mint! I love Arch Linux with KDE Plasma!

  • @gigachad141

    @gigachad141

    Ай бұрын

    ​@Bob-of-Zoid why do you hate linux mint?

  • @Reaper4367
    @Reaper43672 жыл бұрын

    Mint has not ever let me down. Go Linux! Cheers for sharing Christopher.

  • @adamcottrill2575
    @adamcottrill25752 жыл бұрын

    Thanks Chris, you accel at this type of content and it's nice to see you mix it up and show all the steps and debugging.

  • @boink800
    @boink8002 жыл бұрын

    Yet another great side of Linux Mint -- one of the few Linux distro's which concentrate mostly on the desktop. I have Mint running on a Dell desktop from 2011, using Cinnamon -- it's works quite well, most of the time.

  • @JCO2002

    @JCO2002

    2 жыл бұрын

    Same here - running Mint 20.2 with Cinnamon on an old Dell Optiplex 780. I really never have any problems with it. Have Mint 18 dual boot with M$ on my Lenovo laptop - the thing only works properly with Mint - can't even connect the WiFi when it's booted into Windows 8.1.

  • @boink800

    @boink800

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@JCO2002 The new Mint was released today.

  • @JCO2002

    @JCO2002

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@boink800 Thanks. I'm not having problems with 20.2 so will stick with that for now. I do update the kernel once a month, though.

  • @andremagalhaes664

    @andremagalhaes664

    2 жыл бұрын

    I use Mint XFCE, more snappier and responsive on old machines than cinnamon.

  • @encycl07pedia-

    @encycl07pedia-

    2 жыл бұрын

    "one of the few Linux distro's which concentrate mostly on the desktop." What? Don't most distros* concentrate on the desktop?

  • @Techmagus76
    @Techmagus762 жыл бұрын

    Thx Chris, what looks so easy and quick on the video is typically an awful lot of work to dig through all the possibilities. So very appreciated. Even in an unexpected area the team behind mint show again their love to details in the user experience out of the box, which makes it quite a unique jewel under all the distros.

  • @skipinkoreaable

    @skipinkoreaable

    2 жыл бұрын

    He's such a low-key humble guy, but if you think about all the work and study behind all these videos it boggles the mind. This channel is a treasure.

  • @Datan0de
    @Datan0de2 жыл бұрын

    Very useful video! I have an old tablet that's been sitting in a drawer that I'd installed Linux on a few years ago with only moderate success. This has inspired me to investigate current options, and given me some great starting points.

  • @JeSuisUnePatate
    @JeSuisUnePatate2 жыл бұрын

    Very interesting options for those older Surface tablets ! Thanks for your experiments.

  • @JoseLopez-oz1xm
    @JoseLopez-oz1xm2 жыл бұрын

    That was a great video Chris, I like that you gave the other OSs the benefits of the dought.

  • @josephkelly4893
    @josephkelly48932 жыл бұрын

    It's a great way to bring older devices back to life. Saving ewaste, love your work Chris.

  • @EliasOda
    @EliasOda2 жыл бұрын

    Linux Mint DE5 is my daily driver. Linux always impresses me.

  • @kriskruz3792
    @kriskruz37922 жыл бұрын

    Just the video I was looking for! Many thanks for uploading..

  • @tcirit
    @tcirit2 жыл бұрын

    I was thinking to do for a long time, you made my choice easy, great job, thanks!

  • @skipinkoreaable
    @skipinkoreaable2 жыл бұрын

    That E C Mint distro at the end is a beautiful one. I really loved this video. You've got me pressing that Like button.

  • @alerey4363
    @alerey43632 жыл бұрын

    Excellent finding! After trial & error of course, but that's the spirit and you managed to have a fully native productive and nice looking Linux distro with the elusive virtual keyboard.👏

  • @getnpayd1964
    @getnpayd1964 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you, Chris. I needed this review because I am attempting to select a distro for my 2012 Fujitsu Q584 x86 tablet, with no success. The discovery of the onboard keyboard is absolutely a game changer, for me. Thank you for taking the time to share your research and results.

  • @MarcusPHagen
    @MarcusPHagen2 жыл бұрын

    Once again, a timely & well-researched topic. I'll have to dig out my older x86 tablet to see if replacing an obsolete Windows OS can make it useful once more!

  • @DallasMike424
    @DallasMike4242 жыл бұрын

    Nice, as always. I never fail to be interested in your presentations.

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks. :)

  • @Abdallah_yusuf
    @Abdallah_yusuf2 жыл бұрын

    like always, useful tips and straight to the point. I'm glad to hear from you again thanks a million buddy

  • @chromerims
    @chromerims2 жыл бұрын

    Master Chris, You are a trailblazing Linux advocate. Thank you for each and all of wondrous videos.👍

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    My pleasure!

  • @Praxibetel-Ix
    @Praxibetel-Ix2 жыл бұрын

    It's nice to see that there's a few good options out there for mobile Linux distros and that Manjaro and Linux Mint run well on that Surface! This could help bring disused tablets back from the dead. I know I'll make some attempt to put a distro on one of my old Android tablets... well, one day. ;)

  • @shamrock1961

    @shamrock1961

    2 жыл бұрын

    Recently I read an article about how Lunux developers want to scrap i386 machines in favor of 64 bit machines. That will limit what distros will be available in the very near future.

  • @Praxibetel-Ix

    @Praxibetel-Ix

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@shamrock1961 That doesn't sound good... 😧

  • @TheOleHermit

    @TheOleHermit

    2 жыл бұрын

    Say, weren't you a real hoopie guy, back in your heyday, or was that Zaphod? "Share and enjoy..."😎

  • @Praxibetel-Ix

    @Praxibetel-Ix

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@TheOleHermit I sure was and so was Zaphod. 😅

  • @Tailslol

    @Tailslol

    2 жыл бұрын

    On those machine i tend to install android x86 or chrome os.

  • @alfblack2
    @alfblack2 Жыл бұрын

    Excellent! Thank you good sir for the testing. I tried long long ago and failed to find a workable alternative os. I stopped my search to have things develop more. Now know alteratives that exists now.

  • @cammac648
    @cammac6482 жыл бұрын

    Excellent video, thanks Chris! Interested to try out Linux on a tablet now, just need to find one I like :)

  • @amorfraternal3150
    @amorfraternal3150 Жыл бұрын

    Excellent. We have waited for this.

  • @johncundiff7075
    @johncundiff70752 жыл бұрын

    Mint has been my "go to" for quite a while!!!

  • @ChrisM243
    @ChrisM2432 жыл бұрын

    Interesting to see that Mint works well on a tablet. I really wish more ressources would go into the mobile distros for ARM to get permanent updates for our mobile phones. Also sad to see that distros like Plasma mobile still just work on the Pinephone. I'd be really interested to see what it could achieve on a way more powerful SoC like a Snapdragon 855 or newer.

  • @worldhello1234

    @worldhello1234

    Жыл бұрын

    If they create a Linux mobile distro based on AOSP and device source code, that would make it a lot easier.

  • @markenetube
    @markenetube2 жыл бұрын

    Love your videos, Mr Explain. Linux Mint always amazes me with its compatibility.

  • @ozguncivelekoglu6060
    @ozguncivelekoglu60602 жыл бұрын

    I had a surface pro 3 that I was experimenting various distros and DEs with. What worked the best for me was Fedora. Everything worked spectacularly out of the box. The touch and trackpad gestures were great (Wayland) and Gnome 40+ was incredible with its tablet friendly UI. I do miss that setup

  • @moroc333
    @moroc3332 жыл бұрын

    Very useful information. Thank you. I was recently thinking about reviving an old android tablet with Linux, now I have a couple of candidate distros to do so.

  • @flexsite
    @flexsite2 жыл бұрын

    I took the opportunity to put Linux Mint on a Lenovo Ideapad 530s as it was not compatible with Windows 11, and I have been pleasantly surprised at just how well it has worked out of the box; knowing that I could put the same distro on something like a Surface really opens up the options I have. Thanks for doing this video.

  • @gordonreeder3451

    @gordonreeder3451

    2 жыл бұрын

    What are the specs on that Ideapad?

  • @flexsite

    @flexsite

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@gordonreeder3451 530s 14arr 8gb ram AMD Ryzen 3 2200u

  • @Barafu
    @Barafu2 жыл бұрын

    Congrats on exploring different devices!

  • @perrymcclusky4695
    @perrymcclusky46952 жыл бұрын

    I was a bit surprised that you found your options so limited. Linux Mint once again makes an impressive performance. Looking forward to your next video!

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Greetings Perry.

  • @perrymcclusky4695

    @perrymcclusky4695

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@ExplainingComputers Wishing you a successful and satisfying week!

  • @grayfool
    @grayfool2 жыл бұрын

    This is a very interesting video for me as I have been looking at putting Linux on and old Dell touch screen tablet for a while now. I guess that it may be a different result as it's not the same machine as you are using but I think it's worth a look. Thanks very much David

  • @stephendavidrathburn8952
    @stephendavidrathburn89522 жыл бұрын

    Absolutely awesome!!!! Thanks so much. Dual booting on a tablet!!!! Who woulda thunk?????

  • @Oharafolk
    @Oharafolk2 жыл бұрын

    Ohh thanks so much, love this experiment!!

  • @chriholt
    @chriholt2 жыл бұрын

    Very impressive experiment!

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thank Chris. :)

  • @PinakiGupta82Appu
    @PinakiGupta82Appu2 жыл бұрын

    I wasn't aware of such capabilities of Linux Mint. However, one thing I noticed was how you used the Advanced Startup Options under Windows 10 as the boot selector on an unsupported device where dual booting with GRUB2 is not even possible. Very creative idea. Hats off to you!

  • @WPGinfo
    @WPGinfo2 жыл бұрын

    Interesting video. Time for some experiments! Thnx Chris

  • @anurasenarathna1703
    @anurasenarathna17032 жыл бұрын

    Good experiment. Thank you

  • @Antti_Nannimus
    @Antti_Nannimus2 жыл бұрын

    You have given us another very useful and interesting video, Dr. Barnatt. Thanks to you, I was able to install the excellent Onboard virtual keyboard on my 7" touch-screen Raspberry Pi 3+ (Raspberry Pi OS) using the Synaptic Software Manager application. It works quite well, and almost obviates the need for a hardware keyboard. It's too early to say that with confidence yet though. Thanks again for your excellent contributions!

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Great to hear of this result.

  • @aronkvh
    @aronkvh2 жыл бұрын

    thanks for this video, you posted it right when I found and old Windows 8 2in1

  • @DiegoASanchez
    @DiegoASanchez Жыл бұрын

    Once again your content becomes the reference. Thanks

  • @Antonio-fl3nr
    @Antonio-fl3nr2 жыл бұрын

    This was just excellent. Thanks, Chris.

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for your support, most apprecaited. :)

  • @TheStanford01
    @TheStanford01 Жыл бұрын

    Love it when you press the Windows symbol to bring up Linux - great!

  • @patrickwatchorn2627
    @patrickwatchorn26272 жыл бұрын

    This was my favourite EC video to date. I am messing around with a Dell Venue 11 pro from 2014 and running Linux on it. I have been on Gnome DE and now I’m thinking I’d going for a Linuxmint !!

  • @brianwood5220
    @brianwood52202 жыл бұрын

    Great video Christopher. Thanks for sharing

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Greetings Brian.

  • @GCAT01Living
    @GCAT01Living Жыл бұрын

    How crazy that Mint works on a touch screen! I daily drive Mint on 3 of my 4 computers (two desktops and a laptop) but have always wanted it on my excessively under-powered 2in1. Very excited to see that this works!

  • @zbigniewkrajewski7536
    @zbigniewkrajewski75362 жыл бұрын

    Mint for the win again :) Thank you Chris.

  • @ronkemperful
    @ronkemperful2 жыл бұрын

    Really glad that you showed us the tricks and potential drawbacks of various Linux distributions. With your inspiration I think that I’ll try Mint on my 2017 Atom tablet. Unfortunately it has just 64mb of built in storage so single booting seems to be the best option. Thanks!

  • @ariel_chess

    @ariel_chess

    Жыл бұрын

    mb?

  • @martinsmith5028
    @martinsmith50282 жыл бұрын

    Thanks Chris, very useful

  • @ThomasBrisco
    @ThomasBrisco2 жыл бұрын

    Wow -- love this. I've been looking (a long time) for THE tablet I want, and I think I know what that is now. Planning to head over to e-bay and find an old x86 tablet and bring some life back to it!

  • @TimothyTocci
    @TimothyTocci2 жыл бұрын

    Great insight - thank you.

  • @avejst
    @avejst2 жыл бұрын

    Wow, great digging in the sea of OS's Thanks for sharing your experiences with all of us 🙂

  • @robertmaxa6631
    @robertmaxa66312 жыл бұрын

    A time consuming process,to find out what works, but, your persistence paid off, and got a functioning result.

  • @FlyLegy
    @FlyLegy2 жыл бұрын

    Great content choice and presentation, thank you very much for sharing it with us. I would love to see similar expetiments on mobile devices as I have a few lying around without further factory updates, ready for projects like this.

  • @briianhebert
    @briianhebert2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the video! Yet another win for Linux Mint

  • @lsd22252
    @lsd222522 жыл бұрын

    Excellent thx Chris. I look forward to trying Linux Mint on two of my old Win 8 tablets and also an old Intel Compute Stick plugged into my 24" Philips touch monitor 🤞. Worth a try 😁.

  • @PS_Tube
    @PS_Tube2 жыл бұрын

    Linux on X86 tabs. Great experimental vid. Yay !! Just got the notification for the vid !

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Greetings!

  • @Colin_Ames
    @Colin_Ames2 жыл бұрын

    Interesting video, as always. I don’t own a tablet (other than an iPad), so can’t “follow along” with this, but it’s always good to know this stuff in case I happen upon an old tablet for a good price.

  • @gamerlowgraphics
    @gamerlowgraphics2 жыл бұрын

    Amazing experiment! Might be a good linux otg alternative, because currently i just remote linux server with my phone, serve me well so far 😃

  • @rv6amark
    @rv6amark2 жыл бұрын

    Very good, Christopher! I am adapting very nicely to Linux Mint Cinnamon that I recently installed on an old HP Duo Core based laptop, so I kept thinking I might try installing it on an Atom based tablet that currently runs Win10 very slowly. Time will tell. You have nudged me closer to giving it a go! Oh my. so many old computers, so little time!

  • @PaulaXism

    @PaulaXism

    2 жыл бұрын

    Might want to have a look at Anti-X releases.. I rolled my own for a Samsung atom powered little netbook and it's a star

  • @RogerioPereiradaSilva77

    @RogerioPereiradaSilva77

    2 жыл бұрын

    You probably want to look at proper lightweight distros as the regular ones are far too demanding for those poor Atom processors. They actually run but the experience is not great. XFCE seems to be the breaking point for these machines. MK Linux has a decent and very light XFCE implementation but for an Atom machine, I'd suggest something like its cousin AntiX or Puppy that really fly on these machines and can bring them back to life.

  • @SilverFoxww
    @SilverFoxww Жыл бұрын

    Thank you. I've never considered Linux Mint as a tablet OS. But now I know what I'm going to install on my Lenovo Duet tablet. Thanks again.

  • @jdavilape
    @jdavilape2 жыл бұрын

    Good video, i really like the jingos ui but with Linux mint compatibility 👍

  • @JulioSalim
    @JulioSalim2 жыл бұрын

    Very interesting! I’ll give a try to revive my old surface. Thanks!!!

  • @MartijnBraam
    @MartijnBraam2 жыл бұрын

    Hello, postmarketOS developer here. postmarketOS definetly does support x86 and x86_64. For a device like this there's even a generic x86 target to get it running :)

  • @RFLCPTR

    @RFLCPTR

    Жыл бұрын

    issue is you have to create the image yourself

  • @guerrillaradio9953

    @guerrillaradio9953

    11 ай бұрын

    Martijn, sounds good. I have a rugged military tablet I'm trying to repurpose due to it's need to be used outside, etc, and the fact it only uses 9w for the entire device with the daylight readable screen at full brightness. Because it meets those needs so well, I'd like to simply install the lightest distro I can find, but it's only a 32 bit, 1.2ghz Core Duo (NOT Core 2). It does, however, have 4gb of RAM and a modern 128gb SATA SSD. It runs windows 7 very fast, but when I tried Kali 32 bit on a pretty lean install, it's pig slow! How do you feel your distro would compare with Kali 32 bit in speed in my use case? Thanks for any help. Tyler.

  • @YoutubeWatcher264

    @YoutubeWatcher264

    3 ай бұрын

    Hello, how about Xiaomi Mi Pad 2? Processor is Atom X5. It can run Windows 10 but newer versions are extremely laggy.

  • @seguramlk
    @seguramlk2 жыл бұрын

    Awesome, Chris 👍

  • @mirzosharifjalolov4247
    @mirzosharifjalolov42472 жыл бұрын

    Thank you! Very informative video.

  • @crism8868
    @crism88682 жыл бұрын

    13:07 the typist theme is meant to practice touch typing (typing with all four fingers). The color coding helps memorizing which row of keys is reached by which finger (q,a,z for the left pinkie etc.) Fascinating video btw! Didn't expect Mint to fare so we'll since Cinnamon is not the first DE that would come to mind when thinking of touch friendly DEs. On impression alone Gnome would seem a better choice. But then again impressions can be deceiving.

  • @josephravu5039
    @josephravu50392 жыл бұрын

    Great video, thanks!

  • @yash1152
    @yash1152 Жыл бұрын

    15:01 brilliant manjaro, keep going down

  • @SirTodd.
    @SirTodd.2 жыл бұрын

    Very impressive, indeed. I had no idea that the mobile development area had advanced so well. I mean, it does make sense, but I hadn't thought about using Linux on a mobile much. I'm glad to know that the options are there and that Mint is the best apparent distro, which is fine with me because Mint is a fine OS.

  • @dralmalood
    @dralmalood2 жыл бұрын

    Another great video Chris. I'd love to see a deep dive follow-up video perhaps after spending a week or two with Mint on the tablet to see how everything functions. I tried running Mint of a USB and couldn't get the pen or mouse to work on a Surface Pro 6.

  • @pranonaththakur3290
    @pranonaththakur32902 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for sharing this tutorial

  • @sim6699
    @sim66992 жыл бұрын

    Good surprise mint working so well.

  • @srtcsb
    @srtcsb2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for another great video. 👍

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Greetings Steve.

  • @DylanDurdle
    @DylanDurdle2 жыл бұрын

    I've been using my main debian system image (previously LMDE) on a cheap helix Thinkpad tablet. Loving MATE and onboard keyboard. Still tweaking it s bit everyday. Always nice tricks still be done to make everything work well with just your fingers.

  • @fattomandeibu
    @fattomandeibu2 жыл бұрын

    Very interesting. My dad's tablet long ago run out of space due to Windows update eating the eMMC, and with Windows not allowing updates to be installed to the much larger SD card, this could be the solution I'm looking for. Very useful.

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yes, there are a lot of x86 tablets out there no longer ableto take Windows updates.

  • @fattomandeibu

    @fattomandeibu

    2 жыл бұрын

    @Tony Interesting, I think my dad's is a Chuwi, too. Hopefully the battery will work. My dad's elderly and used it for reading in bed until looping Windows update attempts(it attempts to install updates, gives an out of space error and shuts down again) made it unusable.

  • @andrekz9138

    @andrekz9138

    2 жыл бұрын

    That's the most exciting thing about old hardware, in my opinion. They evolve into test rigs for experiments you wouldn't try on your main system 😝

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@andrekz9138 Very true.

  • @fattomandeibu

    @fattomandeibu

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@andrekz9138 Most of mine end up as hand-me-downs to family and friends who don't need as powerful a computer as I do. I do most of my experimentation on Raspberry Pis or a spare hard disk(I disable my NVMe socket in the BIOS, so as not to accidentally break my Windows install) these days.

  • @renobodyrenobody
    @renobodyrenobody2 жыл бұрын

    Interesting, it opens new recycling opportunities. Thank you Chris!

  • @shawnjefferson692
    @shawnjefferson692 Жыл бұрын

    Awesome video, would love to see a long term update with regards to battery life, getting updates. software downloads, WiFi connections, and especially installing just MINT without windows.

  • @ccroy2001
    @ccroy20012 жыл бұрын

    This is great! I love Surface devices and don't mind Windows, in fact I prefer it, but I do know Linux very well and this could be a fun learning experience on an older Surface device.

  • @englishrupe01
    @englishrupe01 Жыл бұрын

    Hi Chris....wonderful comparisons, many thanks. I use Onboard keyboard a lot and love it, and i have a tip: you can pull the keyboard anywhere you want with the kinda Christian cross button, second row down on the right. It took me a while to figure it out too....and when it restarts it will be in the same place as before. Thanks again.

  • @RaduTek
    @RaduTek2 жыл бұрын

    It's good to install the linux-surface kernel to get the best support for touch input and power management. On newer ones it's also required to get proper keyboard and touchpad support

  • @PeterDempsey-yarglags

    @PeterDempsey-yarglags

    2 жыл бұрын

    I installed Ubuntu on a surface book 2 with the surface kernel. I always had the keyboard attached so I never tried out the on-screen keyboard. The cameras were not supported, I wonder if they are supported with mint.

  • @9hundred67

    @9hundred67

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PeterDempsey-yarglags yeah i would also like to know this about the cameras......

  • @jpwillm5252
    @jpwillm52522 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for the presentation of these distributions compatible with tablet-pc. To move the OnBoard virtual keyboard, just grab the four arrows icon in the top right.🙂

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    I did try that, but could not convince the keyboard in Manjaro to move! :)

  • @jpwillm5252

    @jpwillm5252

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@ExplainingComputers Ah, ok 🙂

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@jpwillm5252 :)

  • @notquitecopacetic
    @notquitecopacetic2 жыл бұрын

    This was great. I vote you do a follow up video with Fedora (so you have tried the biggest players), and then maybe some esoteric loghtweighr distros that you heavily customize. At the. Ery least Fedora and some of the others suggested here in the comments. Either way, fun video.

  • @benjaminsmith3151
    @benjaminsmith31512 жыл бұрын

    I hope you can get it going permanently. I have one of those Surface 2 Pros on the shelf, and I'm never going to run Windows on it again. A success doing that might give me the confidence to also do so on my Surface Pro 4 which I use daily. Plenty of life left in these excellent machines!

  • @anon_y_mousse
    @anon_y_mousse2 жыл бұрын

    This is great, my mom has a Surface and if Windows ever stops working I might get her to switch. For the next test I'd love to see you install LFS on to it. It'd be a lot of work, but maybe a collab with Jeff Geerling would be in order.

  • @chubbymoth5810
    @chubbymoth58102 жыл бұрын

    Mint by far has the best UI in Linux and has been developed upon for quite some time, always working from the same concept. I am pleasantly surpised it has good support for tablets as my Galaxy Book is screaming at me to ditch windoze.

  • @RetroGameStream
    @RetroGameStream2 жыл бұрын

    This was a particularly interesting video to me. A few months ago I inherited a somewhat low powered all-in-one hp pavilion computer, basically a giant, heavy, x86 tablet. I wanted to make a kiosk computer to control Spotify and other things. The paths we took to find a good distro were almost identical. I had to watch to the very end to make sure the comment I was about to write wouldn't be something you were about to do. In the end I settled on Linux Mint. Still works nicely as a cumbersome kiosk in my kitchen.

  • @STONE69_

    @STONE69_

    2 жыл бұрын

    Those Pavilions are better than any of the crap they make today ... light and thin equals crap that breaks down easily and often.

  • @RetroGameStream

    @RetroGameStream

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@STONE69_ oh yeah, the thing is a tank.

  • @CCoburn3
    @CCoburn32 жыл бұрын

    Great video. I have a Walmart tablet. It's not x86, but I didn't know there were ARM Linux distros for tablets. I think I will give it a try. It's no surprise that Linux Mint just works out of the box. That's why I use Mint as my distro of choice.

  • @kg4foo
    @kg4foo2 жыл бұрын

    I enjoyed your video. I watched it on a M$ Surface Go2 that had been dual boot for about a year. Win10 broke though and complained about not being online. Instead of fixing it I just formatted the whole drive to ext4 and have just linux Mint now. Life is too short for windows 10. So on the rare occasion that windows is needed I'll just run it in a gnome box. Gnome box also works as a VNC viewer for adminstering to a RSpi or whatever if you don't need to move files around.

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Great to hear! :)

  • @therobyouknowtv
    @therobyouknowtv Жыл бұрын

    Further, now successful update on using Linux on a Panasonic FZ-G1 Toughpad tablet x86 PC. I have installed Zorin OS pro and am using the macOS desktop appearance setting provided. This setting is the best so far because the onscreen keyboard does not obscure the app launch so much as to be unusable, it works well enough. Also Chrome with "Use system title bar and borders" in Chrome settings means its windows can be dragged by finger (see Gnome issue 1603 on their gitlab). Gestures - 2 finger scrolling and pinch to zoom work out of the box in Chrome. Nice looking desktop. A triumph. Thank you Chris as I saw Zorin OS mentioned on another of your videos and checked it out. So far this is the best experience I've had with a version of Linux on this tablet PC.

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for this update -- I must try Zorin OS on a tablet as you say.

  • @therobyouknowtv

    @therobyouknowtv

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@ExplainingComputers Thank you Chris. Some further mainly good observations. Memory usage lower on Zorin OS Pro, compared to Windows 10 Pro 64bit on this same machine. Mint as tried a while back was also similarly lower usage. The tablet's characteristic by design intrusive mosquito sounding fan is quieter which is a welcome bonus. Screen brightness controls not working but maybe I can see how to fix that, screen is bright enough by default, but this FZ-G1 toughpad machine has outdoor applications so can go to 800 nits. I think this was the same issue on the other distros I tried. Undervolting opportunity: I'm going to look into undervolting the CPU in both Linux and Windows OSs on this machine, aiming to lower the power usage and reduce the fan sound lower if I can. It's a software setting so I understand, provided by CPU-Z app for Windows and a github repo based tool for Linux. Maybe a topic for you to cover at some point. Even without undervolting, battery is reporting over 10 hours of available power in Zorin, way more than Windows does, wondering how accurate that might be! I'm hoping to stick with Zorin OS Pro as am well pleased with it owing to it working very well with minimal UX oversights. That said I think Ubuntu 22.04 which I installed on this tablet previously also worked well and the "Use system title bar and borders" in Chrome would make it closer behind Zorin UX-wise. I also tried Mint as per previous comment shows my experience on this tablet. And ElementaryOS which was disappointing as the actual gestures mismatched what the settings on them said as in number of fingers and different types of gestures as well as some breadcrumb navigation issues. I'll try to raise bugs on the respective distros as if they don't know, they can't fix it, or if more people raise the same issue it can help with priority. I'm pleased to reward Zorin OS Pro by paying for it as they've done a great job and they among others are putting back into the community.

  • @peterosy
    @peterosy2 жыл бұрын

    Everything I have tried with versions of Linux mint have just worked and fairly well at least. Even an old TV box that use to have an outdated version of Android :)

  • @davidhegeman7884
    @davidhegeman78842 жыл бұрын

    Very nice video of a topic I wasn't expecting to see! I do want to add that in my (short) experience of owning a laptop with a touchscreen, I found that Zorin OS also has very good touch screen support. I am currently using Linux Mint on this machine though, but I would say that Zorin probably has better touchscreen support. For example, Zorin allows you to scroll on a webpage by simple swiping anywhere on the webpage, whereas on Mint you have to use the scrollbar. You can probably configure it somewhere in the settings, but I haven't seen the option yet.

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for this. As shown at the end of the video in Google Docs, you can swipe-to-scroll in Linux Mint (at least in Chrome).

  • @ivarand

    @ivarand

    2 жыл бұрын

    swipe to scroll works fine on my old lenovo yoga 2 too (Mint cinnamon 20.3)

  • @BharatMohanty
    @BharatMohanty2 жыл бұрын

    Greetings sir....This is interesting..I would love to see more of these kinds of videos....{ Including sbc ofcourse :) }

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks -- and noted!

  • @kennethconnors5316
    @kennethconnors5316 Жыл бұрын

    This one really helped me ,,thanks

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad to hear that!

  • @MrErsoyyilmaz
    @MrErsoyyilmaz Жыл бұрын

    Made me unkomfortable!! Inspired/provocated me to try, follow you. Thank you

  • @quademasters249
    @quademasters2492 жыл бұрын

    I have a CF-33 Panasonic tablet. I've run Mint on it successfully.

  • @pwilkutowski
    @pwilkutowski Жыл бұрын

    Right now im using ubuntu on surface pro 3 - works quite good i really like it

  • @pavan13
    @pavan132 жыл бұрын

    Amazing video loved it

  • @ExplainingComputers

    @ExplainingComputers

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks so much!

Келесі