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Surface Go

Surface Go (10’’ - Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y - RAM: 8 GB - 128 GB SSD - Intel HD 615)
Surface Go Black Type Cover

Surface Go

Final setup

Run only Linux
Arch Linux
Gnome

Preparation

Needed hardware

Surface Go
Surface Go Keyboard or USB keyboard/mouse
USB pen drive
USB Ethernet adapter
USB-C to USB adapter + USB Hub or USB-C hub

Burn ISO to USB pen drive

Download the Arch Linux ISO.
Burn the iso in the pen drive.

sudo dd bs=4M if=archlinux-2019.10.01-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdc status=progress oflag=sync

Connect the dongles

Depending on your setup make sure you have the USB pen drive with the Arch Linux ISO burned and a Ehternet cable connected.

Disable Secure Boot

Shut down your Surface.
Press and hold the Volume Up button on your Surface, then press and release the Power button.
When you see the Surface logo screen appear, release the Volume Up button. The UEFI settings menu will appear in a few seconds.
Click on Boot Configuration and move USB Storage up the list.
Click on Security and set Secure Boot to disabled.
Click on Exit,
Save the settings and reboot.

Installation from the USB pen drive live environment

First steps and testing Internet connection

Make sure to use the correct keyboard layout (e.g.: for a portuguese layout; use the ? key for the - character).

loadkeys pt-latin9

Test the Internet connection.

ip link
dhcpcd
ping archlinux.org

Active ntp service.

timedatectl set-ntp true

Make sure the en_US.UTF-8 is uncommented.

nano /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen

Create partitions

List the drives and use cgdisk to create the partitions.

lsblk
cgdisk /dev/nvme0n1

Partitions to create.

#	Size	Hexcode	Label
1	1G	ef00	boot_efi
2	1G	ef02	boot
3	109G	8304	root
4	8.2G	8200	swap

Format the partitions.

mkfs.vfat /dev/nvme0n1p1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p2
mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme0n1p3
mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p4
swapon /dev/nvme0n1p4

Mounting the partitions

mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /mnt/boot
mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi
mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot/efi

Install the base system

Choose a mirror near you.

nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Copy your preferred mirror to the first line.

Tips:

Alt+6 to copy a Server line.
PageUp key to scroll up.
Ctrl+U to paste it at the top of the list.
Ctrl+X to exit, and when prompted to save changes, press Y and Enter.

Refresh the packages list and install the base system.

pacman -Syy
pacstrap /mnt base base-devel linux linux-firmware

Generate the fstab file.

genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

Configurations, drivers and boot manager

Change context to the base install mounted partitions.

arch-chroot /mnt

Install nano to edit files.

pacman -S nano

Define your local timezone.

ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Lisbon /etc/localtime

Hardware clock.

hwclock --systohc --utc

Uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 and generate the locale.

nano /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen

LANG and KEYMAP configurantion.

echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.conf
echo "KEYMAP=pt-latin9" >> /etc/vconsole.conf

Hosts and hostname configuration.

echo "myhostname" >> /etc/hostname
echo "127.0.0.1  localhost" >> /etc/hosts
echo "::1        localhost" >> /etc/hosts
echo "127.0.1.1  myhostname.localdomain  myhostname" >> /etc/hosts

Install and enable network services.

pacman -S networkmanager
systemctl enable NetworkManager.service

Useful to have sooner than later.

pacman -S git wget unzip openssh
systemctl enable sshd

mkinitcpio.

mkinitcpio -P

Change your root user password.

passwd

Install grub.

pacman -S grub efibootmgr
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Install intel-ucode.

pacman -S intel-ucode

Exit and reboot.

exit
umount /mnt/{boot,home,boot/efi,}
reboot

Next steps before a window environment

useradd -m -g users -s /bin/bash youruser
chfn youruser
passwd youruser

Create a new group to match your user.

groupadd yourgroup
gpasswd -a youruser yourgroup

Add your user as a sudoer.

pacman -S sudo vi
visudo /etc/sudoers

Add: youruser ALL=(ALL) ALL

Video and audio.

pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-apps xorg-twm xorg-xclock xterm
lspci | grep -e VGA -e 3D
pacman -S xf86-video-intel xf86-input-libinput
pacman -S pulseaudio pavucontrol alsa-utils
startx

Gnome and gdm.

pacman -S gnome gnome-shell gdm
systemctl enable gdm.service

Reboot.

Surface kernel and drivers

wget -qO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qzed/linux-surface/master/keys/qzed.asc \
    | sudo pacman-key --add -
sudo pacman-key --finger luzmaximilian@gmail.com
sudo pacman-key --lsign-key luzmaximilian@gmail.com

sudo vi /etc/pacman.conf

[linux-surface]
Server = https://tmsp.io/fs/repos/arch/$repo/

sudo pacman -Syy
sudo pacman linux-surface linux-surface-headers linux-surface-docs
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Reboot and log in into Gnome with Xorg.

Other configurations and software

Configure and test wifi

Connect to your wireless network.

If it’s not working:

cd Downloads
wget http://www.killernetworking.com/support/K1535_Debian/board.bin
sudo rm /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board.bin
sudo cp ~/Downloads/board.bin /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1
sudo rm /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/board.bin
sudo cp ~/Downloads/board.bin /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0
reboot

AUR

cd Downloads
wget https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/snapshot/yay.tar.gz
cd yay
makepkg -sri

Firefox

sudo pacman -S firefox

touchscreen support

sudo vi /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop

Look for the three ‘Exec=’ options and add ’env MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1 ’ in front of the firefox binary. Exec=env MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox

Go to about:config. dom.w3c.touch_events.enabled; 1 browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll; true browser.urlbar.doubleClickSelectsAll; false layout.word_select.stop_at_punctuation; true (default) layout.css.devPixelsPerPx; 2.0

vi /etc/security/pam_env.conf

MOZ_USE_XINPUT2 DEFAULT=1

profile-sync-daemon

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Profile-sync-daemon

yay -S profile-sync-daemon
systemctl --user enable psd.service

vi .config/psd/psd.conf

BROWSERS="firefox"

systemctl --user start psd.service
psd p

Screen rotation

sudo pacman iio-sensor-proxy
yay -S screenrotator-git

Use Gnome with Xorg, not Wayland.

Touchpad gestures

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Libinput#libinput-gestures https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures/blob/master/README.md

sudo gpasswd -a $USER input
yay -S libinput-gestures xdotool wmctrl
libinput-gestures-setup autostart

Reboot.

ssh from another machine

ssh-copy-id surfacehostname

Pacman/aur Package Manager

yay -S pamac-aur

fish shell

yay -S fish
chsh -s /usr/bin/fish

Thunar

yay -S thunar thunar-volman thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-thumbnailers

Customized Thumbnailer for folders

https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/thunar/tumbler

sudo vi /usr/share/thumbnailers/folder.thumbnailer

[Thumbnailer Entry]
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=X-Thumbnailer
Name=Folder Thumbnailer
MimeType=inode/directory;
Exec=/usr/bin/folder-thumbnailer %s %i %o %u

sudo vi /usr/bin/folder-thumbnailer

#!/bin/bash
 
convert -thumbnail "$1" "$2/folder.jpg" "$3" 1>/dev/null 2>&1 ||\
convert -thumbnail "$1" "$2/.folder.jpg" "$3" 1>/dev/null 2>&1 ||\
convert -thumbnail "$1" "$2/folder.png" "$3" 1>/dev/null 2>&1 ||\
convert -thumbnail "$1" "$2/.folder.png" "$3" 1>/dev/null 2>&1 ||\
convert -thumbnail "$1" "$2/cover.jpg" "$3" 1>/dev/null 2>&1 ||\
rm -f "$HOME/.cache/thumbnails/normal/$(echo -n "$4" | md5sum | cut -d " " -f1).png" ||\
rm -f "$HOME/.thumbnails/normal/$(echo -n "$4" | md5sum | cut -d " " -f1).png" ||\
rm -f "$HOME/.cache/thumbnails/large/$(echo -n "$4" | md5sum | cut -d " " -f1).png" ||\
rm -f "$HOME/.thumbnails/large/$(echo -n "$4" | md5sum | cut -d " " -f1).png" ||\
exit 1

sudo chmod a+x /usr/bin/folder-thumbnailer

pass

…

reflector

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Reflector

Seafile

yay -S seafile-client

Hibernate

Add resume the the HOOKS list.

sudo vi /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard resume fsck)

sudo mkinitcpio
sudo mkinitcpio -P

Add the UUID for your swap partition to the grub default command line options.

sudo cat /etc/fstab
sudo vi /etc/default/grub

GRUB_TIMEOUT=2 GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="resume=UUID=7c24eb35-0c39-4c85-892a-361d7dcad795 loglevel=3 quiet"

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Reduce the swappiness value.

sudo vi /etc/sysctl.d/99-swappiness.conf

vm.swappiness=10 To check after reboot.

cat /sys/fs/cgroup/memory/memory.swappiness

Power management

sudo pacman -S acpid
sudo systemctl enable acpid.service

Set in Settings > Power the power button to hibernate.

Reboot.

Gnome Shell extensions

List of my favorite extensions. In my surface some off them are disabled.

Applications Menu (disabled)
Auto Move Windows
Dash to Dock
Dynamic Panel Transparency
Gajim IM integration
GSConnect
Icon Hider
KStatusNotifierItem/AppIndicator Support
Launch new instance
Native Window Placement
No Symbolic Icons
Pamac Updates Indicator
Places Status Indicator (disabled)
Removable Drive Menu (disabled)
Screenshot Window Sizer
Tray Icons (disabled)
Unite
User Themes
windowNavigator
Workspace Indicator (disabled)

Libreoffice

yay -S libreoffice-fresh libreoffice-fresh-pt

ulauncher

yay -S ulauncher

extensions

shortcuts

DuckDuckGo | d | https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s

anbox

via AUR

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Anbox

yay -S android-tools anbox-image anbox-modules-dkms-git anbox-bridge
yay -S anbox-git
sudo systemctl enable anbox-container-manager.service
sudo systemctl start anbox-container-manager.service
sudo modprobe ashmem_linux
sudo modprobe binder_linux

You must execute anbox-bridge every time before starting anbox in order to get network working in anbox.

via snap

yay -S snapd
sudo systemctl enable snapd.service
sudo systemctl start snapd.service
sudo snap install --devmode --beta anbox
sudo modprobe ashmem_linux
sudo modprobe binder_linux

To update in the future:

sudo snap refresh --beta --devmode anbox

You must execute anbox-bridge every time before starting anbox in order to get network working in anbox.

sound issues

https://github.com/anbox/anbox/issues/904#issuecomment-420904038

sudo vi /var/lib/anbox/rootfs-overlay/system/etc/media_codecs.xml

Paste content from: https://github.com/anbox/anbox/files/2378029/media_codecs.xml.txt

GRUB

yay -S arch-silence-grub-theme
sudo vi /etc/default/grub

GRUB_THEME="/boot/grub/themes/arch-silence/theme.txt"

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

protonvpn-cli

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ProtonVPN

yay -S protonvpn-cli protonvpn-applet

Some links

https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/comments/94hjxv/surface_go_first_impressions/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/comments/dlfain/guide_installing_arch_linux_on_your_surface_device/ https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Tablet_PC https://bytewelder.com/posts/2019/08/13/surface-go-linux-mint.html https://gist.github.com/johnramsden/f873723150209ccc4533f43ef100e9da https://ramsdenj.com/2016/08/29/arch-linux-on-the-surface-pro-4.html https://github.com/jakeday/linux-surface https://github.com/dmhacker/arch-linux-surface https://github.com/qzed/linux-surface/wiki/Package-Repositories https://tmsp.io/fs/repos/arch/linux-surface/ https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/General_recommendations https://dasgeekcommunity.com/extras.html https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Touchscreen https://medium.com/@TheBitStick/fedora-31-on-the-surface-go-f81dbb9fa91b

🖥️ 🐧 Installing Arch Linux in my new Surface Go

Surface Go

Final setup

Preparation

Needed hardware

Burn ISO to USB pen drive

Connect the dongles

Disable Secure Boot

Installation from the USB pen drive live environment

First steps and testing Internet connection

Create partitions

Mounting the partitions

Install the base system

Configurations, drivers and boot manager

Next steps before a window environment

Surface kernel and drivers

Other configurations and software

Configure and test wifi

AUR

Firefox

touchscreen support

profile-sync-daemon

Screen rotation

Touchpad gestures

ssh from another machine

Pacman/aur Package Manager

fish shell

Thunar

Customized Thumbnailer for folders

pass

reflector

Seafile

Hibernate

Power management

Gnome Shell extensions

Libreoffice

ulauncher

extensions

shortcuts

anbox

via AUR

via snap

sound issues

GRUB

protonvpn-cli

Some links