I Tried Installing Linux on a Windows Tablet

Windows is famously mediocre for tablets. What about Linux? I found out by installing Fedora Workstation on my HP Tablet 11.

[@jayrome8764]

You did exactly what I've been thinking to do for months now! After I installed Gnome Garuda on my Thinkpad L490 I was so impressed with the fluidity of the gestures and intuitive navigation that I'm convinced it would work great on a tablet (at least better than Windows). I'm looking to buy a tablet with a lot of ram and an i7 processor so I can do something special.

[@gordonpearce]

I have Fedora running well on a Surface Pro 8.

[@minidawnplayz]

You should try the ROG flow Z13.

[@Subh8081]

@@gordonpearce I have SP 7+. I did some research and found out I can get it to work using Linux surface kernel but the camera may not work. Given that I do use the camera for Teams and Zoom calls, that's a showstopper for me. I have tried Linux on a Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 5 before and they worked fabulously well - even better than Windows.

[@atomictransfusion]

3:34 don't know if you found this out, but there's a program called gnome tweaks that you can use to set the ui scale to 150%

[@alexmercerind]

That sets the text scale AFAIK.

[@shib5267]

it's for text but works well enough anyway

[@paulhernaus]

I'm using Fedora Linux on my Microsoft Surface Go 2. I have to admit that none of the cameras work, and now I always have to type a password to log in, instead of using Windows Hello, but there are some things that work much better on Linux. The main thing is that I can use Bluetooth headphones to watch videos with the video and audio always being in sync. That I never achieved on Windows. Furthermore, on this "machine" the performance with Linux is noticeably better compared to windows.

[@worldhello1234]

Hopefully you got over the inconvenience of locking your door. 😘😉

[@gwido1101]

I have Kind of the opposite with my laptop, the camera and microphone works but Bluetooth doesn't.

[@wonderfullife5665]

That's a problem of the manufacturer and not linux. If they don't provide the necessary driver it's hard to reverse engineer

[@jonh5032]

Look up Howdy for Linux. I use facial recognition on my yoga 370 and ThinkPad x230 (actually using slimbook face, as no infra red camera), and Howdy as direct replacement for Hello on my X260.

[@marciovianna2370]

Howdy is the “Windows Hello” for Linux. Try!

[@deanspanos8210]

Fedora is the best for x86 tablets in touch mode. The issue is always onscreen keyboard support and holding down your finger for right clicking.

[@bubbleemoji5066]

Your fade out transition freaked me out a little lol felt like i was blinking against my will 😮

[@peppefailla1630]

I'm happy you've had a fine experience with linux on your tablet! Both the companies and the community are making a great job making the linux desktop viable for most of the people. We need more videos like this

[@worldhello1234]

Are you sure? Most of the people are normies. You need a certain mindset and a good reason to use Linux.

[@peppefailla1630]

@@worldhello1234 Even my grandpa uses Linux bro. It is not about the mindset, but what you're used to

[@amogoose2971]

@@worldhello1234 some normies use linux too (steam deck users and people who have old/bad laptops)

[@LunInTheJar]

What is normies?

[@peppefailla1630]

@@LunInTheJar 💀

[@Roosader]

I just got one of these puppies on eBay for 190 USD new with the keyboard. Listed as refurbished but still sealed. I am veryyyy pleased with it, especially at that price. Probably like the best deal ive ever gotten on a piece of tech

[@ContantContact]

I Am running Linux Mint, now for over a year, on an HP X360 laptop. It also can be used as a tablet, though I do not. But the touchscreen works. Not going back to windows.

[@Robospidera1]

It would definitely be much better if you installed without the flash drive. Flash media is still too slow to boot an OS nowadays I personally think.

[@TheOperatingSystemWorld]

Flash memory is faster than mechanical hard drives. Some Linux Live USB boot to memory and its way faster than flash.

[@silvy7394]

Bruh you stupid. I run Windows off a flash drive for work all the time and its just about as fast as an SSD. Because, well, it basically is one.

[@FakeMichau]

From my experience it isn't that bad on Linux compared to Windows but he was using one of the heaviest DEs there is so the impact might be different.

[@silvy7394]

@@FakeMichau IKR. Its pathetic that Linux with half the features as any other OS it uses twice the system resources. And they call it a "heavy DE"

[@leonbishop7404]

depends on the tablet. some of them have just an sd card as their main internal memory which is slow

[@yeet5496]

im using surface pro 9 on arch linux with linux-surface kernel. the boot process was easy as i did not want windows and the surface pro 9 firmware settings supports swipe-to-boot. i installed without the linux-surface kernel, and using archinstall. after some commands of syncing pacman and adding linux-surface repositories, it has worked well. the only thing i dont like is the battery life, but i am amazed the touch screen works. i get low cpu and ram usage during browsing the web and running commands. i did have to reinstall the custom kernel as a update messed up the touchscreen, but i did not need to reinstall after that.

[@TheDefaultgameer]

I ended up installing Pop Os on a Surface Pro 4, works great, but the battery is near shot, so it doesn't live very long on battery. Kinda kills the reason to use it as a tablet. You might like Pop Os on this, it has some solid built in features you may like. Same DE as Fedora, but it's more customized, and a nice tiling feature that auto fills the space with any windows you have open.

[@geezergeek1637]

Thanks for sharing your story! Difficulty getting to bios/uefi... blame windows vs hp. Earlier versions didn't have such an arcane system to get there. My Dell tablet came with Windows 8... settled on ubuntu for it after trying a few others. Pulled the original m.2 ssd, and installed a new one - installed linux on it. 5 years ago or so. Now I am fully linux. Just mess with Windows when others need help. Seldom use the tablet now ... mostly a Ryzen tower build, and a laptop. Both Linux.

[@BoopyTheFox]

Bought used Surface Pro 4 (in 2022) specifically to try linux on it and DAMN it is good! Cameras not working is a major drawback for something like face-detect unlocking, but other than that i haven't had any issues! Now my challenge is to make a usable awesomeWM installation with gesture control in mind.

[@JustAPersonWhoComments]

Congratulations, you just created the ultimate tech paradox, turning a Windows tablet into a Linux machine

[@Kalasklister1337]

Not really. Since the beginning Windows never really had ambitions to explicitly deny other OSes from being insalled on a given system. Apple on the other hand has always been that way, which means that IMO the coolest hacks are from people enabling Mac OS to run on regular PC hardware AKA hackintosh.

[@worldhello1234]

@4:49 It runs almost 100% on a non-standardized configuration of proprietary hardware out of the box. That is a win.

[@ScottLynn-gz2hl]

IMO I would've dug deeper. I installed Linux on an old Macbook Air 2013 and a lot of the hardware wasn't working when I got in it. I looked up what I needed to about the Macbook Air I had and the version of Manjaro and found all of the hardware drivers in the AUR.

[@Null42x86]

Since some linux distros has a native android support you can turn it into a ultimate android tablet

[@KisameSempai]

Since when?

[@ok-tr1nw]

Idk where you got that The only linux distro that comes with an android vm is ubport's ubuntu touch

[@raidev_]

waydroid

[@MissMissMM]

I am so glad you made this video. i had the same problem trying install linux because you cannot get to the bios. I want to dual boot my hp laptop. So I have ordered Pop os to try.

[@AninoNiKugi]

Maybe you can try Lomiri on this. It's the convergent DE used in Ubuntu Touch. It is now available in Debian 12 and derivatives like Ubuntu 24.04. It is still very much in development though so not as complete and polished as Gnome 😄

[@swaroopchirayinkil]

Cool , this is one nice thing I saw after a long time , related to Linux installation and review 👏👏👏

[@keyboard_g]

Its not the Fedora doesn't allow fractional scaling, its the Gnome desktop. The Gnome developers don't beleive in it. Being Linux you can chose from one of several desktop interfaces.

[@stephenanthony5923]

Liked the video BUT, to my knowledge you can't accurately or meaningfully compare performance of an OS installed to bare metal to one on a flash drive. Via USB, Your OS data has to process through more bridges with narrower bandwidth to make it to CPU and RAM than it would via the direct PCIe connection on your SSD. And the storage architecture of a USB can't compare to that of a SSD as the micro controller protocols and bandwidth of the media far outstrips anything on a USB no matter how fast the port is. It's also possible that in the power save profile also reduced power to the I/O, which is why you saw slow down on the OS on the USB. I'm not sure what you have to do to install Fedora to bare metal on this model. I think HP has a write protection screw to remove before you can turn off secure boot. If you get it running, I have no doubt Linux will run circles around Windows on bare metal. It always does.

[@arkvsi8142]

I just bought it to do the same. This is Moore important than buying food

[@1Love-starboss]

Name of this tablet

[@smellymala3103]

Damn, my bro, I was programming MUDs in 1993, but I am also a working artist and you just are not going to beat the iPad.

[@michaelbeckerman7532]

The biggest problem that I've run into in the past when trying to install LINUX onto a system that was originally built for Windows (either as a dual boot or as a fresh system with just LINUX by itself) is that you need to go into the BIOS settings and disable certain key features (mostly security ones that have been mandated by Microsoft that the hardware vendor was forced to implement to be able to have a license for the OS). If you don't go into the BIOS and disable those Windows-specific features/settings first, you likely won't even be able to get LINUX to install at all. I forget which settings those are right now but there are articles and videos out on the web that will tell you how to do this. If you don't get that all-important first step done right, you very likely won't even get LINUX to install properly on your system in the first place. And, even if you do get it to finish its install process, you may not get it to properly load/boot up. Long before you even try and install LINUX onto what was originally intended to be a Windows machine, do your homework on making the proper/required changes to the BIOS settings first and make sure you have those right. It will save you SO much time, frustration and aggravation down the line. Or, just install into a VM like Virtual Box running inside of Windows instead and you can just skip all of that potential frustration altogether.

[@JustinSaysRadio]

Why not try Android X86? That would be an ironic but interesting video!

[@vistanationrockafellaz]

Can you test install wine and run MT4 plz

[@aidannotfunny]

I did this on my Go 2, kind of ironic that a MS operating system isn’t the best operating system for MS hardware.

[@jarvoofficial]

i have a Microsoft Surface Pro i5 XD btw a microsoft surface pro is basically a laptop and a tablet combined

[@mskiptr]

It's possible that power saving mode throttled down the USB performance…

[@earthwobbles3534]

Thanks, I tried this with my HP 11 but got nowhere. Explaining Computers with Chris Barnatt had success using a Surface Pro (2 or maybe 3) and a Linux Mint USB thumb drive.

[@huntertharp140]

We did this for our robotics team for the robot using a dell rugged tablet so it can run photonvision in linux headless

[@notilia]

Got a question, I have the gen 1 surface go base model (the crappy pentium with 4gb ram/64gb storage). I was wondering If i installed the same distro as you, would I be able to connect my surface pen and use it like normal?

[@jestersb-]

i want to install linux so hard, but because my laptops screen is broken, i cant do anything, using my monitor it wont show 89% of the installation making me just turn off the laptop and make it break all over again no matter how i try

[@theimmortalfenix7859]

Is it possible to install it in other ways? my windows tablet when i boot efi usb says i have no usb boot

[@kungfujesus06]

You are bringing to light why the focus of GNOME 3 shifted and kind of sucks now for a traditional desktop. As far as Windows being "fine", I dunno how anybody can arrive at that conclusion. You ever watch how much background IO windows 10 does behind your back? I'm kind of shocked you didn't see a battery life improvement (but if your battery is already marginal, maybe you wouldn't). Windows on a traditional HDD is now an impossible feat. The baseline storage requirements on top of that are absurd, it just manages to suck down nearly 60-80GB with a baseline install.

[@Dutch3DMaster]

That is absolutely insane ... 60-80GB. As for background processes, very well aware that Windows is notorious for this, but oof, the storage space requirements are stupid... I bought a defective version of this tablet (see if I can fix it, I love fixing stuff) and I am wondering how much better Linux will do on this thing, not only in terms of storage but also speed-wise. I left Ubuntu years a go when they started with the Unity UI thing which I did not like, and recently returned to it for a 12,5 year old laptop running an i7 second generation Sandy Bridge I think, and it performed surprisingly well, while I have known Ubuntu as the more bloated types of Linux versions out there, so that was kind of an amazing experience. It even performed well on a 800x480 touch screen (it was for a sim-rig project), almost no parts of the UI fell out of frame, pretty amazing.

[@longbuondoi]

is that tablet use an arm chipset ? how long it can use for every charge ?

[@dhiraj1000]

i want install light weight Linux in old android Samsung tablet . Is this possible ?

[@dezram]

Thanks for content. Now I realized that linux can be installed on almost all devices.

[@skelebro9999]

great video!

[@1Love-starboss]

Get fyde os it's a Chrome os variant not by google which is both half android part Linux

[@BiplobBiswass]

On Screen Keyboard is not even near to windows one ( using elementary os on Surface Pro 4 ). If anyone can help me out that would be great ( if theres any way to make it work)

[@deadskull888]

Is the cameras working?

[@Matlockization]

Can you install windows OS on an android tablet ?

[@jasolr1135]

I want to run Linux on something weather-proof, like a phone, but not a phone. Is the tablet designed for mobile OS?

[@Dutch3DMaster]

Not really. Most mobile systems come on ARM-architectures only. You can emulate it or get close to it with UI redesigns and tweaks (Which most Linux versions allow well) but that's it: underneath it'll still be a regular amd64/x64 system, which does not provide the applications in mobile environments, nor the power conservation of mobile devices. You could try to compile an Android version for the x64 architecture maybe through something like PostMarketOs and it might prove to work reasonably well on more modern hardware, but it still tends to see limited support for older architectures or architectures not common in mobile environments.

[@Soth0w76]

I use Arch Linux in my Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 gnome and hyprland

[@polygrind]

all I got after trying to install Linux on my Surface has been punishment in the form of having to imput a long a** code to boot into windows and my bluetooth devices not working

[@tomsvideosofrandomcrap6223]

Ever tried android x86 on a windows tablet

[@ariel_chess]

Not very stable. Also, i think it's discontinued

[@JasperPlays]

2:24 👌

[@TheOperatingSystemWorld]

Try Linux Mint Cinnamon, it's lighter than GNOME 3.

[@Unan1mouz]

Does the touchscreen orientation work on Linux Mint Cinnamon?

[@oscaride283]

I cannot imagine the cinnamon desktop being better for a touchscreen than gnome 40

[@TheOperatingSystemWorld]

@Oscar I DE You have to learn how to use Cinnamon desklets and other features. I forgot how it called, but I'm sure it's way better than GNOME.

[@Unan1mouz]

@@TheOperatingSystemWorld You didn't even reply to my comment dude, lol. And yes, it does support touchscreen auto-rotation thank goodness. Although not as good as Zorin OS when it comes to touch navigation...

[@2free2snakes]

@@Unan1mouz I never got that to work on my 2-in-1 tablet, I used zorin os lite and linux mint mate. Currently have the 21.2 Linux Mint Mate installed on it

[@bhume7535]

Ha, you had it easy. My windows tablet has a 64 bit CPU, but the BIOS itself is only 32 bit. So to have a 64 bit installation you need some bass ackwards ISO a guy made and a dream.

[@frstwhsprs]

4:35 What was it did you say?

[@DevilSky_00000]

Thanks

[@tubbunny]

Linux and Tablets absolutely go together, and because of the MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY drivers that exist, I think that any tablet that runs Windows (Besides Windows RT), will work perfectly with Linux.

[@kosinusify]

Well, many tablets may run Linux pretty flawlessly, but don't get too excited about drivers. If you've got a tablet that's not like ten years old, chances are high that your camera will not be supported. Also, sometimes even touch doesn't work ootb.

[@mskiptr]

Major things that may have missing or wonky drivers: - Bluetooth | Wi-Fi chips (most notably Broadcom) - GPUs (especially PowerVR ones. Nvidia too, but wouldn't expect to find one there) - cameras (on devices from the past year or two) - ARM CPUs (there are other Windows ARM devices besides RT)

[@starboy7151]

What is the Name of this device

[@itstheweirdguy]

Yeah, on the pc side actually using something interactively with any kind of speed requires a core series or ryzen based chip, low end atom based pentium systems need not apply. Gotta love instant e-waste products.

[@Siskiyous6]

i have installed linux on Laptops for about 20 years now. NEVER install a dual boot, the Windows portion kills the Linux.

[@jombokabary4540]

Only if was that easy for android tablets too...

[@WhyTechBoost]

Can You Try Pop OS

[@whit3cat]

and he did it on a TABLET... not a laptop

[@tabeeb8469]

who think linux should start pre installed linux devices

[@FrozenInIce]

use kde based distro like kubuntu instead of a bloated resource heavy gnome distro.

[@sleekbook]

hp laptop not linux friendly

[@rootwayder77]

agreed 💯

[@Nurse_Xochitl]

Maybe someday you'll ascend to the penguin guild, but as of now... ye remain a windows peasant. xD

[@GabrielFurryPhone]

Next do Hackintosh

[@skeginaldp1533]

Why Fedora though?

[@mskiptr]

If using Gnome was the point, then it's probably the best option. Other straightforward Gnome distros - Ubuntu and PopOS - ship with pretty significant modifications.

[@skeginaldp1533]

@@mskiptr I would have thrown mint on it

[@skeginaldp1533]

Sprinkled some cinnamon on it.

[@AndysTV]

You probably can install macOS in this hp tablet

[@TigerTT]

Why not just use SteamOS? At least it's made for touchscreens.

[@oo--7714]

On the pc mode lol have you even used it?

[@lejoshmont2093]

I would just remove window and only run Linux on it personally.

[@itstheV01D]

or go all out and triple boot linux, windows, and android.

[@mr.gandon]

bruh

[@bondjovi4595]

All Linux distros have done nothing over the years. Except Debian and Fedora.

[@peppefailla1630]

There have been a few distros which are actually changing a lot of stuff outside the mainstream distros

[@gibarel]

Define "done nothing". Distros don't really need to do much, their job is just distribution (hence distro), and they do a good job on that. True innovation and progress comes from the kernel and the projects that use it (like Wayland, pipewire, wine, ECT), some are backed by distros, but it not the norm. Distros like fedora are backed by a company (in this case red hat) and thus have the money to spend on projects, but that vast majority of distros are personal/passion projects who's function is to just distribute a specific set of changes (like nobara, which is based on fedora but has been tweaked for gaming, and it is maintained by a single person). Not every distro needs to be making their own fully functional DE or reinvent wine.

[@mobilelegendsaccount3275]

You forgot Arch

[@Big-Chungus21]

@@gibarel agreed. Distros are sort of like complete “packages”, their job is to basically get a bunch of components and make sure they work correctly together, and maybe customize them a tiny amount. A few distros like Linux Mint have made their own DE, but really theres not much different between Xubuntu and Linux Mint XFCE for example other than how they look by default. A lot of distros have done a lot in terms of making sure everything is compatible and stable, as well as customizing the appearance and user experience. Still id say things like Wayland, and KDE tend to be making the big changes.

[@gibarel]

@@Big-Chungus21 that's exactly my point, they don't need to inovate or do anything, their job is distribution and nothing more.

[@Daniel_VolumeDown]

1:12 That is just stupid. Why? ...

[@Karim-uknwmg702]

finally this is what i want to see

[@violet_droid_xz]

Amazing ..

[@thisathema]

Thank you proving the point that Gnome is made for tablets.

[@psychogamer1368]

LOL...

[@azeemtics6613]

next time try installing prime os

[@damen1575]

gnome is not a performant de

[@tracylf5409]

I'll donate $100USD to your channel if you can boot and install/make useable (wifi/BT/sound/touch/browser) to a Microshaft Surface RT/ARM. I've been at it for a while now and nothing I've tried thus far works. It's so aggravating that this came with Win 8, but then they gimped it by tying it to their "store" & then removing everything from that store. Can't even get a browser now. I just want it for a recipe box in the kitchen but would like to search for new recipes online.

[@joannaszymczak7338]

Windows 11

[@heroes3maklaud]

пусть кто то скажет что гном не для сенсора

[@jeffermabob]

Hey… You eat Trader Joe’s bread, too. 😮

[@yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Wow, Microsoft literally ruined their operating system by focusing on tablets instead of the desktop, and it's still bad.

[@TheTytan007]

In my opinion Windows 11 is a slightly better option than Linux on a tablet especially after the March 2023 update. Even better than GNOME. I've tested both and he is what I've found out: - Windows 11 is much more consistent in how apps work with touch. Be it new or the old ones. In Gnome that consistency ends when trying to install anything that doesn't use libadwaita or GDK3 and you're left in - GNOME on-screen keyboard is really bad, even KDE has a better one - Gestures on both are kind of similar both in Windows and GNOME, but those in Windows have become more fluid recently. - Snapping apps is way better in Windows. Especially after the snap-bar was introduces. - Windows 11 lacking a full screen launcher just like in GNOME a drawback. - pen support is very barebones on Linux - Windows knows when you are using it as a tablet or not and adjusts its UI accordingly That being said, everything will probably change knowing how both Windows and GNOME are dynamically being developed. GNOME is getting into a phone business which will absolutely affect how it works on a tablets, and Microsoft reportedly is very interested in competing on the tablet market once again and future Windows versions are supposed to reflect this

[@TheOperatingSystemWorld]

Did you tried Linux Mint Cinnamon? The Cinnamon interface is 100% better than GNOME.

[@TheTytan007]

@@TheOperatingSystemWorld On a tablet?

[@DScottMoore]

Attempted a Linux installation on a Surface Book 2, but it is too Microsoft-dependent, obviously. While the folks working on a kernel for Surfaces have done a fine job, there’s too many advantages to having the device work as it was intended.

[@JanuszKrysztofiak]

@@TheOperatingSystemWorld No need to install Mint exclusively for Cinnamon because it is available on most other distros. Cinnamon seems to me a poor choice for a tablet, for a couple of reasons. The ideological one: it is one of those conservative DEs, it provides a traditional desktop on top of the GTK+ 3/4 library. People who dislike touch-friendly/tablet-like direction Gnome has taken, would prefer it. The technical reason: touch screens are better handled by Wayland compositors than Xorg compositors, because the former is better suited feature-wise for these (actually one of its first applications were automotive UIs), whereas the latter is a fossil from the 1980s (modern apps and compositing WMs try to use X-server as little as possible as it is useless for modern uses, the protocol itself cannot evolve because it is a standard). That leaves us with KWin (KDE) and Mutter (Gnome) running as Wayland compositors the only viable options for tablet Linux. Muffin (Cinnamon's window manager) has no stable Wayland implementation yet (but the work on it is ongoing).

[@vvorldnewsmedia]

people make bootable live disks all the time its the best way to take your OS wherever you go so to say not to do is just wrong. this shows you are new to this LOL

[@sircalico]

"Windows is famously mediocre for tablets. What about Linux?" ... android

[@producersunite7515]

Boon

[@IAmMeomeo]

installing android on a tablet pc is an extremely funny thing to do, which i actually did!

[@jombokabary4540]

what the hell man? Install Mint at least but not the awful garbage of android

[@IAmMeomeo]

@@jombokabary4540 well my good sir first off quite rude isnt it, second off i already tried linux. it couldnt even start up properly.

[@jombokabary4540]

@@IAmMeomeo Sorry ma'am, I really hate android, because well it doomed portable devices to be honest, I think it would be better if smartphones were running Windows, and no the trash of Windows Phone OS, I mean real Windows, Windows Desktop, because well, android is so limited to be honest. I just really miss those old pocket PC's, compact as a phone, capable of everything you can do in a PC. I saw one with Windows 7 and, it is beautiful, that's how smartphones should be. And tablets too, all tablets should run Windows, not the crap of Android that limits the hardware capabilities because of it's software limitations, there's no good use to it other than web surfing stuff, which is bad. Imagine be capable of running professional programs like Adobe in your tablet, why limit it with Android? You can't do any of that with it

[@garth56]

My £2K Dell laptop has Linux on it..Windows lasted 1.5 seconds.. Ignore this try not to dual boot it causes more problams than it's worth..Use one system and use Linux

[@phoenix-tt]

Same. Win11 just plain sucks due to an inadequate privacy policy (you can't even create a local account). Win 10 is better but still inferior when it comes to customization.

[@XsaviXander]

Windows is better.