Linux on a Microsoft Surface Tablet (GO 2) - Installation and basic setup

In this video, I'll explain how to turn a Microsoft Surface GO 2 into a fully fledged Linux tablet. I'll talk about initial steps, the installation and about how to get a usable virtual keyboard and an optimized Gnome desktop.
In addition, you can learn how to install additional drivers for your device (the GO 2 works out of the box, but newer Surface models won't) and how to make the cameras work.

Chapters:
0:07: Preview / Intro
1:19: Surface GO 2: specs
2:13: Why did I buy this particular device?
3:34: Requirements
4:23: Choosing a linux distro
6:00: Updating Windows to update the firmware
6:36: Changing the bios settings
7:40: Booting Linux from the USB stick (using Windows)
10:13: Getting a decent virtual keyboard (Improved OSK = gnome extension)
14:14: Gnome tweaks
15:27: Adapting the settings for a low-spec device
19:04: Installing the surface-kernel for better hardware support
21:03: Replacing the snap version of Firefox
24:14: Enabling the cameras

Terminal commands (everything following * is a just an explanation):
*Improved virtual keyboard, tweaks, dash to dock (dconf-editor is optional)
sudo apt install gnome-shell-extensions gnome-tweaks dconf-editor

*Surface-kernel: https://github.com/linux-surface/linu...
sudo apt install extrepo extrepo-data
sudo extrepo enable surface-linux && sudo apt update
sudo apt install linux-image-surface linux-headers-surface libwacom-surface iptsd

*optional, if you want to enable secure boot:
sudo apt install linux-surface-secureboot-mok
sudo update-grub

*Firefox + getting rid of snapd: https://onlinux.systems/guides/202205...
*1. Stop the service
sudo systemctl disable snapd.service
sudo systemctl disable snapd.socket
sudo systemctl disable snapd.seeded.service
*2. Remove snap apps
sudo snap list
sudo snap remove firefox
sudo snap remove snap-store
*3. Remove snapd + cleanup
sudo apt autoremove --purge snapd
sudo rm -rf /var/cache/snapd/
rm -rf ~/snap
*4. Pin the deb-version of firefox
*Create a file
sudo nano /etc/apt/preferences.d/firefox-no-snap
*Write to that file (Ctrl + shift +v)
Package: firefox*
Pin: release o=Ubuntu*
Pin-Priority: -1
*Save the file (Ctrl + o)
*Exit (Ctrl + x)
*Add the repository for the "regular" Firefox version
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa
*Install firefox
sudo apt install firefox

*Camera support: https://github.com/linux-surface/linu...
*Install the dependencies
$ sudo apt install \
git build-essential meson ninja-build pkg-config libgnutls28-dev openssl \
python3-pip python3-yaml python3-ply python3-jinja2 \
qtbase5-dev libqt5core5a libqt5gui5 libqt5widgets5 qttools5-dev-tools \
libtiff-dev libevent-dev libyaml-dev \
gstreamer1.0-tools libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev

*Build libcamera
$ git clone https://git.libcamera.org/libcamera/l...
$ cd libcamera
$ meson build -Dpipelines=uvcvideo,vimc,ipu3 -Dipas=vimc,ipu3 -Dprefix=/usr -Dgstreamer=enabled
$ ninja -C build
$ sudo ninja -C build install
*Groups and permissions
$ sudo usermod -aG video $USER
$ newgrp video

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