Shell script which installs needed packages/workarounds/quirks to properly run Debian Buster on a Surface Go + Surface Dock.

The goal of this script is to get Debian Buster running on the Surface Go without any glitches so that it can be used as a daily driver. All changes are just adjusted settings or installed packages etc. to be as close as possible to original Debian. See further down what is needed to be fixed and how it is solved at the moment. Also links to the bug reports are listed there. The goal is to get the stuff upstream and the issues solved and not to build something new or reinvent the wheel. Just proper adjustments to get Debian working like a charm.

Feedback, issues, ideas, pull request etc. are welcome.

What is working:

• Type-Cover (backlight, FN keys)
• Touchpad (up to four finger gestures tested)
• Touchscreen incl. multitouch gestures of GNOME
• Pen (in Wayland (Debian Buster default) even eraser is recognized, at least in GNOME Settings)
• Wifi
• Bluetooth (just bluetooth LE devices are not found via GUI)
• Speakers
• Power and Volume buttons
• SD Card Reader
• Hibernate
• Suspend (in 18h just 11% battery drain; one test run)
• Sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light sensor)
• Battery Readings
• Docking/Undocking Type-Cover
• Surface Dock
• USB-C

Not tested but should work:

• DisplayPort via USB-C

What is not working:

• Cameras

Before installing Debian, please ensure that secure boot is disabled.

The script is tested with the following settings/versions in UEFI. See Surface Go update history for latest changes. Also the Surface Dock is updated to the latest firmware .

• Versions

  • System UEFI: 1.0.10
  • Intel Management Engine: 11.8.50.3460
  • System Embedded Controller: 1.0.5.0
  • Touch Firmware: 2D90.6124.0000.2000

The following settings are used and are different to the defaults.

• Security

  • Secure Boot -> Disabled

• Boot configuration

  • Advanced options

    • Enable alternate boot sequence -> Enabled
    • Enable IPv6 for PXE Network boot Option - > Disabled
    • Enable Boot from USB devices -> Enabled
    • Enable Boot Configuration Lock -> Disabled

  • Configure boot device order

    • USB Storage
    • Windows Boot Manager
    • Internal Storage
    • Network Boot-IPV4
    • Network Boot-IPV6

  • Kiosk Mode

    • Battery Limit -> Enabled , see Battery what this option does and if you want to enable it.

The following debian installation image was used debian-buster-DI-alpha4-amd64-netinst.iso, see debian-installer . This is the recommended way to install Debian Buster/Testing right now.

After installation, download the git folder to your home folder.

git clone https://github.com/choeffer/gobuster.git

Then navigate to the gobuster folder

cd gobuster

and simple execute the script (as root or with root privileges).

sudo sh ./setup.sh

To connect bluetooth LE devices, first execute in terminal

sudo hcitool lescan

and then the devices are visible via GNOME Settings.

In the UEFI it is possible to set a charging limit, see Battery Limit setting .

In the latest firmware-atheros package the board data for the used QCA6174 wifi chip is missing. The needed board.bin is included here and replaces the one from the debian package to get the wifi chip working. See https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=919652 for more information.

Default in Debian is to use s2idle instead of deep. This can be seen via cat /sys/power/mem_sleep which outputs "[s2idle] deep". The battery drain was very high with s2idle (25% in 8h). For more information about the difference, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.19/admin-guide/pm/sleep-states.html . The device is supporting S3, see dmesg | grep ACPI: outputs "(supports S0 S3 S4 S5)". So via GRUB a kernel parameter https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.19/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.html is passed to the kernel to set "deep" as default which enables str. Now cat /sys/power/mem_sleep outputs "s2idle [deep]", so str is enabled. This leads to a drastically lower battery drain in suspend (11% in 18h).

By default, the Ethernet chip is recognized but not fully functional. I turns out that there are some power-management issues, see jakeday/linux-surface#259. Therefore, via GRUB a kernel parameter is passed to the kernel to enable a quirk (USB_QUIRK_NO_LPM (device can't handle Link Power Management)). After applying this the Dock is fully functional. Hot plugging is working, so just attach the Dock whenenver wanted/needed independent of the device is on/str/off. It just works so far in every situation. E.g. suspending the device, afterwards attach the dock wich is connected to e.g. a TV via HDMI, and after resuming it will directly get recognized. See, https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=919656 for more information.

Somehow after str the backlight, CAPSLOCK-light and FN-light of the typecover are not working. Also the touchpad of the typecover is sometimes not working after a boot/reboot. It was needed to detach and then attach the typevover again. This is now implemented as a systemd service which detachs/unbind the usb typecover/device after every boot and resuming from suspend. This works because the typecover automatically reconnects on its own after getting disconnnected and is working properly again after 2-3 seconds. See https://askubuntu.com/questions/1036341/unplug-and-plug-in-again-a-usb-device-in-the-terminal/1036410#1036410 for more information.

Touchscreen is not properly recognizing scroll/swipe input. It is recognized very often as click input. Also the device in general is not recognized properly. In GNOME settings a battery of the touchscreen is shown etc. and other glitches in the logs. Multitouch and Pen are working fine, but this is more a hack then a solution right now. But at least it is now fully functional. The runtime power management is changed via a systemd service after boot to avoid that the device enters a lower power state and then comes back which introduced the not wanted click inputs. See https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.19/driver-api/pm/devices.html#sys-devices-power-control-files , https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=919648 and jakeday/linux-surface#251 for more information.