Linux Patches Enable Partially-Working, Snapdragon-Powered Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G

While using the older Qualcomm Snapdragon 8xc Gen 3 (SC8280XP) SoC and not the exciting Snapdragon X1 Elite, Linux kernel patches were posted this week for enabling the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G to boot with the mainline kernel.

Jérôme de Bretagne posted the set of four patches for enabling Linux support for the Microsoft Surface Pro 5G laptop. The necessary DeviceTree support is put in place with these patches so that this Microsoft Surface ARM laptop can boot Linux.

See this patch series for those interested in the Microsoft Surface Pro 5G laptop support. With this DT support, the WiFi, NVMe, two USB Type-C ports, Bluetooth, 5G cellular model, audio output, external display via DP over USB-C, and other functionality is working. However, not yet working is the built-in display, the touchscreen, the external display if using the top USB-C port, physical volume buttons, the speaker, the microphone, and the lid switch detection. So while you may be able to boot Linux on the Surface Pro 5G, there still a lot more work needed before this Snapdragon 8xc Gen 3 laptop would be really usable with Linux.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G released in 2022 and with the Snapdragon SoC also has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Coming from Microsoft, out-of-the-box shipped with Windows 11 for ARM.

The Snapdragon X series laptops provides for much more interesting laptop capabilities in 2024 albeit their Linux enablement too for the various models so far are typically lacking when it comes to yet-to-be-implemented features.