Arch Linux package to compile the Linux kernel with patches designed to improve user experience on the Surface Pro 3.
This is based on the offical Linux kernel package provided by Arch Linux at: https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/tree/trunk?h=packages/linux .
Most of the hardware functionality of the Surface Pro 3 has now been mainlined, and essentially everything should now work out of the box. As of linux version 4.6, this version of the kernel only adds the following:
- Proper multitouch support for the Type Cover 3, allowing two-finger scroll (etc): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shvr/fedora-surface-pro-3-kernel/master/Add-multitouch-support-for-Microsoft-Type-Cover-3.patch .
- Some small fixes that work around quirks in the hardware of the touchscreen.
- Disabling of some WiFi power management features, which are known to cause problems on Surface devices (thanks
colorprint): https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=109681 .
This package is no longer essential to surface pro 3 users, and hopefully will not be required within the next few kernel releases.
This AUR package adds the following patches to the official Linux kernel package:
- Camera patch from nuclearsandwich/surface3-archlinux#12 (patch from
colorprint) - Multitouch patches from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shvr/fedora-surface-pro-3-kernel/master/Add-multitouch-support-for-Microsoft-Type-Cover-3.patch .
Most of the functionality required for the Surface Pro 3 has now been mainlined, so hopefully this package will no longer be required within the next few kernel releases.
You will need to have imported gpg keys for the Linux kernel maintainers:
For Linus Torvalds (the major release key):
gpg --recv-keys 79BE3E4300411886
For Greg Kroah-Hartman's key (the stable patch release key):
gpg --recv-keys 38DBBDC86092693E
Then, to build the package, simply run (as usual):
makepkg
I recommend that you install powertop, configure it, and run it on boot as a systemd process. See the Arch wiki for more. With powertop enabled, I attain battery life comparable to that of Windows.