Microsoft Surface Dial on Linux

Interesting topic! I know of no kernel support for this device, but it may just be a question of time. However, implementation in other software and in some cases hardware is another problem.

  1. Theoretically possible with kernel support (not at the moment)
  2. This requires software as well as kernel support, so even less likely.
  3. Again, software support, but for specific projects like Krita, the developers could add support to the source code, if there's kernel support for the hardware.
  4. No! The dial requires dedicated hardware to work with a screen, and just touch sensitivity is not enough to register the dial presence. Theoretically you could accomplish this by installing Linux on the Surface Studio...

This could also be an opportunity to start an Open Source hardware project to create a rotary encoder tool for any OS. Dial and buttons, fully configurable through standardized software.


On Kernel 4.19 was added support for Surface Dial https://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_4.19.