So far, the distros that support it out of the box are Fedora, Bazzite, and Ubuntu 25.04 once you run some extra steps. It is documented that Mint does not support this mode at this time.
Question for the Framework team- what kernel version and packages are required to get tablet mode working on any other Ubuntu-based distro? Ubuntu 25.04 is based off kernel 6.14 and suggests it uses a package called “iio-sensor-proxy,” but can I use something like kernel 6.11 instead? What should my checklist be to get up and running?
I think Linux Mint should work out of the box? I remember reading Cinnamon, Mate, and XFCE have sub-par touchscreen interfaces. I think Gnome and KDE Plasma are supposed to be the two best Desktop Environments for touchscreens.
That’s why I went with Fedora, that and full OS support/bugfixes from Framework.
It doesn’t support the tablet mode as mentioned above, but it theoretically could on a newer kernel. I want something Ubuntu-based to use but without the snaps of Ubuntu being crammed down my throat. Might make a franken-Mint with an upgraded kernel to see what happens
25.04 still works fine if you completely remove snapd. I hope that snap will become critical at the earliest with the next LTS. Maybe not even then. So should be fine for some time still.
There are few factors here. First, the bug linked from the page you linked to:
This means we needed to do a little extra to make sure Ubuntu 25.04 works out of the box. Fedora/Bazzite, as indicated on the Linux landing page, work out of the box.
Officially supported distros for our more bleeding edge functionality usually require a more bleeding edge package selection, kernel, etc.
Can something based on Ubuntu 24.04 work with tablet mode? Using io-sensor-proxy on 24.04 based distros was not successful in my testing. However, if using a GNOME desktop, using Screen Rotate - GNOME Shell Extensions will provide you with a manual workaround. I do not think the stylus is going to cooperate unless you’re on something officially tested. That would be a community support test. This would be for “older” GNOME based releases. Fedora 42 works out of the box, Ubuntu 25.04 works with a very, very minor workaround that is merely copy/paste and go.
Linux Mint was tested to install, boot and run successfully. But tablet mode is not there yet until it catches up with the kernel and io-sensor-proxy.
Hopefully this sheds some light the topic.
Community supported distros from the landing page install, boot and run. Tablet mode your mileage may vary.
I believe Bluefin should work as it has that great Fedora base and has what is needed.
I can confirm first-hand that Bluefin works without hitch. I haven’t tried a stylus yet, but when I folded over the screen, I got the OSK immediately, no issue, and if I dismiss it, flicking up from the bottom brings it back; touches work as expected on the touchscreen as well.
As far as Arch goes, a quick install from scratch to double-check myself is showing that almost everything is working just as we’d expect. The only issue is screen auto-rotation in tablet mode. Arch ships iio-sensor-proxy version 3.7 like Ubuntu 25.04 so we have the bug where the screen flip event isn’t being reported.
Ah, so Arch seems to be a no-go for now? I also got everything running last night with the exception of auto rotate, which is why I’m here. I’d really like to use Arch, but would Fedora be a better bet for now?
I think it will also work if you follow the fix/guide linked in my initial post that’s meant for iio-sensor-proxy 3.7 on Ubuntu 25.04? Give it a try on Arch
Arch user here. Laptop mode works great.
As to tablet mode, opening the lid wide locks the keyboard and the trackpad, but the only way to unlock them is to suspend and reawaken the machine (via gui+touchscreen, or via closing the lid).
iio device 1 (lid angle) does not work, and the raw value returned is always constant=500, regardless of lid angle.
The keyboard and trackpad are coming back after tablet mode for me on CachyOS, so arch-like, but not vanilla arch.
I currently am on the hunt for something similar to gboard for linux to do handwriting recognition, as one of my desired use cases is to use the machine for note-taking.
I’m experiencing the same behavior on Ubuntu 25.04. Opening the lid fully disables keyboard and mouse. If I put the lid back into laptop position I can interact using the touch screen but keyboard and touchpad don’t come back.
Edit: also closing the lid to suspend and re-awakening re-enables keyboard & touchpad. Exactly like you described.
Could you run these two command and paste the results? zgrep CROS_EC /proc/config.gz zgrep IIO /proc/config.gz
Need to check the kernel configuration, thanks.
Add:
I might fall into sleep soon, so I put a simplify explanation here.
If we exclude the keyboard and trackpad problem is caused by firmware and assume it’s caused by kernel, in order to get sensor working properly the kernel configuration would probably looks like these.
