This is amazing. I recently got a Go 2 (no stylus but want one). I am a little apprehensive of Win 11, so until I am sure, I am duel booting with Fedora (which is working fine for most part).
> Are there any recommendations for stylus being used on MS hardware but running linux?
All references (understandably) assume windoes but there is literally no report that I could find for machines running linux. I am even unsure weather the requirements are purely hardware bound or also require proper software.
Any help will be appreciated.
Not just confusing, but inconvenient! If you buy a 10th or 11th gen iPad plus the Apple Pencil that works with it, you have no way to charge that Pencil at all.
It can't charge from the iPad. It can't charge from USB-C. It can't charge from a Lightning charger.
You have to go out and buy a special charger that only charges the Apple Pencil and literally nothing else. It's a completely proprietary connection, a pointlessly inverted version of the Lightning connector, that never could and never will charge anything other than your stylus.
Despite Apple having the option of allowing it to charge from a Lightning cable, or Usb-C, or not charge at all and simply get power from the device light Samsung's S-Pen, Apple chose to opt for None Of The Above and allow the Apple Pencil to charge exclusively from the specific Apple Pencil charger.
Why?
Because screw you. Because Apple makes money when you buy that 20$ charging adapter and doesn't care that you have to carry that adapter with you everywhere now.
They could have made it charge from the iPad charger.
They could have made it charge from the iPhone charger.
They could have made it charge by attaching to the iPad.
They could have powered it wirelessly like Samsung and never need charging at all.
But no. They chose the worst of all worlds, the most painful, expensive, and inconvenient possible option, and allowed it to only charge from a specific "First generation Apple Pencil Charger" that isn't included with the iPad or even the Pencil itself.
That's right, you go out today and buy a brand new iPad and a brand new Apple Pencil, and you can't use the Pencil. At all. You have to also but the separate Apple Pencil Charging Adapter. Because Fuck You. We're Apple and Fuck You.
Despite Microsoft making a bunch of different versions of pens, they mostly all just work. This post is trying to be exhaustive but the vast majority of people who aren't extremely Deep into the Photoshop game will not need or care about any of this.
Basically, "If the pen fits in the keyboard slot, it just works". I'm currently using a pen from a Surface Pro 7 on my new Surface Pro 12" and it was trivial to connect it and it works great
So long as you ignore the Surface RT/Pro 1/Pro 2 (that is, devices from 2013 or previous), all Surface pens since 2014 work with all devices through today. The matrix doesn't seem particularly complicated.
Not sure? It seems to me that the pen that launched with the Surface Pro 3 (V2), still works to an extent with the Surface Pro 11? That seems rather good, no?
I recently learned that there are digital pens now that almost perfectly resemble classical traditional writing tools, like the black and yellow Staedtler pencil.
I was so disappointed to learn that they won't work with current Wacom Cintiq line, and it took me while to figure that out.
This is amazing. I recently got a Go 2 (no stylus but want one). I am a little apprehensive of Win 11, so until I am sure, I am duel booting with Fedora (which is working fine for most part).
> Are there any recommendations for stylus being used on MS hardware but running linux?
All references (understandably) assume windoes but there is literally no report that I could find for machines running linux. I am even unsure weather the requirements are purely hardware bound or also require proper software. Any help will be appreciated.
You'll need these two lists for Linux:
+ wacom - https://github.com/linuxwacom/input-wacom/wiki/Device-IDs
+ digimend - https://digimend.github.io/tablets/
Both are in-kernel for most distributions.
I didn't think it was possible to design a more confusing compatibility matrix than the Apple Pencil but there you go.
Not just confusing, but inconvenient! If you buy a 10th or 11th gen iPad plus the Apple Pencil that works with it, you have no way to charge that Pencil at all.
It can't charge from the iPad. It can't charge from USB-C. It can't charge from a Lightning charger.
You have to go out and buy a special charger that only charges the Apple Pencil and literally nothing else. It's a completely proprietary connection, a pointlessly inverted version of the Lightning connector, that never could and never will charge anything other than your stylus.
Despite Apple having the option of allowing it to charge from a Lightning cable, or Usb-C, or not charge at all and simply get power from the device light Samsung's S-Pen, Apple chose to opt for None Of The Above and allow the Apple Pencil to charge exclusively from the specific Apple Pencil charger.
Why?
Because screw you. Because Apple makes money when you buy that 20$ charging adapter and doesn't care that you have to carry that adapter with you everywhere now.
They could have made it charge from the iPad charger.
They could have made it charge from the iPhone charger.
They could have made it charge by attaching to the iPad.
They could have powered it wirelessly like Samsung and never need charging at all.
But no. They chose the worst of all worlds, the most painful, expensive, and inconvenient possible option, and allowed it to only charge from a specific "First generation Apple Pencil Charger" that isn't included with the iPad or even the Pencil itself.
That's right, you go out today and buy a brand new iPad and a brand new Apple Pencil, and you can't use the Pencil. At all. You have to also but the separate Apple Pencil Charging Adapter. Because Fuck You. We're Apple and Fuck You.
The 10th and 11th generation iPads work with _both_ the Lightning Apple Pencil and the USB-C Apple Pencil.
The Lightning Apple Pencil was sold at a time when you could plug it directly into the compatible iPad, and it *came with the adapter*.
The current iPad is compatible with both, so you could use your old Apple Pencil with the new iPad.
You cannot buy a Lightning Apple Pencil anymore because Apple doesn’t sell them.
who knows what third-party retailers are doing.
>> Samsung's S-Pen
Is Wacom. Wacom hates magnets. Apple devices are littered with magnets
Despite Microsoft making a bunch of different versions of pens, they mostly all just work. This post is trying to be exhaustive but the vast majority of people who aren't extremely Deep into the Photoshop game will not need or care about any of this.
Basically, "If the pen fits in the keyboard slot, it just works". I'm currently using a pen from a Surface Pro 7 on my new Surface Pro 12" and it was trivial to connect it and it works great
So long as you ignore the Surface RT/Pro 1/Pro 2 (that is, devices from 2013 or previous), all Surface pens since 2014 work with all devices through today. The matrix doesn't seem particularly complicated.
Apple Pencil compatibility chart, for comparison https://f.nooncdn.com/cms/pages/20250530/31608d4ea3ae92b5bbe...
Not sure? It seems to me that the pen that launched with the Surface Pro 3 (V2), still works to an extent with the Surface Pro 11? That seems rather good, no?
I recently learned that there are digital pens now that almost perfectly resemble classical traditional writing tools, like the black and yellow Staedtler pencil.
I was so disappointed to learn that they won't work with current Wacom Cintiq line, and it took me while to figure that out.
Pen compatibility is a mess.