Surface RT in 2024

Hardware, Surface RT, PostmarketOS

Posted by Sam Bartle on 15 May 2024

Jailbreaking

Copy the Jailbreak files to a FAT32 formatted USB drive
Boot into the USB (Hold Volumne Down)
Install golden Keys
Reboot into usb
Install Yahallo Jailbreak (May need to use different version, or update firmware first)

Installing PostmarketOS

Build on the PC
Jailbreak Device.
Boot from USB (Hold Volume Down when booting)
iwctl station wlan0 connect SSID --passphrase PASSWORD
sudo vi /etc/iwd/main.conf
(Uncomment [General] and the line About DHCP
sudo service iwd restart
sudo apk add pmbootstrap
sudo apk add git
sudo date -s YYYY.MM.DD-HH:MM:SS
pmbootstrap init
(select necessary options, microsoft, surface-rt, iwd, openbox)
pmbootstrap install --disk /dev/mmcblk0

Setup

Do the Wifi again like above
sudo apk add nano sudo apk add chromium sudo apk add unclutter-xfixes

Kiosk Script

Create ~/kiosk.sh chmod +x kiosk.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Run this script in display 0 - the monitor
export DISPLAY=:0

# Turn off DPMS Display Sleep
xset s off -dpms &

# Try to fix wifi by settiung power save off
iwctl adapter phy0 set-property power_save off &

# Hide the mouse from the display
unclutter-xfixes &

# If Chromium crashes (usually due to rebooting), clear the crash #flag so we don't have the annoying warning bar
sed -i 's/"exited_cleanly":false/"exited_cleanly":true/' /home/sam/.config/chromium/Default/Preferences
sed -i 's/"exit_type":"Crashed"/"exit_type":"Normal"/' /home/sam/.config/chromium/Default/Preferences

# Run Chromium and open tabs
/usr/bin/chromium-browser --window-size=1366,768 --kiosk --window-position=0,0 --start-fullscreen http://home.sambartle.co.uk &

Autostart Kiosk

Create or edit ~/.config/openbox/autostart
add: sh ~/kiosk.sh &