The year of the Linux tablet? [LWN.net]

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 7:42 UTC (Wed) by ortalo (guest, #4654)
Parent article: The year of the Linux tablet?

So, is it time to restart production of Openmoko's phone and raise contributions for the design of a tablet from the same manufacturer?

PS: BTW, from the hacking point of view, it seems to me that the price point still is an important bottleneck. As can be seen from latest HP Touchpad events, sub-$200 devices are much more easily bought for tinkering. With guaranteed access to extensive hardware documentation, hackers may be willing to spend more; but without...

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The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 9:30 UTC (Wed) by tajyrink (subscriber, #2750) [Link] (1 responses)

Openmoko Inc itself has been out of phone business since May 2009, and it's probably unlikely that they'd gather a similar team in the near future. Of course there are multiple spin-offs from the company and from the Openmoko community.

German company Golden Delicious is continuing with the same Openmoko brand with their GTA04 replacement board (http://projects.goldelico.com/p/gta04-main/). However, let them finish first what they're already doing with their limited resources, so that we've up-to date free mobile phone hardware ;)

As for tablets, one free tablet effort is http://cordiatab.com/

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 25, 2011 14:44 UTC (Thu) by ssam (guest, #46587) [Link]

that Cordia Tab looks interesting.

the problem with most tablets is that there is no way (or no easy way) to install a new OS onto them.

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 10:22 UTC (Wed) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link] (8 responses)

What I'd like to see is a tablet with a big screen (A4-size or close to it, and 4:3 rather than 16:9) for displaying sheet music. Extra points for a foot switch to page back and forth. The current tablets are a bit small while notebook computers are too big and heavy and their form factor doesn't lend itself to music stands.

Such a device would save me from having to haul around a pilot briefcase full of music books (or indeed more), and it could also double up as a tuner/metronome/.

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 11:25 UTC (Wed) by oever (guest, #987) [Link]

I am looking for the same thing. My hopes were set on the Kno 2x14" tablet which was based on a Linux+WebKit OS and has been cancelled now.

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 12:02 UTC (Wed) by epa (subscriber, #39769) [Link] (2 responses)

I wonder if you can get a tiny PC and glue it to the back of a monitor? Then run them both off the same 16 volt power supply or battery pack?

Some laptops are convertible to tablet format, although they would be too heavy for a music stand.

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 12:22 UTC (Wed) by vonbrand (guest, #4458) [Link]

Latest HP desktop PCs I've seen around here are exactly that...

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 17:01 UTC (Wed) by zlynx (guest, #2285) [Link]

A lot of the mini-PCs based on netbook technology (like Ion-2) are designed to be fastened directly to the back of any VESA compliant monitor.

The combination makes for a really slick all-in-one machine. It is a bit tricky to find LCD monitors built with touchscreen included but they do exist.

However, adding a battery backup that could run a thing like that for more than 20 minutes would be quite heavy and painful to haul around.

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 14:32 UTC (Wed) by itsgeorg (guest, #4075) [Link]

When doing vocal music, the Archos 101 does the job for me. It's light weight, and with acroread I can easily slide an zoom the sheets in non page mode. In case you are interested, it's fun ...

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 14:41 UTC (Wed) by hadess (subscriber, #24252) [Link] (2 responses)

I was hoping somebody would take up the project working on this for the GNOME Summer of Code. See:
https://live.gnome.org/SummerOfCode2011/Ideas#Desktop

But nobody did. I'd be happy working on an AirTurn Bluetooth driver given the hardware ;)

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 15:35 UTC (Wed) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link] (1 responses)

I'd be happy working on an AirTurn Bluetooth driver given the hardware ;)

That's probably not even necessary other than as a transparent ploy to get the gadget for free considering that, according to their website, from the computer's POV the thing basically amounts to a Bluetooth keyboard with a PgUp and a PgDown key. Looks useful if a bit pricey.

The Pageflip Cicada appears to offer the same functionality but somewhat cheaper, and even mentions Linux as a supported operating system (not that this is a big thing once you have the Bluetooth HID interface down).

Disclaimer: I haven't been in the same room with either of the devices, let alone used one to turn sheet music pages.

The year of the Linux tablet?

Posted Aug 24, 2011 17:12 UTC (Wed) by hadess (subscriber, #24252) [Link]

Glad to know. I sure like to have free hardware, but I don't need any more "I won't actually use it" hardware. I have drawers cramful of those.