[vox] Best Linux-based tablet?

[Darth Borehd]

I've decided to go with the 7" Pandigital Novel.  It is a low-cost e-book
reader that has a simple software upgrade to go to an Android tablet.
Not quite the free Linux I wanted, but for around $70 on e-bay, its hard to
pass up.

When it arrives, I'll post a review of how it goes.


On 28 April 2011 22:27, Michael Cheselka <cheselka at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Have you checked out the Entourage Edge?  It's selling near $300 on
> Craigslist.
>
> How about the OLPC?
>
> Linux ARM devices are selling as Android devices, BTW
>
> If you don't mind going without X you can run Debian or Ubuntu on most
> Android devices.
>
> Why don't we say Android/Linux like some people say Gnu/Linux?
>
> If any of this stuff is too expensive, the prices keep dropping.
>
> The Xoom looks great.  Maybe it's price will drop.
>
> Regards,
> Michael Cheselka
> 650-488-4820
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 04:37, Bill Broadley <bill at broadley.org> wrote:
> > On 04/26/2011 10:43 AM, Darth Borehd wrote:
> >> I've been looking at tablet PCs.  I would like something primarily used
> for
> >> e-book reading (mostly my own PDFs and OpenOffice documents).  I will
> mostly
> >> use it with wi-fi at home and off-line while riding on a train.  Do you
> have
> >> one you can recommend that is linux-based?  I would, of course, prefer
> it to
> >> be as open-source and DRM-free as possible.
> >
> > DRM free ebooks is tough.  Sure there's the gutenberg project and
> > related, but alas while DRM free music is common/easy, ebooks are not.
> >
> > Well what is "best"?  Cheapest?  Longest battery life?  Color?  Do you
> > care about reading in direct sunlight?  Do you care about the speed of
> > the display?  Speed of the CPU?  Multitouch Do you consider android =
> > linux?   Do you care about x86 compatibility?  Flash?  Android market?
> >
> > Unfortunately consumer expectation killed off pretty much all the arm
> > based (read that as can't run windows, thin, great battery life) linux
> > netbooks and tablets about a year ago.  Finally ipad blazed a trail,
> > proving consumers would buy millions of tablets even if they didn't run
> > ms-windows.  Android has started to take advantage of this in the last
> > few months, there's dozens of android tablets shipping in the $100-$600
> > range.
> >
> > So there's the really low end e-book like tablets, often don't have the
> > android market, often have android 2.x (not tablet optimized), often
> > have B&W or lower quality screens, often lack multi-touch, sometimes
> > have rather high display latencies.  Probably the leader on the low end
> > is the Nook.  They typically have slower single core CPUs.  Often
> > require significant hacking to make fun/useful.
> >
> > Few $200-$300 you get to the mid range, larger displays, always color,
> > often multitouch, often a GPS, often a webcam.  Things like the Superpad
> > 10.2" ($200) to the ViewSonic gTablet ($300).
> >
> > The high end is more direct competition for things like the ipad/ipad2.
> >  Dual core CPUs, 512-1024 MB ram, high quality screen, android 3.0
> > (tablet optimized).  Things like the Dell Streak 7", Samsung 2nd gen
> > tablets, Xoom, and the new Asus Transformer.  The Xoom is WAY too
> > expensive and isn't selling, but Asus just started shipping almost
> > identical hardware for $400.00.
> > ,
> > So personally for my "best" tablet:
> > * 7-9", 10" is a bit big for e-book type duty.  Most hardback pages are
> >  on the order of 8" diagonal.  Anything larger gets tough to hold in
> >  one hand
> > * a nice color screen so I can do light video watching, light
> >  web browsing, casual gaming.  Some e-book reading as well.
> > * android 3.0
> > * Dual core CPU and 512-1024MB ram.
> > * Open bootloader.
> > * 1280x800 (for a nice high DPI).
> >
> > So while the nice 10" tablets are shipping today (Asus transformer and
> > Motorola Xoom), the nicer 7-9" tablets aren't shipping yet.  The one
> > I've got my eye on currently is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9.  It's not
> > shipping yet though.  If Dell delivers on the promises android 3.0
> > upgrade for the Streak 7" that would be in the running as well.  Archos
> > has (so far) been shipping pretty low end tablets, but has promised a
> > high end tablet referred to as the Gen 9 that sounds promising, includes
> > a very nice dual core cpu, and of course honeycomb.
> >
> > Oh, almost forgot the Tmobile Gslate (LG) is 8.9", 1280x768, honeycomb
> > and is shipping.  Tempting.
> >
> > Try search android tablet on amazon, or maybe tegra tablet if you want a
> > more complete list.
> >
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