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. <br>Not quite the free Linux I wanted, but for around $70 on e-bay, its hard to pass up. <br>
<br>When it arrives, I'll post a review of how it goes. <br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 28 April 2011 22:27, Michael Cheselka <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cheselka@gmail.com">cheselka@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Hello,<br>
<br>
Have you checked out the Entourage Edge? It's selling near $300 on Craigslist.<br>
<br>
How about the OLPC?<br>
<br>
Linux ARM devices are selling as Android devices, BTW<br>
<br>
If you don't mind going without X you can run Debian or Ubuntu on most<br>
Android devices.<br>
<br>
Why don't we say Android/Linux like some people say Gnu/Linux?<br>
<br>
If any of this stuff is too expensive, the prices keep dropping.<br>
<br>
The Xoom looks great. Maybe it's price will drop.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<font color="#888888">Michael Cheselka<br>
650-488-4820<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 04:37, Bill Broadley <<a href="mailto:bill@broadley.org">bill@broadley.org</a>> wrote:<br>
> On 04/26/2011 10:43 AM, Darth Borehd wrote:<br>
>> I've been looking at tablet PCs. I would like something primarily used for<br>
>> e-book reading (mostly my own PDFs and OpenOffice documents). I will mostly<br>
>> use it with wi-fi at home and off-line while riding on a train. Do you have<br>
>> one you can recommend that is linux-based? I would, of course, prefer it to<br>
>> be as open-source and DRM-free as possible.<br>
><br>
> DRM free ebooks is tough. Sure there's the gutenberg project and<br>
> related, but alas while DRM free music is common/easy, ebooks are not.<br>
><br>
> Well what is "best"? Cheapest? Longest battery life? Color? Do you<br>
> care about reading in direct sunlight? Do you care about the speed of<br>
> the display? Speed of the CPU? Multitouch Do you consider android =<br>
> linux? Do you care about x86 compatibility? Flash? Android market?<br>
><br>
> Unfortunately consumer expectation killed off pretty much all the arm<br>
> based (read that as can't run windows, thin, great battery life) linux<br>
> netbooks and tablets about a year ago. Finally ipad blazed a trail,<br>
> proving consumers would buy millions of tablets even if they didn't run<br>
> ms-windows. Android has started to take advantage of this in the last<br>
> few months, there's dozens of android tablets shipping in the $100-$600<br>
> range.<br>
><br>
> So there's the really low end e-book like tablets, often don't have the<br>
> android market, often have android 2.x (not tablet optimized), often<br>
> have B&W or lower quality screens, often lack multi-touch, sometimes<br>
> have rather high display latencies. Probably the leader on the low end<br>
> is the Nook. They typically have slower single core CPUs. Often<br>
> require significant hacking to make fun/useful.<br>
><br>
> Few $200-$300 you get to the mid range, larger displays, always color,<br>
> often multitouch, often a GPS, often a webcam. Things like the Superpad<br>
> 10.2" ($200) to the ViewSonic gTablet ($300).<br>
><br>
> The high end is more direct competition for things like the ipad/ipad2.<br>
> Dual core CPUs, 512-1024 MB ram, high quality screen, android 3.0<br>
> (tablet optimized). Things like the Dell Streak 7", Samsung 2nd gen<br>
> tablets, Xoom, and the new Asus Transformer. The Xoom is WAY too<br>
> expensive and isn't selling, but Asus just started shipping almost<br>
> identical hardware for $400.00.<br>
> ,<br>
> So personally for my "best" tablet:<br>
> * 7-9", 10" is a bit big for e-book type duty. Most hardback pages are<br>
> on the order of 8" diagonal. Anything larger gets tough to hold in<br>
> one hand<br>
> * a nice color screen so I can do light video watching, light<br>
> web browsing, casual gaming. Some e-book reading as well.<br>
> * android 3.0<br>
> * Dual core CPU and 512-1024MB ram.<br>
> * Open bootloader.<br>
> * 1280x800 (for a nice high DPI).<br>
><br>
> So while the nice 10" tablets are shipping today (Asus transformer and<br>
> Motorola Xoom), the nicer 7-9" tablets aren't shipping yet. The one<br>
> I've got my eye on currently is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9. It's not<br>
> shipping yet though. If Dell delivers on the promises android 3.0<br>
> upgrade for the Streak 7" that would be in the running as well. Archos<br>
> has (so far) been shipping pretty low end tablets, but has promised a<br>
> high end tablet referred to as the Gen 9 that sounds promising, includes<br>
> a very nice dual core cpu, and of course honeycomb.<br>
><br>
> Oh, almost forgot the Tmobile Gslate (LG) is 8.9", 1280x768, honeycomb<br>
> and is shipping. Tempting.<br>
><br>
> Try search android tablet on amazon, or maybe tegra tablet if you want a<br>
> more complete list.<br>
><br>
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