Example: Asus T102HA-GR022T (though this one is affected by the Asus power-plug disease).

There is a software project coming up and having no experience with a tablet PC, nor Android or “application development for electric telephones” in general, I would like something which reminds me (at least) of the development platforms that I have been accustomed to.

Secondly. Linux.

More precisely, I need something which lets me develop and/or test a touchscreen-application with Gtk3 or Qt, either programmed in C++ (Qt-Creator) or with Ruby-bindings (Vi). I do not have to tell you my favorites from this list. All the same, as there are other people with different background becoming interested in the project, I fear that the word “Java” might get pronounced at on time... in early 2018, probably; meaning: Lots of memory to hog, many resets and possibly the need to (run, make that) non-stop restart a web-container on the development- and the user's machine!

So I am not pressed, while doing my own research.

But your advice has always been valuable, be it to direct me into a rough direction. Chances are, I do not know many of the components that touchscreen-PCs are nowadays built of.., but absolutely enjoy cleaning Windows® from a hard-disk.

TIA,

Michael

You say developing, QT, GTK3, C++, etc which makes me think "Power/memory/disk space required."
You say touchscreen, which makes me think "Arm tablet or smartphone required."

Can you stretch to 2 devices?

Good morning.

Once I had to install Familiar Linux, then QTopia on a Compaq Ipaq and used Hyper-Terminal and command-line FTP for the purpose. I guess that deploying an application on a tablet is not much different, maybe simpler and certainly less dangerous. For the time I try to figure out, which configuration could be the most convenient and, maybe, the less expensive.

Would something like a Toshiba Lifebook T902 be powerful enough for you? I tend to favor Toshiba Lifebooks because used ones are cheap and they mostly work out-of-box. (I use Debian, and the main thing I need to install from the non-free repositories is the iwlwifi driver for wifi. Wacom stylus and touch work out-of-box.)

I like Xslate products. Rugged. Don't know how available they are in the EU though.

https://www.xploretech.com/us/xslate...BoC84AQAvD_BwE

Edit: No I don't own one. I fly with a free Dell XT2 flip screen netbook I got from city hall.
I put a SSD and 8 gig of ram in it and the wacom pen included with it and kernel touchscreen drivers play real nice with it for my modest needs.

That is a good hint, because they are available, at least from Germany. I might like more memory but this machine could do.

I will look out for this tablet. As the final software, if ever it will be released, is used on kettle farms during and after interventions on animals, the word “rugged” will serve me a few times, I guess. I admit though that I had to look it up in the dictionary.., and that the prices I saw on US-sites for this tablet do not stimulate my enthusiasm.

If you'd consider a rugged slate, prices on used Motion Computing slates are a lot better. Everything worked out-of-box with my Motion Computing J3500 except for the face buttons (which I don't care about). They're very tough.

The CPU and RAM of the J3500 is a bit mediocre for software development purposes, though, and the screen resolution of 1280x800 is not so hot for software development either (albeit you can connect an external monitor, of course).

The Motion Computing R12, in contrast, has a more acceptable CPU and its screen resolution of 1920x1080 is more suitable. Used price around here would be around $300 USD:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Motion-R12-...MAAOSwPzhaFeW8

If the CPU is good enough for you, having something nice and rugged is particularly nice if you like working outdoors or you commute/walk around where your computer may be exposed to rain.

But in terms of raw computing power and bang for the buck, it's really hard to beat a traditional convertible like a Fujitsu Lifebook T902. Here in the USA, used price would be around $100 USD:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fujitsu-Lif...53.m1438.l2649

MUCH better CPU than the Motion Computing R12.

This, too, looks nice and I found reviews in German. I avoid ebay, but the used J3500s are affordable. It looks like the model dates back to 2011, which should be good news for Linux-support. Do you know if RAM can be added, as 2GB means restrictions (but should exclude Java, IMO, which is good).

I will try to integrate a local database, probably sqlite, and most of the “outdoor-activity” will not require or rely on an Internet-connection; but as far as I know, the hard-disk space is sufficient with any of the tablets that I have seen, so far. The requirements are not yet entirely set but the database schema cannot become too complicated anyway.

Motion Computing J3500 has two slots for DDR3 (laptop) memory. It'll take up to 8GB of RAM (4GB+4GB). It's a bit of a pain opening up the thing to expand it, so go ahead and expand it to maximum RAM if you're going to do it.

In my case, I got one with only 2GB (with one empty slot). I only expanded it to 4GB (2GB+2GB) because I was absolutely certain that I was never going to use it as my main software dev machine. I use it mainly for artwork.

Note that it doesn't use 2.5" SATA drives. It uses a far less common 1.8" SATA drive size.

Oh-important thing! Not all J3500s have touch input. Most had stylus input only. If touch input is important to you, watch out for that. Make sure you get one with touch input.

Michael

The ASUS TP301U "Flipbook" is a powerful 13" laptop with a touchscreen which can be rotated all the away around behind the keyboard so that it can be used as a large tablet. It will run any 64-bit Linux distribution perfectly, straight off the installation (it appears to be all Intel hardware). The fully decked out version has an i7 quad-core at 2.5 GHz (not multi-threaded), 1920x1080 IPS display, 8 GB RAM and a 500 GB SSD. It has 3 USB3 ports, an SD card slot and an HDMI port for an external monitor. It will compile large software packages in reasonable amounts of time. It does not have a true pen interface but can be used at full screen resolution with a good active touchscreen pen. The interface is not precise enough for graphic operations with a pen. The high end version is expensive with a list price around $1050 but available for around $750 new. This is a professional quality machine. I got it to develop tablet software for Linux and it would be very good for that but I decided I really wanted a full graphic capability and I will be posting the one I have on Ebay.

The ASUS T100CHI is a 10" tablet with a detachable Bluetooth accessory keyboard/cover. It has an excellent 1920x1200 IPS display with a true pen interface and a full graphic capability. The quad-core "Atom" processor at 1.25GHz is a little weak for serious software development. It is possible to run Linux on it but it is a major project because it is full of weird hardware. This machine has been discontinued but is generally available for less than $300 new.

The version of Gnome used on Fedora/Red Hat has very well integrated tablet support but lacks flexibility. The "Cinnamon" desktop used by Ubuntu is not quite as well integrated but it works pretty well and is much more flexible.

Mike