Linux on a Tablet..?
 

Hello,

I have had enough of iOS. It was fun for a while but I'm bored of it now. I have been looking at the recent 10-11inch tablets with i3/i5 chips in and thinking that they look like good candidates for a Linux tablet.

Things like the Acer Iconia W700 and the like. Has anyone got useful personal experience to offer? How does Linux get on with them, what is the battery life like. That sort of thing. I have seen a few people have got Ubuntu installed, how about Opensuse or Debian?

Best wishes,
Philip

As long as it's a 'real' computer, you should be able to boot from USB, and install whatever you want. There have been several articles about this, since the Windows Surface RT bombed and went on sale. It's not a 'real' PC though...hard-coded to ONLY boot from ROM, and only for Windows, just like any other Android/iOS tablet.

That said, the Surface PRO *CAN* be booted from USB, and has access to the BIOS, where you can disable the EFI/'secure boot' option, and load whatever you want. Any other similar system can do it, and I've seen several articles about loading openSUSE and Fedora on them.

I think the likes of the Acer Iconia W700 have a more normal bios type arrangement. I have also seen a few articles that suggest that getting Linux onto one isn't too different from a normal install. There do seem to be a few issues getting dual booting with Windows working but I am not interested in running Windows. I read that some devices have problems with the internal blue-tooth, which is a shame.

I was wondering how people got on with Linux on these longer term. What interface works well? That kind of thing. I guess not many people have tried. Perhaps I should look convertible laptops as a better option?

I'm researching the same myself. I want something around 10" but there are not a lot of laptops in that size but there are many tablets. Just need to fine something I know is unlocked to where I can install my own OS either tablet or convertible tablet/laptop. Part of the issue there is finding one that has a non arm cpu and one that I can swap a hdd into as they all come with small SSD's

Pretty much ANY of the i5/i7 tablets that are out are 'real' PC's, and you can get into BIOS to set boot options/order, and load whatever you'd like. The Atom CPU's probably aren't going to work, since lower power/cost tablets typically are running the Windows 8 RT/Android OS, which load from ROM.

Best way to check would be to go to the store, and boot one up. If you can get into BIOS, you're all set. :)

I'm not sure my local PC World would be all that pleased about me booting one into its bios. :) No harm in asking I guess. I plan to do a bit more digging and see if I can find one where all the on-board kit works with Linux. I fancy something around the 11inch size running a suitable version of Linux for touch etc. That's something I have never used, touch and Linux.

Well, if you're just looking at it, and want to know its capabilities, it shouldn't matter to them. I don't mean you'd bring your USB stick in, and boot up openSUSE from it. :)

The main issue I'm running into now is determining if the SSD is a sodimm or SATA module. I need it to be SATA so I can swap in a regular drive.

Why? Most of the 'real' tablets are SATA, and you can look the specs up online easily enough. But pretty much any SSD will hold your operating system and most (if not all) of your data. Since you have a real USB port/bluetooth, just shove a thumbdrive in, or an external USB hard drive, and move files on/off as needed.

I'm over 512G used right now, haven't see too many SSD's that big yet.

I don't have anything like that level of storage requirement for a mobile. The Dell XPS 12 convertible looks interesting, slightly different thing and much more expensive but maybe worth considering. I am naturally slightly anti Dell from previous experience but perhaps I should reconsider.

What was your previous Dell, a latitude or Inspiron?

It seems the manufacturers want to pigeonhole tablets and mobile devices users into having everything in the cloud, but cloud storage is way overpriced for the tiny amount of data you get and the data plans needed to get to them assuming you can even get a signal.

XPS 12 looks to have an mSATA so can't swap in a regular drive, only a larger SSD when they become available.

I ran into that issue when I bought my current netbook, most were SSD and then I had to dig into service manuals to find what form factor they were in, for example the Dell mini 9 was a SODIMM so I couldn't but it because I couldn't swap in a normal sized drive.

I just took a quick look through the Latitude 10 manual, I don't even see the ssd listed as a removable part.

So you see my frustration. I've always been mobile, had laptops 12" or less and they have always worked fine. but now I have to buy a big clunky laptop or leave most of my data somewhere else.

I have an old work Latitude D600 which has actually been ok, the keyboard broke but it was easy to source a new one and replace it. I had a couple others, one that had a strange issue where dust and other crap would very easily get into the screen on one side. The other was terrible for over heating, the D600 suffers a bit with that, gets very warm.

I don't hold grudges, so I would consider another one. :)

You'll get the occasional bad one from any brand but I've found most of the C/D series latitudes to be pretty decent. I do think the D series feels a little flimsier than the C series but that may be just because my C400 has a metal case rather than plastic.

There are only a few companies that I've either had or seen consistent multiple problems over the years, Apple, Sony and Samsung.

Bought my wife a latitude 2120 last year and would buy one for myself but they discontinued it and they haven't had any in the outlet. Its a 12" with a real hdd. But it didn't fit the current mold that the manufactures are pushing. I ran into the same issue with i bought my c400 they tried to talk me into a 600 because the 400 didn't have drives so I couldn't install any software. I've owned that laptop for 10 years now and used the drive less than 10 times. I skipped a slackware version here and there so I upgrade less than the average 18 months but what i would do is buy a bigger drive then plug in the cdrom, put on the latest slackware and then copy my data over. so maybe 5 upgrades in 10 years equated to 5 uses of the drive.

Ideally a convertible tablet, I had one of these years ago.
http://www.sinasohn.com/cgi-bin/clas...mputer=penexec