Slashdot Mirror
Linux Based Tablets Are Coming
CrypticSpawn writes "Read some good news on Diracian; there will be a Linux tablet coming out running Lycoris's Linux distribution, Lycoris Desktop/LX Tablet Edition. What's great is the tablet is the Protege by Toshiba, so you get a laptop and a tablet wrapped up into one. I guess I am a gadget fanatic, I love my Zaurus, now I want this. They even have pictures of it here. Also found another reference of this tablet on PC World, without the pics."
so you get a Laptop and a Tablet wrapped up into one
That's a bad thing. People either want a Tablet or a Laptop or a Tablet and a seperate laptop, a mixture of the two just means missing out on the convenience of both.
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
Right now one of the things it is lacking that it really needs is handwritting recognition, which they say will be in the next release.
Did I tell you I'm just about to submit my perpetual motion machine to manufacturing? Motion will be in the next release, though.
But seriously... I hope they're talking about the "next release" as in "the version that will go onto the tablet when it ships." A Tablet Pc is just an expensive doodle pad without the handwriting recognition.
It all goes downhill from first post
These Linux-based tablets lack many features of their Windows-based counterparts including handwriting recognition. Furthermore, these tablets limit you to use of KDE and GTK-based programs just won't work. That's right, if you want to use the touchscreen features, you have to use KDE and KDE apps. I, personally, have found the KDE apps to be inferior to GNOME apps. If I can't use things like openoffice, I think I'll stick to Windows.
Linux isn't ready for the desktop, and it's not even close to being ready for use in tablet PCs.
This is probably one of the most innovative parts of the posting :-) I don't recall anyone else claiming that before.
I want a tablet with 512MB of RAM and a Centrino 1.4Mhz processor, minimum. This Pentium III Mobile shit has got to stop. Oh, and since we're running Linux on it, NVidia graphics.
Personally, I liked the "new 2.4.9" kernel. Aren't we up to 2.4.23 at this point? It's such a bad troll it's almost funny.
Let me just make sure I understand this correctly:
/. ramblings...
Windows Tablet PC == Bad
Linux Tablet PC == Good
Ok, continue on with the mindless
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
As long as they did not claim to use ReiserFS as the default file system on it (mkreiserfs specifically warns against using a 2.4.9-derived kernel)
Michel
Fedora Project Contribut
what's great is the Tablet is the Protege by Toshiba
Actually it's a Portege - we have one at work. I really like it quite a lot. There are a few software enhancements that need to be made to XP Tablet, but for a kick-start it's really quite nice. I could even go for one that is a bit thinner, has no keyboard, no hard drive, and 802.11G. Basically a thin client tablet that connects to a server and does everything "Terminal" or X-Server style. That way you additionally wouldn't have to lug around the processor and cooling. You'd get killer awesome battery life too. It would still need a simple 'cradle' style charger, though.
Tables are cool - they just need a little work.
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
This is probably one of the most innovative parts of the posting :-) I don't recall anyone else claiming that before.
Perhaps they meant to say "I consider myself to be very technically inclined, having programmed while drinking VB for the last 8 years doing kernel level programming."
Too bad no one cares about them anyways, Linux or otherwise.
Pete
wow, you really suck at first-posting. are you on a dialup?
Nah, the troll actually claimed that Linux has no journaled file systems or SMP support. Guess SCO can leave us alone now, huh?
I wonder if the Linux tablets will come in both red and blue?
no, i'm actually on yo mama right now.
nigger.
Way to take something that's failing miserably and making it fail even worse! Should we expect a *BSD version soon?
Windows Tablet PC == Enormous licencing costs that bite into already razor thin margins
Tablet PC sales have been disapointing, and I understand that Microsoft made a deal with one of the manufacturers (I forget which one) that bundles the handwriting recognition software free with the OS while everyone else has to shell out for both. That's gotta be pissing the rest of 'em off.
Once the handwriting app's written, this'll be a perfect market for linux to make some headway in. I only hope they're not boneheaded enough to release the thing without handwriting recognition (maybe banking on the ability to use it as a laptop instead).
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Those tablet monitors that just connect wirelessly to your computer. I'll have my nice big computer at my desk, and if I want to web surf on the couch I just pick up the monitor and take it over there. THEY EXIST. They are better!
I don't recall anyone else claiming that before.
/., which is apparently ripped from other sites.
Oh yes they have already on
I mean. It's not a laptop. You can't type on it.
It's not a PDA. You can't put it in your pocket.
It relies on recognizing your handwriting with this pen.
I dunno about the rest of the geeks out there, but I would *much* rather type than write. Typing is faster and more accurate (vs recognition).
Why on earth doesn't their website have more details about the Tablet specific technology that's been integrated into this thing?
They have no details about the character recognition technology at all. I'm also curious about the type of stylus they use. Windows TablePC's use an electromagnetic type detection of the point of the stylus so that you can wrest your hand on the screen without accidentally pushing window controls. In other words, its NOT really a "touchscreen." In this Lycoris tablet, they do call it a "touchscreen." But if this is the same Toshiba then it too must have the same type of LCD right... maybe not necessarily?
In any case, their site is very short on details.
Heh, I wonder how many non Australians are going to get that joke.
So now the mods have teamed up with the trolls? The end of the world is upon us.
That post is a trap for all of us. It is the SAME SAME POST ever posted on previous article or two on slashdot.org. So ignore it entirely or remove it if Admins can do that though. This post I ever recongized is the same. so it is a troll anyway
Didn't notice if this has been mentioned yet but this tablet is an exact clone of a Toshiba model that has been available for quite some time now. The Protege 3500 runs on the PIII-M as well, only it comes with Windows XP. The price for the Toshiba version with Windows is around $300 cheaper in retail stores.
having programmed in
VB for the last 8 years doing kernel level programming
I am really sorry to be the one to tell this to you, but someone had to take you out of your delusion.
What you've been coding upon is not Linux but Batz-Maru (TM), its evil twin brother separated at birth.
Ah, dang, 'twas quite a funny troll too, but I obviously missed it in my rush :P
:)
A notice to the effect that the parent post is hidden would be nice in cases like this.. maybe I should set my preference to not penalize trolls so I could see them
Michel
Fedora Project Contribut
Linux Based Tablets Are Coming
You know that its time to go to bed when you read the title and start thinking:
"Why the hell did those folks at Slashdot put Linux on a table?!?!"
The second link took forever to load for me... mirror here if it craps out.
Of course you can type on it. If you had bothered to read the article, you'd see right there in the image at the top that it has a normal laptop keyboard when used in laptop mode. Sheesh!
SCALE 03
I don't want to make holy war here, but I don't get how do you use Linux Tablet when you need three button mouse to use Linux anyways. Do you have three different pointers?
This is what you Linux-Zealots don't get about using a Mac: Mac OS is designed for 1-button mouse, but it works _better_ with multibutton mouse.
And when they arrive, the peoples of earth shall TREMBLE under the gaze of their never-closing eyes! The very core of the earth shall be smitten by unquenchable fire, and those who resist the glorious new world order of the Tablets will be used as fuel for the flames!
THE END IS NIGH, 'WARE THE COMING OF THE LINUX BASED TABLETS!!!11
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
omg i saw same thing...indeed blissful slumber calls..
sleepy in seattle
What is this, some kind of new pain reliever? Take two linux-based tablets and call me in the morning!
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
Not to mention the fact that it is the first time I have heard "VB" and "Kernel Level Programming" in the same sentence...
I wonder you could run a kernel programmed in VB on...one of the twinkling lights on a x-mas tree maybe...on..off...on...off....
err...maybe not. We don't want in home fires to increase!
HP's and Motion computer have DETACHABLE keyboards, meaning that you CAN have the best of both worlds.
I would know, I have a Motion M1300 with mobile keyboard.
A detachable keyboard is very very nice, I can break out the keyboard for my social sciences where text notetaking is all that's needed and keep the keyboard in my backpack when I'm in a math class. If I need to draw a couple of diagrams/charts/etc side by side in my text-heavy classes, I could do that too :-)
Say what you will about the sucess of tablets, having handwritten notes searchable to prep for tests is happy-fun-good-times. Bringing a plain laptop isn't good enough for most classes, I'd end up bringing a sheet of paper along with it to draw diagrams, and because of that it fucks up my organization when looking over my notes later. Tablets keep everything ORGANIZED and searchable.
I really couldn't see some start-up company doing this on their own. There's some serious stuff in there, all the modern tablets have pressure sensitivity (the "button" is on the tip of the pen, not the screen like with palm pilots) and I'm pretty sure that Linux doesn't have drivers to support that last time I looked, so doodling or professional drawing won't work (Penny Arcade is drawn on a tablet, for example). Also there is very little integration with the tablet in slate mode (no keyboard), think of linux w/o using the command line . Linux without the convienience of power nor the UI integration of Tablet XP. We're talking about copying and pasting handwritten stuff between programs here, if you want to get indignant.
Tablet PCs have a LONG way to go with Linux, unfortunately.
Consumers and early adopters are free to buy the thing, and they probably buy most of manufactured tablets already. They have too much money to burn, apparently, and for some students expenses are already so high that one or two more thousand does not matter. These tablets are used with varying success; some say that they hate writing, other say that they love it. Personally, I barely can write, and I would really hate to write on a heavy, bulky tablet (I could tolerate PDA's Graffiti until it gave up the ghost.)
The rest of tablets are used where they actually make sense - think about your average UPS or Fedex driver, for example. There are huge warehouses all over the country that are full of boxes. If you are in charge of that, you'd better keep track of every single box that goes in or out, because you can't check inventory often, and if any is missing you easily can owe to the owner more than you can earn during the rest of your life.
The PC World article says that there is no handwriting recognition included. I would have thought that using X-Stroke would be the best idea. I use it on my iPaq (flashed with Familiar and GPE) all the time!
Come on, now that's a bit hard to swallow...
let's just hope this will encourage adobe and corel to port their artistic stuff to linux, or that it'll add to the mindshare and therefore developer input that the gimp has.
One of the major complaints of Tablet PC manufacturers is the licensing fee that Microsoft charges:
0 01 147,39155730,00.htm
http://asia.cnet.com/newstech/personaltech/0,39
Could this presage competition for Microsoft, forcing it to bring down it's prices for Windows Tablet Edition, and thus, tablet PCs in general? One of my major concerns with the tablet pc is the fact that it costs so much more than it's laptop equivalent - even though it costs incrementally more to produce.
www.VisionPlate.com
As much as I love the PowerBook G4 (also waiting for the G5 PB) I would like a OSX based Tablet. Make a stripped down version of OSX (I.E take away some of the Aqua effects, iLife), get a low power processor such an a 300 Mhz 68k (or maybe a 300 mhz G3) processor with 128Mb of RAM and release it, hopefully with Airports and Eo801.11 The one button mouse nature of the Mac would make it easier to port. Sell it for around $1500 and I'd snap it up. But don't give it a name like Powertab or iBlet, yuck.
Screenshot of My G5 desktop!
variable in vancouver
darl mcbride?
Somehow you only seem to read negative comments about web pads. I don't get it. A friend of mine got a TC 1000 and it's just great.
The device is robust and elegant with it's light metal case and the glass plate. You can attach a keyboard and use it as a (sub-) notebook. You can detach it and snuggle up on a couch and read e-books. In summer, he also brought it to the park for use as a mobile mp3 and video player. (The display is not transreflexive. Works ok in the shadow, but not in the full sun).
My friend uses it as his main machine for development (no, really). The transmeta processor is a bit slow for a workhorse. But apart from that, the machine is pretty much perfect. It has no disadvantages to a notebook and is more flexible. Also the new TC 1100 comes with a faster processor.
Sadly, Windows Tablet Edition hardly makes use of the advantages of a tablet. It's a good device. But with software as carefully designed as the one for the Newton, it could be astonishing.
Personally, I already got a laptop. But I'm thinking about getting a TC1100 nonetheless.
Every keyboard I've seen on a tablet was so small it would cramp a normal adult's hand horribly to use it very long.
What?
Hey! I'm non-Australian and I got it. Of course, I prefer Tasmanian myself...
Microsoft, with their market share and cold hard cash, couldn't convince people that tablets were a "good idea" but some minute outfit, using an OS that's has the most arcane GUI of any of the major OSs is going to succeed ?
I don't think so.
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
despite all the marketing hype launched by M$, the tablet PC has been a huge failure on the market.
the two main reasons for this:
- way too expensive ("why buy a tablet pc when you can have a decent notebook at half the price")
- screen size too small: 10.4" just doesn't cut it. that's better than a PDA, you might say. well, a pda costs $400, not $2000. the reason why the screen size is limited to 10.4" is that the screen basically contains the small wacom tablet.
the only so-called tablet-pc with a bigger screen size uses a different tablet/pen technology which isn't nearly as good as the electromagnetic (wacom-type) tablet. tablet-pcs will only sell when the screen sizes get to 14 and 15 in.
hell, it's not as if wacom hadn't built tablets bigger than that! on the other hand, maybe the transparent electrodes are a problem on bigger screen sizes?
I've had an IBM730TE with Linux on it and a wifi card I jammed in it for a few months now. Pretty nifty, but I went back to windows 3.1 on it since all I really use it for is draw (and upload the piccy on a network drive).
From one of the articles: I have come to realize about the Linux community, where there is a will there is usually a Linux programmer working on the way
That is so cool. It's just like the Windows community, where at sites like download.com or jumbo.com there is free, shareware, and commercial software for everything.
I finally was able to use a tablet computer running Windows XP tablet edition.
I was distinctly underwhelmed.
I can certainly see why it would be interesting for vertical applications where it is in essense a replacement for a clipboard. But as a general purpose computing tool? Its clunky, the interface is bad, the software feels prototype-ish.
And while I like the newest toys, I couldn't think of a single practical use for it. I wonder how Microsoft managed to talk companies into building this thing, because I can't believe they'll sell more than a handful.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Wacom's graphics tablets are fully supported by Linux using these drivers. If a tablet PC manufacturer isn't arrogant enough to adopt a Not Invented Here attitude and instead uses the Wacom protocol, their products can work with Linux, today.
All that's needed is some handwriting-input software.
--
Even though I work with a bunch of MS consultants who all carry these, I'm yet to see the killer use for tablet PCs that actually makes them more useful than a laptop PC. While laptop vs. tablet remains largely a matter of personal preference, tablets just won't sell.
I can see several potential vertical markets for tablet PCs, but they lack the following:
- a killer app or suite of apps for any one vertical market
- a distinctly "better" interface than laptop PCs for any market
- a new group of users; ones that wouldn't use laptop PCs, but would use one of these
- a cost point that makes them a worthwhile investment. In particular, the Windows OS+tablet interface and the hardware requirements to run them blows the cost out too much
- a much simpler interface. Current tablets are too complex for current non-PC users to use; manufacturers should be looking to *remove* stuff from tablets to make them simpler to use and cheaper to purchase in bulk. Something like an X-terminal with local storage and the ability to sync to central servers makes more sense than an all-singing-dancing laptop-like thing; the only people likely to buy the current crop of tablets are current laptop owners
However...
If the price of the hardware came down, and the tablet was reasonably rugged, I could see some opportunities for schools to take these up. I'm talking primary/secondary schools, or K-12 in US-speak. Take out the price of the Windows licence, and they're suddenly a lot more attractive.
Most schools are having their budgets slashed, so IT spending is very low, but imagine taking a bunch of these and hooking them to something like an LTSP server:
- teachers could use them to mark attendance; most current teachers are hopeless with a keyboard, and prefer writing. I'm inclined to think that a full-screen app that looks just like an attendance book, which has the names of all the students and check boxes next to their names, would go down very well with teachers, particularly if they could enter a "tick" or "cross" with a pen rather than typing stuff in or using a mouse. Laptops just aren't working out for most non-maths/science teachers who have them, in my experience
- teachers grading assignments, particularly if they could take the tablets home, enter their data then do a seamless sync back to the central server
- kids using them in test environments; imagine entering all your answers on the tablet, having the handwriting recognition neaten up the answers, then (for some subjects) getting your results at the end of the class. The marks could immediately go into a central database, and be exposed to parents over the Web; lots of possibilities here...
- learning tools for specific, visual/factual subjects (e.g. geography; imagine all those maps coming to life when you point to them...)
In particular, using LTSP, there's no need for every kid to have one; they could be tied to a class or classroom rather than an individual kid. Maybe physically lock them to desks somehow, or use RFIDs to track their whereabouts - I don't know, ask a hardware guy...
I'd say this could be an interesting opportunity for a vertical market in education.
BTW, IANAT (...teacher), but I have a mother who's an English teacher, and who constantly complains about using laptops because they're just too complicated.
I must be having a blonde flashback; I see tablet and immediately think pill. Linux based medicine? What, nanobots?
I am not an Australian... I am your farcher.
-- Alchohol is a hard drug. Cannabis is a soft drug.
This is a troll honeypot. I'd like to warn my fellow trolls: This article is just a simulation to get your IP-address, MAC-adresses and your trolling license number. Congress just passed a law that gives ISPs the right to surgically remove the testicles of newsgroup-posters when it is obvious that an allergic reaction to a mix of certain hormones is causing them to write annoying messages against their will. I sent this info to slashdot three days ago, but they're holding back the article to catch as many trolls as they can. Please trust me and stay away for at least 6 months. I will post again, when it is safe, and I will then lead the davastating counterstrike against the slashdot facilities. At this time just wait and reform our troops.
One of my (former) teachers was showing me one of these not too long ago. While I scrawl illegible notes on my pad of paper, he can do the same on his tablet, and then convert it to text. But for times when I just want to type (when X dies? ;)), he still has the keyboard he can use. If I recall correctly, though, it has neither a CD drive nor a floppy drive; I guess you're expected to carry external ones and use them over USB. Integrated wireless would make up for it here, but not 'in the field' when I can't count on having whatever I need on a network share.
I haven't seen this done, but it might be really nice for graphics work, too. In Photoshop, it's a pain to try to use a mouse to do exact selections of images, etc. With Photoshop on one of these, it's even better than a graphics tablet.
________________________________________________
suwain_2
A first post and a successful troll. You truly are the king of kings.
Personally,
Windows Tablet PC == Stupid
Linux Tablet PC == Stupid
OTOH, I realize that some people are interested in these overpriced pieces of crap, so YMMV.
But, TBH, I think ANYTHING with Windows on it is stupid, so...
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law?
I think for many applications the ability to draw directly onto the screen is much more intuitive than drawing on an off-screen tablet. Getting used to a wacom tablet is like learning to use a mouse for the first time. I don't think the two approaches are equally comparable.
-- Solaris Central - http://w
Slashdot Editors, put down thy crack pipes. There has been a Toshiba tablet running Linux on sale for months now.
It really isn't that great.
Tablet-FORM computers have been around for literally decades. They aren't new. Linux has been running on Fujitsu Tablet-Form-PCs for several years now.
The "new" things about the MS "Tablet PC" initiative are the specs (mostly the EM digitizer) and most of all, the OS hooks and features in WinXP TPE.
Okay, it's neat that there's now a Linux tablet with an EM digitizer. March of progress and all.
But otherwise, what's the big deal? If you wanted Linux on a pen-based tablet you could have it for a lot less than this generation of Tablets are selling for. Is the digitizer worth the $1000 price spike for you?
I've used LLX on the Toshiba. It isn't comparable to XPTPE on the same Toshiba, at all. They aren't even close to being in the same class of usability, unless your idea of Tablet usability mostly matches your idea of laptop usability. The MS OS hooks make the Tablet PC, at least for now.
PS : It's odd to see so many positive comments re: this when the supermajority of comments on the recent MS-centric Tablet PC article were mocking and negative.
it will be called a "Tombstone".
Now coming, OpenAsprin 0.1! With the aid of the Asprin-HOWTO, you too can work out how to assemble tablets yourself from random household ingredients.
its a trick. dont click the link
Yeah, your needs == everyone else's needs.
Ever try taking physics notes with a keyboard? Don't.
but after seeing all of the not too great reviews and comments re: tablet PCs [and also my experience poking at them at various stores], i have to wonder if MS's plan for those smart displays [essentially LCD thin clients running off a windows terminal services machine on the backend] will ever come to fruition...anyone heard anything about those in the past year or so? they always sounded like crippled tablet pcs that cost about the same [or more when you factor in the machine on the backend]...
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
Tablet PCs are an idea who's time has never come.
They're too pricey for what they do compared to
a laptop.
Just by $0.02.
-- TT
TT
I want it cheap and lightweight, and I mean 'lightweight' two ways.
The tablet should barely be able to run an OS. It should have minimal RAM, a really small harddrive, and no keyboard, but come with the fastest wireless networking hardware available. For me, a useful tablet is one that I can leave laying around my house and pick up just to wander around and read an email, or browse a website, or read a paper or something. I have a desktop computer for all the hard stuff. If I needed proper portable computing, I'd buy a Powerbook.
I figure this would be most useful for business, too. You install a good wireless network in the building, and people bring the tablets to meetings, or wander the hallways reading whatever it is they think they need to read so urgently. Checklists and meeting notes are sync'd to your PC automatically and wirelessly, so you can just sit down at your computer and do work when you get back to your desk. Forget doing work while walking...nobody does that very well right now with pen and paper anyway.
Because the specs for the machine would be so low, it would be a lot cheaper. You don't have to pay the price of making things really small like a PDA, and you don't have to pay the price of making things powerful, like a good laptop, so you should be able to come up with something farily reasonable.
HUGE misinformed flamebait! Don't you believe it. We just migrated from enterprise Novell servers that were barely keeping up with DNS to linux that totally rocks. We hammer those machines, and they barely notice, AND they just plain work better. For being an Enterprise NOS, Novell's DNS implimentation sucks rocks. I've also replaced IIS servers with Apache on identical hardware, Apache blows IIS away, even with non mod-perl scripts replacing ASP pages. I'm now in a predominantly M$ shop, and believe me, M$ is VERY restrictive. And, I'm sure SMP was in 2.4.9... Oh, and even back then reizer was the choice for robust file systems. Now, EXT3 seems solid. My IBM servers run JFS, unfortunately IBM was a day late porting it to Linux. I will say, though, that Win2k is probably the best Windows release to date. We still have a boat load of problems with it, and the weekly patches eat up time like crazy, and half the time the patches break other stuff.... And it still doesn't perform like linux for network services like DNS or web serving. I just wish more commercial software vendors supported it. I'm starting to see some, our enterprise online radiology imaging package is available on Linux vs. Sun now. Now, back to topic... Linux is pretty awsome on a laptop, as long as the hardware support is there. The support for my Toshiba notebook is only marginal, it takes a day or two of tweaking to get Redhat working on it. Hopfully Toshiba will do a good job of using Linux supported hardware on this thing.
tablet is added value, even without handwritingrecognition (though OS X has it). Just think of drawing or sketching something. I'm looking for a small cheap 'tabletscreen'. Just a screen (no computer) to attach to my PC, to experiment with that. Anybody?
Apple will understand this and bring products when they think the time/product is right. But what to call it? iPlane, iSlice, iPad, iCandy, iCatcher, iShade, Catch-a-Sketch, iLog, iThee, iSee, iDeal,
AND NOT TO REPLY TO TROLLS!!!
On my shelf. Tablets without keyboards simply suck, and no change in OS can fix that.
Now that I rarely use removable drives, opting for NFS instead, a hybrid might be a good idea. When you get to the price, you end up choosing between one hell of a desktop and a slow portable
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
What I was saying was that if the Tablet PC manufacturer had the tablet/pen portion of their hardware use the Wacom protocol (and I can't think of any reason why they couldn't), then drivers already exist.
--
This is one of those common trolls. You'll see it every other linux story if you browse at -1.
It even ends up on other sites.
Doesn't change the fact that it's rather amusing. But when you get this many replies... ugghh... my fag-senses get tingly.
I'm typing this from my Portege3505 running RedHat9 and have had very few problems. In the end the laptop is _much_ more usefull than the tablet (the pen support is iffy still) which makes it a good laptop with some of the nicest bells and whistles money can buy. Good to hear more support is coming this way.
Here's a review by pcworld: First Linux Tablet PC I realize it's not as optimistic as most of us would like to think, but we need to remember that the average buyer is the PCWorld technologist or lower.
Given some time and a bunch of developers really motivated to get an awesome linux tablet, I would consider this do-able, but unfortunatley, I don't think that is the case right now.
The purpose for a tablet is computing without a table, or a sitting/lying down environment where computing while needing mobility away from that chair or bed. The real need is computing while standing, and moving around. Unfortunately given PDA competition, its wanting computing with something heavy and battery intensive (or that needs the extra mhz)
For business, you could think that Inventory management would be suitable, but really, the cost savings of avoiding a 2 step process of pen and paper combined with delayed data entry doesn't make sense.
The only business app is sales/presentation outside of meeting rooms, having instant access to any information. To justify the extra bulk compared to PDA, it has to be cpu intensive hi-res video info. PDAs are improving pretty rapidly, and seem better suited.
While tablets in schools is an excellent app even if they are bulky, because they can replace 20 pounds of textbooks. I'm unimpressed with your argument that they are useful for people failing to comprehend how to use a mouse. A system of tablets compatible with laptops and PCs is very convenient, but 8-10 hour battery life (or at least 6) would be needed to make that truly useful. Again, a beefed up pda is more suited because of lower power consumption.
The only app I appreciate right now, is pervasive computing around the home and office. the convenience of Full screen web browsing/web type games/solitaire type apps or the occasional relatively high power app, while moving around very little. Useful when you have too much money.
Un-mod the parent. It's a dumb (old) trick.
I think for many applications the ability to draw directly onto the screen is much more intuitive than drawing on an off-screen tablet. Getting used to a wacom tablet is like learning to use a mouse for the first time. I don't think the two approaches are equally comparable.
Agreed. I won't be happy until I have an affordable 24"x36" tiltable surface to draw/write on. Something where I could overlay a clean, blank sheet and trace over.
Look to the now-defunct profession of drafting if you want to have insight into graphical technical communication technology. It's been successfully used for a few hundred years.
People that make and read technical drawings need to be easily able to see the whole picture at one time - brain cache tends to degrade if one has to spend 30 seconds looking for files. Really complicated stuff requires focus, and anything that detracts from that focus (like having to zoom/pan within a CAD drawing) doesn't help.
A tablet PC running Linux, now I can have all the convienience of using a commandline interfare tied withe the ease of typing on a small keypad and/or handwriting recognition. Great idea guys.
And don't be a dick.
:)
Oh, and don't reply to trolls.
Actually, Lycoris is a pretty serviceable distro once you install the development tools. Lycoris was the only distro I have ever dealt with that would show non-encrypted DVDs right out of the box, complete with working menus. They have some other slick things in there that from what I understand are 100% GPLed. The only thing not GPLed is Iris, their equivalent of Lindows' "Click And Run".
My beef about Lycoris now is that it is a fork of Caldera Linux, now known as...god help us all...SCO Linux. I mean, they forked Caldera before all this insanity started with Darth McBride but still, it makes me very uneasy to use it now. This is why I switched back to Mandrake from being a Lycoris advocate. I have now gone from advocating Mandrake to advocating using Knoppix as a friendly installer for Debian, but that's a story for another post.
Who woulda thunk that they'd make a computer with Linux preloaded that the first thing you had to do was wipe the drive so you could install Linux?
Actually that sounds more like the drill for those $200 Fry's computers preloaded with ThizLinux. Thiz is alright, as long as Mandarin Chinese is your first language. For everyone else, Thiz is a pain in the butt.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
The Banias CPU, now known as the Pentium M, forced Intel to come face to face with the Megahertz Myth. It was an extension of the Pentium III, this is quite true. Banias is also faster, megahertz for megahertz, than a similar speed Pentium 4. This proved to be such an embarrassment to Intel that they decided not to create a desktop chipset for it as once planned.
I suspect that Pentium M will show up in blade servers and 1U servers eventually, but alas, I will never see a Banias desktop.
Oh yeah...the Pentium III is still pretty damn powerful too, MHz for MHz, and it sucks way less power too. Banias is proof that PIII still had room to scale.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
The medical industry loves these, as does the warehouse industry. bothe are multi-billion dollar industries.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Who the hell modded this as INFORMATIVE?!?
Drunken fools.
Everybody is talking about what their favorite tablet would be, so what about building a kit and letting us build in the features we want? The PC World article says it'll cost $1900, but ouch, that's a bit much. Even new Windows based tablets are cheaper. Personally, I would want a tablet pc with a processor and ram barely able to run the OS, a reduced size keyboard (or no keyboard at all) and ethernet functionality. I don't need modem or wireless capability, nor do I need the touchpad. Why would I when I have the pen and a touchscreen? The best thing would be a kit form, with the following each available separately:
1 touchscreen (duh)
1 keyboard without touchpad
1 keyboard with touchpad
Several different motherboards, with varying processors, # of ram, built in ethernet/modem/wireless functionality
Several pen styles
I've been throwing around an idea recently. What if we could disassemble a touchscreen, put all the motherboard etc stuff in a separate box, then have a small wired connection to a screen? That way, you can stow the box in your backpack, and just use the touchscreen as you do a piece of paper. With batteries, you can use it as a notebook.
But the price seems like it will limit it to a narrow market of "ooh I gotta have that" tech thrill-seekers. For that price, I can build a least two very capable desktop systems.
so don't at least get to use them if I can bypass the mechanisms in place to prevent me from doing it? :-)