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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."
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
This is probably one of the most innovative parts of the posting :-) I don't recall anyone else claiming that before.
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.
yeah..... 1.4 Mhz is definitely the minimum i'd be willing to get.
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
I disagree. The laptop/tablet combination is really a neat idea. You have a keyboard with a touchpad or nipple for mouse movement, but also a touch screen and stylus. The LCD rotates 180 degrees so you can have it in a laptop form factor (LCD and keyboard at 90 degrees), or in a tablet form (like a closed laptop, but with the LCD screen facing outwards). That way, you can carry it around like a notepad and write on it in tablet form, but then sit down, swing it around into a laptop, and use it for typing in a meeting.
I've been thinking about selling my current laptop and buying a tablet to replace it, but prices need to come down a bit more before I do that.
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
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?
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/
Well, I guess I'm not people then. This is exactly what I want in a laptop. Tablets suck because of the lack of keyboard and I don't want one at all. Laptops suck because of the form, I want to be able to hold it flat and hold it like a book or clipboard when I'm reading text, or just scanning data. Throw in a little stand and it even functions as an electronic picture frame.
This looks just about right.
The Linux part is good. Linux on my desktop, Linux on my laptop.
Lycoris. Oh man. Icky poo! Linux for Windows users for dummies. Who is the intended market for this thing?
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?
KFG
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).
If somebody would design a tablet device that uses 802.11b, is simple to network config (easy WEP interface, DHCP), and costs ~$200, they will rule the world.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
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.
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.
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
Speak for yourself -- don't be so quick to determine what "people" want. I have personally owned a Fujitsu Stylistic slate-style tablet PC, a Toshiba Portege 3500 Hybrid style tablet PC, and of course various standard laptop computers. The style I would choose? The hybrid. There is simply no loss of "convenience" as you put it. There is the obvious ADDED convenience of having ONE device instead of TWO.
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?!?!"
Um, you do realize that Centrino is just the brand name for a particular bundle of hardware, right? Intel requires a low power proc, wireless ethernet and a couple of other things for a notebook to be certified Centrino. Most of the Centrino notebooks I've seen have had Pentium M processors, which is *gasp!* a PIII! Why? It's more efficient clock-for-clock than the P4 and draws less power. So why the rebranding? For people like yourself who think P4 > P3 without really understanding why they're using the "old" architechture.
Nope, it's a good thing.
As a Toshiba TabletPC user for the last year or so, I've had numerous times where I've needed to switch between tablet and laptop in a matter of minutes. As a freelance developer, there's no way I'm taking a tablet and a laptop to a clients, that's just nuts.
I tend to use the Toshiba in slate form at meetings - typing can be distracting and too time consuming, whereas with a slate I get to show my notes around and have others annotate them - it's much more natural. When I'm coding, it goes back into laptop mode because there's no way I'm using the handwriting recognition to do that!
Now I'd agree that a traditional laptop with pen input (Acer makes one I believe?) is a bit of a waste of time, but the Toshiba screen swivels around and lies face up on top of the keyboard which gives you a very useable tablet. To this extent, it does give you the advantages of both form factors in one package.
The other issue is market acceptability. Your market is much smaller if you release pure tablets. Making hybrids means that people are willing to try out the tablet features if it means spending a little more than they'd splash out for a laptop, rather than blowing thousands on something they might grow tired of after a month or so.
So to sum up, hybrid tablet/laptops are a good thing and in my opinion, they couldn't have chosen a better hardware platform for the Linux tablet.
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!
You're missing the obvious advantage of having one device instead of two.
In fact, I was just passively reading slashdot in tablet mode on my Portege 3500, when I decided to flip it into laptop mode to quickly write this rebuttal to your ignorant posts. Now I will flip back into tablet mode and continue browsing slashdot like a book.
Now -- let's see... you suggest having two different devices... Am I supposed to carry two devices with me at all times? And if I were browsing this same article on my slate tablet, and wanted to write a length reply like this, I would have to boot up / start using my tablet, navigate to the same page I am already at, and write this reply? Or use a pen that is made for only short input?
I hope you can see that there are clear advantages to the hybrid style.
Well, seeing as the hardware they've chosen has been around for a year now, it's not bloody surprising that it's a P3 mobile is it!
Anyway, what is this about Pentium III mobile shit? It's still a current line Intel CPU, has low power drain compared to mobile P4 hardware. I'd sure as hell want good battery life from a tablet rather than a speed increase cos there's no way I'm running off to find a power socket every hour and a half.
From the specs you've mentioned, you sound like someone who wants a tablet PC to be a laptop. Tablets are a different beast - battery life, weight (and thus cooling requirements) and portability rule the day, not GFX power, CPU power and storage space.
That said, go take a look at the HP TC1100, so it's only a 1GHz Centrino deck - which is fast enough for a tablet - but check out the rest of the specs, WiFi A,B & G, Bluetooth, IR, SD slot, great battery life, 2GB max memory, nVidia chipset. That's desirable in anyone's book.
Go buy.
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();
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... --
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!
Pentium M is not just a PIII, it's a mcuh improved PIII with many features borrowed from P4, like a faster front side bus and sse2. ...also, why a tablet would need a lot of cpu power, pentium m is comparable to p4m running at much higher clockspeeds, so i would not say it's underpowered. Oh, and almost forgot: 1 MB L2 cache.
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?
I wouldn't say "better", since they cost about the same (i.e. way overpriced), and as such you could use a tabletPC as a terminal when at home and (this particular model) use it as a laptop/tablet when not at home.
And, just for some Karma, this has been available on lycoris.com/lycoris.org for a long time - months even.
-bZj
.sig
-bZj
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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.
WRONG. People looking for a laptop are often looking for something useful. People looking for a tablet are generally looking for something gimicky. Buying a gimicky tablet and then never using it - or using it and people seeing just how poor a laptop substitute you parted with money for - becomes embarrasing. If you buy an all in one then you can show off the tablet side (hey, cool toy!) but still actually use the laptop (quicker, easier, practical).
The real Ralph Yarro posts as Anonymous Coward. Anyone else is an impostor.
no they don't.
they want a laptop they could use like a tablet every now and then.. tablet as itself is extremely expensive for whats it usable for, but when you get it with laptop possibility as well it becomes much more usable and you might actually want to use the damn thing!
.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
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.
--
Speaking as someone who actually bought the Toshiba Portege exactly because it did fulfill both roles I can safely say that the above statement is incorrect in at least two ways:
1) You don't miss out on any convenience - it is a great little laptop, fully functional and all that, plus lighter than most. And it is also a great tablet (largest screen on the market. What functions do you miss ?
2) Given 1), the proposal that people don't want both is incorrect, because it assumes that you can't have 'all of' both. Generally, it is great news about the linux distro for the Portege. I have been meaning to get round to installing Linux, and so far I thought it would be a nightmare of getting all the drivers etc together.
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.
This all comes in the form of Intel's Centrino chipset. So when you look at the specs, you say, "gee, this Tablet has all three of those features", but it doesn't get the Centrino name because it didn't use Intel's chipset.
However, if it looks like a Centrino, and smells like a Centrino.... then it acts like a Centrino.
You can have my one-button mouse when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
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.
Its well known that the /. moderators are fucking useless idiots.
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
pinky on ctrl, ring finger on option, middle finger on 'pretty flower' better known as command, pointer on track-pad, thumb on track pad button. Other hand holding laptop. Not that you really need the ctrl-click in OS-X, it's so transparent that the only place I ever use it is in browsers to download images (or command to open a new tab in safari). Also, I've never had to hold down all three of those at the same time for anything. So what are you talking about? You shouldn't be using a laptop in a situation where you have to hold it, you might drop it no matter what hardware you're using.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
--
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.
What do you want on your tombstone? Windows, Linux, or BSD?
You're correct. However, I used the Centrino name because many people, including me, find the Pentium M moniker vague. It's very easy to get confused as to whether we're talking about a PIII Mobile, a P4 Mobile, or the Pentium M when using that name.
The Pentium M is really a new chip, it's not a PIII or a P4, and it tends to perform at about the level of a P4 rated 50% higher than the Pentium M. So a 1.4 Ghz Pentium runs at about the level of a 2 Ghz P4, and a 1.6 Ghz Pentium M performs about the same as a 2.5 Ghz P4. Plus it has far better power management. So I think it would be the ideal chip for a Tablet PC, and the P III mobile is underpowered for the way I would want to use a Tablet PC.
Buy a light USB keyboard for your tablet.
Tablet for tablet uses. Keyboard for other times.
There doesn't seem to be any direct need to have a fancy "swivel" motion. Just the presense of keys.
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.
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.
It IS a Pentium III-M in the thing, though. It's a Tualatin P3, not a Banias PM. BTW, I once saw a ChemBook 2300 1.4 (Banias) tied with a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 desktop (I think it was a Dell) in a PC World test. RAM was 512 in both, too!
Think of it this way: the Banias core is a MAJOR extension and enhancement on the Tualatin core of the P3/P3M. Now, I'd think a P3 is plenty powerful for the job, seeing as a P3 can kick P4s that are 200-400 MHz faster. My server runs a Cel466, and it's DAMN fast (unless you game at all on it - it's the i810).
My laptop has a two button touchpad, and it's sufficient. With KDE or GNOME, the middle button is obsolete (except for scrolling).
The medical industry loves these, as does the warehouse industry. bothe are multi-billion dollar industries.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
http://www.cpuid.com/PentiumM/index.php
Turns out, I was wrong. The Tualatin was actually based on the Pentium M (probably a prerelease model)! It's in family 6, same as the Pentium 3, and is model 9. The Coppermine is model 8, and the Tualie is model 11. BTW, it did nicely against a P4 2.4 GHz, but an overclocked 1.13 Tualie at 1.4 was almost as fast as a 1.3GHz PM.
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.
I didn't want to make the assumption that you weren't blind, or that you somehow otherwise didn't have a look at the pictures, because otherwise it would be fairly obvious why the combo is good.
And two devices are more convenient to carry than one? Or should I velcro the tablet to the top of my laptop?
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.
And where are you going to store this USB keyboard? I don't care how light it is, it's going to be bulky, which means you can't put it in your back pocket or clip it to your belt (assuming you want to go for the geek look, which most of us don't). Do you carry around a backpack everywhere you go? That may be fine in school, but in the real world that's fairly rare, even considering laptop bags (my laptop bag serves to get my laptop from home to work; while at work, I just carry the laptop and possibly the power supply, not the bag). Wouldn't you rather have a unit that's small, easy to carry, and includes a keyboard as well as tablet functionality? I know I would.
And where are you going to store this USB keyboard?
Why you clip it to your tablet obviously. And if you are real ambitious you could even make it so it swivels out for use.
On the surface, your comment makes no sense to me. What convenience of each do you lose by having a combined device?
content management for designers
OR
By a tablet with a swivel monitor and a keyboard underneath.
Folded down screen for tablet uses. Open with keyboard for other times.
There doesn't seem to be any direct need for a fancy "clip-on" keyboard. Just the presense of keys.
Sarcasm aside, you seem to be assuming that a swivel monitor will add some cost, either financially or in terms of weight / carrying-around-convenience. However, I imagine that a seperately purchased clip-on keyboard would cost more than the swivel hinge (tablets cost about $30 more to make than notebooks) Plus, it's a hell of a lot less convenient (two things instead of one. I imagine a swivel table is roughly the same size/weight as a notebook)
content management for designers