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PengPod Hits Funding Goal, Plans to Ship Linux Tablet In January

Posted by Unknown on from the tablet-for-the-gnu-slash-rest-of-us dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Quoting liliputing: 'PengPod plans to start shipping 7 and 10 inch tablets with support for Linux as well as Google Android in January. The company, founded by Neal Peacock, has been raising money to help support software development for the tablets — and Peacock just wrote in to let us know the project has surpassed its initial $49,000 fundraising goal. In other words, the campaign will be fully funded and backers that pledged $120 or more should get their tablets starting in January if all goes according to plan.'" And, unlike many ARM SoCs, the kernel for the Allwinner A10 powering it is developed openly.

69 comments

  1. There goes the tablet experience by metalmaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I love the idea of a dual booting tablet, but it doesnt really strike me as a consumer device. I hope each of the pledged backers really understands what they're getting. It should beat out that $99 walgreens tablet but it's not going to be the iPad killer by any means

    1. Re:There goes the tablet experience by Gordonjcp · · Score: 0

      Well, an "iPad killer" shouldn't be that hard. Android does require a bit more processing power than iOS but it looks and feels so much better. The iPad got left behind a while ago, with its clunky hard-to-use UI.

    2. Re:There goes the tablet experience by citizenr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It should beat out that $99 walgreens tablet

      no it wont. It has $50 Tablet specs (shitty photoframe TN low resolution screen). 10' one is $30 more expensive than same hardware bought in shop.
      Kernel source is useless when you have no GPU driver and no VPU driver (no h.264 acceleration).
      I really dont understand what is this thing about.

      --
      Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
    3. Re:There goes the tablet experience by nurb432 · · Score: 2

      "Look and feel" is a personal choice, not absolute.

      --
      ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    4. Re:There goes the tablet experience by deergomoo · · Score: 0

      Right...hard to use...

    5. Re:There goes the tablet experience by westlake · · Score: 2

      It should beat out that $99 walgreens tablet

      no it wont. It has $50 Tablet specs (shitty photoframe TN low resolution screen).

      Back to the Future.

      The one positive for Walmart in its five year mission to bring OEM Linux to the masses was the discovery that it could onload truckloads of worthless industrial surplus shit hardware to the geek so long as it was stickered with a Tux logo.

    6. Re:There goes the tablet experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not that anything done with android in the last few years matters, since the android market is still stuck at version 2.3 at best.
      At least with an iPad you don't need to try to guess which device is actually going to have the next release of the OS ported to it within 2 years of its release. iPad is hard to use? You can't even buy an android device without intimate knowledge of the android ecosystem and wether you will be able to use google's app store, or some vendors private app store, or if the apps you want to run are going to be available.

      I wish android was in a position to contest the ipad, but with fragmentation getting worse and worse android is just going to get left in the dust.

    7. Re:There goes the tablet experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The iPad got left behind a while ago, with its clunky hard-to-use UI.

      lolwut

    8. Re:There goes the tablet experience by tuppe666 · · Score: 2

      I wish android was in a position to contest the ipad, but with fragmentation getting worse and worse android is just going to get left in the dust.

      Thank goodness your dream is todays reality. iPads market share has dropped again sown in one quarter from 60% to 50% in just one quarter. With great launches like the Nexus this is set to continue.

      The irony of you quoting fragmentation in a topic where a tablet has the unique feature [what you call fragmentaion] of being open...A feature Apple products lack.

    9. Re:There goes the tablet experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wish android was in a position to contest the ipad, but with fragmentation getting worse and worse android is just going to get left in the dust.

      Thank goodness your dream is todays reality. iPads market share has dropped again sown in one quarter from 60% to 50% in just one quarter. With great launches like the Nexus this is set to continue.

      Yes, truly a "great launch" - one product in a market where one OTHER product (the iPad) has as much market share as ALL OF THE OTHERS together.

      As for being "open", who exactly other than the tiny segment that reads Slashdot actually gives a fuck? No amount of "openness" is going to make people less pissed when they get a $99 Walgreens suck-tab under the tree this year (that can't access the stores, and couldn't run the apps anyways), and that's a branding fail that's going to stick with Android for a long time.

    10. Re:There goes the tablet experience by tramp · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I just bought a € 99 tablet with Android 4, 1 Gb internal memory, 1.2 Ghz ARM A8 processor and a usb keyboard in a sleeve. It does everything it needs to do and at reasonable pace. Truth is that you do not need a Ipad to do basic things as browsing (Opera Mobile works perfect), email and some nice to have apps or casual gaming. Of course a Ipad is wonderfull but at a price I do not want to pay.

    11. Re:There goes the tablet experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Right...hard to use...

      How's the non-Swype soft-keyboard working-out for you iOS fans these days?

      I'll wait while you peck-peck-peck out a witty reply. After you type in your PIN to access the device, of course - no facial recognition security on those "easy to use" tablets.

    12. Re:There goes the tablet experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Android does require a bit more processing power than iOS but it looks and feels so much better.

      But think of the advantages - like, um, multiprocessing (have you heard of it?).

    13. Re: There goes the tablet experience by PixetaledPikachu · · Score: 1

      Really. With widgets I can perform tasks like changing brightness, wifi setting, looking at calendar very easy and quickly. I can't do that on ipad. Media sharing to almost any kind of app and services is as easy as pressing the share button. I can't do that on ipad

    14. Re:There goes the tablet experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you really believe that Android looks better than iOS, please ... never go into design. Android is an ugly clunky inconstant mess. You already pointed out that it requires more processing power because it is really sluggish.

      An iPad killer shouldn't be hard ? So, explain to me why all those Android tablets can't even get close to the sales on the iPad.

      Just to be clear, I own both and Android tablet and an iPad.

    15. Re:There goes the tablet experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I own a Samsung tab 8.9 which has been waiting for over a year to get ICS. I can't upgrade it until Samsung gets around to it. I also own a Samsung tab 10.1 which now finally has ICS. (Was released a few months ago)

      Yes, this is an older device but this problem happens none stop. Buying an Android device is a crap shoot, you have no idea how long it will be supported if at all. I have friends who purchased Android devices that *NEVER* got an update. They were told by Sprint to purchase a new device if that want something newer.

      Android fragmentation is getting worse and worse. Its openness is also its primary weakness. Samsung has very few rules they need to follow, they can do anything they want. Where another company can come along and do something that totally screws with the whole ecosystem. (For example, Amazon with their own Android version).

      If you don't believe in Android fragmentation ... try developing a top app for it. You will drive your self crazy dealing with all the problems.

  2. Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The Linux philosophy is incompatible with the concept of a tablet. Sadly kids today think "Ubuntu" would be what Linux is. They couldn't be farther from the truth.

    A tablet is a consumer device that is not a computer anymore but is very limited and primitive in its functionality. It is not suited for creating anything, or using a computer for its actual purpose in general.

    Linux is an operating system whose greatest features are its total freedom... of configurability... of modifiability... and most importantly: of being able to automate your work away, by using a computer like it's supposed to be used. It is a professional operating system. Something that is designed to be used by people who actually make things instead of sitting there and drooling their life away.

    So a tablet is never a Linux computer. It is a gadget with a couple of appliances that happen to be implemented by (ab)using Linux. It lacks the whole damn point of why you'd choose Linux in the first place.

    We must stop acting like bash scripting and text config files and everything-is-a-file and udev and dbus and kernel configuration are things to be ashamed of, and start wearing those things with pride! They are a thing of elegance and power and freedom in a word of jails and appliances and meaningless non-captioned colorful clickables... sorry... tapables.

    Oh, and all the above criticism can be said about Ubuntu, and in fact all Linux "desktop environments" and monolithic big applications in general.

    1. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Balderdash. Consuming content is an important use of any computing device. If you think that Linux is limited to "work" then you're sadly mistaken. You may only work, work, work to create content, but almost everyone else consumes content every day.

      A tablet is not the be-all and end-all of computing devices, but it's not intended to be a production device. Don't dismiss the possibility that someone will find a way to add a detachable keyboard, mouse, LCD, etc to these types of devices that allow them to be transformed into one of those "desktop" computers that you have locked Linux into. Maybe one day ...

      Linux is an operating system whose greatest features are its total freedom... of configurability... of modifiability...

      With your myopic point of view this excludes anything that isn't a desktop.

    2. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by westlake · · Score: 2

      Something that is designed to be used by people who actually make things instead of sitting there and drooling their life away.

      The tool maker makes tools that make building or managing other things easier.

      It doesn't make him superior to the business woman, artist or craftsman, who has the imagination to see their full potential.

      It doesn't make him superior to those whose lives are centered around other tools and other tasks. "Drooling their lives away?" Not at all.

    3. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Huh? Tablet is merely a form-factor. There is no reason you can't run a full configurable and automatable OS on a computer with the tablet form factor, and, in fact, that's exactly what you get out of installing Linux (yes, even Ubuntu) on a tablet.

    4. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > It is not suited for creating anything,

      People need to stop repeating this tired old meme that has been disproved time and time again. People ARE creating content on smartphones and tablets to an extent they never did on desktop PCs. In fact, you could well call it a golden era of user content creation. Look around. Video creation on a scale we've never seen before, music composition, writing novels on the go, and more are all being done on tablets.

      Just because YOU can't figure out how to create using a tablet doesn't mean other people aren't doing it. Don't imagine that your limitations apply to everyone else as well.

    5. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by funky_vibes · · Score: 1

      Maybe you need to realize that while you *think* you're creating things with your new toy, it's actually more like playing in a sandbox they created.
      The illusion of work is becoming more successful than ever.

      Someone who prefers a tablet over a keyboard is an almost certain sign that they are useless when it comes to any kind technical competence, and therefore getting things done using modern tools.

    6. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by funky_vibes · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up!

    7. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 2

      Maybe you need to realize that while you *think* you're creating things with your new toy, it's actually more like playing in a sandbox they created. The illusion of work is becoming more successful than ever.

      Someone who prefers a tablet over a keyboard is an almost certain sign that they are useless when it comes to any kind technical competence, and therefore getting things done using modern tools.

      Nope, sorry. It's not the tablet form-factor that's responsible, true, but there are people doing great things with the touch interface based on notions of near-direct control that are analogous to puppetry. The technical competence required for current content creation tools is pretty esoteric as they are based on a workflow that arose out of the limits of computers 10-20 years ago and physical analogies that are irrelevant to most modern users. The paradigm shift that we're seeing now goes well beyond the touch interface, and often the touch interface isn't even required, but touch has got designers thinking again, and we'll all be benefitting from the improved, modernised workflows in a couple of years...

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    8. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by vawwyakr · · Score: 1

      What this guy said!

      I have a Transformer Prime, with the keyboard attached its as useful (form wise) as any small laptop would be. It just needs more productivity programs. I tried for a while to program on it but it wasn't worth the extra effort. This isn't due to its form factor so much as with the apps on it.

      I find it completely odd that people have so many preconceived notions for what a smart phone or tablet can and can't be. They's computers, pretty darn powerful ones. I would be completely happy replacing most of my other computing devices with something like the Asus Padfone 2 if the apps were up to it.

    9. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by darkNeko · · Score: 2

      I beg to differ,

      It'ts not the tablet form factor that is the problem. It's the OS and envitornment that limit yourself. You cannot develop for IOS on the ipad or iphone, you cannot easily develop for android in an android device. Those environment are pretty limited, because they are mean to work as appliances, not computers, however, the underlying hardware is a computer, and quite powerfull for what is worth.

      You really don't need several gigaherz of processing power but for a couple of task, gaming and hardocore calculations, that you won't be making in a tablet, however it doesn't mean that the tablet is worthless. It has other uses, and touch interfaces are sometimes far more efficient than using a command line (Yeah, label me and heretic, burn me for my blasphemy!) This is about freedom, having new tools, trying new ways, I'm a proud linuxer and I can tell you, not everything is the command line, servers and desktop computers. I have pride in my CLI, programming and admin skills, it's good to have pride, but too much pride is a defect, if you are too prideful to try new things.

      You say tablets are incompatible with linux, NOTHING is incompatible with linux, as linux is mean to be free, you can adapt it to anything if you put effort in it, thats why the joke "But, does it run linux?" will never die, people run linux on the weirdest things, toasters, fridges, embeded systems, mainframes, clocks, routers, etc.
      Some of those implementations may not be appear very useful to you, but others are things that we cannot live without. And even those that are "not useful", advance the knowledge, make people think out of the box, and sometimes, just sometimes, people thinking different, doing useless things, different things, have changed the world. Yes its just a tablet, yes the current ecosystems may be closed, yes, it may not change the world, but it's a start, a step in a less transited road. Linux is not something sacred, reserved to the realm of high-computers, it a frigging OS, that is mean to be used, shared, modified, and its precisely that freedom that you preach about what gives everyone the posibility of using it as he or she wants, from toasters to mainframes.

      I see a lot of hate aimed at this little tablet/project, "its not powerful enough", "lame screen resolution", "closed source gpu drivers", "a tablet is a consumer device, not a creation device", etc.

        To all people who hates, you want a powerful tablet, buy an Ipad, or a Nexus. Those are closed ecosystems you say, then create a new ecosystem, be a creator, not a consumer. You don't have the skills, time, resources?, Then shut up and stop criticizing those that are trying to make a change. You will say that is not open enough?, You mean, like, current computers, with those firmwares, drm, and secure boot?

      You remind me of Sheldon Copper, "They are having fun the wrong way"

    10. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by funky_vibes · · Score: 1

      You'd be inclined to think that if you've been using shitty workflows for 20yrs.
      Truth is, tablets have existed for about as long, and some of them were in many ways better than the ones on offer now. Still, they failed.

      Some of us have workflows even built into our daily lives, which cannot be accomplished with the limitations of a touch screen.
      Most work still depends on being able to type text, one way or another, which a touchscreen alone is useless for.
      Most work also depends on focusing your attention on something other than your computer display.
      (the amount of traffic accidents has increased tremendously since wide adoption of touch-screens)

      All these "improved, modernised" workflows are just a waste of time for developers who need to write new code for stuff that will be used for a very limited time before being forgotten.
      It has it's place; kindergarten, info-terminals etc. But, as soon as people progress beyond that technological skill level, they invariably choose a tactile interface.

      There are future ways to improve a tablet, to make it as useful as a laptop, but in its current state it amounts to little more than a very expensive remote control for your computer.

      I hoped the manufacturers would wait a bit longer until the tablet form factor had matured into something different and useful, now, the wide adoption only amounts to technological failure on a huge scale, and a future landfill the size of the atlantic.

    11. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      You'd be inclined to think that if you've been using shitty workflows for 20yrs.

      We all have been. Any changes are just hacked on top of legacy code and inherit all sorts of cruft and inconsistency.

      Truth is, tablets have existed for about as long, and some of them were in many ways better than the ones on offer now. Still, they failed.

      All the early tablets I worked with were just Windows 95s in tablet form -- there was no attempt to change the UI. As I said, modern UI changes aren't intrinsically linked to touchscreens, but the touchscreens have acted like a catalyst to make a major change.

      The first really important factor is the fact that iOS was an almost entirely new platform and made no attempt to preserve backward compatibility with any existing OS, so people started coding from the ground up.

      The second (and crucial) is that iOS started out on oocketable devices. If the iPad had been the first iOS product, people would have ported desktop apps without changing the UI paradigm. But people started by writing new, small apps, and a culture and UI ethos was established, and when the tablets came, they stuck to the design ethos established on the iPod, rather than reverting to the desktop model.

      The new UI has now overcome inertia in a way no previous paradigm managed, and it's changing the computer completely.

      Some of us have workflows even built into our daily lives, which cannot be accomplished with the limitations of a touch screen. Most work still depends on being able to type text, one way or another, which a touchscreen alone is useless for. Most work also depends on focusing your attention on something other than your computer display.

      I keep stressing that the new workflow patterns are not just about touchscreens -- it's just that we needed some "mechanism" to overcome the inertia of the old ways.

      All these "improved, modernised" workflows are just a waste of time for developers who need to write new code for stuff that will be used for a very limited time before being forgotten.

      B*ll*cks. Our biggest problem to date has been legacy cruft caused by a failure to abstract out code and break the coupling between the UI and the back end. The modern workflows are the result of people designing and writing software from the ground up. Again, this is not something that's an intrinsic property of tablet computing, but it's a side-effect of it being something new and different, and the failure of the established names to port their apps early on and push their current desktop domination into the table market. We have new entrants coming to the market with apps that are not expected to maintain file or workflow compatibility with umpteen generations of Photoshop, AutoCAD etc, and that is a Very Good Thing.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    12. Re:Either it is Linux, or it is a tablet. by funky_vibes · · Score: 1

      We all have been. (using shitty workflows for 20yrs)

      Speak for yourself.

      Our biggest problem to date has been legacy cruft caused by a failure to abstract out code and break the coupling between the UI and the back end.

      Funny, because that's exactly what was happening until the web and touch screens gave UI designers new headaches and set us back another 20 yrs.
      Loose couplings, and other improvements, need decades to be improved, it's not something that comes as a feature of your "new" (ancient in reality) UI.
      None of the new toolkits are even half as useful as the ones they're trying to replace.

      it's just that we needed some "mechanism" to overcome the inertia of the old ways.

      Did you ever think about there being a reason for the inertia?

      Nothing new happens in IT, if you think you've find something new, then you're probably just inexperienced.
      Everything you think is new, has been tried and died. The only difference is that there's a new generation of noobs deluding themselves that they're somehow being innovative, and the further they distance themselves from the old and proven, the longer it'll take for them to finally realize this.

      So, maybe the inertia is there specifically to protect us from all these 14yr old "know-it-all" UI designers wearing funny clothes and turtlenecks, who should be working in marketing, not bothering us with their shitty code.

      This is not just confined to the commercial development sector, just look at projects like enlightenment, gnome3 or kde4. Complete disasters being an understatement.

      Some of us have put a lot of time into trying to break couplings between views, interfaces and data.
      And I will tell you, the introduction of tablets suddenly made that work 3x harder, not in an architectural way, but in the way that you now have to support a trillion new toolkits and extensions which are all immature (1990 style) ones.

  3. 800x480 by citizenr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    $120
    hilarious

    --
    Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
    1. Re:800x480 by doti · · Score: 1

      give me 300dpi or give me death

      --
      factor 966971: 966971
  4. Still available for pre-order by drachensun · · Score: 2

    The site is http://www.indiegogo.com/pengpod and the preorders are open through Sunday.

  5. More advertorial service from Slashdot? by BenJeremy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Again with the PengPod. My SmartQ V7 had Ubuntu, Android and Windows CE several years ago.

    This is nothing new, and I'm even more shocked this whole thing has had a followup.

    I wish could mod the summary

    1. Re:More advertorial service from Slashdot? by BenJeremy · · Score: 0

      Wow... I get modded "flamebait" for stating the PengPod is nothing special or new, and questioning it's Slashdot-worthiness?

      So this is what has become of Slashdot... where legitimate criticism is smothered (censored) by moderation?

    2. Re:More advertorial service from Slashdot? by __aaqvdr516 · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, yes. There are still some people with their eyes open around here. It seems like less and less every day.

    3. Re:More advertorial service from Slashdot? by Dzimas · · Score: 2

      Just because something isn't the first doesn't mean it should be dismissed. The news here is that the PengPad Kickstarter project was successful. It's a strong indicator that there is a market for multi-boot tablets that aren't locked down, although I suspect it will be a year or two (if ever) before we see top notch hardware in that niche.

  6. Haha the fool! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We're two weeks away from 3D printing electronics in the home. DUH! It's the bonanza of the future!

    1. Re:Haha the fool! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We're two weeks away from 3D printing electronics in the home. DUH! It's the bonanza of the future!

      It's like Futurama without the drunken robots. Give it time.

  7. Will someone please make a gaming tablet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    D-pad, joysticks, and buttons on a Windows OS. I want a mobile emulator.

    1. Re:Will someone please make a gaming tablet? by Gordonjcp · · Score: 1

      Here you go

      It's not Windows though, but I guess you can figure out how to port it across somehow. Do people still use Windows?

    2. Re:Will someone please make a gaming tablet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It has to be Windows, because the majority of emulators are developed to work on Windows only.

    3. Re:Will someone please make a gaming tablet? by Gordonjcp · · Score: 1

      Like what? All the emulators I've seen have been pretty much Linux-only.

    4. Re:Will someone please make a gaming tablet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, troll, a huge majority of people, many of whom are a better class of people than yourself, still use Windows. You also haven't seen a lot of emulators. Some, like MagicEngine (PC Engine emulator) don't support Linux. Others, like Kega Fusion finally added a Linux port, but per usual, it's shit. If you want the best emulation software in terms of compatibility, performance, and most of all, choice, then windows is king.

    5. Re:Will someone please make a gaming tablet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was a different anonymous coward that answered your question, but yes the majority of good, stable emulators are Windows-based.

    6. Re:Will someone please make a gaming tablet? by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      It's not Windows though, but I guess you can figure out how to port it across somehow. Do people still use Windows?

      If you can figure a way to port Windows to ARM, you're cleverer than Microsoft, who've only managed to write a shared abstraction layer for ARM and PC....

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  8. Isnt Android Linux based? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Linux is a failure on the desktop, but found a niche as Android. Why ruin the party?

  9. garbage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    looks like garbage...even in demo's you can see the UI lag

  10. It's about sneaking linux onto desktops.... by AmazingRuss · · Score: 2

    ...as a coaster.

  11. Why? by nurb432 · · Score: 1

    Not trying to sound like a troll here, but what is the point? There are so many cheap tablets running around, why create another somewhat underpowered one?

    Sure, for hobbyists, it might have a place, but for average consumers just grabbing a cheap Chinese tablet ( which this is, ultimately ) seems like the better route to me.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:Why? by csumpi · · Score: 2

      Maybe because Ainol didn't pay the /. front page story tax. BTW I have the same Ainol tablet, great screen and superb build quality (it survived many drops by my 3 year old).

    2. Re:Why? by Zadaz · · Score: 1

      Not trying to sound like a troll here, but what is the point?

      Sure, for hobbyists, it might have a place[...]

      Don't know if that's a troll, but you did answer your own question. There are only 315 preorders for this thing. Sounds like a hobbyist device to me.

      Yeah, for most people it's stupid, but that's the definition for every piece of equipment that every hobbyist buys, regardless of the hobby.

      Now the actual project feels a bit dicey to me. First of all the Fixed Funding campaign. That means that he takes all the money regardless of if it reaches its funding goal. That's very suspect in a hardware project. Hardware projects need an economy of scale to get decent volume pricing. The fact that he apparently doesn't care how many he sells tells me he's either a) clueless, b) a scammer, or c) making a not-insignificant profit on each and every one. Which means this is a rebadged $50 tablet, which means it's shit.

      The January ship date means it's obviously an OEM tablet. So the "building" part of "building a powerful tablet" is obviously BS. If he was actually building a table the startup costs would be 100x and the delivery date would be at least 18 months out.

      He also says "Given the busy holiday manufacturing and shipping schedules we will not have the devices before Christmas." which makes it seem like he's getting the things specially built. Except he's not, he simply can't at that volume and price. The real reason it's not a good Christmas gift is that the software won't be done. In fact I doubt if he'll hit a January ship date, just looking at the updates on the site, there is a ton of work left to do to clean this project up.

      Yes, he's doing some software development, putting together the free work that others have contributed. And he's not selling software, he's selling hardware, which feels like a bait and switch.

      He doesn't need to sell the hardware. As mentioned elsewhere up-thread, there are tablets out there that can do what this does. He's just looking for a way to get paid for free software.

    3. Re:Why? by nurb432 · · Score: 1

      No, it wasn't a troll, really. Just didn't see a point in "yet another cheap tablet", when they are a dime a dozen over in the mainland now, to the point of being disposable. ( i have a couple of them myself )

      I thought the intent was to create a mainstream consumer product out of this, perhaps i misunderstood. But, even as a hobbyist product, wouldn't it make more sense to take an existing product instead and work on opening it up? Now, if the 'generics' weren't so widely available and so cheap id not question it.. I can even get them branded with mylogo if i buy a 'lot'...

      --
      ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    4. Re:Why? by blackest_k · · Score: 1

      Drivers
      I've just got a mouse driver working on my android tablet, its not a touch screen driver you need to drag it to get to click stuff. thats took a couple of days It does support an external keyboard and mouse but it loses its advantage as a tablet, bluetooth should be working but I can't get my keyboard to pair up with it compass , accelerometer gps no drivers set up yet hardware acceleration not yet( its a frame buffer).

      Yet the potential is there, libre office is installed as is the gimp there is a full size usb port as well as the otg port. Probably can connect the same devices i use already on my netbook, running mint.

      It's going to take a while to sort out all the hardware, and maybe a few more headaches like the one I have now. It's going to be handy to have the flexibility of Linux with the utility of Android.

      Now which is better to spend your time creating your Linux tablet or to buy one preconfigured with all the hardware up and running?

      That is the point, a preconfigured tablet or the hardwork to get it fully functional. Take your pick if it is what you want you now have options.

                   

      --
      Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
    5. Re:Why? by drachensun · · Score: 1

      On indiegogo a flexible funding campaign means they take the funds whether or not they hit the goal. A FIXED funding campaign like this means they have to reach their goal. I agree a flexible would have been shady, that is why we went fixed.

    6. Re:Why? by darkNeko · · Score: 1

      Quick to judge, slow to read....

      If you actually read something on their fundraising page, you'll see:

      Fixed Funding means is all or nothing, if you don't reach the goal, you see nothing.
      The hardware IS ALREADY COMPLETE, they didn't make it, in fact yes, it's a somewhat cheap chinese tablet. (They are chinese hadware importers).
      They cannot ship by Xmas because the linux support is not complete, they just finished they fundraising, with only 23 days left for xmas, just the logistics
      to deliver all tablets can take a couple weeks, even if shipped as they are, with incomplete linux support. Complete such support will take several weeks for
      a team of engineers/developers, that are being paid with the funds raised.
      Yes, he is developing some software, and using and modyfing other already-created-software. Such use is permited by the license, as long as he provides the
      source for the modifications. It's great that some people can contribute code for free, but sometimes changes requires money. And he is telling you for what
      is going to be used, completing the featureset (auto-rotation, hardware button support, camera support)
      You are paying for a chinese tablet, with linux that has been tweaked to the hardware, and the code developed would be shared so others can benefit from it.
      Where is the bait and switch?

  12. Already Available by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These devices are already available for less than what indiegogo is selling them for.

    http://www.aliexpress.com/item/HKPAM-Free-Shipping-Mini-U-Hos-TV-Dongle-Google-Android4-0-IPTV-TV-Stick-smart-android/580378598.html
    http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DVC-z7-A10-Cortex-A8-1-5-GHz-7-Zoll-kapazitiver-Multi-Touchscreen-Tablet-PC-Android4/516692714.html
    http://www.aliexpress.com/item/10-2-Zenithink-ZT280-C91-Android-4-0-Tablet-PC-Capacitive-1GB-RAM-8GB-16GB-Cortex/481576098.html

    1. Re:Already Available by drachensun · · Score: 1

      Do they come with GNU/Linux? Is there any support to get it running on those devices?

  13. Why? by p0p0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My $120 china tab has a 1024x600 display. 1GHz and dual-core mai-400 GPU. It has Android 4 and there is a ubuntu image available that runs from SD. Even the Nexus has an official ubuntu port, and many others have the same port as mine I'd wagger. So what exactly is the purpose?

    The company that made my tab (Ainol *snicker*) has released their kernel sources, so it's not like some companies which don't honour the usage rights.

    What a load of rubbish.

  14. Households without a production device by tepples · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A tablet is not the be-all and end-all of computing devices, but it's not intended to be a production device.

    So devices that are great for viewing existing works but not much else have become fashionable. The problem is that these devices' popularity will drive people to end up choosing not to buy a device suitable for creating works, but by the time they grow to regret that choice, it's too late. Look at how video game consoles drove set-top home computers to near extinction in the 8- to 16-bit transition, for example. The C64, Apple II, and the like had set-top presence, but by the time IBM's 16-bit PC and its clones became popular, home computers had all but abandoned the ability to view works on the TV monitors of the time, and locked-down consoles picked up popularity.

  15. BSNES: anything less is just BS by tepples · · Score: 1

    It has to be Windows, because the majority of emulators are developed to work on Windows only.

    Drop the BS and pick up the BSNES. From that page: "(Windows, OS X, Linux)"

  16. No multiple windows on Android by tepples · · Score: 1

    One advantage of running a Linux environment other than Android is that you don't have to stick with the always-maximized window management policy of Android. I own an ASUS Nexus 7 tablet (7", 1280x800 pixels, Android 4.2) and an Archos 43 Internet Tablet (4.3", 800x480 pixels, Android 2.2). My cousin owns an identical Archos 43. I just checked my Nexus 7 tablet, and its display is larger than two 4.3" devices, both in pixels and in square inches. So why can't I rotate the Nexus 7 into landscape mode, split its 1280x800 pixel display into two 640x800 windows, and run a phone-sized application in each?

  17. Unlike many ARM SoCs, the kernel ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you serious? There is no in depth open documentation for the Allwinner chips.
    All you can find is a overview of the functionality but the essential documentation to develop a kernel port is a description of the registers.
    How are people supposed to fix a bad driver if they can only guess from the bad driver how to talk to the hardware?

    If you want ARM SoCs for Linux with open documentation, go to TI, Freescale, NXP or Atmel.

  18. Year of Windows Phone by tuppe666 · · Score: 1

    Linux is a failure on the desktop, but found a niche as Android

    If by niche you mean outselling Microsoft Windows...then yes although by machine you mean dominant computer environment. Personally I'm waiting for Year of Windows Mobile.

    The reality is Apple is *again* the niche product, with its continued pursuit of profits over market share.

    Its off topic, but unlike windows mobile which continues to fail due to its small market share, Linux flourishes I spite of it, and continues to grow. I'd call that a successful platform.

  19. The A10 SoC's Video Decoding Unit Sucks by sequencesequence · · Score: 1

    CedarX doesn't support any of the standard Android video deocoding APIs, so any media players that use it have to be compiled against an undocumented, closed-source library. It seems that Rockchip is hostile toward open source. The kernel that's developed by the arm-netbook community is NOT supported by Rockchip, and kernel source has actually been coming from vendors and the community. http://linux-sunxi.org/CedarX

    1. Re:The A10 SoC's Video Decoding Unit Sucks by sequencesequence · · Score: 1

      Cubieboard is much more interesting, at least all the pins leading to the SoC are populated on the board, including headers for IR, FM Radio, S-PDIF, SATA and a bunch of GPIO.

    2. Re:The A10 SoC's Video Decoding Unit Sucks by sequencesequence · · Score: 1

      Ah no, sorry Rockchip, I meant Allwinner. Rockchip also sucks though. Freescale all the way.

  20. It's not that open by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Mali GPU and CedarX HW video decoder have no FOSS drivers. The current open-source implementation had to be reverse-engineered. In addition the datasheet for the Allwinner A10 is not publicly available, only a partial (NDA'd) datasheet has leaked.

    So, this platform is far from being open and friendly towards Libre. Then again, there is no truly free GPU on the market right now - the best project in this regard would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Graphics_Project but it has been stalling for a while.

  21. Would love to see E17 Enlightenment on this by water-and-sewer · · Score: 1

    I'm running Bodhi Linux on a netbook, which is Ubuntu underneath and the Englightment E17 DE on the surface. It's got a configuration that looks like it would be really sweet on a tablet, but I ain't got no tablet and I'm not comfortable rooting or wiping my Google Nexus 7. I'd probably get this just to run E17 on it. I know everybody loves Android but I don't know, there's a lot of special software I use that runs in a terminal environment and Android can't really do that for me, so there's at least a few reasons Android doesn't scratch all my itches.

    This tablet with the Terminology terminal, running mutt, SLRN, links, and some other CLI stuff would be a dream. If the hardware bluetooth set up allows an external keyboard, I'd be in heaven since my aforementioned netbook is on its last legs.

    To the guy who complained this is nothing new, it's new to me. I don't know of any other Linux tablets out there, and I'd get one just for the fun of seeing if E17 on tablet hardware isn't a step closer to nirvana. The Android equivalents of Linux software I most like is not quite as good.

    --
    If this were Usenet, I'd killfile the lot of you.
  22. Time to get past JTAG by Skapare · · Score: 1

    It was a nice idea when it came out. But we have better things these days. So we should stop trying to use JTAG directly or even indirectly, and just use better things. This is supposed to be an OPEN machine, so it should have a simple "boot from anywhere" system. So a minimal hard burned boot loader that does nothing more than find the first SD card (an external one before an internal one) with a regular bootloader on it, and loads and runs that, should be sufficient to let the owner have complete control and avoid any chance of bricking the device.

    I would favor a hardware stage 0 loader, but corporates tend to not want that (because it defeats their ability to control user experience ... they'd rather the device be bricked on any attempt at owner control). But the above software method would be sufficient.

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars