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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.

6 of 69 comments (clear)

  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 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.
    2. 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.

  2. 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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.