i’m seriously considering permanently abandoning laptops in favor of tablets. i spent a day working on my wife’s tablet today and it was fine enough for when you’re on the go that the small screen isn’t too much of an issue. plus, you get an extended battery life, no noise, more comfort carrying it around, and the best of all, for much less money

the biggest downside is that, since tablets are technically embedded devices, they’re much more locked up and you basically have no access to the system with the stock rom

so im looking for a cheap tablet ($100-$200), around 10 inches, that i can easily (or at least reliably) install linux to. any recommendations?

  • EugeniaEnglish
    3•5 days ago

    You are making a mistake. You are comparing an Android or iOS tablet, that have a user interface that makes sense for these devices, and you’re trying to shoehorn Linux in them, and expect the same “fine enough”. It won’t be, because while it might work, it won’t be ideal. Linux was optimized to be used as a desktop OS, with a mouse or touchpad. You’d have to install something like LineageOS to get it working properly, but then you will lose the cool abilities of a linux desktop for the most part. Conclusion: get a tablet if you want, but don’t throw away your laptop.

    Edit: Also, this was posted just an hour ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H669Fwtv-3o

      • beleza puraOP
        4•5 days ago

        and it seems to work pretty well with touchscreens according to the video

    • asudox
      4•5 days ago

      Linux was optimized to be used as a desktop OS?

      • beleza puraOP
        4•5 days ago

        when it comes to regular old gahnoo slash linux, she’s right. plasma, gnome, lxde, etc, were not made with a touch screen interface as a main form of interaction in mind. touch capabilities in the usual linux des tend to be an afterthought in my experience

    • beleza puraOP
      2•5 days ago

      maybe you’re right. that’s something i’ve been thinking about too, which is why i said a rooted android tablet with lineageos would also be an acceptable option.

      but considering i have a desktop already and having a tablet for mobile computing, a laptop feels more and more like an awkward intermediate. laptops, i think, make more sense when you only have the laptop, but i really don’t see a situation where a laptop offers me something a desktop+table combo wouldn’t.