Let’s see if I can keep this relatively short:
I’m a woodworker, I do my design work in FreeCAD and then I print out my drawings on paper to carry out to the shop with me. It would be nicer if I had a shop-proof device to run FreeCAD in the shop with me because over the past year I found myself saying the following things in the shop a lot:
- “Wait, let’s go in and look at the 3D model.”
- “Ah dang I forgot to note this particular dimension on the drawing, let me go fix that.”
- “I’ll measure this part up then go in and do some drawing.”
So what does “shop proof” mean exactly?
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Wood shop be dusty. Last year I hauled 250 gallons of sawdust to the dump. To me this means that a physical keyboard needs to be able to function if it’s been packed with dust and/or needs to be vacuum cleaner proof. I also think cooling fans are probably a bad idea; a passively cooled device is probably preferable.
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Not many outlets in the shop, so it needs a good battery life. I actually don’t need a tremendous amount of performance, I’ve used a Raspberry Pi 3 for the kind of CAD work I do.
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FreeCAD does not ship an APK so Android is no bueno, it’s gotta be GNU/Linux.
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It needs decent usable Wi-Fi because I envision using Syncthing to keep my woodworking projects folder synced between my desktop and this device. It doesn’t necessarily need to get signal out in the shop (my phone barely does; I lose signal if I stand behind the drill press) but it does have to connect to my Wi-Fi when I carry it into the house.
I think this means I’m looking for an ARM tablet that can competently run Linux. Is there such a thing?
ADDENDUM:
Thanks to everyone who commented, I think I do have a plan of action: I’m gonna buy a used Lenovo!
To answer the question I posed, no it doesn’t seem that a Linux ARM tablet is really a thing yet. Commercial offerings that run Android or Windows on ARM are often so locked down that switching OS isn’t a thing, the few attempts at a purpose built ARM tablet for Linux like the PineTab just are not ready for prime time.
In the x86 world, it basically came down to 10 year old Toughbook tablets or 4 year old low-end 2-in-1s, and I think the latter won out just because of mileage and condition. A lot of the toughbooks out there will have 10 year old batteries in them, and they’ve been treated like a Toughbook for some or all of that time. The few Lenovo’s I’ve looked at are barely used, probably because of how Windows “runs” on them.
I’ll eventually check back in with progress on this front. Would it be better to add to this thread or create another?
Lenovo Ideapad Duo 3 - x86 tablet, 4core no hyperthread CPU and 8Gb ram, no fans, detachable bt keyboard, runs Fedora 39out of the box, everything works even autorotation. I love mine.
That’s a good idea, but I wonder if it’ll be too fragile for OP. I was envisioning something like this:
https://www.kcosit.com/Industrial-PC-ultra-slim-tablet-PC-tablets-Win10-Intel-p1335425.html
This one is rated IPX67 waterproof and dustproof, but is of course from a no-name brand. You can get Panasonic Toughbooks used all day long on eBay for a few hundred bucks, though, which might be another good idea. A used one will probably need a replacement battery.
I might just go this way. I’ve heard pretty dire things about non-Thinkpad Lenovos regarding their screen hinges but that’s not a factor with a detachable keyboard. I’d prefer ARM architecture but it seems that’s just not a thing.
So it’s “just” an x86 laptop? Normal PC BIOS? USB-C Charger?
Pretty much regular x86 laptop:
- regular BIOS (press F2)
- two usb-c ports, both will charge, both can be used to charge other device. I haven’t done it extensively, but it will support additional QHD resolution dispaly if it mattered…
- has a SIM card slot
- I honestly don’t know about the battery, I use it mostly around my home, I use it for watching movies and youtube around kitchen - It can do two movies definitely - 3-4 hours screaming at full blast - more - i’d have to try. But i recall that when I got it I was impressed by its battery life. I have the 10IGL5 version. The CPU has 6W TDP.
- I don’t expect that you would be using the included keyboard very much - way too flimsy for your application - but I can imagine suitable rugged bluetooth or wired keyboard / mouse combo would do …
- There are no “holes” on the device used for heat exchange and there is (AFAIK - haven’t opened it) any fan. There are some holes for speaker on top left & right corner, but if those get cloged can’t be critical. The whole chasis is sturdy you can press on it hard and it doesn’t give, it can resist a bit of twisting but yeah - it’s an Ideapad - not a Thinkpad w/ magnesium rollcage. It definitely doesn’t mind being splashed with liquids around kitchen.
I am a hardcore thinkpad / debian / xfce aficionado, I wouldn’t go and search for a device like this myself. A colleague of mine was trying to get rid of his, he bought it for his kid but running windows 10 the thing was bloody useless. I’ve googled somewhere that it does linux good and after limited success with Ubuntu i’ve tried Fedora. I recall trying a touch interface with linux long time ago (around 1st iPads) and it was a laughably misserable experience. This was amazing - IMO deffinitely better than what windows had to offer even though I understand the bar is low here. Better interface, at least as reliable (more). I’ve bought it off my colleague for cca 200 USD / 5000 CZK. I can imagine I would be confident enough bringing it with me on a holiday instead of full 14" thinkpad for mobility & battery life.
The vision I have for this device is to mainly use it as a viewer. I would do the vast majority of my drawing at my desktop PC with my fancy mechanical keyboard and trackball and space mouse etc. and then use the tablet to view and maybe make light revisions/edits out in the shop. I could see doing that 100% with the touch screen.
If I were doing something like measuring a thing to design for (say I was going to build a stand for a strangely shaped flower pot) I might use it to key the dimensions into FreeCAD (which has a built-in spreadsheet module) then go in the house to do the actual drafting on my main PC.
Would it be too much to ask you to try running FreeCAD on it? See how it performs?