Been trying to find a good tablet for productivity and recreation. Something that can be used for programming (Not web), and something that can play DRM content.
Ideally, something under $1000.
I’ve already looked at the Librem 11 and am considering it, but I want to know other (ideally, cheaper) options available.
there are no good linux tablets, for any price; by “good” I mean it works as good as an Android or iOS tablet. everything is from not-as-good to way worse and there are things that are downright unusable.
whichever platform you choose (Gnome, Plasma or any of the derivatives like Phosh, Plasma Mobile, etc.) the experience beyond the first 15 minutes (hey, this actually works!) is pretty bad. it’s certainly not usable as a main device that you depend on and use for actual work; as a dicking-around kinda project, sure, have at it.
before you spend that kind of money, my recommendation is to get an older Surface Pro or Dell Latitude 2-in-1 in the $150-200 range and see if that functionality is something you can live with. those can be had with up to 16 GB on-board and the SSDs are replaceable (Dells are more serviceable). kernel support is spotty, not all of the features work for all devices, mainly cameras and such; consult the linux-surface github.
edit: just saw this comment, my experiences are similar. the rest of the comments where people think what a device might work like you should disregard.
idk about op, but if i asked about a good linux tablet, i would mean the hardware not the software
for me a good linux tablet means i can take my favorite linux distro, install it without big hassle and have a good performing computer with all components working afterwards
while good performing can be interpretable
granted, but they are inextricably linked and you have to consider the software that does or doesn’t allow you to utilise said hardware.
like, I’ve waited years for kernel devs to catch up to the proprietary hardware in my 2-in-1, namely the drivers for the ipu3 cameras. they are now obsolete and the focus is on ipu6 models. kinda important if you want this to be your main device.
and as to software, it’s important to note that the touch-friendliness was an afterthought, so it isn’t propagated through the system. like, in Gnome’s own system settings app, you can’t initiate dropdowns with touch! that’s a pretty significant UI element that’s been around since forever. another common stumbling block is initiating “right-clicks” on elements, by long-pressing stuff; sometimes it works, other times not. the on-screen keyboard usually appears when an input is focused, but it doesn’t often enough that it’s annoying.
speaking of, Gnome’s OSK is only somewhat usable (and less so if you’re on a non-US layout). if you’re used to Android or iOS keyboards, it’s pretty basic. however bad that is, Plasma’s maalit keyboard makes Gnome’s look like advanced alien tech, it’s broken on so many levels you’re better off disabling it. I didn’t follow development in the past year or so, but one default “feature” of Gnome OSK was that it remembers everything you type - that includes passwords! - and helpfully offers them on the suggestion strip, with no way of turning it off!
obviously, the OSKs don’t work if you need to unlock your disk on boot and I’m not sure they work on the login/lock screen; someone please correct me if I’m misremembering.
OK, screw OSKs, you’re gonna use the cover keyboard. except, it’s prone to just not work half the time. then you rip it apart (pardon, you disconnect it) and attach it again to have it working, maybe.
you’re used to reading stuff, books, comics, whathaveyous, for hours. well, those screens aren’t super power-efficient and the batteries aren’t humongous either. plus, that thing is heavy and thick (easily twice my Samsung Tab) so maybe don’t hold it up ABOVE YOUR FACE WHILE LYING DOWN - ask me how I know! speaking of screens, they aren’t the greatest - try scroll-flinging a long page and watch this stuttering-flashing mess; you’re gonna need new eyes if you keep this up.
I tried to make one work as a 3-in-1 solution. why have a desktop, a laptop, and tablet when I can have a single device and forego the constant copying and syncing and stuff. semi-decent specs, i5, 16 GB, 500 GB NVMe more than enough for my needs, so I got me a USB-C Dock, attached a huge 4K monitor, LAN, sound, mechanical keyboard, mouse… when I’m needed in the field, just detach it and off I go with all my shit on the drive AND I got a free iPad out of the deal, I just have to marvel at how smart I am!
yeah, nah. bottom line, they are bad as desktop replacement (throttled all over the place on account of anaemic cooling + whiny fan holler), bad as a laptop (on account of the kickstand, you hafta use it on a desk only, plus the keyboard is pretty bad and so is the tiny touchpad) and very bad as tablet (for reasons galore, some mentioned above).
so, like I said, as a fun project to play with - by all means, it’s super fun trying out different OSs/apps (I haven’t touched on Waydroid, Android x86, FydeOS, note-taking apps, etc.) but, as a daily driver, one that your livelihood and/or education depends on - hard pass.
One caution on older Surface Pros: They are generally not serviceable, and when the batteries eventually go, you will have to replace the device. The 9th gen and later may be better. I am dealing with this right now in a 2017/5th gen Surface Pro. While it’s nice hardware (as a user), apparently the battery is glued-in in such a way that you cannot replace it without destroying the tablet. I’m currently looking to replace it with either a Lenovo ThinkPad X12 detachable or a Dell Latitude 7320 detachable, both of which are similar but (purportedly) much more repairable.
I have a Surface Pro 4 (I think from 2015) and the battery life now is awful. I might be able to get an hour or two depending on the performance mode, I usually just plug it in while using it now. If I forget to plug it in between uses, it will definitely be dead the next time I go to use it.
Plus it’s starting to feel pretty slow. I do still have Windows on it, perhaps installing Linux would help make it faster but it sounds like it takes some work to get everything working properly so I haven’t bothered.
what they said. surfaces are serviceable to a degree (battery and SSD, screen replacement) even though they’re glued shut, but in the sense “this is a fun project to do at a leisurely pace”, not “I got shit to do with it tomorrow, clock is ticking”.
Dells are way more serviceable, they got screws and easily accessible components instead of cement glue from hell. if you’re going that way, make sure the camera sensors are supported, ipu3/6 camera support is spotty.
imo android and iOS tablets are not even in the same league because they lack tiling WMs. I also think that transparent windows are a pretty important feature although I won’t be surprised if you could find some hacky solution on android. I guess my priorities are different then.
Some Microsoft surface models can run surface-linux pretty well
I’ve got a SP8 which I’ve been running PopOS on since the start of the year. The cameras don’t work but this isn’t a deal-breaker for me, it runs smoothly and is perfect for my needs as a media consumption device (music, movies, comics) with some browsing. There were some issues I had on installation but nothing that couldn’t be resolved. Many thanks to the Linux surface team!
Don’t know how these are now, but my buddy had a Surface Pro 4, and that thing made me regret buying what i had at the time. Ran like a dream, especially considering the form factor. Very unexpected
Have an SP4 now, running Nobara KDE, because I’m too lazy to install the surface Linux kernel on a different distro. It’s pretty great. I bought a cheap one, and it has some issues unrelated to Linux. In fact it runs a lot better and the hardware issues are alleviated slightly after removing windows.
Long story short, would highly recommend buying a not borked Surface and slapping Linux on it.
Does Nobara have surface kernel built in?!?? This is news to me, might reinstall due to this.
Ublue has variants with the surface kernel by default. Really, just use their hacky stuff instead of getting all the errors on your device.
I am sure their gaming focused bazzite variant has a surface version. Ublue fedora is way more secure than Nobara. Fedora doesnt support Apparmor by default, so SELinux will be more secure. There are tons of things wrong with nobara, and the performance increase is really not important (TheLinuxExp tested it and its like 5%)
That would be a sweet replacement for an iPad. Is there a distro that gives a more tablet experience?
Anything that offers gnome should be touch ready 😇 I’d go for openSuse TW with gnome
Fedoras kernel doesnt run well on surface and to my knowledge phosh is not well maintained
I wouldn’t get the Librem 11, I don’t trust purism after the librem 5.
It’s Linux-based hardware, so any OS could be installed easily if PureOS isn’t a good fit for OP. And, unlike the phone, it’s basically a computer, like one of their laptops (which have been fine).
If we are talking about Pinephone, Fairphone, Librem 5, etc. – they all suffer uniquely. Modems drop on all these devices often enough, battery life sucks based on tasks, app support is sundry, screens are left wanting, and more. Phones are hard to make.
I might class Linux-based hardware phones differently from Linux-based hardware tablets.
I thought about buying a Starlite by Starlabs. It looked pretty cool, but I just don’t need a tablet.
Minisforum just announced their V3 which is a Windows tablet with amazing looking specs. I would wait until people confirm if everything works on Linux, but it’s an option to consider.
Any info on pricing yet? This is one I’d consider too, if it doesn’t cost a fortune.
