Ask HN: Linux for tablets?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2898528

by TobbenTM • 15 years ago

4 9 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hello HN

I've been out of the game for a while, what is "the" linux tablet distro nowadays? I used Jolicloud once, are there any better options? Thanks

samarudge• 15 years ago

I'd guess Android is the most well known one but that depends on what you consider 'linux'.

I think the difference between tablets and desktops is such that the underlying distro probably doesn't matter that much, it's more down to the frontend (I.E. Gnome looks pretty much the same whatever distro you run it on). I assume Gnome3 would run pretty well on a tablet although it's probably down to personal opinion

TobbenTM2• 15 years ago

In 'linux' i mean Linux. :) Not Android as it's ARM only. (Tried the X86 port, not working on my Acer W500)

Guess your right about the GUI. I'll try out some different DE's then. Thanks.

kleiba• 15 years ago

Oh, so you mean which GNU/Linux distro is suited best? Not which OS that uses Linux, the kernel...

nodata2• 15 years ago

By Linux do you mean Linux kernel+Gnome/KDE/Xfce or do you mean Linux kernel only (Android/WebOS on top)?

If the former, and you want touchscreen, you're pretty much out of luck. Sorry.

gohyper• 15 years ago

"If the former, and you want touchscreen, you're pretty much out of luck. Sorry."

Not really. I have a SmartQ V7 tablet that triple boots Android, Linux, and Windows CE. They exist but generally aren't great. The V7 has a resistive touchscreen and is a bit old at this stage but does web browsing and HD video fine. I also got Debian up and running on it.

nodata2• 15 years ago

Interesting. How often do you use Linux on it? Are there many touch screen applications? How do you find them?

davidotoole2• 15 years ago

I have used Ubuntu on this HP TouchSmart TM2 flippy-screen tablet PC since I bought it. Touchscreen, stylus, basically everything works.

davidotoole2• 15 years ago

And I DONT use unity---just "Gnome Classic"

Ask HN: Linux for tablets?

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