Juno offering Linux-powered tablet PC for pre-order Linux kit shifter, Juno, has a new gadget available for pre-order: a $425 x86-64 tablet with a choice of Linux distros on it. In the UK, that's £449 including VAT. The promised device looks decent. It will have a quad-core "Jasper Lake" Celeron N5100, a 1920 x 1200 10.1-inch touchscreen, 8GB of non-upgradable RAM and a choice …
..for a no-name, non-upgradable Chinese tablet with a slow, low-end processor. I'm all for more Linux based appliances but Apple's base iPad is $100 cheaper, boasts far higher specs, has an OS designed from the ground up to be touch native and a vast ecosystem. Tablets are not flying off the shelves these days and I'm struggling to see what market niche this would fill other than developers working on touch native applications.
I'm not excited by this, but you've overstated the iPad quite a lot. Let's take a look at whether "Apple's base iPad is $100 cheaper, boasts far higher specs". I'm using the latest base iPad 9th generation for the comparison.
Pricing: iPad at $329, entry-level Juno tablet at $425, you are correct.
Storage: iPad has 64 GB, Juno tablet has 256 GB. This is not sounding like far higher specs.
Storage expansion: iPad: No replaceable storage, you can buy a 256 GB model. Juno tablet: I can't tell if it's replaceable, so we'll assume it's not. You can go up to 1 TB and it supports Micro SD and USB storage expansion. The iPad isn't looking great.
RAM: iPad: 3 GB, Juno tablet: 8 GB. Exactly which of these specs are far higher?
Processor: The iPad's A13 and the N5100 in the Juno tablet. This is the one spec where the iPad has an advantage, but for all the praise Apple's chips get, the A13 isn't a high-end part. It benchmarks about 40% faster than the N5100. That's worth consideration, but it's not a massive change as would be using the latest iPad Air with an M1 (which starts at $600 with 64 GB).
I'm not trying to pretend that this is cheap, and probably some of the value is because some people just want stuff designed for Linux. The markets for these two tablets are likely pretty separate. Still, if you want an honest comparison, don't pretend the specs of something with less than half the memory, no expansion, and with a version that has a quarter the storage, constitutes "far higher".
I was using the iPad as a reference, obviously they are for completely separate markets. What exactly are you going to be filling that larger storage with short of media? It certainly won't be touch native applications. I'm no Apple fanboy (I champion all things Linux and have for years) but the value of Apple's massive ecosystem can't be overstated. Adding a mouse or other input device such as a keyboard would make it far easier to use normal Linux apps but now we are getting away from being a 'tablet' and closer to Microsoft's Surface. At $400+ this is outside the realm of 'nice to have plaything', at least for me. I wish Juno the best of luck but I don't see a compelling market niche for it.
"What exactly are you going to be filling that larger storage with short of media?"
Why is media being removed from the conversation? Lots of people store it and it is big. The size of my binaries is smaller than the documents and files I use those applications to process. If we're not including video, music, and picture files, there are still many other kinds of files that take up a lot of storage. Disk space is frequently used both by people who create and people who consume content, so when comparing devices that are going to do one or both of those, it's a useful spec.
Full blown Linux on tablets is a bit of a moot point. Tablets are mainly good for media consumption, with a little social media interaction thrown in.
Because all of the "Linux Nerds" you think will jump in probably do a lot from the command line in emulated terminal sessions, the concept of a tablet does not actually fit their usage model.
On-screen touch keyboards, while being fine for the occasional text or social media update, do not really hack it when using heavily text based applications. In addition, they obscure the work you are doing while you are typing.
In the past, I have tried to use Android tablets with ssh and other remote access tools as my travel device while I was away from home. I quickly decided that it just wasn't a good working environment without a proper keyboard, and started using a laptop again (and you can get quite functional, higher spec. laptops that run Linux just fine for much cheaper than this, especially if you are prepared to go second user).
Of course, you can attach a keyboard, but once you do this, you might as well carry around something like a Lenovo Yoga, which runs almost any Linux distro you want, works as a tablet if you want it, but also has the option of using a built in hardware keyboard, or even as a traditional laptop when you need it.
I can see where I may use a device such as this one, but where I would, the usage case overlaps an Android tablet quite a lot, and the benefit of having an ultra-portable system does not really outweigh the limitations. In the past, where I absolutely had to go light, a netbook with a 3/4G cellular modem or mobile hotspot was my goto device.
Other people's use may vary, but I think the niche where this type of device would fit, between a purely media consumption device and a full blown laptop is very small.
Mine was great for going up scaffold on a building site, strapped to my arm.
For reading resident's comments on building works to relay them to the foreperson and chartered surveyor as we look at the work in progress.
It's a Panasonic FZ-G1 MkIII Toughpad x86-64 tablet PC and runs, as boot options, Windows 10 64bit or Zorin OS Pro Linux with macOS style desktop - the best touch experience I've seen so far with Linux on a touchpad. Minimal UX rough edges or missing functionality. With Windows 10 on the way out, the Linux option will extend its useful life. It runs quieter and uses less memory too.
Another practical real life end-use case would be ambulance workers, I've seen. They may use Panasonic or Getac perhaps.
Apart from extending the useful life of the device, did having Linux on the tablet actually benefit the job you were using it for? In any way that could not have been done with an Android or iOS tablet? Looking at residents comments and work orders does not seem to be a killer app for a Linux laptop.
Private viewing apps can be side-loaded into an Android tablet without having to publish to an app store.
I agree there are niches, but I can't see that your use actually fits into one.
Yes I certainly agree that it could be done with an Android or iOS tablet for that end-use outdoor building site.
However 2 things that make a Linux touch PC distinct from those iOS or Android:
- the Linux touch PC is a general purpose device. For example, I have also used mine for programming and development. Though I reckon I could find some apps for Android or iOS that provide some kind of development environment but at the moment I wouldn't think that Android or iOS are the primary daily driver to develop on.
- much less obsolescene. iOS and Android devices are more exposed to support and software updates on their hardware stopping at some point, determined by their hardware manufacturers. Not so much the case with Linux: x86-64 is a major target platform on several distros as far as I can see. IA32/i386/32bit x86 still supported by some distros too. This support is helped by the relative fewer permutations of x86 hardware compared to many variations of ARM based platforms.
These are appealing for the environment, avoiding landfill, as well as the wallet, especially in current times.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate and use all of these platforms very often. I also appreciate a single device that can have many uses.
I bought a cheapish Android tablet, branded Blackview (Tab 8 if you're interested), and its optional QWERTY keyboard case. When attached, it is very laptop-like. When not, it's a boggo tablet. Or slot in a SIM and it's a huge phone.
The keyboard is easily good enough to do useful work on. Android, less so. Linux would be a huge improvement.
-A.
I could probably find a use for this as-and-when it is ready to ship. The website flags it as a beta product and there is a status list of various work items. The Mobian OS itself is flagged as unstable and the two alternatives as very unstable. Various other significant modules require work. I was amused by the entry for "suspend"
"Suspend but does not wake up". I think that is more commonly known as shutdown.
I'll bookmark the page and check in occasionally to see how it is progressing. Meanwhile my plans for a homebrew linux touch device based on the Pi are on hold.
With Linux, there aren't so much rigid hardware requirements as Windows 11, so the options for 2nd hand hardware is much wider. Save money, good for the planet, reduce e-waste, enjoy the intellectual challenge of setting it up AND get something genuinely useful for real life end-use cases.
Mine is a Panasonic FZ-G1 MkIII Toughpad x86-64 tablet PC and runs, as boot options, Windows 10 64bit or Zorin OS Pro Linux with macOS style desktop - the best touch experience I've seen so far with Linux on a touchpad. Minimal UX rough edges or missing functionality. With Windows 10 on the way out, the Linux option will extend its useful life. It runs quieter and uses less memory too.
I can do dev work on it, use it as a TV (iPlayer etc.) and its robustness means I can take it places where I won't be so worried about it getting damaged, because it's built well.
I'm not sure Windows 11's requirements are really as rigid as people have been led to think. I'm running it on a 1st generation Thinkpad X1 tablet with TPM 1.2, etc. OK, the Microsoft compatibility checker rejects it, but in reality it's working fine. (I've also booted Ubuntu on it - it works...)
By the way, you can bypass some of the Windows 11 checks on install by using Rufus to create your installation medium, or by adding the AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU registry key.
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