Suggestions/recommendations for Touchscreen laptop/2-in-1/tablet?
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I purchased a new unused Nexus 5 to enter this community. I flashed it in February 2019 but I have yet to transfer to this as my primary phone. I considered developing a tablet for a while but I must admit a touchscreen laptop is more desirable in view of their slightly larger size. Are there particular hardware platforms that are suggested or recommended for the desktop development project(s)? The 12.3" Surface Pro tablets could be interesting as these are not too small but size alone does not matter! Did I really write that? Earlier efforts identified the Acer C720P Chromebook as a solid hardware foundation for running lightweight distributions on. While this is smaller than I prefer to use as a primary computer it is also a fully functioning touchscreen. These can be purchased for low cost all over ebay currently.
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@RVan
I can't offer any advice about hardware - sorry - but your post did make me wonder if the new UBPorts images might make porting UT onto more tablets possible...?IF so, then the time of Unity8 and Convergence is coming!
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@3arn0wl - The list of tablets being worked on is certainly small but significant. I considered this route after I got the Nexus 5 working properly on stable. The Nexus 7 is a nice tablet but it is difficult to pursue something like this as a transitional piece of hardware. I had more positive thoughts regarding the LG G Pad 8.3 Google Edition but have seen few for sale. I know of examples of the C720/C720P running LXLE. I am uncertain how the 1.4 GHz dual core Celeron 2955U would work but these Chromebooks featured 2 GB DDR3L RAM so it possesses promising hardware specifications. If I can determine this test case Chromebook merely leans toward a successful result this I will be all in!
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I'm typing this on an ASUS Transformerbook T300 Chi. It's running Pop!_OS right now, but it runs it well and everything works... even the active pen/digitizer!
Unfortunately you'll have trouble finding a used one for a good price... looks like everyone that wants one has one, and everyone who has one wants it.
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I'm running Ubuntu 19.10 on an Asus T100ha and it works suprisingly well for what I'm using it for (basic websurfing, quick notes using Standard Notes, etc...). The only things that aren't working are the camera and the micro HDMI port (the latter may be a hardware issue as the port looks like it might be damaged). Just using Gnome for the DE but I'd think that Unity8 would work too. Also I've got a Nexus 7 with UT that I've been happy with- comes in handy when I want to try something out without screwing up my daily driver Nexus 5
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I know the T300 Chi & T100ha. These 2-in-1s are not listed on any website but this is almost to be expected. Making something work is a different exercise than documenting the same. I also stumbled across the GaliumOS. Apparently, this is Chromebook specific distribution built on top of Xubuntu and features the Xfce desktop as you might expect. There is a large list of supported devices here:
https://wiki.galliumos.org/Hardware_Compatibility
This suggests integrating the touchscreen capability to Galium should be a useful approach for the Chromebook market. I was very surprised to learn a Chromebook can cost in excess of $500...something seems wrong with this.
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The Lenovo Think pad X1 3rd Gen works flawlessly including pen and LTE. The Chuwi Hi10Air takes work, but also completely functions including pen. Both running Ubuntu 18.04
Most 2 in 1 tablets have driver problems -something or other doesnt work because of proprietary driver issues and lack of support. The Surface 3 is the only MS tablet I know of to be made completely functional. But it takes a great deal of work to make it so. On all the HPs, Dell, and most MS Surface either the camera doesn't work, or the touchscreen, or pen or ports. There is a running list on reddit under MS Surface/linux, Dell keeps its own list of Linux ready on their site, the Arch and Debian wikis have running lists with what does and doesn't work. Mainly, the Lenovos work out of the box.
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@rocket2nfinity said in Suggestions/recommendations for Touchscreen laptop/2-in-1/tablet?:
On all the HPs, Dell, and most MS Surface either the camera doesn't work, or the touchscreen, or pen or ports.
That's a tad too pessimistic. I have an HP with no such hw/driver problems
https://forums.ubports.com/topic/714/ubuntu-17-10-on-a-convertible-laptop -
@doniks A tablet / 2-in-1 with EVERYTHING working including touchscreen and camera/s that is easily available with an unlocked bootloader. Which one? Because I Put a solid year into researching and testing as many as I could get my hands on and only came up with the few mentioned above.
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@rocket2nfinity HP Pavilion x2 12
Its an Intel chip, no locked boot loader, no problems with the touch screen.
Now that I think about it ... I have to admit that I don't know whether the camera is ok, I think I never tried
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@doniks Would you mind checking -cameras, speaker, microphone , touchscreen, bluetooth, and trackpad? Maybe there's been a recent fix I'm not aware of.
I was interested in the Pavilion, and especially the Envy x2 since it has LTE, but they both have the same issues.
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I have read in several places that the Dell Venue 8 Pro 5855 works completely, but I haven't tried it.
The upcoming PineTab is being built for Linux from the ground up
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@rocket2nfinity said in Suggestions/recommendations for Touchscreen laptop/2-in-1/tablet?:
@doniks Would you mind checking -cameras, speaker, microphone , touchscreen, bluetooth, and trackpad? Maybe there's been a recent fix I'm not aware of.
I was interested in the Pavilion, and especially the Envy x2 since it has LTE, but they both have the same issues.
Certainly! Speaker, touchscreen, bluetooth and trackpad are definitely ok. Mic and camera I can test in a couple of days. Ping me if I forget!
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@doniks said in Suggestions/recommendations for Touchscreen laptop/2-in-1/tablet?:
@rocket2nfinity said in Suggestions/recommendations for Touchscreen laptop/2-in-1/tablet?:
@doniks Would you mind checking -cameras, speaker, microphone , touchscreen, bluetooth, and trackpad? Maybe there's been a recent fix I'm not aware of.
I was interested in the Pavilion, and especially the Envy x2 since it has LTE, but they both have the same issues.
Certainly! Speaker, touchscreen, bluetooth and trackpad are definitely ok. Mic and camera I can test in a couple of days. Ping me if I forget!
jup. mic and camera work
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@doniks Wow. There's been a break in the support issues with camera drivers then. That would mean a couple of the HPs and surface tablets that use the same hardware could be viable options.
Is there ANYTHING that does not work with Linux in your Pavillion?
This is exciting. That camera module has been a pain for a long time.
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@rocket2nfinity I can't think of anything that is wrong wrt drivers.
Wrt software, the touch support of gnome shell and firefox and other pieces of software isn't awesome in ubuntu 19.04 (the latest I tried). It's workable but not perfect. For actual tablet use it's plainly not good enough, I never use it that way. I do use the touch screen as an input device for tapping/scrolling/selecting.
Wrt hardware - the keyboard flexes a bit. The rubber feet at the bottom and those to protect the screen against the keyboard all came off long ago. But still no dammage to the screen. The hinge for the screen has a wiggle of a few degrees, but the magnetic attachment is flawless. Very rarely (weeks) touchpad or keyboard input fail, then I pull the screen off of the keyboard, just enough to disconnect and reconnect, then it works again. The speakers aren't great. They are too silent, so I push the max volume override very far up, which can result in crackling sound, I probably go louder than the speakers like, but so far (years) they survive. I would like to be able to reduce screen brightness down to completely off, but that's not possible, just very dim. The power connector has quite a bit of wiggle by now from mechanical wear. I fear this will be the piece that will ultimately lead to the demise of this otherwise nice little laptop. But so far charging works exactly as it should. Battery life isn't too impressive, but I don't use it a lot on the road so I don't care too much nor can I quantify it very precisely.
I think that's about it. I'm happy I bought it