Still no tablet? Then why bother?

[BaneCapitol]

I'm baffled that anyone would want to use a tiny screen and chicklet keyboard.


Linux is about freedom, but for Pandora it seems that Linux is just a means to an end, and that any OS would do.


There's no commitment to freedom inherent in Pandora. It's about playing very very old video games, which only a tiny percentage of gamers even do.


Why not make the Pandora a device for running Linux first and foremost. Why not make it a means to further the goal of freedom?


To do that of course, you'd have to make a tablet, not a tiny gaming device.

 

[Znirk]

Could you try again, but make sense this time?


Of course linux is a means to an end. Every OS is. If your only reason to use linux is because FREEDOM!!!!eleventyone!!, then the pandora can do that for you. In fact, if that's all you want, you don't even need the tiny screen and keyboard: a computer can perfectly well run linux all month without accepting any user input or displaying anything.


But maybe you want free linux to run some free application software and do something useful, freely and on the go? Sounds like a solid plan. Let me know how that works out for you on a tablet with no keyboard.


Bottom line: If you want a tablet, buy a tablet. If you want linux on a tablet, port linux to a tablet. I don't understand why you're wasting your time whining at people who clearly want something completely different.

 

[BaneCapitol]

Tablets from Samsung and whatnot change all the time. Chips used in even one batch can differ. Some of the hardware is unknown. Linux driver writers always have to play catch-up and sometimes have to use leaked documentation about chips.


That's unacceptible.


Using "corporate" hardware is the problem. Tablets from big companies will never truly support freedom. Big corporations will always want to thwart freedom-minded people.


The potential benefit of Pandora is that it could use known hardware and not be beholden to a big company.


The 1% does not want people to be free. They want unquestioning low-cost workers and they want you to pay rent to them for everything.


If Pandora's hardware designers cared about freeing people from their corporate overlords, they would produce a piece of hardware that can actually be used for something other than obscure retro gaming. And that would be a tablet.

 

[gunrock]

That small

There's no commitment to freedom inherent in Pandora. It's about playing very very old video games, which only a tiny percentage of gamers even do.

That is why this is a niche product. That minority is a majority on these boards and among Pandora owners and ED and Craig can be counted among them, I'd imagine.

 

[Binky]

Here's a suggestion:

• improved tactile keyboard with arrow keys
  
• multicore, low-power CPU running a android, angstrom, Debian or any other Linux distro
  
• 4GB of RAM
  
• multiple upgradeable disks
  
• 5 inch HD display
  
• mouse control stick
  
• 4 way scroll control
  
• modifier keys in reach of fingers at all times
  
• fits in your pocket
  
• epic battery life
  

The above are very probable specs for a P2


Which would be quicker to market that a tablet (shares iCP2 parts) and would make the retrogamers happy too


have your seen this:


http://liliputing.com/2012/01/265-spark-tablet-runs-plasma-active-linux-software.html

 

[diligentcircle]

You sound like a free software guy. I'm one of those too, but keep in mind that the Pandora community is much more of an open source community than a free software one.


Honestly, I don't see what you would want from a tablet that a regular netbook or laptop doesn't offer, and there are a lot of those that not only work with free software, but work fully even if you use only free software on them (there is a website somehow related to the Free Software Foundation that ranks hardware based on compatibility with free software, if you don't know about it I can give you a link). What in particular makes a tablet more desirable than a netbook, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Loonie]

Err... I'm baffled, alright.


So the thing that's wrong with Pandora is... it's not a tablet?

 

[BaneCapitol]

Lose the Android junkware and give it a 10 inch display and I'd buy it.

What in particular makes a tablet more desirable than a netbook, if you don't mind me asking?

My vision of an ideal computing device is a tablet. It has maximum portability, it has area for a large circuit board and battery, it even has concealability.


Leaving out a keyboard delegates the keyboard problem to the consumer, which is just fine because there are really good small keyboards out there,


whereas stock keyboards for laptops and worse for palmtops are increasingly horrible junk.


But Linux is an absolute must-have, due to our increasing surveillance-state situation where spyware is everywhere and everything seems to have a backdoor.

 

[moxie]

Err... I'm baffled, alright.


So the thing that's wrong with Pandora is... it's not a tablet?

Obviously. Or something?

 

[_wb_]

How exactly is a 10 inch tablet _more_ portable than a Pandora? You have weird pockets.

 

[BaneCapitol]

That small

There's no commitment to freedom inherent in Pandora. It's about playing very very old video games, which only a tiny percentage of gamers even do.

That is why this is a niche product. That minority is a majority on these boards and among Pandora owners and ED and Craig can be counted among them, I'd imagine.

The majority of hardware makers are committed to preventing freedom.

 

[moxie]

How exactly is a 10 inch tablet _more_ portable than a Pandora? You have weird pockets.

...or, for that instance, more concealable? Particularly as it seems that he wants to lug a separate keyboard around, too?


I'd suggest that it isn't just the pockets.

 

[TrashyMG]

Every time I see a tablet I think to my self "why would I want a neutered Netbook?". Sure the Asus Transformer series interests me slightly as it has a detachable keyboard.


Also the Pandora is a Niche device that blurs the lines between an Ultra Mini PC and a handheld game device.. it's designed to be exactly what it is and no matter what you want it to be it won't change.


Plus what's stopping you from installing any OS you want on any current Tablet device. Many current tablets can be re-flashed or boot from an SD card to a different OS.

 

[moxie]

Of course, to be a real revolutionary, you really must be able to buy your gear pre-configured for you. Or?

 

[bzar]

If you want a comparable tablet on the horizon, try Vivaldi.

 

[ckblackm]

Sounds like the Asus Transformer would suit your needs, imho.


For me personally, I use the P as a mini-laptop... and I love that it fits in my pocket. It's an upgrade from my Zaurus clamshell that works nicely.

 

[kirkanoss]

if this was a tablet with no keyboard and maybe 6+ battery life, open pandora would have died along time ago. and a lot of people do play old games and a lot of the old games/emu's use a keyboard. and there is a lot of great home-brew games to be played. there is also a ton of freedom with this lets see you can code games/apps right on the pandora for the pandora, and can run lots of os's. i love my tiny screen and my chicklet keyboard( not that i think my screen is tiny) guess my eyes aren't bad. also what tablet has 2 full size sd slots or even a usb port. can go from watching a movie to playing baldur's gate to taking notes to sufing the web to coding to playing ps1 otg to logging into other pc's to controlling robots to being a great sound system to making your own music no no no there is no freedom at all and dam still have 50% battery left.

 

[Binky]

stock keyboards for laptops and worse for palmtops are increasingly horrible junk.

Lame argument.


If you want a good keyboard, demand a Pandora with a good keyboard, not that OP leave it out alltogether

 

[sebt3]

trooly topic is trolly

 

[PokeParadox]

Erm... I like my keyboard + gaming controls... don't try and turn us into yet another tablet device...