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Pinetab – 10.1″ Linux Tablet with Detached Backlit Keyboard

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21–30 of 196 posts

Re: Pinetab – 10.1″ Linux Tablet with Detached Backlit Keyboard

#21
post #13

Very interesting! I've been looking for cheap wall-mountable touchscreens so I can have permanent, single-purpose interfaces and displays. For example, I have a KanbanFlow board to track my work, and I use an old tablet mounted to the wall next to my standing desk. I was thinking I'd get cheap Android tablets and root them, but I'd much rather support something where it's built for user control from the beginning.

Side thought... is it even cheaper if you just have displays/use an ESP to do http requests to a local server... guess depends what they have to do. I mean I think you would need a 32 to drive the display too vs. just an ESP01

Re: Pinetab – 10.1″ Linux Tablet with Detached Backlit Keyboard

#22
post #17
post #12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii6lAjgfW3c If this functionality was demoed by Apple on a new $999 "MacPad Pro" there would be arguments over if it was the end of the PC and the beginning of the next generation of computing, a leap like the smartphone revolution. Edits: price, s/this/this functionality/ I took this out of context (sorry), it's a very pre-production device that has received a lot of work since then a…

It's really cool, but my main takeaway from that video was multi-second input lag and you can see several times when he's dragging things around the computer doesn't do what he's expecting. It's a cool tech demo but I don't see how it's going to change the world like that.

Agreed. I think Apple would have made a device with maybe 4 times the specs (eg. 8 Gb RAM instead of 2) and ten times the price (edited the parent to reflect that) and kept it top secret until right before release. There's still hope that this will eventually be polished to perfection, but it will probably take years of revisions.

Re: Pinetab – 10.1″ Linux Tablet with Detached Backlit Keyboard

#23
post #12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii6lAjgfW3c If this functionality was demoed by Apple on a new $999 "MacPad Pro" there would be arguments over if it was the end of the PC and the beginning of the next generation of computing, a leap like the smartphone revolution. Edits: price, s/this/this functionality/ I took this out of context (sorry), it's a very pre-production device that has received a lot of work since then a…

Meh, I don't know. It looks clunky in lots of ways, the GNOME3 UX feels a lot cleaner and more intuitive. Hopefully future GNOME versions will be able to run usefully on 2GB RAM. Or perhaps MATE and Xfce will adopt some of the same touch-friendly interaction principles.

Re: Pinetab – 10.1″ Linux Tablet with Detached Backlit Keyboard

#24
They are serious about not making profit with these. $100 for a full up tablet and it includes the keyboard/touchpad?

2GB of RAM is pretty limiting but 64GB of storage is quite respectable at this price point. The 6AH battery pack is quite beefy too.

Re: Pinetab – 10.1″ Linux Tablet with Detached Backlit Keyboard

#26
post #12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii6lAjgfW3c If this functionality was demoed by Apple on a new $999 "MacPad Pro" there would be arguments over if it was the end of the PC and the beginning of the next generation of computing, a leap like the smartphone revolution. Edits: price, s/this/this functionality/ I took this out of context (sorry), it's a very pre-production device that has received a lot of work since then a…

Are we watching the same video? This is basically no different to what you get on any Windows convertible (though the tablet-mode interactions are closer to the iPad), except way, way jankier.

Re: Pinetab – 10.1″ Linux Tablet with Detached Backlit Keyboard

#28

Pricing Details: The PineTab – $99.99 The magnetic backlit keyboard – $19.99 That's interesting. I love my iPad mini 5, but at this price I may have to pick one of these up.

Yeah for non iPad specific stuff ... just reading and streaming this might be way more cost effective.

Re: Pinetab – 10.1″ Linux Tablet with Detached Backlit Keyboard

#29
post #2

I noticed this has a removable battery, which makes this very interesting to me. What I'd like to know is if it will work with the battery compartment empty on AC power only. I'd like to have "smart" displays wall mounted around the house with dashboards on them. I've read about so many instances where people used wall mounted iPads and Android tablets where the batteries would swell after a period of use.

> What I'd like to know is if it will work with the battery compartment empty on AC power only. The Pinebook laptops can work without a battery while connected to AC, but not out of the box. A simple hardware mod is necessary to enable this, that's documented by Pine.

That is unusual. I have never had a laptop that would not work without a battery present.

Re: Pinetab – 10.1″ Linux Tablet with Detached Backlit Keyboard

#30
post #9
post #5

The Pine folks have been doing fantastic work over the last several years. Does anyone know of ways to support them other than buying products? I don’t really need these gadgets right now, and don’t have the time to tinker, but want to encourage the ecosystem from a long-term perspective. For example, I’d love to give them some money and become a long-term member/shareholder/something. I don’t really care for the rat…

One suggestion, buy a product for someone who could use it but doesn’t have the resources. As a kid who loved to tinker and had no money this would have meant the world to me at that time.

I know what you mean; I was in a similar situation growing up. One very unfortunate phenomenon among most of the kids I see today is that they are so swamped by “structured” activities that they have no time to “tinker” for the heck of it. They feel pressured that all their time ought to show returns on their resume/exams/applications/etc :-/

I would love to enable a few kids and engage with them so I might at least vicariously get some of the fun of tinkering.

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