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Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

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Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#101

Pretty sure Walmart sold RCA brand Android tablets for $50.

I wonder if the performance of those tablets would improve if android was removed and run pine linux instead. that said size of the screen is actually a big factor in price, also you need more powerful processor to push pixels on that screen and bigger battery for power draw. all those costs add up. plus they maybe following razer blade model.

You'd probably end up with the opposite (Android will run faster). Source: I own an ODroid3 which can have Linux or Android installed. Android is a lot faster due to better GPU support.

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if the performance of those tablets would improve if android was removed and run pine linux instead. that said size of the screen is actually a big factor in price, also you need more powerful processor to push pixels on that screen and bigger battery for power draw. all those costs add up. plus they maybe following razer blade model.

You'd probably end up with the opposite (Android will run faster). Source: I own an ODroid3 which can have Linux or Android installed. Android is a lot faster due to better GPU support.

That "better" GPU support often relies on proprietary drivers, though. Which means you're stuck with a crappy downstream kernel until the graphics support gets reverse-engineered and pushed to the mainline kernel.

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In common parlance "Linux (Phone|Tablet)" does not include android because the userspace is usually very different than what most people running linux think as linux.

GNU/Linux, please.

Do you disagree or are you just memeing?

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#104
post #44

I wonder why they price their products so cheap. They seem to be totally overrun by demand. And give a terrible user experience when you try to order from them. Friends of mine have ordered (and paid!) Pine64 products weeks ago and get no information when they will be shipped. When you send them an email, it either gets ignored or you get a reply by someone who does not speak English. Telling you something like "Yes…

I think it's a bit much to expect their entire support staff to write in perfect English, since they are not based in an English-speaking country. I don't think it's a very big operation, either. I have one of their boards and can only say I had a good experience buying from them. I think compared to some of the alternatives in the price range (ie., random, no-name eBay crap), their documentation and forums is very g…

[deleted]

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#105
post #73
post #17

I did some actual work on an ASUS Chromebook C201P, running VS Code, Postgresql, pgAdmin and Node.js. It was a little bit slow, but not too bad. I kind of expected/hoped this to be better than that old Chromebook, but reading this https://www.cnx-software.com/2015/04/09/relative-performance... it looks like it has even worse performance (A17 vs A53)

I still have an Acer C720, which cost $250 back in 2013. It's a lovely piece of equipment, once you remove ChromeOS. I've taken it apart more times than I can recall, lots of empty space inside. The only downside is 2GB of RAM, 4GB would have been better, otherwise it's a perfect device even today (for development and browsing the web). I always meant to buy a couple more RAM chips and solder them down to the motherb…

Fellow C720 owner here. Love the thing, have had it running Elementary on a new SSD for ages now. Have recently switched to a E111 (despite only 32GB EMMC) because I got it to take 8GB RAM: https://taoofmac.com/space/com/Acer/Aspire%20ES1-111M, but otherwise the experience is still largely the same: extremely lightweight, quiet, "disposable" laptop tha I can use to code anything, browse anything, fiddle with the electronics (this one has pads for a SATA connector... haven't traced the electronics yet to see if they are there at all...)

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#106

I wonder why they price their products so cheap. They seem to be totally overrun by demand. And give a terrible user experience when you try to order from them. Friends of mine have ordered (and paid!) Pine64 products weeks ago and get no information when they will be shipped. When you send them an email, it either gets ignored or you get a reply by someone who does not speak English. Telling you something like "Yes…

From my Pine64 experience as an initial backer, I 100% agree. I think where Pine64 failed to deliver is that they overpromised on when they could deliver the product. I received mine very late and I couldn't boot the OS and support wasn't helpful. Meanwhile, the Raspberry Pi 3 with 64bit support was announced after Pine64 and delivered before the Pine64 without hiccups. Pine64 could have improved but I woule rather s…

"Meanwhile, the Raspberry Pi 3 ..."

The Raspberry PI foundation essentially is a branch of Broadcom, a chipmaker with $20 billion revenue in 2018. Pine64 had to crowfund their first boards 5 years ago while Broadcom already had been a chip vendor for the US military. They are not even comparable.

Moreover, I wouldn't take the Pi Foundation as an example after what they did with the Zero, which was sold for years in extremely low quantities at cost, or bundled with unnecessary stuff, just so that word of mouth of that price would prevent people from purchasing boards from competitors.

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#107

I wonder why they price their products so cheap. They seem to be totally overrun by demand. And give a terrible user experience when you try to order from them. Friends of mine have ordered (and paid!) Pine64 products weeks ago and get no information when they will be shipped. When you send them an email, it either gets ignored or you get a reply by someone who does not speak English. Telling you something like "Yes…

This isnt really a finished product that they are comfortable selling to the general population. I actually feel like they are doing a pretty good job of setting customers expectations. From the order page for the pine tab I see these disclaimers: The PineTab comes with UBports OS build installed. Please note that the OS build is still in a beta stage, and while most core functionality works, some elements remain a w…

That doesnt mean their customer service as in giving an estimate of a shipping time should be that bad. They could at least say "hey, we're a bit overwhelmed right now, we'll let you know when it's ready to ship but dont have more info right now, sorry" or something like that

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In common parlance "Linux (Phone|Tablet)" does not include android because the userspace is usually very different than what most people running linux think as linux.

Mmm...no true Scotsman.

Android is more a case of a martian scotsman if we keep to that fallacy/analogy.

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#109
$84.95 RCA Voyager Pro 7 16GB Tablet with Keyboard Case Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) in Purple [1].

I've seen other RCA Voyagers going for $50 or less, even at Walmart.

* 7.0" touchscreen

* 1.3GHz Quad-Core processor

* 16GB of storage memory

* Google Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS

* Webcam, WiFi and Bluetooth

And then install Termux [2], which is a nifty Linux that runs on Android.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/RCA-Voyager-Keyboard-Marshmallow-RCT6...

[2] https://termux.com/

Re: Pine64 launches the cheapest Linux Tablet ever priced at just $99.99

#110
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get a refurbished iPad for $100 and a new one for $280. And you know all your employees will be familiar with the interface. Why bother using anything else?

How well does iOS really work as a kiosk when your customers might interact with it, possibly unattended? I know I've seen many iPads in such a situation where they go on a lock screen and ask for a passcode, or you can hit Home and go to Springboard to open some apps or change settings, or at one point I had it pop up a prompt to update the major version of iOS and I hit "yes" and it seemed quite busy working on tha…

Some "real" payment terminals are also suspectible to customer misuse. There have been many cases of customers issuing "refunds" of thousands of euros to themselves when they were supposed to be inputting their PIN - easier if the terminal is out of sight of the seller - e.g. in a car at a drive-in:

(all in Finnish)

https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9966606

https://www.is.fi/tampereen-seutu/art-2000006461066.html

https://mikkeli.datagroup.fi/fi/asiakkaille/blogi/haikailema...

https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000005178637.htm...

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