Something ive been wanting for a while is a highly portable linux device like a phone or small tablet but obviously running fully flegde linux.
I need a device that is x86, 5g/4g networking water resistant if possible, sliding kB would be great but thats a bye gone era.
I don’t want to use android based systems as when they have linux support it is via a spersific distribution made for that device. Virtualization is also not for me.
Linux tablets are just hitting the market, so finding a native Linux tablet that suits all your needs might be wishful thinking. Juno Tablet is probably your best bet right now. Otherwise, you might need to settle for installing linux on MS Surface or similar device.
StarLabs StarLite is the closest device I’ve seen to those requirements. It’s a 12” x86 tablet without a cell modem or water resistance.
This sounds almoat good to be true. What’s the catch?
Edit. The processor is quite slow, which is fine for my use cases, but you are not going to game with that thing.
That probably says more about the state of x86 processors than anything else.
Honestly if you want it to be portable, you’re going to have to use a RISC processor. The x86 processors are just so energy inefficient for most instructions that the battery is drained too quickly and it requires a much bigger battery to compensate.
Are there any mainstream tablets running RISC processors though? I though RISC processors of that power level were still in the development stage and/or only available in China.
ARM is a RISC processor at heart. Or at least it was at one point - I’m not sure how or if they’ve deviated. Time for some wikipedia.
they’re still pretty RISC, using fixed-width instructions and fairly simple encoding. certainly a hell of a lot simpler than the mess that is x86-64
