ZaTab from ZaReason - a fully open Android tablet
Hi folks, I originally sent this to the Melbourne Free Software Interest Group, but I reckon this would be of interest to others on this list and so I'm reposting here. Apologies to those who get duplicates! The US company ZaReason who build Linux systems (and are currently investigating opening a store in New Zealand) have been working on a fully open Android tablet for some time now. Well it's now appeared on their website for pre-orders (unlinked from the rest of the site, but tweeted about) here: http://zareason.com/shop/zatab.html I've blogged about it here: http://www.csamuel.org/2012/04/25/the-zatab-from-zareason-a-fully-open-sourc... summarising what I've learnt from their tweets and from their site, plus noting that the status of their GPU driver is unclear (there is an open source driver in development, but its maturity is claimed to be low). The tablet ships with CyanogenMod 9 and an unlocked boot loader. I would presume it doesn't ship with the Google Apps as they're not open. I've asked via Twitter if they plan on having F-Droid installed by default. Timely given the interest in free software Android devices! cheers, Chris -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC This email may come with a PGP signature as a file. Do not panic. For more info see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenPGP
On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 11:29:07PM +1000 Chris Samuel said:
Hi folks,
I originally sent this to the Melbourne Free Software Interest Group, but I reckon this would be of interest to others on this list and so I'm reposting here. Apologies to those who get duplicates!
It can be purchased only by residents of the US, France, Canada and New Zealand. Sam -- (Sam Varghese)
On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 23:29, Chris Samuel <chris@csamuel.org> wrote:
Hi folks,
I originally sent this to the Melbourne Free Software Interest Group, but I reckon this would be of interest to others on this list and so I'm reposting here. Apologies to those who get duplicates!
The US company ZaReason who build Linux systems (and are currently investigating opening a store in New Zealand) have been working on a fully open Android tablet for some time now. Well it's now appeared on their website for pre-orders
On a related note, there's another open tablet from KDE in the works. It's called Vivaldi [1] (formerly Spark) and it looks like the preorders will be shipping soon [2]. The specs are slightly lower, it runs Mer + KDE Plasma, and retail price will be around $200: [1] http://www.makeplaylive.com/ [2] http://aseigo.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/vivaldi-nearly-here.html -- Marcus Furlong
Marcus Furlong <furlongm@gmail.com> wrote:
On a related note, there's another open tablet from KDE in the works. It's called Vivaldi [1] (formerly Spark) and it looks like the preorders will be shipping soon [2]. The specs are slightly lower, it runs Mer + KDE Plasma, and retail price will be around $200:
It was announced earlier this year and could be interesting to watch. Both KDE and Gnome developers want to move into the tablet arena; it seems that KDE are about to get theirs running on hardware first. Of course, none of this rules out FXCE, LXCE, etc., but it appears that Gnome and KDE have been doing the bulk of the preparation (or maybe they're just receiving most of the publicity), along with X.org. As far as I know, you can't run a Linux console on a tablet, unfortunately, at least without a USB keyboard connected.
On 27/04/12 13:10, Marcus Furlong wrote:
On a related note, there's another open tablet from KDE in the works. It's called Vivaldi [1] (formerly Spark) and it looks like the preorders will be shipping soon [2]. The specs are slightly lower, it runs Mer + KDE Plasma, and retail price will be around $200:
Yeah, though I was a bit underwhelmed at the specs of it. The ZaReason folks are keen to get other distros working on their tablet, but I'm still really hanging out for a proper netbook (apparently in the works at their OEM) as I really like having a proper keyboard. cheers, Chris -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC
Chris Samuel <chris@csamuel.org> wrote:
The ZaReason folks are keen to get other distros working on their tablet, but I'm still really hanging out for a proper netbook (apparently in the works at their OEM) as I really like having a proper keyboard.
So do I. There have been interesting efforts to make touch screens accessible to people who can't see them, and while I recognize the value of this work in making mass market products accessible, I would rather spend my money on hardware that won't slow me down. I hope that real keyboards don't become museum items. Much Linux software is keyboard intensive, as is the act of writing (whether it be text or code). Devices need to continue to be available that can effectively support work that goes beyond point-and-select or typing short messages into an on-screen keyboard.
Jason White wrote:
So do I. There have been interesting efforts to make touch screens accessible to people who can't see them, and while I recognize the value of this work in making mass market products accessible, I would rather spend my money on hardware that won't slow me down.
I hope that real keyboards don't become museum items.
I daresay authors, at least, will keep them available as a niche item for many decades to come, even if the unwashed decide that producing content is passé and entirely to on-screen keyboards. Of course in that scenario, they'd cost as much as foot pedals do now, but I would undoubtedly grit my teeth and pay anyway.
On Friday 27 April 2012 14:45:22 Chris Samuel wrote:
The ZaReason folks are keen to get other distros working on their tablet,
They've now posted a picture of it running Ubuntu and outputing over HDMI on it, I presume it means it can use the built in screen too.. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1456690&l=23e75d01f1&id=12056710463972... (no, you don't need to be a FB user to see that, I'm not and I can) cheers, Chris -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC This email may come with a PGP signature as a file. Do not panic. For more info see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenPGP
Hi Chris, On Fri, 11 May 2012, Chris Samuel wrote:
They've now posted a picture of it running Ubuntu and outputing over HDMI on it, I presume it means it can use the built in screen too..
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1456690&l=23e75d01f1&id=12056710463972...
It would good to know about details, challenges, limitations, and a what's working/what's not working. Do you know any wiki/blog or whatever related to it? The Twitter account remarks that "sounds work but no graphics yet", and now it has HDMI externally.. could mean, the driver for the internal display isn't working yet. I wonder what's needed, from the user's view, to have Ubuntu usable on a tablet. There is a soft keyboard, Xorg supports touch screens in general (does it understand and report as aXEvent frequently used gestures, or does this need to be captured "further up"?).. Does Ubuntu and apps provide everything needed for a touchscreen GUI? I wait for it to arrive. I would like to set it up as a multiboot so I can use the supplied Android system as long as I am fiddling with the Ubuntu system. I am not familiar with ARM devices so I don't know how to achieve it yet. Regards Peter
On 14/05/12 11:15, Peter.Ross@bogen.in-berlin.de wrote:
It would good to know about details, challenges, limitations, and a what's working/what's not working. Do you know any wiki/blog or whatever related to it?
Other than their Twitter feed, no, sorry..
The Twitter account remarks that "sounds work but no graphics yet", and now it has HDMI externally.. could mean, the driver for the internal display isn't working yet.
I asked and yes, you are correct: https://twitter.com/#!/zareason/status/202073606577074177 # The Kubuntu Active team is working on getting the output to the # internal display.
Does Ubuntu and apps provide everything needed for a touchscreen GUI?
I have no idea sorry, I know that KDE has a project to do so (the afformentioned Active project).
I wait for it to arrive. I would like to set it up as a multiboot so I can use the supplied Android system as long as I am fiddling with the Ubuntu system.
I asked about that too, they said: https://twitter.com/#!/zareason/status/202074348843057152 # There will be lots of ways to dual boot the ZaTab. For now we have # Android on the internal flash and Ubuntu on the SD card.
I am not familiar with ARM devices so I don't know how to achieve it yet.
Same here.. :-) cheers, Chris -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC
participants (6)
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Chris Samuel -
Jason White -
Marcus Furlong -
Peter.Ross＠bogen.in-berlin.de -
Sam Varghese -
Trent W. Buck