2

There seems to be little information available about what distributions are able to operate tablets (tablet-computers). I'm specifically addressing 7in-10in "true" tablets, not hybrid laptops with touchscreen and detachable keyboard.

I've searched the web for several days (including this very site). I found much information, but:

  • all of it is either obsolete, or so old that it's probably not relevant anymore. Example: the Ubuntu wiki still has pages about Ubuntu Touch, which has been abandoned by Canonical; I went to https://ubuntu-touch.io and https://ubports.com , but all pages are missing a date, and the FAQ refers to "16.04" as a future release whereas it seems to be released already.

  • I found contradicting evidence: some people say tablets are closer to smartphones than to laptops, especially as regards proprietary drivers for the tablet peripherals; others say that x86-powered tablets can run GNU/Linux just like laptops do.

As an example I've skimmed through the openSUSE website and couldn't determine whether the current version is installable on a tablet, or under what conditions (regarding the tablet hardware).

Ubuntu Touch promotes only 4 devices, among which only one is a tablet! (The other 3 are smartphones.)

All this leads me to the conclusion that running GNU/Linux on a tablet is, at the time of this writing, either very delicate (but then, why so few up-to-date questions or pages on this subject?) or very straightforward (but then, why no mention at all of such an install on e.g. the openSUSE website?). I couldn't even find a relevant tag here. "tablet" refers to graphical tablets (digitizers), "tablet computer" didn't exist until I used it, "smartphone" isn't really relevant, "phablet" & "hybrid computer" wouldn't be if they existed...

So the question is: can you point to GNU/Linux distributions that explicitly support (some) tablets? A link to an up-to-date page stating the given distribution generally supports tablets, or listing supported models? (Something like https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Devices/Nexus , which is now both obsolete because Ubuntu doesn't support Touch anymore and outdated because the last tests date back to more than 4 years...)

Improve this question
3
  • I see 4 votes to close my question. Voters are welcome to comment here to explain why. I could improve it maybe. I know my question is very open and calls for a long answer, but, well, not all Q&A are one-liners! Commented Nov 20, 2018 at 21:31
  • "Put on hold" and still no comment to support this. "Primarily opinion-based"? I'm wondering what part of my question calls for opinions... I'm asking what distributions support which tablets. No room for opinions there. The absence of a "tablet-computer" tag here is quite revealing about the lack of knowledge in this field! Commented Nov 24, 2018 at 12:46
  • Edited to rephrase parts of the text and add an explicit question. Commented Nov 24, 2018 at 13:29

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

It would be better if you could clarify more your question. Usually tablets have ARM processor so any GNU/Linux for ARM architecture can work nice. My suggestions:

  1. https://archlinuxarm.org/
  2. https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM
  3. https://www.ubuntu.com/download/server/arm
Improve this answer
4
  • (1/2) I will clarify with pleasure, can you tell me what's not clear? About your answer: "usually tablets have ARM processor" is a bit vague, and supporting a processor is not enough to make a device work AFAIK. Thank you for your links, but they don't clear up my doubts. Link 2 : "We don't directly support devices such as phones and tablets but it's not to say that without the required kernel/bootloader know how that they don't work, it's just not our primary focus." (emphasis mine) Link 3 : "includes support for the very latest ARM-based server systems" Commented Nov 20, 2018 at 21:21
  • (2/2) Link 1 lists supported boards. It's not immediately clear if/which tablets are supported. I saw a Snapdragon-based board, and such processors seem to be rather frequent on tablets, but that's all I can tell. The only well-known devices I've found in the list are the Samsung Chromebooks, but they're computers, not tablets. Commented Nov 20, 2018 at 21:27
  • Please give me an exact tablet model so I would help you how to install GNU/Linux on it. By exact model I mean something like Samsung Series 7 Slate XE700T1A. Commented Nov 21, 2018 at 8:25
  • I'm clearly not asking for instructions about configuring a particular model. I'm expecting a review of existing possibilities: what distributions support tablets? With references, e.g. webpages of those distributions which clearly state this fact. Commented Nov 24, 2018 at 12:49

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.