# Which tablets (architectures) a suitable to tun Gentoo linux

## nagmat84

Currently I am planning to buy a tablet and to put Gentoo linux on it with KDE plasma for netbooks as the GUI. Hence, I wonder 

 what tablets can be recommended

 which hardware is known to be supported and 

 are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? 

Despite the usual problems with certain extraordinary hardware (camera, fingerprint sensor) the difficulties already start with the overall platform (cpu/chipset). I found the gentoo-prefix project to run Gentoo on top of an android system, but I would like to run Gentoo as the only OS. Hence the question is, if any of the usual tablet SoC 

 Exynos

 Snapdragon/Qualcomm 

are supported or if I am stuck to x86/amd64 systems? If the latter is the truth I have to look out for tablets that run Windows 8. So far I only found two manufacturers: 

 Dell

 Asus 

Does anybody know further manufacturer and/or can recommend any of them?

Has anybody already tried this and can share his/her experiences? To get me right: If a single piece of hardware like the camera, gps sensor or other things that fall into this category do not work, I am fine with this.

The two main purposes for the tablet are:

 Read and annotate papers in pdf, ps and dvi format. Annotations are seldom comments but rather bookmarking and highlighting text. Hence, the qualities of a usual keyboard are not necessary.

 Run pdf presentations with an external projector. Hence, display port, HDMI, DVI and/or VGA output must be supported. 

Actually both points form the reason why I want to run an all-purpose OS. Regarding point 1 I do not know any good app for android or iOS that fits my needs and even supports TeX dvi format. Sometimes a must switch to an external video (mostly mp4) in my presentations (point 2). Here, too, I do not know any app for androis/iOS that can do this.

Matthias

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## Roman_Gruber

Lets view it from another View.

Gnu-linux runs on different hardware and architecture. Its not only the stuff you mentioned.

Android is as far as i know also some flavour of Linux, not sure if its exactly like that it has a kernel and other stuff.

These Windows 8 tablets as told on different Webpages with those atom cpus are too overstuffed, they are not very responsive becasue of that operating system.

And bear in mind you need a touchscreen operating system, I wonder how you want to manage a plain cli OS to be part of a tablet.

ANDROID, I only have a smartphone since march 2013, is touch screen optimized for htose architectures.

You can install 3rd party software from other app-stores (the google store is in my expirence, not the best)

And i recommend you, to get an adblocker from a 3rd party and rooted device.

Summary, stick to an android tablet, as its optimized for such things, it works, no hassle. Get f-droid for example, root the tablet, and get an adblocker and also android-wall (firewall). 

Thats my opinion and expierence so far.

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## nagmat84

Actually this answer is not really helpful, sorry, bu thank you anyway.

I already considered to use Android or iOS, but as I said the two main purposes are to read and annotate scientific papers (in pdf or Latex dvi format) and to use it as a presentation device in combination with an external projector. After looking around for some suitable apps I came up with the conclusion that an all-purpose OS with "normal" software is the better choice. Nonetheless I do a lot of my reading work on the sofa, so a full laptop is too much. For all other work, I still use an ordinary tower pc. 

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Gnu-linux runs on different hardware and architecture. Its not only the stuff you mentioned.
> 
> Android is as far as i know also some flavour of Linux, not sure if its exactly like that it has a kernel and other stuff.
> ...

 

And here comes the problem. Of course, Linux runs on a lot of other platforms, especially on different ARM architecture. But I have never heard about Exynos and Snapdragon/Qualcomm support. Both are special ARM architectures by the way. This was exactly my question: Does anybody know for sure, if any of today's tablet architectures is supported besides x86/amd64 systems?

And no: Android is not Linux. Android is part of the unix-like operating system family. It adopted a lot of code from the Linux kernel, because nobody likes to repeat things twice. So you can think of it as a fork. But it has a lot of proprietary source code, which cannot be ported back to Linux easily. Currently, Android and Linux are getting closer again, but stating that Linux runs on any platform that Android runs on is a false assumption.

Even you give an invalid argument saying that Android seems to be Linux because it has a "kernel and other stuff". Every operating system has a kernel, even Windows. Hence "having a kernel" is not sufficient to be Linux.

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> These Windows 8 tablets as told on different Webpages with those atom cpus are too overstuffed, they are not very responsive becasue of that operating system.
> 
> 

 

Why is Windows 8 being "not very responsive" a problem? I have never said I want to use Windows 8, but Gentoo. If a tablet runs Windows 8, it must be x86/amd64 architecture, so I can be more or less sure that Gentoo will run, too. This is the reason, why I came up with Windows 8. Windows 8 is only a clue that this tablet might be suitable to run Gentoo. A helpful answer would have been, if Gentoo is responsive with Atom cpus or not.

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> I wonder how you want to manage a plain cli OS to be part of a tablet. 
> 
> 

 

Once again, I have never said I want to run a plain CLI OS on the tablet. I said, I would like to use KDE with Plasma for tablets. In general, the x window system also supports touch screen input, if the x system has input drivers for that touch screen. So the question is: Does anybody know a tablet with a touch screen supported by x.org?

Of course, the Gentoo installation might get tricky as long as the x window system is not yet running. But my hope was to get a tablet with one or two USB ports, so that I can connect an external keyboard and mouse during installation.

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## Roman_Gruber

Just a suggestion: http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-HP-Spectre-13-h205eg-x2-Convertible.105231.0.html

I think there is an option to view in english too, or use google to transalte ...

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