Puppy on Tablets

[Lobster]

Thanks raffy, thanks guys

I now have an ARM powered Android phone and for the last two days been playing with a new ipad2 (gone back to owner now)
. . . very tempted to save up my sardine tins to get one . . .

The Android phone (which I use as a computer) reminds me of facebook. Lots to do most of it trivial or useless. Will take me a while to get used to it

Ipad2 . . . Any good?
Yes. Very good. Very polished. Very pleasant.
Totally cloud based - you really need net connection
Fast, quiet, long battery life 5 hour charging - 10 hour usage
The screen is fabulous
The IOS very straight forward interfacing
Safari browser is OK
Youtube works, there is a free BBC iplayer, Street view in Google maps IS available

Problems. No flash - not such a bad thing
No USB - that is a bad thing . . .
The screen keyboard is very good but the screen cover is
separate prop which Apple overcharges for in its normal outrageous manner
That cover would be much more useful
if it was a blue tooth rubberised rollerable keyboard
Don’t tell me no one thought of that?

Will we ever see Puppy on it?
Not in Puppy's present form - it is just not yet 'touch enabled
BUT that might be supported in the latest kernel options?

[Lobster]

This is Ubuntu's plan
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/02/ ... -computer/
It is a good plan.

O Raspberry, Raspberry,, wherefore art thou Raspberry?
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PARM
touch of the Juliets . . .

[smokey01]

Lobster iPad3 is just around the corner. Even more impressive.

http://www.ipad-3-news.com/

[Lobster]

Lobster iPad3 is just around the corner. Even more impressive.

Must resist
I have the programming ability of
a TV remote with missing batteries
but I want a tablet I can program on. . . .

This is tempting
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Codify-r ... ad_id23301
Must resist - do not bite the Apple

I thought the Ipad3 would have an e-ink screen
- that would have been very cool

Parmlet not available yet . . .

[Lobster]

An alternative to the Akash . . .
http://www.pantel.in/product19-T-Pad_is701r.aspx

There are a lot of these potential devices floating about.
E-ink is going to make the difference for me - battery life will shoot up

[Snail]

I am very tempted by the ASUS TF300T. This is a 10 inch display pad computer that comes with a detachable keyboard, becoming an ARM netbook with the keyboard attached. The SOC is a Nvidia Tegra3, which has 4 cortex A9 cores with NEON , plus a 5th low-power one for idling etc. Quite a different scale from the Raspberry Pi, in cost alas! Still cheaper than any Ultrabook I can find in NZ though.

There a a number of fora that report on various ways to install Linux onto the TF300. The easiest way seems to be to chroot from android into a suitable Linux filesystem image. Most of them mention Ubuntu but claim that any processor-suitable Linux image should work.

Can any guru comment on whether this is likely to work for Puppy? I would tend to be looking at using Android for the things that it is good for and Puppy for the essential Linux apps, especially Libre Office. I was considering the Arch-Puppy approach as a possibility. Or is there another Puppy ARM build that could work?

If it looks possible and I do have a go, would there be anyone available to hold my hand as I try?

[vtpup]

Still waiting for a Puppy that runs on a cheap 9" ARM tablet.

For example IRULU on ebay: $65 with case and keyboard.

Tired of Android, Google, cloud, hype, inefficiency, lack of ownership, etc. Want Puppy!

[rokytnji]

Still waiting for a Puppy that runs on a cheap 9" ARM tablet.

For example IRULU on ebay: $65 with case and keyboard.

Tired of Android, Google, cloud, etc. Want Puppy!

Not Puppy but new news anyways

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29410999

Something to keep in mind though.

However, it will work only with kit fitted with chips based on ARM's Cortex-M designs.

[vtpup]

I want Puppy, not another mfr's idea to corral a market.

[vtpup]

Some hope of a useful puppy on a tablet now. I just bought a mfr refurb Acer A1-830 on EBay - they're selling for $89, and they're Intel Atom x86 based. New, they're $150 so I hope we may see a good user base.

I'm hoping the x86 proc will allow Puppy to run. I'm already running Debian on it as a chroot process. You still have to vnc to it (or RDP) and I can't yet do that with a client running on the tablet -- not sure why but local host and 127.0.0.1 haven't been accessible via the stock Android clients I've tried so far.

BUT... I have been able to vnc to the tablet from Puppy's client on my laptop at its network address. So PROGRESS!!

We need a puppy image instead of Debian, and hopefully it should run natively on this hardware.

[vtpup]

For a taste, here's the Debian desktop running on the Acer Iconia A1-830 tablet. I've added to it and customized the xvkb keyboard. I run this from a VNC connection to the tablet from my laptop running Puppy linux and Rdesktop. I should be able to do this directly on the tablet, but haven't succeeded yet with the Android clients I've tried.

But ideally A linux should run natively -- and that should be possible with this tablet.

Also because this is an x86 tablet, I can install the vast range of .x86 debs, rather than those compiled for ARM devices, and it should be possible to run other types of x86 oriented linux, as well.

[vtpup]

Here's an article which appears to say that a standard install works with a variety of Linuxes on an x86 tablet using a standard Live install method.

http://www.in.techradar.com/news/softwa ... 781789.cms

Unfortunately they don't actually explain the live install method they used:

We're fairly sure you don't need to be told how to install a Linux distro - most now use an identifiable and easy-to-navigate installer - but we thought it would be interesting to see how well they coped, first as a live image, via a bootable USB, then secondly as a fully installed OS.

Well actually, no. At least not for a tablet like this. For Puppy we use a LiveCD or at the very least, extract the puppy files from an ISO add them to a directory and hand write menu.lst stanzas to potint to it (frugal install) None of which is applicable to the tablet. I don't understand the boot process or boot loader -- wish they'd specified this for their article.

But it does look hopeful.

[vtpup]

More info:

The tablet is really nicely built with an Ipad Mini form factor, an 8" 1024 x 768 screen resolution and a dual core 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom proc, 16 Gig of internal memory (11 gig available), microSD slot.

The instructions I used to root the tablet are here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthr ... st51089990

Instructions I used to install x86 tablet Debian (not native, requires VNC or RDP client to display desktop) here:

http://wdowiak.me/special-features/debi ... index.html

[rokytnji]

I want Puppy, not another mfr's idea to corral a market.

OK

Still waiting for a Puppy that runs on a cheap 9" ARM tablet.

OK

they're Intel Atom x86 based.

OK, I guess.

So much for a arm puppy I guess. At least the link I supplied will run on a arm device. I have no ties to Britain being a Texican. Just posting the info.

Good luck with with the x86 Intel Atom cpu tablet. I own 2 intel atom n270
2 gig ram, netbooks myself that run puppy already.

[vtpup]

Roky, do your atom powered netbooks use a standard bootloader like Grub?

I had never considered an x86 tablet basically because most seemed to run Win 8 and were in the $400 range. I don't have any particular reason to want an ARM processor vs an x86 on a tablet -- just didn't realize an x86 tab was available at an affordable level. X86 has the advantage of years of development, rather than rewriting everything from scratch for a different instruction set.

btw. ARM processors can run a real open source Linux distro now but only those compiled for a particular ARM version and also, typically as an image under Android and VPNed to. The three main available ARM LInii are Debian, Ubuntu, and Arch. Puppy ARM development seemed to stall around 2012 in the threads I've seen. I imagine the biggest damper was the fact that apps would have to be written for ARM, not just the OS. And the variety of ARM version devices would require different compiled versions.

The x86 tablet is suddenly a viable option, however in this price range, in fact the tablet I got has better screen specs at a similar price to the cheapest Ebay Chinese ARM tablet clones. I think we're on the verge of a big change in the tablet market as a result, at least for Linux, -- and I hope we can shortly have a Puppy running on low cost high quality tablets.

[rokytnji]

Roky, do your atom powered netbooks use a standard bootloader like Grub?

Yes. Also grub4dos if need be. I can run Puppy off of sd card and use the F key to change boot order also.

I'd make a suggestion but I do not own a big tablet like you do. Mine is a

http://www.amazon.com/iView-IVIEW-420TP ... B00DJ3YEEI

Anyways a

http://www.amazon.com/Leather-Case-Keyb ... B0052AG1UQ

Will turn your tablet into a freaking strong netbook since you have dual cores and your rig is stronger than my netbooks. Mine are

http://www.macomp.com/companionpc.asp

I put 2 gig of ram in them. I basically picked up 3 of them for the price I sold my eeepc 900 for when I sold it (with Slack0 5.6 on it).

I do not know how locked down your bios is. I own a Chromebook also
and the bios in those make UEFI look simple. They are locked down
like a chastity belt.

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/coffee ... -bull.html

[vtpup]

Roky, too late I already bought a bluetooth keyboard separately and found a remaindered Ipad mini case that fit for $9 locally -- but they're not a single unit.

Roky that chromebook thread was a great read! Enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the end result.

Very apropos since I'm on the local school board and there is a great push to buy a mass of chromebooks -- I've been suggesting linux on notebooks and maybe vpn as being a much more appropriate local solution, but it's getting tough to find anything that runs linux easily. I think student confidentiality is important and am wary of the commercialism and datamining of the G-cloud world. And the dumbing down of users -- seems like a more "difficult" operating system like Linux has advantages to education. I don't just want to teach kids to be consumers, they ought to be tech savvy. Anyway very off-topic, apologies!

I would like to know more Roky about any way you think I might try booting Puppy live from Android, even though it's different from your tablets/phones.

I still don't know how the user in the TechRadar link I gave earlier simply booted 5 different Linux live distros in his device. He acted like it was a simple piece of cake, to obvious to mention. Maybe it is, but I wish he had.

My tablet is rooted, but I haven't installed a recovery (haven't found one yet for this tablet -- for example clockworkmod doesn't list it). There are also no ROMs available yet. It is a pretty new device. Can't even put Cyanogenmod on if I wanted to stay Androidish.

But Puppy is where I really want to end up.


Tonight I tried out a few more vnc and rdp clients, and NOTHING will connect to localhost on the machine, Despite the fact that I can easily connect to the debian install over the network from a remote machine.

Is there a log file on the Deb install to try to find out why the connection fails? It's running VNCServer xrdp sesman. Any help would be appreciated.

[chapchap70]

Here is my menu.lst on my netbook for those interested. X only works in modesetting with this Atom processor. I've tried more than these and usually do manual frugal installs.

Code: Select all

# menu.lst produced by grub4dosconfig-v1.8.0
color white/blue black/cyan white/black cyan/black
#splashimage=/splash.xpm
timeout 10
default 0

# Frugal installed Puppy

title Fatdog64 (sda4/Fatdog620)
  uuid 89b31643-9800-46b1-b034-d02dd10f7c38
  kernel /Fatdog620/vmlinuz   psubdir=Fatdog620 pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
  initrd /Fatdog620/initrd

title Fatdog64 (sda4/Fatdog700b)
  uuid 89b31643-9800-46b1-b034-d02dd10f7c38
  kernel /Fatdog700b/vmlinuz   psubdir=Fatdog700b pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
  initrd /Fatdog700b/initrd

title Tahr (sda4/Tahr)
  uuid 89b31643-9800-46b1-b034-d02dd10f7c38
  kernel /Tahr/vmlinuz   psubdir=Tahr pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
  initrd /Tahr/initrd.gz

title Lupu 528 (sda4/Lucid528)
  uuid 89b31643-9800-46b1-b034-d02dd10f7c38
  kernel /Lucid528/vmlinuz   psubdir=Lucid528 pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
  initrd /Lucid528/initrd.gz

title Puppy slacko 5.6.0 (sda4/Slacko5.6.0)
  uuid 89b31643-9800-46b1-b034-d02dd10f7c38
  kernel /Slacko5.6.0/vmlinuz   psubdir=Slacko5.6.0 pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
  initrd /Slacko5.6.0/initrd.gz
  
title Fatdog64 (sda4/Fatdog630)
  uuid 89b31643-9800-46b1-b034-d02dd10f7c38
  kernel /Fatdog630/vmlinuz   psubdir=Fatdog630 pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
  initrd /Fatdog630/initrd
  
title Community Edition Testing (sda4/CE)
  uuid 89b31643-9800-46b1-b034-d02dd10f7c38
  kernel /CE/vmlinuz   psubdir=CE pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
  initrd /CE/initrd.gz
  
 title Precise (sda4/Precise)
  uuid 89b31643-9800-46b1-b034-d02dd10f7c38
  kernel /Precise/vmlinuz   psubdir=Precise pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
  initrd /Precise/initrd.gz 
  
title Simplicity (sda4/Simplicity)
  uuid 89b31643-9800-46b1-b034-d02dd10f7c38
  kernel /Simplicity/vmlinuz   psubdir=Simplicity pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
  initrd /Simplicity/initrd.gz  
  
title Carolina (sda4/Carolina)
  uuid 89b31643-9800-46b1-b034-d02dd10f7c38
  kernel /Carolina/vmlinuz   psubdir=Carolina pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
  initrd /Carolina/initrd.gz   

  # Windows
# this entry searches Windows on the HDD and boot it up
title Windows\nBoot up Windows if installed
  errorcheck off
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd  /bootmgr
  chainloader /bootmgr
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd  /ntldr
  chainloader /ntldr
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd   /io.sys
  chainloader /io.sys
  errorcheck on

# Boot from Partition Boot Sector

title Windows 7 Starter (sda2:PBS)
  uuid 2AF2CCA2F2CC739B
  chainloader +1

# additionals

title Find Grub2\nBoot up grub2 if installed
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /boot/grub/core.img
  kernel /boot/grub/core.img

title Grub4Dos commandline\n(for experts only)
  commandline

title Reboot computer
  reboot

title Halt computer
  halt  
  
# Advanced Menu
title Advanced menu
  configfile /menu-advanced.lst
  commandline

[gcmartin]

Hello @VTpup

The Tablet is a touch screen device. The only PUP anywhere close to allowing desktop navigation and icon execution in Puppyland on a touch screen is LightHouse64. And, it works but is still a primative for what occurs in multipoint touches. I have and continue its use on a HP touch laptop (AMD CPU) and on several Intel based HP desktops without any issues..

BUT, this is NOT an ARM distro. And, there is no ARM distro in Puppyland which even does what Lighthouse does as a primative on a touch device. There appears, now, today, an official ARM offering for touch which would mean that there is already a Linux distro somewhere which would take advantage of touch on ARM in a greater way. Puppy is too far back to be able to catch up in the short term, I think.

More detail can be found here.

[rokytnji]

Double post. My bad. Use it for Pretty pictures instead.






http://postmyimage.com/img2/421_Graffit ... rtu_03.JPG