Linux on tablet?

[bongojolo]

Hi I am new here... is anybody here familiar with Linux on tablets and could help me to choose which is the best option and how you can do the installing?

[linr76]

Linux on a Tablet - an interesting subject but unfortunately one that gets frustrating very fast.
the best options are Nexus (7 or 10) and Asus Transformer line, both have more or less working Ubuntu support. (but not everything works..)
Installation mostly is done by flashing a root filesystem and the kernel (usually with fastboot), the Linux kernel sometimes replaces the stock recovery.
MTK based Tablets have zero linux support because no open source available.
Allwinner A10 and A20 are both supported with Fedora, but on some tablets the Touchscreen does not work right, same is true for some Rockchip based tablets (dual and quadcore RKxxxx).

there were 2 tablets available with Linux preinstalled, but both were very low spec hardware and since discontinued.

ARM support in Linux is still not very good, not to mention that touchscreen support has heaps of problems on "normal" Laptops with well known parts.
Problem here is partly that the ARM platform is in no way unified like the x86 world, and every vendor cooks their own soup.
on top of that the support for the integrated GPUs is basic at best, most of them are only supported for 2d, 3d wont even work with binary blobs installed. Mali has brought out open source drivers, but they are far from finished and a huge pain to install (compile from source)

what works on most all Tablets is the chroot method - meaning that you will use the android kernel and run a chrooted root-filesystem off that.
to display the GUI of that system you connect to it through VNC. not very efficient but at least everything works since you are running on top of Android.

as a side note, Linux works quite well on Chromebooks, even the Samsung ARM one (since ChromeOS is basically a scaled down Gentoo Linux) and its fairly easy to install (eg Chrubuntu - Ubuntu installed via a simple script)

[bongojolo]

i found this [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register] i own a sosoon x15 a cheap 13,3 inch tablet. i have it only for reading and watching. it sound great the linux options but maybe far away from me.

[linr76]

the sosoon x15 has an Allwinner A31 SoC not x86.
A31 is generally supported in Fedora, but good luck finding support for all the other hardware (screen, touch, audio, wlan etc.)
if you really want Linux on a tablet in my opinion its best to wait for Ubuntu Touch equiped ones,
should be coming out soon.

[petros]

[Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register]

[DirKNirK]

What about
[Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register]

[petros]

is this for non x86 tablets or smartphones?

[linr76]

the app is an easy way to get the chroot variant running on your phone/tablet.
platform only matters in that the (android) kernel has to support some stuff, eg loop-devices.

i wouldn't bother with this really, unless you absolutely want Linux on your tablet and its not supported for a direct installation.

maybe i should explain my statement:
a chroot environment is a bit like a virtual machine running next to your normal operating system.
in this case, Android is up and running and on top you start this Linux environment, which will share the kernel and HAL/drivers with Android.
so for a start linux is not running directly on the hardware, thus takes a performance hit. Android is still in control of everything.
you are stuck with the android kernel of your device, which are mostly pretty old to begin with.

in the end its about what you want to do in the linux environment.

[NexusTrix]

is this for non x86 tablets or smartphones?
I don't have a lot of experience with this particular app, but my understanding is that it should work for any phone on Android. Take a look at the reviews there. Some good, some bad. As @Linr76 pointed out, it also depend what you want to do on the Linux installation.