More than a phone, I want a good 7-10" Linux tablet. Something like a Samsung Tab S7 but pure Linux, not Android. Full-fat USB-C (video out, etc) with a slim keyboard cover. I seem to have a lot of low-level hacker-y needs while out and about but I don’t want to always carry my laptop.
These days a tablet is a luxury, a phone is a necessity. You can iterate a mobile UI on a tablet slowly. Shooting to replace a phone means you need to hit a much higher bar of quality. It seems like an easier path to adoption.
You know what made a good Linux Tablet? The Microsoft Surface Gos. I got a few second hand from work and they were nice at the time. A little light on RAM by modern standards, but size and shape was good, and Linux ran remarkably well on them.
I got one of those ARM Chromebooks specifically for this (PostMarketOS, no keyboard cover tho) but now it’s mostly collecting dust since I have a laptop and just use that. Although someone in the house uses it for watching very legally obtained shows in mpv… though “uses” is a strong word since I basically press all of the buttons for them. Shame it’s not getting more use though, as it is about 40x more power efficient than said laptop. Maybe with a USB-C dock that costs 2x more than the thing… My phone also collects dust silently until I need 2fa from it since I don’t even have a SIM card.
More than a phone, I want a good 7-10" Linux tablet. Something like a Samsung Tab S7 but pure Linux, not Android. Full-fat USB-C (video out, etc) with a slim keyboard cover. I seem to have a lot of low-level hacker-y needs while out and about but I don’t want to always carry my laptop.
These days a tablet is a luxury, a phone is a necessity. You can iterate a mobile UI on a tablet slowly. Shooting to replace a phone means you need to hit a much higher bar of quality. It seems like an easier path to adoption.
You know what made a good Linux Tablet? The Microsoft Surface Gos. I got a few second hand from work and they were nice at the time. A little light on RAM by modern standards, but size and shape was good, and Linux ran remarkably well on them.
I got one of those ARM Chromebooks specifically for this (PostMarketOS, no keyboard cover tho) but now it’s mostly collecting dust since I have a laptop and just use that. Although someone in the house uses it for watching very legally obtained shows in mpv… though “uses” is a strong word since I basically press all of the buttons for them. Shame it’s not getting more use though, as it is about 40x more power efficient than said laptop. Maybe with a USB-C dock that costs 2x more than the thing… My phone also collects dust silently until I need 2fa from it since I don’t even have a SIM card.