this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Linux is not replacing Android tablets any time soon for casual use by non-techies. Especially on RISC-V, where not much software has been packaged to that architecture. Even ARM or X86 tablets don't have much tablet-oriented software available. Most DEs are pretty shit at tablet style navigation.
It will gather dust, I guarantee it. Maybe someday Linux will be there, but it won't be soon. And I've tried several times with several devices to make that happen.
Meanwhile PineTab 2 is used nearly daily here, at home and while traveling, by non-techies.
I'm not saying anybody is fine with a Linux tablet... but if the applications (not "apps") one actually uses function properly on it, no reason that it would gather dust.
PS: tinkered with a Banana Pi BPI-F3 with SpacemiT K1 8 core RISC-V and for that architecture specifically I would wait just a bit more, also why I didn't get a PineTab V RISC.
I also have a Pinetab 2 and now after a year I'd say it's in a pretty good state.
However, if you just want a tablet, a similarly priced Android tablet will run circles around it in responsiveness and feel. (I have a Xiaoxin Pad pro 2022/Lenovo Pad M10 3rd gen)
Re RISC-V: AFAIK the new SpacemiT chips are the first actually usulable ones. The older and more common JH7110 has half the cores and way lower feature level. Like, no floating points and other extensions that are essential for modern computing.