Does anyone know of a cheap tablet that can run a Linux distro?
It doesn’t need to be high spec - it’s just for displaying photos.
Thanks!
I recently picked up a Microsoft Surface Go 2 and installed Linux on it. Ebay is flooded with them in the USA, and I paid $90 for the tablet with the keyboard cover. The irony of Linux on a Microsoft branded tablet amuses me.
Everything but the cameras just worked. There’s a kernel patch for the cameras, but I haven’t been motivated to patch and recompile.
Anyone shopping for the same should keep in mind that the 8100Y CPU is twice as fast as the Pentium, and the 64gb storage option is slow eMMC while 128gb and 256gb are faster NVME.
Ubuntu touch project runs linux on a tablet while retaining the phone/android functionality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Touch
https://docs.ubports.com/en/latest/userguide/install.html
https://liliputing.com/ubuntu-touch-mobile-linux-distro-is-now-based-on-ubuntu-24-04-lts/
There’s a list of supported devices there. Lenovo was one
The lenovo is super cheap (sub 100€) and probably does most things you usually need yeah.
I have a ThinkPad x1 tablet gen 2. These x1 tablets are very cheap when used or refurbished and you can install any linux distro, as they are using x86_64 cpus.
I use it with gnome and cachyos, the optimizations really help and gnome has, in my opinion, the best touchscreen feel, it’s very polished for this.
PineTab2, been using one for a while now. Few minor things, e.g. specific USB-C ports for charging vs data and BT driver not (yet) working but otherwise, great device at that price point IMHO.
If you have questions, have to clarify.
If it’s just for displaying photos, why Linux? Digital picture frames are way cheap or scroungeable.
For a substitute tablet I’ve been interested in trying a Lenovo Yoga. It’s really a laptop with a 360 degree screen hinge so you can get the keyboard out of the way. My use case of interest is reading arxiv.org pdf’s in portrait mode.
At this point, I’d wonder if some of the older Microsoft Surfaces might be suitable for this purpose. Especially if it’s just displaying photos, you probably wouldn’t even need the Linux-Surface kernel for a lot of things and could just run mainline, avoiding a lot of misery. For instance, a 1st gen Surface Go from 2018 seems to run for ~$70 on eBay these days; I own one and used to daily-drive it on both Windows and Linux, and although there were some annoyances, the display is decent.
Though honestly, I wonder if you particularly need a Linux tablet at all. There are dedicated digital frame devices out there for displaying photos; a lot of them can just display off a USB drive or SD card in the ballpark of 50 bucks it looks like. I’d probably recommend not getting one that supports Wi-Fi, as I think it’s probably a stupid idea to assume some random cheap device you bought online has correctly-implemented network security.
Many surface devices don’t need a specialised kernel anymore anyway.
Surface Go 1-3 for example, everything is in Linux kernel 6.14+. And everything except the cameras is in since 5.17.
Oh yeh. I heard that, just forgot. Thanks for reminding me.
Still good idea to check the feature matrix on their github though, I think depending on the device you could still need surface kernel.
What do you consider cheap?
Linux tablets
The Juno Tab 3 from last year was $699 (no more stock, Juno Tab 4 has been announced) and the Librem 11 from Purism is $999 (temporarily out of stock).
Tablets/Laptops hybrids
A refurbished Microsoft Surface Pro 5 or 6 are well supported by using the kernel from here:
https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Supported-Devices-and-Features#feature-matrix
There are newer Surface Pro tablets that works too unless you need LTE/Camera.
In a similar vein you can look at refurbished Lenovo 13’’ 2-in-1 devices but they will be bulky compared to a normal tablet.
Wall installation alternative using a touchscreen monitor and a mini computer
Putting a minicomputer like Radxa X4 in the backside of a touchscreen monitor like the Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny-in-One is cheaper than both but requires constant power from the wall and wouldn’t be classic tablet format. (Works if you want a static wall installation though, just buy the wall bracket with VEGA 100x100 that’s right for your plans)
edit:
On the other hand if all you wanna do is display photos then maybe a digital photo display that supports USB or SD Cards would be the easiest solution?
It would require moving the storage back and forth to add new photos but you wouldn’t even have to give it WiFi so if you keep it isolated it is nice from a privacy standpoint.Not really for the purpose of this thread, since pretty much anything can do what OP is asking, but any idea how the Juno Tab compares to the Starlabs Starlite in regards to build quality, cooling, and what not? I noticed the other day that the Starlite has been updated with an N350 CPU. Though it is up to a $765 starting price…
Once or twice a year I start thinking it would be nice to have a tablet. Then within a month I wonder wtf I want a tablet for.
No idea, sorry. Last time I looked into tablets was for a friend and it ended with a refurbished Surface Pro running Debian Gnome with the surface kernel.
Is it because digital portraits aren’t available in your country? Or because you’re not aware they exist? Because they do, and they’re not as expensive as tablets.
No, it’s because I like open source operating systems and a linux tablet would mean it could be used for other things too if needed.
Oh, since you had said “it’s just for displaying photos” I figured you just wanted portraits. 😅
Any used tablet with Android will do. Some can be found in the trash even.
Really depends on where you live. If you’re not in the first world, you don’t just find tech gadgets randomly on the street.
I live in the second world and holy shit, people are so wasteful.
Yeah, where I’m from, you either pass things down to family and friends, or resell them, there’s no throwing tech away.
