On 04/22/2012 06:57 PM, C wrote:

On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 12:40, George Olson wrote:

...

Hi everyone,

I am just wondering what experiences people have had with Android based tablet pc's, connecting/syncing with openSUSE, and useability.

I am considering purchasing one and would be interested to know what other people's experiences have been. Depends on how you plan on using it.

I've got an Acer Iconia A500, and it's very nice... I'd not buy it again though :-) instead I'd go for something like the Asus Transformer because of the keyboard dock. That's not to say the Iconia is bad or anything.. it's an excellent device, but the "missing" keyboard dock limits the versatility.

What do you envision doing when you think of syncing?

I ask what you envision because, depending on how you use it, you may or may not have issues with Linux. The Android tablets use a partition format known as MTP that is poorly supported in Linux - even in Windows it requires you to install special drivers to be able to access via USB from the PC... but... but... that is *not* really a limiting factor in my opinion. The Tablets all have WiFi, and you can easily connect from the tablet to your WiFi router and you can easily move files around (if you need to) using a file manager on the tablet instead of on your PC. I've had my tablet for more than 6 months now and not once have a really needed to connect to my PC via USB to transfer files... it's been fast and easy via WiFi router (it looks the same as any other computer on my local network... and it can connect to an NFS or Samba server (eg a NAS drive, or a Samba host you set up on your openSUSE PC easy to do with YaST) with no issues.

One exception to the USB vs WiFi thing... I've rooted my tablet and installed a custom firmware. Some of that activity required that I use the Android SDK, and I had no problems connecting to and pushing data via USB from Linux.

For system backup etc, the Android tablets make excellent use of your Google account - backing up contacts, installed apps, calendar, and pretty much everything else you want.

So the short of it is... I really am happy I bought the Android tablet, and I've had no problems moving data to and from the tablet over WiFi. I use my tablet every day, and it goes everywhere with me. I'd highly recommend getting one if you're considering it, and I'd suggest you go for one like the new Asus models with the keyboard dock.

C.

I've the same experience. In my case, replace Acer Iconia with ASUS Transformer. Positively *love* the keyboard dock! -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

C writes:

I've got an Acer Iconia A500, and it's very nice... I'd not buy it again though :-) instead I'd go for something like the Asus Transformer because of the keyboard dock.

I bought a Logitech Tablet keyboard for Android for that: http://www.logitech.com/keyboards/keyboard/devices/8232 and change the soft keyboard to "Hacker's Keyboard": https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketworkstation.pckeyboard&hl=en

The Android tablets use a partition format known as MTP that is poorly supported in Linux - even in Windows it requires you to install special drivers to be able to access via USB from the PC... but... but... that is *not* really a limiting factor in my opinion.

Maybe for the Iconia, but my Archos 101 mounts as a UMS/MSC device. Charles -- "If you want to travel around the world and be invited to speak at a lot of different places, just write a Unix operating system." (By Linus Torvalds)

On 04/23/2012 09:11 AM, John Andersen wrote:

On 4/22/2012 3:57 AM, C wrote:

...

The Android tablets use a partition format known as MTP that is poorly supported in Linux - even in Windows it requires you to install special drivers to be able to access via USB from the PC

MTP is not a partition, its a protocol. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol

Its advantage is that it can allow transfer between the USB port without dismounting the drive from the Android OS, which the USB-Storage drivers can't do. Further they can protect the OS a little better with MTP than they can with USB-Storage.

Some Linux implementations are available.

Underneath, you will find standard linux partitions. The A500 also supports an add-in MicroSD formatted in Fat32. And a standard size USB port which can mount memory sticks and hard disk drives (even those formatted in NTFS).

As for the keyboard, you can use any bluetooth keyboard and mouse on most tablets.

When hunting tablets you might find some that handle usb-Storage as well as MTP.

That makes me think of asking a question here. It seems that the most common tablet that is being used on this list is the ASUS TF101. I looked up the specs and I noticed that it does not have a USB slot. For you TF101 users out there, do you find sometimes that you wished you did have a USB slot? or is the dataport and wifi sufficient? How about the USB ports that are on the keyboard - can you use those pretty easily? The only time I can think of when I might want a USB slot would be if I were visiting at a friend's house, and they didn't have a home network set up, and they wanted to give me a file on a USB stick. But I suppose if I always carry with me a USB stick of my own for situations like that, then it won't be a problem. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 10:57, George Olson wrote:

That makes me think of asking a question here. It seems that the most common tablet that is being used on this list is the ASUS TF101. I looked up the specs and I noticed that it does not have a USB slot. For you TF101 users out there, do you find sometimes that you wished you did have a USB slot? or is the dataport and wifi sufficient? How about the USB ports that are on the keyboard - can you use those pretty easily?

The only time I can think of when I might want a USB slot would be if I were visiting at a friend's house, and they didn't have a home network set up, and they wanted to give me a file on a USB stick. But I suppose if I always carry with me a USB stick of my own for situations like that, then it won't be a problem.

The USB ports on the keyboard dock should be enough. The unit folds up clamshell-like... just like a laptop, protecting the screen and keeping it all nicely together. If you get one without the keyboard dock, Asus sells an inexpensive external USB adapter that plugs into the dock port (plugged in when you need it) giving you a standard USB port... so either way, you're covered. C. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 04/23/2012 06:31 PM, C wrote:

Just another note on this.. the TF101 is an old model. Asus is releasing the TF300T in May.

The TF300 is a "budget" model. Stripped down from their Prime Product.... Review is here.... http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/22/asus-transformer-pad-tf300-review/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 17:25, Will Stephenson wrote:

I'm very interested in hearing how those of you with tablets + keyboards get on with them as general purpose computing devices, to see where the market is going.  How useful are they? What tasks do you need the PC/laptop for?  Is it just for better performance, or are there some things that are just not possible?  Are those 'legacy things' like playing optical discs that can also be carried out using more current technology like streaming video, or things that are intrinsically impossible on a tablet?

I am concerned about the future of the consumer Free Software 'market' as tablets displace PCs and locked down proprietary or only notionally Free operating systems replace general purpose OSen and platforms.  It would be a great pity if the effort we've expended over the last 15 years to fight a monopolist was wasted because the userbase skipped happily into a totalitarian state's walled garden while we were fighting each other over widget sets.

As a general purpose computing device it's fine. I find my tablet to be very useful overall. The combination of general computer with GPS, accelerometer etc is nice to have (when apps take advantage of it). There are a lot of tradeoffs with a tablet running Android... you do not have any reasonable office suite, you have limited CPU capabilities, websites are a hit/miss for usability (sometimes they are slow, sometimes they won't load at all, or you are forced into a low functionally mobile edition even though you have the browser set to Desktop) Personally I'd love to be able to strip off the Android OS and install/run openSUSE (or any other Linux) but so far, that hasn't been done with any measure of success - the closest I've seen on the tablet I have (Acer Iconia A500) is to run Ubuntu from an image file and use VNC to connect to it. So to answer your specific questions: - It's very useful overall, and I'm happy I bought it. I use it almost every day for general browsing, answering emails etc etc. - You still need the PC/laptop for things like working on documents, graphics and so on. There are a few tools that give you rudimentary office suites but they are lacking in too many areas to be really practical. As an aside, the upcoming Windows RT tablets with a "full" MS Office installed will really be an Android killer for a lot of people. - I use the PC partly for better performance, typing long text content is easier on the PC keyboard (you can plug in a normal USB keyboard, but the responsiveness still isn't 100% on the tablet when you type) - Streaming video is generally not too much of an issue with the tablet, but you can easily hit the proverbial wall with CPU capabilities if the stream is HD. - Playing DVDs... never tried. I suppose it's be possible with an external USB DVD player, but.. not practical. If you look at the efforts that the KDE guys have put into the tablet with Plasma Active I could see myself easily moving over to that over Android IF.. IF they brought it out in a larger screen size. The current model is too small for my tastes/preferences. Alternatively, as I mentioned earlier, I'd be more than happy to install openSUSE on the tablet I've got, but I don't know anyone who has managed it yet. C. -- openSUSE 12.1 x86_64, KDE 4.8.2 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:25:46 +0200 Will Stephenson wrote:

I'm very interested in hearing how those of you with tablets + keyboards get on with them as general purpose computing devices, to see where the market is going. How useful are they? What tasks do you need the PC/laptop for? Is it just for better performance, or are there some things that are just not possible? Are those 'legacy things' like playing optical discs that can also be carried out using more current technology like streaming video, or things that are intrinsically impossible on a tablet?

I am concerned about the future of the consumer Free Software 'market' as tablets displace PCs and locked down proprietary or only notionally Free operating systems replace general purpose OSen and platforms. It would be a great pity if the effort we've expended over the last 15 years to fight a monopolist was wasted because the userbase skipped happily into a totalitarian state's walled garden while we were fighting each other over widget sets.

Will

Hi Have a look around the xda developers forum for what's hot and what's not... http://forum.xda-developers.com/ my first port of call for tablet information. I use handbrake to backup my DVD's, it's amazing how many I can backup to a SD card ;) I can use ssh to connect to any system here, to say run osc on this notebook sitting outside in the Sun... Streaming works fine to the ASUS, no issues via the local network. I don't have a keyboard, happy with the on-screen device, just when wanting ctrl keys etc can be a bit of an issue. Here are a couple of screenshots of mine... http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/xg4mrohtbj9cp9b6inzuuken0vs28pj6 -- Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890) openSUSE 12.1 (x86_64) Kernel 3.1.10-1.9-desktop up 1:48, 3 users, load average: 0.01, 0.02, 0.05 CPU Intel i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | Intel Arrandale GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 4/23/2012 2:09 AM, C wrote:

I've not had any issues with file transfer, but I also don't interface with the tablet using MTP. WiFi has, so far, covered 100% of what I needed. and that's been easy with openSUSE (as I mentioned before, setting up a basic Samba server is pretty simple using YaST, and this is easy to connect to using most every File Manager you can pull down from Google Play (marketplace)).

Plus 1 on Wifi, and never cabling your tablet to your computer. (I have the A500 as well). With ES File Explorer, free in the Android Market your tablet or phone can access Lan (samba) shares, FTP servers, Bluetooth transfer, or some cloud servers (box, sugarsync, dropbox). The one thing I move via physical connection of a USB thumb drive is movies. These are big and take too long, but ES File Explorer can copy them back and forth. As for the Bluetooth keyboard issues, I agree the built-into-the-case looks sweet. But I don't use that (or any external keyboard), finding it more trouble than its worth. I use Swiftkey Tablet edition. It predicts language. No, not as you type the first few characters, but before you even type any characters. It does this by learning your language patterns and adding them to an extensive database of english language structure. These predictions show up as suggestions in the same way other keyboards predict words after you type a few letters, and its uncannily accurate. With the swiftkey on-screen keyboard I can type onscreen faster than I can type on keyboard. -- _____________________________________ ---This space for rent--- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 04/22/2012 07:48 PM, michael@actrix.gen.nz wrote:

My normal home desktop is OpenSUSE 12.1.

I have a tf101 EEE transformer. I too use samba via ES File Explorer. Plus I also use rsync and a full shell environment from in terminal on the tf101 via the non-root method provided by Kevin Boone here:

http://kevinboone.net/android_nonroot.html

I do like the keyboard dock on the tf101 - makes it a bit heavier, but you can always leave it at home. The docks extra battery capacity and charging prioritisation/hierarchy are quite useful.

I would want to store a few things from my computer on the tablet. I have lots of pictures that I need for work (the tablet would assist me with presentations). I also have multiple sound files - mp3s mainly - language files that I use for my continual language review in my work. So I would want a way to move them over to the PC. I would not necessarily have to "sync" them, but a syncing mechanism would probably make it more useful. Then I would also want to move some of my ebooks I have downloaded onto the tablet. If setting it up with a Samba host is easier, then that is probably the way to transfer files, so I appreciate the tip on that. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

Vojtěch Zeisek wrote:

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...

Then I would also want to move some of my ebooks I have downloaded onto the tablet. I use FBReader, just copy files in appropriate format to phone and read.:-) For management, conversions and so on of e-books, I use Calibre.

There's a book reader app called "Aldiko" that causes Android devices to appear as a book reader recognized by Adobe Digital Editions, which is used by many libraries for downloading library ebooks. You can also install Adobe Overdrive on the Android device to download directly from the library, instead of using ADE on a Windows computer. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

Le 22/04/2012 16:13, James Knott a écrit :

There's a book reader app called "Aldiko"

yes, works very well (at least with epub books, not tried others) also adobe reader for android for pdf jdd -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

My normal home desktop is OpenSUSE 12.1.

I have a tf101 EEE transformer. I too use samba via ES File Explorer. Plus I also use rsync and a full shell environment from in terminal on the tf101 via the non-root method provided by Kevin Boone here:

http://kevinboone.net/android_nonroot.html

I do like the keyboard dock on the tf101 - makes it a bit heavier, but you can always leave it at home. The docks extra battery capacity and charging prioritisation/hierarchy are quite useful.

On Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:40:07 George Olson wrote:

...

Hi everyone,

I am just wondering what experiences people have had with Android based tablet pc's, connecting/syncing with openSUSE, and useability.

I am considering purchasing one and would be interested to know what other people's experiences have been.

George

Hi I have an ASUS TF101 as well, I use fing network tools with andftp to

On Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:48:35 +1200 michael@actrix.gen.nz wrote: transfer via sftp. If I need to can hook up via usb and mtpfs to mount the device as well. It also hooks into twokymedia (running on SLES) for local photos, video and music without issues. -- Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890) openSUSE 12.1 (x86_64) Kernel 3.1.9-1.4-desktop up 2 days 22:37, 3 users, load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.05 CPU Intel i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | Intel Arrandale GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org