Linux for Tablet PCs

[lordinateur]

I have a toshiba portege M400 will I have to continue using Windows XP or Windows 7 to get the full tablet functionality or is there a linux OS that is just as good or better? E.g. a Version of Ubantu, Mint or one of the more popular ones?

[necrolin]

I don't have this tablet PC, but I did do a Google search for you. Users are reporting that all is working fine with Ubuntu. One thing to keep in mind is that Ubuntu is distributed as a live CD so you can try it out before installing it just to make sure that everything works for you.

As far as "as good or better" is concerned I suppose that it depends on what you do. Windows is better suited for some tasks while Linux is better suited, in my opinion at least, for others. I recommend downloading Ubuntu and giving it a test run. All it will cost you is some bandwidth and a blank CD. If you like it then install it. If you don't then give the CD away and your Windows install machine will still be just the way you left it.

[lordinateur]

I don't have this tablet PC, but I did do a Google search for you. Users are reporting that all is working fine with Ubuntu. One thing to keep in mind is that Ubuntu is distributed as a live CD so you can try it out before installing it just to make sure that everything works for you.

As far as "as good or better" is concerned I suppose that it depends on what you do. Windows is better suited for some tasks while Linux is better suited, in my opinion at least, for others. I recommend downloading Ubuntu and giving it a test run. All it will cost you is some bandwidth and a blank CD. If you like it then install it. If you don't then give the CD away and your Windows install machine will still be just the way you left it.

Thanks I have tried that before, however I am looking for the stylus, pen support by linux so I can draw, write on the screen in linux programs, I don't think that is widely support or has software for it. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_pc#Linux

I think there is no support by open office so I may still need to use windows office. What else could I do? Can someone build a os that will work or develop one?

[necrolin]

Thanks I have tried that before, however I am looking for the stylus, pen support by linux so I can draw, write on the screen in linux programs, I don't think that is widely support or has software for it. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_pc#Linux

I think there is no support by open office so I may still need to use windows office. What else could I do? Can someone build a os that will work or develop one?

The report that I read clearly stated that the stylus was automatically detected and configured by the latest version of Ubuntu. Can't help you much more than that though, sorry. I don't use a stylus, but I have seen them used with Linux. I don't think that Ubuntu includes the program for inputing your writing by default so it's something that you may need to search for it in the repositories. Wish I could be more helpful.

[JasonHippy]

I have an old RM Tablet PC (which uses a Wacom tablet/screen) at home which is currently running Ubuntu 9.04 on it with no problems.
The stylus works fine for the usual mouse-like activities (e.g. navigating the file-system and for drawing in gimp, blender and Inkscape etc.)

Regarding handwriting to text:
I know there are a few on-screen keyboards that work with the tablet/stylus in linux, but I don't know offhand if any of them support converting handwriting to text. I use a mini-usb keyboard with my tablet for text input, so I've not used any of the on-screen keyboards yet. But it might be worth trying a few of them and having a play just in case they do have input panels for converting handwriting to text. I've got a sneaky suspicion that at least one of them does.

If you can find an on-screen keyboard that supports handwriting to text, that would probably solve your problem! Try taking a look in the repositories or perhaps do a quick google to see if there are any other open source on-screen keyboards for linux that perhaps aren't in any of the major distros repositories.

There's quite a lot of open source linux software out there that doesn't get into the main repositories of the major distros. The only minor downside to this of course is that you'd probably have to build the software from source (which could prove to be a pain if it has obscure dependencies), unless the project owners have pre-compiled packages for your distro/platform.

Cheers for now,
Jas.