Linux distros are barely just getting their feet wet in the tablet/mobile world. I would say “barely just getting their toe wet” :)

Getting back to the point. I loved the way iPad was integrated with the stylus (Apple Pencil). My use case for a tablet back then was to write/draw stuff I did “remotely” and export all my, let’s call it drawings, to mac and work on that. Today’s example. I was planning a garden layout. It took me way too much time to get the stylus working the way I expected and when it did I had more issues trying to export the drawings to a usable format* I would be better off with a good old pen and paper.

• I’m not a pro Linux user so there’s a good chance I missed something

KDE works ok on touch devices but if you’re going to switch, try plasma mobile.

It is usable but I’ve been using iPad for years before trying Linux on a tablet and it’s way behind iPadOS in terms of ux and ease of use. The latest plasma mobile makes it more tablety but it still feels like a desktop with touch support. Having said that, I’m pretty happy with plasma mobile and can’t wait for further improvements.

I wrote it several times and I will write it again. Linux on a tablet is at best average. However, after recent release of KDE 6, plasma mobile got really good. In tablet mode it feels almost like a real thing. I’ve been using it for some time now and I like the experience.

Voice assistant that allows to perform common tasks like setting up calendar events, sending emails, opening apps, etc. Bonus points for “connect to server abc” and the assistant would open the terminal and ssh to abc server.

I’m about to start my adventure with Raspberry Pi powered TV box. I will try Plasma big screen - https://plasma-bigscreen.org/ It seems like a good place to start.

First of all I like how all apps, even the 3rd party ones, look alike. When using a new app I don’t have to learn the new UI. Most of the things are in the same place and I can almost intuitively click trough the UI. Also macOS feels smoother - I don’t know how to describe it, it just works out of the box and I don’t need to adjust the settings. The only thing I was updating was the touchpad scroll direction. Everything else had default settings set to my preferences. I liked the animations, placement of various elements and the fact I didn’t have to look how things work. It was as easy as it was designed to be for 5 year olds.

That’s true, I might be biased because I was using macOS way longer. On the other hand I’ve been using Windows even longer and I have never liked Windows UI. I guess I have some expectations on how UI should look and work and macOS just hit the sweet spot.

I’ve been macOS user for past decade. I’ve switch to Linux a year ago and the first thing I did when I tried Gnome was to switch to KDE. I like how Gnome tries to mimic macOS but it’s still has long way ahead. Gnome was really good on a touch device but I kept hitting the wall with small quirks and eventually I switched to KDE. I know it’s unpopular opinion but I find macOS UI superior to both Gnome and KDE.

I have Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and I’ve always complained about it. However, recently I started to like it. Plasma Mobile works pretty well, after tinkering with resolution and scaling it feels like a tablet. The only issue I have is the fingerprint reader, it doesn’t work. Would I recommend it? yes(ish). I still think Linux is not the best choice for tables and the default folio sucks so the laptop mode is sometimes challenging, But from the hardware point of view it’s a pretty good device.

Here’s the list of things that suck in tablet mode:

• depending on a day virtual keyboard doesn’t type capital letters (it has something to do with flatpacks)
• there’s no way to decrypt disk without physical keyboard. Same goes for selecting different option in grub (there are some hacks but I’ve never was keen to tinker with it)
• my 2-in-1 has pretty nice resolution which makes it unusable in tablet mode. I cannot count how many times I’ve missed a close button
• the ui (both gnome and plasma mobile) is clunky. It feels like early days of touch screens.
• stylus is one big misunderstanding
• I’m biased because I’ve been using iPads for may years and for me it’s how tables should work

Linux on a tablet is not a good idea. I’ve been using 2-in-1 laptop and it sucks as a tablet. If you want a device to read books get an ebook reader. I’m using kobo elipsa 2e and it’s amazing. However if tablet is a must have get pixel tablet and install grapheneos.

I was using Rnote. It worked pretty well but I don’t have a use case for stylus so it sits somewhere in a drawer

Hardware wise dell xps 13 2-in-1 is a good choice. However folio is horrible, magnetic stand is way too weak and I still cannot figure out deep sleep/hibernation. Aslo fingerprint scanner doesn’t work.

Another thing is that Linux is not the best choice for a touch device. I’ve tried gnome and kde and they both suck. I’ve also tried plasma mobile and it feels like nearly days of touch screens.

+1 for cockpit. Easy to install, easy on the eyes and makes things done.

This is what my “friend” is using. It’s basically a vpn client with a kill switch that stops torrent client when vpn tunnel is down. https://github.com/haugene/docker-transmission-openvpn