[LAU] Portable/Touch devices Linux-friendly

[SxDx]

> From: "Carlos sanchiavedraz" <csanchezgs at gmail.com>
> But I think their maybe two heavy to carry, and I would prefer
> something robust for live use and traveling.

I have both an archos g9 (ssd version, no hd) and a nexus7.

I didn't play much with audio yet. I just hacked the g9 to
put the linux I wanted, rooting by hand (for the funz), not
using the official method. Doing so, I had to plug/unplug the
mini-usb cable very often to debug my rooting/rebooting process
and now the connection is weak. I have to turn the cable before
plugging it so that there is some tension in there otherwise
it won't work. The version I have has also a weak display; when
you press behind the screen you have this "wavy" effect appearing
on screen (you know, when you press too hard on a LCD display, there
is this kind of wavy thing). The overall construction does not seem
very solid (it's plastic).

So for robustness, the archos g9 is to be avoided. That said,
it's just my experience with it. And more recent versions might
be better (the "wavy" thing is gone as I've heard).

For the nexus7, the screen has a nice glass, and 10 points of
touch (the g9 only 4). For music it might be better. But it has
not SD-card slot, contrary to the g9. There again, I didn't hack
it much, I don't want to open the bootloader the official way,
so to have an alternative to android is some more work for me
at the moment. I think, by having played with a virtual piano
on it, that the audio latency is a bit better with the android 4.2 on
it. Android 4.2 is supposed to have a better audio latency, so
they say at google. I don't think android is a good solution for
audio things. The system is very very bloated. (Note that I didn't
do much of audio, so just an overall feeling.)

That said, maybe there are some free-software friendly devices out
there. The g9 needs binary drivers for the 3D thing (I didn't check
for the nexus7, but I suspect it's the same). Maybe some manufacturers
release schematics and manuals for the parts they glue together so
that we laymen can hack the thing the way we want. But
a little voice inside of my brain says "don't count on that".

Note also that a big problem with those computers is the
difficulty to change the battery. You cannot easily open them
and replace things in there. (And just for the record, no I
didn't buy those, I won them in programming contests.)

My 1.5€.