Re: GNOME now

[Alan Cox <alan lxorguk ukuu org uk>]

> This is especially true given that there is NO tablet that can run a
> completely free operating system.  Only desktop and laptop machines

This is not quite true. The options are very limited and in some cases
you cannot use all the hardware (often the 3D acceleration) but there are
a few such devices which are as free as a PC (and some which are PC
devices as well as tablets). On the PC class devices the usual problems
are the 3D graphics (only 2D is available for some graphics devices),and
the minor downloadable firmware detail for some peripherals.

I would not count Gnome3 as usable on such device anyway - it is too
resource hungry even on a typical x86 tablet.

(I have a Fujitsu Q550. The open graphics support is 2D only, the onboard
wireless needs downloadable firmware if I remember rightly, but other
than that there are no problems and no proprietary drivers). It's not a
very good machine but it is as free as a typical PC 8)

Some of the Atom N450/5 type PC tablet devices also support free 3D
graphics, although battery life is generally very poor on this generation
of hardware compared with the recent stuff.

> can do that.  Thus, those of us who want to live in freedom need to
> avoid tablets.  GNOME must not abandon the desktop and laptop machines,
> must not consign them prematurely to the dustbin of history.

The latest Ultrabook type devices that have been shown at technology
shows are basically a combination of laptop and tablet, with touchscreen
and optional use of keyboard.

A good touch interface will matter on those devices too.

There is another reason that desktop/laptop/ultrabook-tablet type devices
matter. Most tablets are completely unusable for development work. A user
posessing only a tablet has very limited ways to use the freedom they
have been given.

Alan