Database Info

kernel sorce this week!

ViewSonic ViewSonic Corp
We will get s/w update out ASAP. We're also releasing the kernel this week. The gTablet should NEVER have been pulled. ....pulled strait from twitter

Sweet, this is wonderful news. An early xmas present even. I'm excited to see what can be cooked up by the time I unwrap my G-Tablet on Saturday morning.

Yeah let's just hope that they follow through.

Yeah!!!!! Now I can justify buying another one to replace the one my wife stole from me.

And the G Tablet lives! Nice! Releasing the kernal after customers asked for it, is a step in the right direction.
edit: Come to think of it...Staples pulling the gtablet might have been the best thing to happen for it, it really made viewsonic take notice.

kernel source* this week!
wow love the typo just noticed lol. im half asleep anyways just up waiting for news like this.

I called VS g tablet customer support today mooring he told me that the s/w delay from adube who making flash. he also told me they gonna release the update ASAP even without announcement. finally he said and he was very serious the VS will stay behind there product and will support it.

i assumed they would get it fixed and its a shame it had to start out like this with their new product. to have your tablet and local accesible stores like Sears, Office Depot, and Staples is something that took time to put together. most of the others are either high priced, online only, or coming from companies that have no brand recognition with the average US consumer.
glad to hear they are releasing the source and look forward to the devs getting their hand on it

Noob question of the day: What benefits can be realized with the release of the kernal code for the gTab?
I guess I don't exaclty understand the significance of this announcement, but I'm glad that it seems to be making other enthusiastic about the prospects for our gTabs.

A sincere and heartfelt "thank you" from a bona-fide n00b.

A quick background about me: I started looking at picking up a tablet around the end of December for my January birthday. I'm a huge Android fanboi, and have been toying around with/incessantly ROMing my rooted Droid1 for over a year now, so I wanted to step it up a notch and get a tablet that had a reasonably large development backing. And then I found out about the G-tablet. It seemed an almost unobtainable mix of top-of-the-line specs along with hackable software. I had to act on it. I convinced my mom that this was the ONLY thing I wanted for my birthday, and all that I asked for was a nominal (less than 1/4) assistance toward the purchase of the $380 device. She agreed, and I excitedly bought my G-Tab about a week and a half ago. Since then, I've been completely unable to tear myself away from this forum; the activeness of the development community here for the G-Tab is even greater than I imagined, and on an almost daily basis I find a new reason to spend more and more time here (hello Notion Ink ports/forthcoming Honeycomb ports!!!). You guys are seriously a wonderful and brilliant community. I'm sincerely thankful for the great group of people who are significantly smarter than me and are able to do incredible things with such an incredible piece of hardware. I got this device because it was about as hackable a piece of hardware as one could get, and while the development portion of that hackability could have led to a lot of frustration and disappointment, it has MORE THAN met my expectations. As a result, I've got a rooted, custom ROM'd device with a Hulu hack, full market hack, and Swype hack. I honestly couldn't have possibly extracted more value out of a $380 purchase in any theoretical world, and I attribute that all to you, the active developers here.
I know this is my first post and I'm a total n00b, but I really do appreciate what all of you devs have done here, and I wanted to let you all know that.
Thanks, sincerely.

Very nice first post and welcome to Gtab Android Heaven!

Thanks a lot :-D. I hope to one day contribute to this active and robust community. Cheers.

Welcome, not too many people ever say thanks, always *****ing about something not working. Some of these people here are scary smart!

If you have been molesting a droid for over a year, you are nowhere NEAR the n00b I was when I got my Gtab a few weeks ago. I had only seen a couple of droid phones in person, but I liked what I saw. Droid users I have shown my Gtab to have been really impressed with it. The most common comment is "damn that's fast!" (I am running Vegan and loving it.)
And you are so right about these fora, lots of sharp folks here with good instructions (if you are careful to follow them) for just about anything you might need to squeeze onto the tab. I also have yet to see anyone get ugly in a thread like you see in so many other places.
A supportive development community like this can change a lot of things and I am glad to have found it!

Nice post. I like you, was hardly active here at all until I discovered the g tablet. I have since been barely able to tear myself away from the g tablet forum here. A sincere thanks from me as well to the guys doing the hard work making these tablets what they are.

4rs fed said:
Welcome, not too many people ever say thanks, always *****ing about something not working.
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LOL! So true.

If you got half a lick of sense and take the time to do your research (before asking stupid or repetitive questions) this community will bend over backwards to help you. I spent about a year researching tablets and when the g-tablet hit this site I realized it's potential and knew it was time to dive in. I've never owned an Android device until buying the g-tab Mid December and the amount I've learned from the smart folks here is phenominal, and i still feel like a noob. Each day is a new learning experience. Kick back and enjoy the ride!

Im Another noob who has purchased a G-Tab because of the fact that so many of you Devs are doing such a great job with this tablet and sharing your efforts with all the rest of us noobs.
Up till around 2 months ago id had basically no contact with Android other than i knew it was a mobile phone OS by Google. Had never seen it, basically knew nothing about it other than its name.
I had been here to XDA before as i used to own a Dopod mobile phone, and i was using a windows mobile rom from here.
So i was so happy to see that the ipad had started a great new tablet trend (not a ipad fan, but realise if it wasnt for the ipad, the current trend may never have happened). So i was excited when Tablets started kicking off, always wanted one. So i started searching for an alternative to the ipad.
The first tablet i almost bought was a "WeTab", a German 11.6 inch made tablet, it sounded great on paper, great specs, but after i started reading the user reviews, i decided that it wasnt the right tablet for me. Weak touch screen and poor software support put me off.
So i kept looking for the right tablet to get, after a while i settled between either the Gtat, or the Archos. I wanted a 10 inch and these both looked like great tablets. The software review for the G-tab were not good at all, but the hardware specs looked better to me than the Archos.
Since ive been using PC's for almost 20 years now i knew full well Viewsonic was a good brand name, and even if they didnt manufacture the products, it was the quality that went with the name that made me consider the G-tab.
But it wasnt till i checked XDA to see if you guys were doing anything with the G-tab that i realised that thanks to you guys the weak ended software side of the G-tab was not a real issue. That you guys had taken the G-Tab and made it a monster in the jungle
I ordered 1 from Amazon, which i learned i could by one from a thread here, and around 2 weeks later it turned up. Ive been having a ball messing with it ever since, Android is great, and you guys make it even greater.
Sorry if i rambled a bit here but i just wanted to say "THANK YOU" for all you guys have done for myself and the rest of us noobs

Echoing the thank yous as the community is the reason I got this tablet when I did.

Yeah, echoing as well. I bought the device only after I knew that you were out there to make the software issue into a non-issue. I use my tablet only a daily basis for both my work and my pleasure. I wouldn't be able to do either without the great stuff you guys have done. Much appreciated.

Another me to reply. Forgot where i first saw the gTab, but after reading here for a couple of weeks, i found mine at Sears for $379, plus the rebate for the free dock.
Without all of the tremendous resources on this forum, i would have missed out on this journey. I have tried all of the ROMs, and have settled on the Vegan 5.1b rom for now.
Thanks again to all of the developers,and to the non-developers, this would not have bee possible without your persistence in testing these roms and asking the what if questions.

I'll echo the same sentiment. Frankly I would probably not have bought the gtab if I had not come across this forum and all the people here who have been working to make it a better product.
Thx to all of you.

I also would like to add a big thanks for all this incredible info & apps.these dev have added to the gtab and other devices. Again Thanks, J.
Stock gTab.

Gonna go ahead and throw out my THANKS to the Devs here and those all around XDA. I have spent more time on XDA since getting my Hero a year and a half ago,then my Evo when it came out, and now wasting away on my G Tab. Wife loves the tab so much I had to get her one. Both of ours were rooted the day we got em.. entirely because this community!
I look forward to seeing what the next big rom is for the G Tab! (Running VEGAn now, hopefully someone releases a Honeycomb rom in the next couple weeks!!)

I need help for a tablet purchase

I am going to purchase a tablet ASAP. I have been waiting and looking for something to come out that is just the one, but that has not come. I waited forever for the Xoom but the price is staggering in my opinion. I have come back to the Viewsonic G Tablet for the reason that it is pretty fast and thanks to you guys the rooting seems to make it show its muscles. That being said I would like to know that this is a good purchase and that I am not making a mistake. I also would like to know about the rooting and which one works the best for this unit. Also, after being rooted how hard is it to update the system. I am a noob at these units so please understand I am just searching for answers. Oh, and can you run torrent programs on tablets?
Thanks

I guess really what you need to do is make a list of available tablets. Then base the decision on the best price point via hardware/support. I think one of the main things that makes the G-tablet shine is XDA and its developers. But as in all electronic inevitability, its only good as the people behind it. I got my G-Tablet because it was going to be one of the cheapest tablets out there, its what I could afford. Are there better ones out there, well yes and no just depends on what your going to be doing with it. Know the devices faults. Don't listen to reviews, most will give you a half-ass answers, play with the device in person if you can. Thats all I can really help with, do research make sure you get the most bang for the buck. And above all else, good luck and I hope you enjoy your future purchase, it's your decision

RedbullSushi said:
I am going to purchase a tablet ASAP. I have been waiting and looking for something to come out that is just the one, but that has not come. I waited forever for the Xoom but the price is staggering in my opinion. I have come back to the Viewsonic G Tablet for the reason that it is pretty fast and thanks to you guys the rooting seems to make it show its muscles. That being said I would like to know that this is a good purchase and that I am not making a mistake. I also would like to know about the rooting and which one works the best for this unit. Also, after being rooted how hard is it to update the system. I am a noob at these units so please understand I am just searching for answers. Oh, and can you run torrent programs on tablets?
Thanks
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The only real issues I have with my GTAB is the viewing angles since I like to stream Neflix and Hulu and the sort via "Playon". It's not so good unless you have it facing you near direct
Also, the PDMI port is only for use with a dock (until someone puts out a PDMI to HDMI cable).
The great things about the GTAB is the hardware, this thing is virtually unbrickable. Believe me I have bricked it and was able to bring it back from the cold dark black screen that makes you think this thing is a goner!!
Performance is TOP NOTCH, Aside from some glitches with the custom roms its very responsive. And thanks to the Fantastic Dev-Nation we have here at XDA this thing has gotten a lot of love!
Battery life is amazing, I get 12+ hrs of use even after watching three 2 hour movies back to back to back!.
Torrents are supported, I have used "tTorrent Lite" to aquire a few things though as with most torrents speed is questionable and even more so with the tablet.
Rooting this device is very easy, "z4Root" will do it in a tap.. (Litterally)
ROM? I use VEGAn 5.1 Beta (without the 5.1.1 supplement patch)
Others here like, TnT Lite, and there are variants of CM7 floating around. Some are Officially supported and others are not.
The GTAB can be a Fantastic device provided you are willing to make the effort it takes to transform it from "Out of the Box CRAP" to the magnificant device it was meant be.
So unless you have issues with viewing angles (as many do), can aquire a dock to stream AV to an output of your choice, are frightfull of modding, then perhaps this device is not for you.

Hey I really appreciate the posts. I am not afraid to mod the device at all, as a matter of fact I find that half the reason for getting this tablet. It is going to be for fun so I am looking forward to learning more. I feel that technology is something I am always chasing and pushing into areas like this helps to keep me young in this area. I think this solves my issue and I will get my unit ordered today. I still have the question of a torrent program. That is something I heard you can do with Android.
Thanks again guys for the helpfull posts. I appreciate it very much.

DVDFab
I've said this before on another thread but if you plan on purchasing the DVDFab software with all the bells and whistles do a google search for tarzan media. I've bought it from them for less than $40 with free lifetime upgrades.
It is by far the easiest, most flexible dvd ripping/converting app I've ever used.
Edit: posted on wrong thread somehow... Sorry.

Being that you have brought up ripping......are you ripping and burning to dvd from a tablet, or what? This is a new thought being that I was not aware of an external burner plugging into the unit. Please fill me in on this or did I just misunderstand.
thanks

What if i said you could get the GTab for $300 shipped?
I was also going to wait and see how that Tablet Market plays out.
Then I heard about and posted this: Available from SearsOutlet for $279

RedbullSushi said:
Being that you have brought up ripping......are you ripping and burning to dvd from a tablet, or what? This is a new thought being that I was not aware of an external burner plugging into the unit. Please fill me in on this or did I just misunderstand.
thanks
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Oops, somehow my post got in the wrong thread. But, since you asked...
No, I am not using my gTab for ripping or burning; just viewing.

I ordered mine today. I took the advice of a member and bought a used/like new in original packaging for 327. I thought that was a good price. I will be researching the ROM loading now while I wait. If any of you guys have good easy instructions or tips please feel free to post or PM me.
Thanks

Question about gtab and tech mainstream websites

Why aren't mainstream tech websites mentioning the gtab? It didn't even make it to most of the top 10 lists. Is there a conspiracy to downplay the effectiveness of the gtab once it's rooted and flashed? I've used the update viewsonic provided and even that has made the gtab totally awesome.
I'm just puzzled why the modding and hacking communities are the only ones recognizing the potential and power of this machine. None of the tech websites is mentioning anything about the potential behind this tablet. It's mind boggling. Even viewsonic has decided to stop supporting it. Why?

goodintentions said:
Why aren't mainstream tech websites mentioning the gtab? It didn't even make it to most of the top 10 lists. Is there a conspiracy to downplay the effectiveness of the gtab once it's rooted and flashed? I've used the update viewsonic provided and even that has made the gtab totally awesome.
I'm just puzzled why the modding and hacking communities are the only ones recognizing the potential and power of this machine. None of the tech websites is mentioning anything about the potential behind this tablet. It's mind boggling. Even viewsonic has decided to stop supporting it. Why?
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Cnet, PC magazine, mobile magazine and PC world have. It seems they have Apple stock they are banking on so they are plugging ipad. Notice every other commercial was ipad now its Xoom.
Those type entities like to cattle-herd consumers in certain directions for maximum profitability of those who are paying for advertising on their sites. GTab is a sleeper tab and although they down played it many are still buying as of late in mass quantity. It is selling by word of mouth by satisfied buyers. The very best advertising the kind you don't have to buy. Interesting to watch them change their reviews. Check out cnet for a laugh.

I think primarily because it doesn't come from one of the "big" companies like Motorola, Samsung, or HTC. There wasn't much of a push by Viewsonic advertising wise to put this thing in the spotlight and when it first came out it was lamented for it's poor viewing angles and horrible custom UI. Sure the product has improved immensely since launch by way of updates and custom ROMs but it's hard to shake off that initial impression. Right now many people see it as just another android 2.2 tablet.

It's all about Marketing, I'm sure. The Xoom is a media darling because Motorola has paid lots of money to make sure of that -- ie. the Superbowl commercial.
And Apple's Marketing juggernaut is legendary.

edirector said:
Cnet, PC magazine, mobile magazine and PC world have.
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Yeah, they did a quick review of the gtab when it first came out late last year basically saying it sux and then they haven't said anything else since.
Check out cnet for a laugh.
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What do you mean? I just went to it. Didn't see anything different.

Here's an example of how much the GTAB is ignored
GTAB has had OTG access since Day One, even with the crappy software. The Xoom did not, when it was released.
So, I happened to find an OTG cable in my Bag of Carp and ported the GTAB config changes and init changes to the Xoom. I am not a dev by any means, but it was fairly easy to do, given my experience here - maybe an hour of work to port, test and then release.
The darn thing ended up on Engadget. The ONLY mod I've ever done that's made it to Engadget.
As happy as I was to see it get advertised, I had to scratch my head and wonder why my other mods, which required a LOT more work, and even the rest of the developers here have gotten zero recognition on sites like that. I know gojimi made it to Engadget once, but it was due to his Adam apps that he ported, not his GTAB ROMs.
Maybe the Woot! sale and subsequent $299 sales will finally give the GTablet the visibility it deserves.

I wonder if the larger "mainstream" publications shy away from anything ROM related (and probably root too).
I'm a woot-er waiting for mine still, but from all I've read, TnT out-of-the-box pretty much sucks and you have to be willing to do the flashing, etc to get it to a more useful state. So, since it's not a good tablet without a newly flashed ROM, this isn't really a great device for the general consumer.
That said, I'd think you'd see it get more play on more techy oriented websites that wouldn't be avoiding discussion of ROMs.

roebeet said:
Maybe the Woot! sale and subsequent $299 sales will finally give the GTablet the visibility it deserves.
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They haven't taken any notice of the woot deal, either when it was on, or now, even w the 10k sales in one day. Funny thing is when the Samsung Galaxy players went on sale in Korea, and apparently sold 10k in one day, that made news all over the place. That should tell you everything.
Jim

All journalists have a hive instinct.

jimcpl said:
They haven't taken any notice of the woot deal, either when it was on, or now, even w the 10k sales in one day. Funny thing is when the Samsung Galaxy players went on sale in Korea, and apparently sold 10k in one day, that made news all over the place. That should tell you everything.
Jim
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Yeah, the $299.99 16GB iPad from Verizon also made front page news on Engadget this past week.

goodintentions said:
Yeah, they did a quick review of the gtab when it first came out late last year basically saying it sux and then they haven't said anything else since.
What do you mean? I just went to it. Didn't see anything different.
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It moved up a half star.

chrishaw said:
I'm a woot-er waiting for mine still, but from all I've read, TnT out-of-the-box pretty much sucks and you have to be willing to do the flashing, etc to get it to a more useful state. So, since it's not a good tablet without a newly flashed ROM, this isn't really a great device for the general consumer.
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The last OTA actually made it faster and more functional. I would say to anyone getting a new gtab to give the stock a shot for a day or two. I was a totally different experience from when I first picked up a gtab to playing withe the latest OTA at office Max this weekend.
Sent from my Chromatic Magic using XDA Premium App

G tablet #1 selling tablet on Amazon

Did you see the tweet from viewsonic? G tablet outselling both ipad 2 and Xoom. Heh. Viewsonic owes this community because without the developers here this would have never been possible. Thank you guys! I love my g tablet,.....now. There is a link in their tweet to an article about it (didn't know if I could post, let me know and I will post the link)
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB using Tapatalk

Sweet! And there is whole bunch of us who got it from Woot too. The community here is amazing and to think that about a week ago many of us thought that there wasn't much life left for our g-tabs.
Viewsonic put out a winner here, well with a little help from a modded rom and kernel and this thing is fast and pretty awesome IMO.

I'm following @viewsonic on twitter, and, just received the tweet a little while ago. I retweeted adding "Thank the modders". Heh.

I am hopeful that with the additional sales Viewsonic will continue to support this tablet as Nvidia has said they will support Harmony based devices as long as the manufacturers do (or something like that) Don't disappoint us VS.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB using Tapatalk

drum747 said:
There is a link in their tweet to an article about it (didn't know if I could post, let me know and I will post the link)
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please do so

http://www.topcomputertablets.com/v...mazon-ahead-of-ipad-2-xoom-and-others/223689/
mods, if Ive broken a rule please remove
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB using Tapatalk

I've been saying for months that VS is sitting on a goldmine in regard to their gtab. It's absolutely mind boggling that they seem to still be hesitant to cash in this goldmine. I don't understand why VS is so reluctant to endorse their own very popular product.
Edit.
It still seems like VS is trying it's darnest to promote the viewpad over the gtab even though hardly anyone even pays attention to the viewpad.

goodintentions said:
I've been saying for months that VS is sitting on a goldmine in regard to their gtab. It's absolutely mind boggling that they seem to still be hesitant to cash in this goldmine. I don't understand why VS is so reluctant to endorse their own very popular product.
Edit.
It still seems like VS is trying it's darnest to promote the viewpad over the gtab even though hardly anyone even pays attention to the viewpad.
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I wrote them that they were leaving money sitting on the table back when HC first came out and after the woot sale. All this tab needed was a solid OS. The article said it was beating ipad in sales and that it is set to win sleeper tab of the year. lol
Viewsonic has spent 1% on advertising the article said with most advertising coming from users like us and the boatload of youtube videos. The words they used was "went viral". Too funny!

edirector said:
I wrote them that they were leaving money sitting on the table back when HC first came out and after the woot sale. All this tab needed was a solid OS. The article said it was beating ipad in sales and that it is set to win sleeper tab of the year. lol
Viewsonic has spent 1% on advertising the article said with most advertising coming from users like us and the boatload of youtube videos. The words they used was "went viral". Too funny!
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I've been trying to figure out for months why the hell VS released this gtab and decided to let it go quietly into the night and die. I'm willing to bet the new found popularity this tablet enjoys has come quite a surprise to them. Did not one of their marketing personnels see this coming?
And again, they are still trying their darnest trying to promote the viewpad while seemingly hoping for the gtab to die a quiet death. I just went around their website again and the feel is still the same. Their not-so popular viewpad remains their #1 focus even though it's not really bringing in any money. The gtab, on the other hand, is raking in the dough. When are they going to realize their mistake and start loving their forgotten son, the gtab?

goodintentions said:
I've been saying for months that VS is sitting on a goldmine in regard to their gtab. It's absolutely mind boggling that they seem to still be hesitant to cash in this goldmine. I don't understand why VS is so reluctant to endorse their own very popular product.
Edit.
It still seems like VS is trying it's darnest to promote the viewpad over the gtab even though hardly anyone even pays attention to the viewpad.
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Viewpad 7 is now $299 wasn't it just $499 about 15 days ago? It doesn't support flash 10.1 is what the write up is saying.

edirector said:
Viewpad 7 is now $299 wasn't it just $499 about 15 days ago? It doesn't support flash 10.1 is what the write up is saying.
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Yup. And still nobody is buying it. Some genius up high in VS decided to keep endorsing the failed products viewpad 7 and 10 while keep ignoring their succesful gtab. Let's face it, nobody wants a sluggish windows 7 atom processor in a tablet. I mean, what the hell are we going to do with it? Might as well get a netbook. Windows 7 was never designed for a mobile device like a tablet. And who the hell wants a 7 inch tablet that costs $500?
No wonder viewsonic ain't moving up the food chain any time soon. They got idiots running the show.
Edit.
Here's a video review of the viewpad 10. You can tell that the speaker was desperately trying to look for good things to say about the viewpad 10. Android 1.6? Windows 7? It's no good for anything.

That video was pretty sad. Is it me or is it thick as hell? The funny part was when he said it was quite responsive and it didn't move when he touched it. What does anyone need a dual boot tab for? I don't get that. Anyway next month they could be $199.
The commercial for the 7th inch has a guy holding it to his ear to make a call. Just put a Bluetooth earbud in his ear. He looked crazy with that big tab to his ear. Talking about the quickest route to brain cancer. The advertising for that device sucked.

edirector said:
That video was pretty sad. Is it me or is it thick as hell? The funny part was when he said it was quite responsive and it didn't move when he touched it. What does anyone need a dual boot tab for? I don't get that. Anyway next month they could be $199.
The commercial for the 7th inch has a guy holding it to his ear to make a call. Just put a Bluetooth earbud in his ear. He looked crazy with that big tab to his ear. Talking about the quickest route to brain cancer. The advertising for that device sucked.
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But if you look around a bit you will see that VS must have been spending a fortune pushing the viewpads. They even made a bunch of videos and posted them on their website.
In other news, I'm starting to get the over capacity window thing for xda. Looks like xda is under seige again by wooters and amazoners.
Edit.
Half of the videos out there officially made for the gtab were criticisms of the gtab not being responsive because of the TnT UI. And yet in this video this guy was giving it a positive review even though he had to restart the OS to get a response.
The viewpad 7 and 10 are a total failure. VS should realize this and stop ignoring the gtab.

goodintentions said:
Let's face it, nobody wants a sluggish windows 7 atom processor in a tablet. I mean, what the hell are we going to do with it?
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You can install a full Linux distro on it! I think that the latest version of Ubuntu has touchscreen support. I purchased a second g-tablet from Woot just to put Linux on it. But nVidia seems to have suspended Linux support for the Tegra line. If the Viewpad prices keep falling, I may have a g-tablet for sale, and then I will get a Viewpad!
Amazon currently lists the tablets in this order of popularity (4/21/11/ 17:22):
#1 ViewSonic g-tablet
#2 Motorola Xoom
#3 Apple iPad2
EDIT: The Viewpad 7 has an ARM11 processor. Not as easy to install Linux on that one.