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[Q] Transformer for students.

A bit of background: I will be attending UCLA as a computer science student in the fall. I will be bringing my desktop with me, and am trying to decide between a laptop/netbook or the Transformer.
Would the transformer work in conjunction with the desktop, or will I need a full laptop.
Thanks.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

You should consider what you want to use this device for before you decide. As a CS major, you will certainly be doing quite a bit of programming, and you might want to prefer to use a full linux environment for this, depends largely on the program you have at UCLA. What you can consider is to get this device and using the splashtop program access your desktop to do your programming. However, you will want to consider whether or not you want to utilize the local processing power of your device. It would be far simpler to use a laptop/netbook for those purposes, rather than trying to find solutions with the tablet+dock. In the end, if you find that you will be using the device docked most of the time for school, then you should probably consider just getting a laptop/netbook. If the convenience of the tablet and media consumption is something you'd prefer, then get the transformer.
tl;dr, I consider the transformer+dock a fun/entertainment device. For CS based schoolwork, you would most likely want a laptop/netbook.
unless you wanted to focus on tablet development in your coursework...but that's not for another 2 years...
Hope that helps.

It helped a lot. Thank you.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Keep in mind that you can use the Transformer's bundled remote desktop app and/or a terminal app to control your PC, and run stuff that way - assuming you can connect to your desktop from wherever you are.
I do agree with omguss, if you don't plan on using the device mostly for entertainment, get a netbook/laptop.

Sorry if this is hijacking your thread (ill start a new thread if you want) but just wondering if there is a good note taking apps for android?
There are two uses I can see being needed for me.
First I would need something to annotate on pdf's and powerpoints. I remember seeing an app that looked pretty solid for this so it should be good.
Secondly I would need an app that I can be typing with the keyboard, and then when needed draw in equations, graphs, pictures, whatever. Not really sure if there is something good for this.

As a programmer, I would suggest getting a full laptop for somebody majoring in CS. As much as I love the transformer, you cannot compile code on it. At least in my searching I have not found a single IDE meant to be run on Android (Lot's target Android, but none run on Android). More than likely, there will be several times that you want to do work away from your room. On the transformer, the only real way to do this will be remote desktop software. It's up to you whether you think the remote desktop software will be sufficient for this, but one other thing I would caution against is the small keyboard. It is far more comfortable (and efficient) to program on a full-size (or as near to full-size as possible) keyboard.
I don't know what type of program you are going into, but if you take any courses on 3d graphics you are almost certainly going to lose the ability to test your programs through a remote desktop connection.
I personally think that tablets are great in conjunction with a desktop. I plan to get rid of my netbook once I get the transformer. My only concern for you is that a tablet simply isn't a good tool for programming. If the hacker community manages to get ubuntu onto the transformer then the device will be an acceptable programming tool in my opinion; although, you will still lack a full size keyboard.
My advice to you is wait until mid-to-late summer. There is a slew of new tech toys coming out this summer, and almost anything you get now will be outdated by the time you start in the fall. By summer you will know if we managed to get Ubuntu on the transformer, AMD's Llano processor will be out on laptops, and Tegra 3 tablets may be just around the corner.

BongoBong said:
Sorry if this is hijacking your thread (ill start a new thread if you want) but just wondering if there is a good note taking apps for android?
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Click to collapse
Don't need to hijack anything. Just look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=980783

I'm a secondary school student, I have a HP DM1 (Not the Z ), runs 7 pro X64 + VS 2010 Pro + VS2008 Pro. Got a load of VM's for debugging ETC...
Windows is good for note taking to, Onenote is great.
Hope this helps
Badwolve1

good old days of using SSH + eMacs + X client, they all switched to windows in school?

Magnesus said:
Don't need to hijack anything. Just look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=980783
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Click to collapse
Thanks, but I have already seen that thread and done some other looking up and the majority of discussion is whats the best handwriting app. They really don't mention how good it would be for mostly typing (understandable since most would be using the on screen keyboard).

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1039287&highlight=onenote

someone seriously needs to start porting some compilers to android..
many scripting languages are available through SL4A but most CS courses are taught with C/C++ or Java. I'd love to help out with this project but I just wouldn't know where to start

Just adding on to this, since I'm a student and also looking for a tablet solution.
I'd love:
1. Printing to my university printers. My university currently requires you install some software to use their printers. Mac and Windows versions available, no Linux, no Android.
2. Onenote would be awesome. I read that there was an iPhone version available? Android should be coing soon hopefully.

I would suggest a full laptop, and something with high resolution. Once your CS load picks up you'll need something you can work on in between or during classes. Android lacking compilers on the OS itself is the killer here, otherwise you are free to code all you want via text editors.

j7899 said:
I would suggest a full laptop, and something with high resolution. Once your CS load picks up you'll need something you can work on in between or during classes. Android lacking compilers on the OS itself is the killer here, otherwise you are free to code all you want via text editors.
Click to expand...
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As a CS student myself I would agree with the above and add that in programming classes you will want all the screen real-estate you can get your hands on(17"+), a good amount of hard disk space, 4gb+ ram, and a good Virtual Machine program. Less important is video and cpu power unless you intend to make it a desktop replacement/gaming machine.
That being said... Such a laptop is going to be rather heavy. I am getting the Transformer to replace an early gen AspireOne for less technical classes.
Just my $0.02

Flowah said:
Just adding on to this, since I'm a student and also looking for a tablet solution.
I'd love:
1. Printing to my university printers. My university currently requires you install some software to use their printers. Mac and Windows versions available, no Linux, no Android.
2. Onenote would be awesome. I read that there was an iPhone version available? Android should be coing soon hopefully.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was about to say that you're insane and that MS would never make OneNote for iOS but.. turns out you're right. That's really strange. Hopefully they start work on an Android version soon.
Edit: The iOS version of OneNote doesn't seem all that great. You can't write with a stylus.. it's just keyboard input. lame. Writing with a capacitive stylus on the transformer would kind of suck anyway, but I might still consider the HTC Flyer which has an active digitizer.

smaskell said:
I was about to say that you're insane and that MS would never make OneNote for iOS but.. turns out you're right. That's really strange. Hopefully they start work on an Android version soon.
Edit: The iOS version of OneNote doesn't seem all that great. You can't write with a stylus.. it's just keyboard input. lame. Writing with a capacitive stylus on the transformer would kind of suck anyway, but I might still consider the HTC Flyer which has an active digitizer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, but I'm interested in the Transformer almost purely because of the keyboard dock, so keyboard input only is fine with me tbh. As long as it's decently full featured.

I'm waiting to see if the AMD Llano will make the best thin gaming laptop. Hopefully, new AMD laptops will come out in June, right before back-to-school season.
Oh yeah, OneNote. Yeah, that's important too.

joe_dude said:
Oh yeah, OneNote. Yeah, that's important too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Onenote is the single most useful piece of software MS has ever produced (Excluding win7;p))

Virtual Machines? Eh, I never needed to use one except when I was using a Mac. Wandering what you guys are doing with it.
Any laptop that is 13"+ in screen size is good. The power of the computer depends on what you plan to do. So you have to decide on the specs yourself. Dual Core is fine unless you plan to do any CPU intensive tasks. If you ever need a bigger screen, then you can just buy a monitor and hook it up so even a netbook could be fine if you are okay with the power it gives. 13"-15" is good. 17" is just monstrous and you don't want to be lugging that around.

[Q] Dual boot Ubuntu and Android?

The dual-form nature of this item would fit a dual-boot scenario perfectly. Boot into Android when used as a tablet, boot into Ubuntu when docked. Just curious as to the possibility of this.
As far as I know, Ubuntu supports ARM architecture, so the Tegra 2 chip should work well with it. I'm not familiar with the touch screen driver support in Ubuntu, but I remember when I modded my old EeePC netbook with a touch screen, I was able to install third party touch screen drivers without any problem. Then again, even if the touchscreen won't work, when docked it has the mouse and keyboard anyway.
Are there any devs working on this, or know what the feasibility of such an endeavor would be?
Thanks!

Let me know when I can dual boot into Linux Mint.

I'm wondering if the webtop from atrix can be ported to work here.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

PGibbons999 said:
Let me know when I can dual boot into Linux Mint.
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Click to collapse
Linux Mint is based off of Ubuntu, so if you can get one working, you can get the other. However, vanilla Ubuntu has three times the user base, so I feel that would be the best bet, considering the much larger community support.

Definitely should be a project someone works on

Should be very easy to boot ubuntu alongside android. Got a lot of spare ram on these systems.
This of course means running ubuntu with a vnc server, and connecting to localhost. Which is far from optimal. But it works atleast. That's what I plan to do when I get the tablet.
Hell with wireless adb there's a decent chance I'll be able to run up eclipse and build apps directly to and from the tablet

nurre said:
Hell with wireless adb there's a decent chance I'll be able to run up eclipse and build apps directly to and from the tablet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not unless we get an ARM SDK. There is nothing I would like more than to be able to develop for my tablet on my tablet, but right now it is not possible, even with Ubuntu.

Ubuntu 11.04 was just released with the new Unity interface standardized. I'm not sure how well the Tegra 2 can handle it, but there's also Unity 2D, which looks great.
And the touchscreen interface looks lovely:
http://unity.ubuntu.com/projects/utouch/
I'm getting excited, I really hope we can get this working!

nurre said:
Should be very easy to boot ubuntu alongside android. Got a lot of spare ram on these systems.
This of course means running ubuntu with a vnc server, and connecting to localhost. Which is far from optimal. But it works atleast. That's what I plan to do when I get the tablet.
Hell with wireless adb there's a decent chance I'll be able to run up eclipse and build apps directly to and from the tablet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was already done on the Xoom I believe.

ZaelFaroe said:
Not unless we get an ARM SDK. There is nothing I would like more than to be able to develop for my tablet on my tablet, but right now it is not possible, even with Ubuntu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A very good point :/, oh well. I can still do my normal development

nurre said:
A very good point :/, oh well. I can still do my normal development
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I understand, Eclipse is actually built entirely on Java. Is anyone aware of a full java environment for ARM Linux?

The problem isn't eclipse being based on Java, the problem is the Android SDK plug-in (which specifies x86). It could be that you only need x86 for the emulator or for the USB drivers (I don't know), but it could also be something else where none of the plug-in will work on ARM. You could probably do development (write code), but you probably couldn't compile to apk or test at all. People on PPC Macs already have this issue. It appears that the source code for the SDK is publicly available so maybe we could get it working, but I think that might be more effort than it is worth at this point in time.
But this is getting off topic. We need Ubuntu (or other full linux distro) before the rest of this is even remotely possible.

They have Ubuntu working on some of the old Windows Mobile phones (check out the HTC Touch Pro 2 / Rhodium). Isn't that an ARM based CPU?

Yes, Ubuntu should have no problem working on ARM. The only questions on Ubuntu are the drivers and bootloader.

Getting linux up and running shouldn't be hard. It's done on most modern cell phones already. And the cut down versions are normally due to limitations in hardware.
The only part that sucks is the vnc localhost solution which is generally being deployed, it's not exactly optimal performance wise.

nurre said:
The only part that sucks is the vnc localhost solution which is generally being deployed, it's not exactly optimal performance wise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best way to deal with this problem would probably to get X11 working with Android's graphics stack (mostly OpenGL) as a backend- sort of like Xephyr, or Wayland's embedding of X11 (basing the work on Wayland's work might be the easiest, since they already use OpenGL ES).
That should deliver near-native performance, with full hardware acceleration.
I'd think the best way to structure it would be to have an app you launch within Android that connects to the X11 server and just pushes the final image to the screen (akin to what Wayland does). That should make it reasonable practical to move between Android and Unity (/Gnome/KDE/etc) without too much weirdities.
---
For doing Android development on Android, until there's a native SDK, you could use X11's network transparency to be running Eclipse on a remote machine via SSH, using port forwarding to allow the remote machine to connect back over the tunnel for ADB. It's ugly, but it should work (assuming you have a network connection... and a working x11!).

Initially thought this would be a huge reverse enginering job, but look and behold : http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/news/linux-tegra-released !

Did anyone actually tried to run any Linux distro on it?

Is there any dev working on the question ?
Having a Android/Ubuntu tablet with an actual removable keyboard good me a huge advantage in terms of productivity/entertainment share... !!

nordicfastware said:
Is there any dev working on the question ?
Having a Android/Ubuntu tablet with an actual removable keyboard good me a huge advantage in terms of productivity/entertainment share... !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for that

[Q] Dual booting Ubuntu 11.04 and Android 3.0?

The dual-form nature of this item would fit a dual-boot scenario perfectly. Boot into Android when used as a tablet, boot into Ubuntu when docked. Just curious as to the possibility of this.
As far as I know, Ubuntu supports ARM architecture, so the Tegra 2 chip should work well with it. Ubuntu 11.04 was just released with the integrated Unity interface, which looks wonderful with the touchscreen: http://unity.ubuntu.com/projects/utouch/
The Unity 2D interface should fly on the Tegra 2, even if the Unity 3D mode lags.
Now I know that on the Xoom, we were able to run Ubuntu on a VNC server and connect to it locally, but that is obviously not an ideal solution, due to VNC's weakness, and the general inefficiency of it.
Are there any devs working on something like this so far? I am sure there would be a very sizable audience for something like this. I'd be happy to do any necessary testing, and I'm sure more will as well. I also wouldn't mind taking this as an opportunity to get involved with the dev community (I have a thorough background in CS, just no experience with this specifically), I'd be happy if anyone were to take me under their wing. =)

You're not the only one hoping for this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1053641

I was just thinking about this yesterday. Dual booting Ubuntu and Android would make this the perfect device for me.

i would also love the ability to run linux on mine

I'm tempted to wait until this is guaranteed to happen before buying this thing. I need a new portable device for developing on the go, and I also want and need a Honeycomb device for testing apps and casual content consumption.
At the same time though, if anyone knows of a site or thread dedicated to making this dual-boot happen (similar to the dedicated Toshiba AC100 page here http://tosh-ac100.wetpaint.com/page/Ubuntu ), I wouldn't mind learning all about it and potentially help if I can, so please share.
Sent from my Milestone using XDA App

There are some devs who definitely pulled this off on the Atrix and I had Ubuntu on my phone so I'm sure we can get it on the transformer. I'll try to find them and see if similar methods can be used.

It'll take years but I don't see why it wouldn't work. If I can do this on my old ass wm6.5 phone then it's possible on the TF!

Maybe it wont take years, but more of these tablets have to hit the market. Still so many people waiting on their preorders, me included.
I think that there might be quite the interest in making this happen. I remember reading somewhere that Ubuntu allready runs on the Tegra2, so why should it be far into the future before we see it running on the Transformer?
Sorry for any typos. I have fat fingers, a 4" screen, a small child and a dictionary gone wild...

here's to hoping
So far i'm quite impressed with this little tablet. It crunches bytes as fast as i can throw them, and customizing it was easy enough. Although with the dock station and Tegra 2 it does feel more like a netbook than a tablet.
Android 3.0 IMO is the best compromise between a desktop and mobile phone OS. Although it's expandability is not quite what i would wish it to be. Possibly once more developers gear their programs for the higher resolutions and more powerful CPUs this will change. For now dual booting Ubuntu and Android would be perfect.
I'm on board with any project coming about to make this happen, and would offer up my hardware and feedback for beta testing. Hope to see a dedication in this direction soon!

Has anyone tried the method in the xoom development forums?
Sent from HTC Inspire 4G via XDA Premium.

gordec said:
Has anyone tried the method in the xoom development forums?
Sent from HTC Inspire 4G via XDA Premium.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen the post, but I'm assuming you mean VNC?

Zach Alt said:
I haven't seen the post, but I'm assuming you mean VNC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it's VNC. That's not that hard, we're talking about straight booting INTO Ubuntu.

i have this image from my desire, which boots linux xlde (or something) i cant get it to connect to that image. Pockecloud just get Server disconnected.... maybe another image.. actually that was loading it from removable MicroSD, im now going to try copying to the internal memory "SDCARD" as that would be what the script would have orignally been setup for. I will post results as soon as this has finished pasting the files...
EDIT: still cant get this to work, seems like terminal is ending too quickly which i think means the loopback memory doesnt work, i think thats how it works anyway.
No lock with WYSE pocket cloud or android vnc, i think we need another build for honeycomb, well not so much the OS but the Tegra chip instead.

ubuntuforums.org
There is a thread over at ubuntuforums.org regarding this matter, though they have a different take on it.
One of the posts state:
Re: Asus Eee Pad Transformer
I plan to get one (not available in my region yet, plus I hear there'll be a 3G version next quarter) and install Ubuntu on it, albeit with KDE/Gnome instead of Unity.
There's not technical reason it can't run Ubuntu, it's just a matter of getting the boot loader working. The instructions seem simple enough, although dual booting with Android might be a little more challenging.
If anyone does get one and install Ubuntu on it, please let us know how it goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it's not all that farfetched getting Ubuntu to run on this device, or any other Tegra2 base tablet.
The original thread can be found at:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1741103&highlight=eee+pad+transformer&page=1

looks like dual booting may be fairly difficult; I wouldn't mind soloing ubuntu touch os on mine...

I think dual booting may be difficult, but I think chain booting (right terminology?) from Android first and then into Ubuntu would probably be possible.

I don't think many people understand how hard it will be to create a bootable version of Ubuntu. VNCing is easy for the most part.

Would it be possible to use the motorola xoom guide to get ubuntu running with vnc on the eee transformer?
Sorry for any typos. I have fat fingers, a 4" screen, a small child and a dictionary gone wild...

Is the VNC version that bad? Is it very slow or the picture is not full color? I'd like to use it maybe for Open Office (or something lighter) and some programming in text editor.

Looks like there has been significant progress on this. backtrack has been released for arm.. its a security-centric distro, but its built on an ubuntu base.
I'm downloading the img now.. dont know about dual boot though. guess someone needs to port grub over first =)
I cant post links....but a search for 'backtrack5 xoom' should get you there.

[Q] Tablet... Android or Windows? What do you suggest?

Hello!
I want to buy a tablet for use in school instead of my notebook.
I really love Android Honeycomb but I have some problems here and there...
I will tell you something about what i need and want. I hope some of you can make some good suggestions.
I looked around a bit and three devices were generally suitable... The problem is I don'T know what to take... Win or Android...
The three devices:
-Acer Iconia A500 (or A501)
-Acer Iconia W500 (or W501)
-Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101
Perfect fo me would be to have a dual-booting tablet with Win7 and Honeycomb.
I want to have an easy to handle Tablet. Means I do never want to have a real HArd Disk. Thats why most Windows Tablets are not possible for me.
SSD or Flash / NAND storage is an important criteria.
Next I want my pad to be lightweight meaning I preferr ARM-Platforms as they have much less Hardware. Especially the Fan in x86-HW is annoying in my eyes.
But I need the Tablet for basicly five things:
-Presentations: Animated Presentations like in PowerPoint (That's a Contra Android I think)
-Text (Word or similar - Okay Eee Pad has an office solution)
-Table Calculation (low weight not so important)
-Software engineering (Which is a big Pro for Windows as I don't know apps for Android doing that.
-Gaming: Playing Minigames whan I'm off... Well thats a point where I like Android
And some point for me is the battery time... Unformtunately x86-Hardware is much power consuming in opptsite to ARM.
I'd love to have a device which is able to boot both systems but unfortunately honeycomb is not ported to x86 yet
Well I have a windows server so I could probably use terminal sessions for programming as a workaround
What do you think?
Or would you suggest me another Tablet else than the ones listed above?
Do you believe it will be possible to install Windows 8 onto Eee Pad Transformer?
Probably even DualBoot?

For school purposes, I think a Windows tablet would be your best bet. You just can't get all of the widely used/ popular business features in Android. Plus you don't wanna get distracted during class

I would have to Say Windows if it for school, but then again look into Android with Word power, or use of School related Apps, for which Android I think is perfect because of the use of many many different Apps to help with whatever situation you're in.

I would think Android would be a much better tablet experience than Windows.
Excluding the possibility of Windows 8.

I would like to point out Bluestacks
http://www.bluestacks.com/
Wait a few months, and a dual-booting tablet will be possible
In the meantime, have you used windows 7 with a touchscreen? IMHO, it kinda sucks.

hahah ,very thanks

Well Windows 7 on touchscreen is possible and it is quite usable. I tried one out (Ambiance AT-something)
But I really love Android as I already stated. And it is better in tiouchscreen-use of course.
The school I mean is not a regular school but it is a school wehre you go if you learn a job (don't know the english word for it). I'm learning an IT-Specialist Job so thats not any problem
The question is while looking on each parameter what would be the best choice for me?
None is suitable 100% I guess this will end up in a 45-55 percent decision...
As I you said generally Windows has much more "known" capabilities e.g. MS Office but on the other hand android is much better while talkting from tablets... It is more efficient light-weight (focussing on hardware specs) and when I focus on travelluign I would like to have android as it has more battery lifetime and at the same time the games are better (You have to remember that most windows games are too hardware-hungry to run on a tablet and if they do you have battery times around two hours? )
For my purposes the polaris office Word equivalent is enough.
The presentation thing is okay for small presentations. for bigger ones I'd have to use windows or wait until some software comes out (which will happen I think)
I did not try table caluclation on polaris office yet...
A big plus-point for windows is programming... IS there any software out for android which supports that? I don't think so.
But therefore I could use my server as I already said.
A big plus for android is portabliity and the in my oppinion better games for entertaiment.
Besides the Transformers Screen is awsome in comparison to the Acer...

The transformer does have a nice screen. It's a quite capable tablet, I liked the hardware much more than the Acer. Honeycomb just isnt quite there yet. If It has to work and be easy, go Windows. If it has to be fun go Android

I wouldn't buy any android tablet at the present date, especially if i don't wanna use it mainly as a toy...android is not mature yet, it still has a lot of glitches to be ironed out, on a tablet they can become even more annoying.

It'S exactly what my problem is^^ I want fun but also be able to do my work.
But I don't mind having it a bit more complicated then.
I would instantly say I take a windows thing and use android-x86 ginger as dualboot... But I dislike the x86-Arch-Hardware in a Tablet.

Tablet android 100%

There is already a tablet with dual booting os i.e. android n windows....
here is the link..

rajivshahi said:
There is already a tablet with dual booting os i.e. android n windows....
here is the link..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Friend I am really sceptic when I see a Dual-Booting Tablet, looking like an ipad coming from Hong Kong and haveing Win7 ULTIMATE on it.
Next there is another doing this from Viewsonic. But installing Android 2.2 or 2.3 on an x86 platform is not the problem...
Honeycomb is not possible unfortunately - YET I know TegaTech is workign on it and it is running. Just google not permitting the release yet.
dari0 said:
Tablet android 100%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you describe why?

Going off what you've said you need it for, and that you don't mind how W7 works on a tablet, I'd say go that route, and install bluestacks when it comes out to get your android games.
Coding inside android is not something I've ever heard about, I know you mentioned it, but I don't know how important it is to you.
If battery life is really important, however, I'd recommended the Asus transformer - massive battery life with the dock, and works great as a netbook or a tablet. Dunno how Google docs or similar works on it as an office suite, but its definitely an option.

Thanks mtmerrick
Your post is exactly what I think.
Win7 is good in software and Transformer in Hardware...
If Transformer 2 was out now I would have bought it... Do you think if I buy TF now I will be able to install WIndows 8 on it when it comes out?
I don't know if it's even possible to install anything there?
//Edit: The Programming part is not important for me. But for School. As said I'd use Terminal Sessions for this purpose when thats the only death criteria for android.

Thank my posts if they helped.
There's been talk of putting windows 8 on android devices already, but its too soon to say if it'll actually be possible. I also want to add, Windows 8 ARM apps are most likely not going to be compatible with windows 8 x86 and x64 programs, if that makes a difference to you.
Android has several office suites avalible, and they're pretty good. I'm not exactly sure how strong they are but I do know they're more then enough for most of my entire office. Add the Transformer's hardware keyboard and you should be good to go.
So, I've effectively talked myself into the Asus Eee Pad Transformer for you. What do you think?

I am sure Windows 8 ARM will support MSOffice and Visual C# Express As wella s there will be a notepad++ compile for ARM so that's really all I need lol

Well Microsoft has already said there'll he a version of Office avalible for ARM, so no need to worry about that. But, as I said, android office apps should be all you need,expically with that hardware keyboard. And the transformer has an HDMI out, if I remember correctly, so that (probably) means dual monitor support, and definitely mirroring. Thing is, most people just don't NEED the full capabilities of windows. Only reasons for my laptop are AutoCAD and iTunes. And if windows 8 ARM is going to require its own programs, honestly, why bother with it?

I agree with you.
Define "need"
I saw ubuntu is able to run on the transformer... That opens a new way =)
Which includes even most programming problems
Does anyone know if I can dualboot Android and Ubuntu on the Transformer?
If yes I know what I will buy

android of cos....

[FEELER] Universal Webtop-Like HW & SW Platform

I am posting this thread seeking feedback and judging interest in such a project.
Most Android devices these days have USB OTG / host functionality as well as HDMI-out.
Motorola exploited this on the Atrix and Bionic with docks that are essentislly a powered USB hub and HDMI adapter or the webtop which 9s a dock with a battery, screen, keyboard and touchpad. Their setup allowed you to run a modded Ubuntu on the screen ajd had a window to access the normal phone interface.
Now with the progress of the Android platform, they have abandoned it mostly, as of 4+ the aforementioned HW only allows you to use android in tabet mode.
What I am proposing is a likely OpenSource project to develop:
- universal hw for all android devices
- custom jailed linux and xwm/interface adapted for touch/hdpi/small screens
- custom android x server allowing integration
- custom android x client/rsp (rdp) for android to allow viewing of phone interface on screen
The goal being a well designed version allowing a hybrid of linux apps and android apps in tablet mode seamlessly integrated.
Let me be clear that I am trying to judge interest and brainstorm, I am NOT asking about the feasibilty or technical requirements or burdens.
Eventually with enough interest, other OS apps could be integrated and virtualized.
I have 20+ years sw engineering, design and development experience and am willing to put in my efforts to seed this project if the interest is there.

Well no responses - but some THANKS.. So I'll take that to mean there is some interest.
I am actively developing this and a whole suite of tools to accompang it starting with a universal, configurable, network (bt/wifi/3G/RG) and hardware syncronizable audio driver. Follkwing that I will be working on a 2-way android/linux x-server/client system.
Each tool will be released as an individual piece and eventually will (hopefully) come together to build a system to enhance android and bridge the ever narrowing gap between android and a pc.
I really would be interested in some feedback especially regarding the hardware aspect.

forbiddenera said:
Well no responses - but some THANKS.. So I'll take that to mean there is some interest.
I am actively developing this and a whole suite of tools to accompang it starting with a universal, configurable, network (bt/wifi/3G/RG) and hardware syncronizable audio driver. Follkwing that I will be working on a 2-way android/linux x-server/client system.
Each tool will be released as an individual piece and eventually will (hopefully) come together to build a system to enhance android and bridge the ever narrowing gap between android and a pc.
I really would be interested in some feedback especially regarding the hardware aspect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sounds very interesting :good:

forbiddenera said:
I am posting this thread seeking feedback and judging interest in such a project.
Most Android devices these days have USB OTG / host functionality as well as HDMI-out.
Motorola exploited this on the Atrix and Bionic with docks that are essentislly a powered USB hub and HDMI adapter or the webtop which 9s a dock with a battery, screen, keyboard and touchpad. Their setup allowed you to run a modded Ubuntu on the screen ajd had a window to access the normal phone interface.
Now with the progress of the Android platform, they have abandoned it mostly, as of 4+ the aforementioned HW only allows you to use android in tabet mode.
What I am proposing is a likely OpenSource project to develop:
- universal hw for all android devices
- custom jailed linux and xwm/interface adapted for touch/hdpi/small screens
- custom android x server allowing integration
- custom android x client/rsp (rdp) for android to allow viewing of phone interface on screen
The goal being a well designed version allowing a hybrid of linux apps and android apps in tablet mode seamlessly integrated.
Let me be clear that I am trying to judge interest and brainstorm, I am NOT asking about the feasibilty or technical requirements or burdens.
Eventually with enough interest, other OS apps could be integrated and virtualized.
I have 20+ years sw engineering, design and development experience and am willing to put in my efforts to seed this project if the interest is there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just saw your post; I owned 2 Motorola RAZR (a RAZR i for now) and I really miss the webtop! I used it a lot so I am very interesting by your project. It's a shame that Motorola let go this idea, I think it was something that can make Motorola outstanding from other brands.
I'm sure there is a lot of people interested by that kind of app.

ichi go said:
I just saw your post; I owned 2 Motorola RAZR (a RAZR i for now) and I really miss the webtop! I used it a lot so I am very interesting by your project. It's a shame that Motorola let go this idea, I think it was something that can make Motorola outstanding from other brands.
I'm sure there is a lot of people interested by that kind of app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope so, I have started slowly developing the low levels of the stack of tools required for this.
If you are interested in making this a reality, then I need support. Moral support, testing, food, hardware.. etc.. Mostly I need to know there's a demand and that people will use it and benefit from it.
Currently I require a few things for testing and development, if anyone wants to.help.
- USB OTG / Host adapter for microusb. x 2
- Powered USB hub.. The source in my city has one for $10, but do not sell the power adapter to.go with it.
and, would be beneficial:
- A droid Bionic HD dock or Webtop dock, unfortunately my phone was not sold in Canada and ship them to me for my friend in the states and I cannot get these here.
please spread the word if you are interested, rally support and it will get done.
The first thing I am developing for this is a universal low latency audio driver replacement for android / linux with extended.ipc/net routing capabilities. Partly because I am a musician and need such elsewhere is why I am starting with audio.. I also intend to get the audio plug on my moto dock working on nonstock

forbiddenera said:
I hope so, I have started slowly developing the low levels of the stack of tools required for this.
If you are interested in making this a reality, then I need support. Moral support, testing, food, hardware.. etc.. Mostly I need to know there's a demand and that people will use it and benefit from it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have my support in whatever you need. ive been a webtop guy since day 1, wonderful technology but *WAY* ahead of it's time (and lets not even talk about how i spent $300 bucks on my first lapdock, and $50 on my second when they canned the webtop project lol. i will caution you that it doesn't seem like there is much demand anymore for the dual environment setup. i have quite a bit of market insight as to why this is, but at any rate, innovative development is never appreciated until it is actually developed, no?
forbiddenera said:
Currently I require a few things for testing and development, if anyone wants to.help.
- USB OTG / Host adapter for microusb. x 2
- Powered USB hub.. The source in my city has one for $10, but do not sell the power adapter to.go with it.
and, would be beneficial:
- A droid Bionic HD dock or Webtop dock, unfortunately my phone was not sold in Canada and ship them to me for my friend in the states and I cannot get these here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
aside from several years of commercial software testing experience, i have at my disposal for testing:
Motorola Atrix 4G (only moto phone unlocked kernel + webuntu mod)
Motorola Droid Bionic
Samsung Galaxy Nexus (uses MHL)
Motorola Xoom tablet (HDMI out)
- 1 bionic lapdock, 1 universal lapdock 100
- bionic HD dock
- MHL USB > HDMI adapter
- USB OTG cable
looking forward to contributing and seeing this become a reality my friend.:good:

I am still wanting to push this forward. I really need a HD DOCK with USB tho.. If anyone can help, post or PM me.
cheers

I am still wanting to push this forward. I really need a HD DOCK with USB tho.. If anyone can help, post or PM me.
Or a lapdock, or a usb otg and powered hub, or... I do have an hdmi cable and use webtop 3 all the time for watching tv..
Unfortunately google basically stopped moto from doing this.. We can all run linux but using it on vnc is sloppy, android x server doesnt work proper yet.. And even webtop 3 isnt that bad of an idea..
cheers

forbiddenera said:
I am still wanting to push this forward. I really need a HD DOCK with USB tho.. If anyone can help, post or PM me.
Or a lapdock, or a usb otg and powered hub, or... I do have an hdmi cable and use webtop 3 all the time for watching tv..
Unfortunately google basically stopped moto from doing this.. We can all run linux but using it on vnc is sloppy, android x server doesnt work proper yet.. And even webtop 3 isnt that bad of an idea..
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If someone or a few ppl can chip in to split the cost itd rly hlp.. yks

Hey, every idea you've posted seems good. The only thing I see holding back is, well, you have no credentials to show what you can/have done. I'd love a webtop for my phone, and an external android ssd(rasberry pi?) sounds sweet!
Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, I personally would love to see these projects come to life and help out with the funding side of things(unless you've got some extra time to teach) I do have a passion for developing, it's just not a skill yet.
Tell/show me more of what you can give/make to these protects you have planned and I'll tell/show you what I can fund/help with.

Really cool idea. I'm interested and if you develop even a crude "example" I'm sure the community will hop on board too.
Best of luck and I'll be keeping an eye out .

topdnbass said:
Really cool idea. I'm interested and if you develop even a crude "example" I'm sure the community will hop on board too.
Best of luck and I'll be keeping an eye out .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been using webtop3 with just an hdmi cable for a bit - and at the least something like that should be available to every device with hdmi/mhl (eg. dynamic dpi change, phone screen becomes touchpad and kb unless hw mouse/kb avail) but also with all Android devices being linux, there should be a better way to run linux apps than vnc or a half-finished barely functional x server (not damping on the devs).
I have 15-20 years experience in coding almost all languages on almost all platforms. Done a ton of webstuff, none of it's really online or available (NDA). I worked with AOL/nullsoft for a short bit for sc_trans and thus ran my own radio, IdealSound. Unfortunately the AOL BW dried up and I had to kill it, but I am reviving it. I don't have a lot to show now, but give me a few weeks...
Anyhow, I see a ton of potential in android, I like open source, and, I think it's terrible that google axed wt3 even. wt2, I understand why.. wt3 is just dynamic dpi on hdmi and a different launcher profile (and a touchpad).
There needs to be more, and, I use android enough to be willing to invest time into this. Unfortunately, I am not able to invest $.
I envision multi-app android multi-tasking (two apps one screen? windowed?) and seamlessly running linux apps, like gimp, integrated ala parallels style (=using win appson mac seamless)
I eat Linux for breakfast and poop Java. And that's pretty much what android is.. I need dev tools tho.. my biggest concern really, is google and what they have planned conflicting with what I want to do.
I do plan to KISS (keep it stupidly simple) as much as possible though. Any dev I do will be very modular.

forbiddenera said:
I have been using webtop3 with just an hdmi cable for a bit - and at the least something like that should be available to every device with hdmi/mhl (eg. dynamic dpi change, phone screen becomes touchpad and kb unless hw mouse/kb avail) but also with all Android devices being linux, there should be a better way to run linux apps than vnc or a half-finished barely functional x server (not damping on the devs).
I have 15-20 years experience in coding almost all languages on almost all platforms. Done a ton of webstuff, none of it's really online or available (NDA). I worked with AOL/nullsoft for a short bit for sc_trans and thus ran my own radio, IdealSound. Unfortunately the AOL BW dried up and I had to kill it, but I am reviving it. I don't have a lot to show now, but give me a few weeks...
Anyhow, I see a ton of potential in android, I like open source, and, I think it's terrible that google axed wt3 even. wt2, I understand why.. wt3 is just dynamic dpi on hdmi and a different launcher profile (and a touchpad).
There needs to be more, and, I use android enough to be willing to invest time into this. Unfortunately, I am not able to invest $.
I envision multi-app android multi-tasking (two apps one screen? windowed?) and seamlessly running linux apps, like gimp, integrated ala parallels style (=using win appson mac seamless)
I eat Linux for breakfast and poop Java. And that's pretty much what android is.. I need dev tools tho.. my biggest concern really, is google and what they have planned conflicting with what I want to do.
I do plan to KISS (keep it stupidly simple) as much as possible though. Any dev I do will be very modular.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
like I said before, I'm very interested and would like to be on your team when this idea takes flight.
PM me and let's get started.
let me know what you need to get started, I'll reply with what I can offer.
also give whatever details of why you need what and so on, that you deem appropriate or necessary.
looking forward to hear from you.

Test Monkey
Just saw this today. If it helps, I may have a useful assortment of gear to test this kind of thing out on, when it comes to that.
Motorola Droid X2 cdma (no HDMI, but if you were going for a dock adapter that added HDMI over usb)
Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE (micro HDMI)
Motorola Photon (micro HDMI)
A Motorola LapDock (Fits both of the Photons, but won't recognize the touchpad or keyboard)
Hisense Sero 7 Pro Tablet (mini HDMI)
The Q is the only one I use daily, so I can monkey around with the rest pretty recklessly. I know my way around adb & CWM / TWRP, but I'm no dev. Just been flashing custom ROMs since the early windows mobile days, so I'm not scared of much.
I'm currently trying to cobble together a software-based solution for myself with the LapDock, using a combination of methods used by other folks on other gear, so I might also have some links worth following for stuff that's been done already. Either way, good luck.