ubuntu-us-ohio team mailing list archive

[Stephen Michael Kellat <skellat@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Good Saturday morning team!  Anybody have thoughts on the news below? 
Either sound off on-list or call 702-714-0397 to leave a voicemail I can
play on LISTen.  Text messages should go to 440-361-0947.

SMK

----- Original message -----
From: Daniel Clem <clem11388@xxxxxxxxx>
To: ubuntu-tablet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Ubuntu-tablet] Zareason is making a 10 inch Open Tablet called
       ZaTab!!
Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 23:50:41 -0400

Firstly, sorry if this is a repeat message, I tried sending once, but 
was with an email that wasn't registered on Launchpad. So I don't think 
it posted properly. I hope it doesn't bother the moderators.

Most likely alot of the people on this list have already seen the 
article on OMG!Ubuntu. But Just wanted to put the info about it here 
also and link to the ZaTab page.

ARM A8 Cortex CPU @ 1.2Ghz (Single core)
Mali400 GPU (Handles 1080p, 3D games etc)
1GB DDR3 RAM
16GB internal storage
9.7? (1024×768) capacitive touch-screen
14 hour* battery life
Front and back cameras
Metal-back casing
Weighs 630 grams
Wi-Fi
Headphone, MicroSD card, 2x microUSB ports, and 1x microHDMI port

Link to the ZaTab page: http://zareason.com/shop/zatab.html

And its only $349. Much cheaper than the Transformer is (we are talking 
new hardware, not refurbished) And this would be entirely open. Zareason 
offers it with NO Operating System at all, or with Android 4.0.3. They 
actually state on the page,

    "Some manufacturers consider "root" to be a four-letter-word. We 
don't. The ZaTab is an open device. The bootloader is unlocked. Root 
access is available. We welcome the community to develop custom ROMs and 
port other Linux distros to the ZaTab."

What more could we ask for?? Yes the CPU is single core, but Ubuntu is 
native code and doesn't need as much power, and with the Mali400 GPU 
being as powerful as it is. The CPU only being 1.2 single core would be 
just fine. What ya say guys?? :-D

      P.S. Side note for those that might be concerned about the Mali400 
using a proprietary driver, this is the same GPU as in the Vivaldi 
Tablet. There is a reverse-engineering project to get a full driver 
stack for the different Mali GPU's (they are said be to very easy to 
write for due to their logical and simple design) and if the Ubuntu team 
got together with the reverse-engineering dev's and the (Vivaldi Tablet 
dev's to help with testing) then the Mali GPU's could be the best ones 
on the market for Open Hardware. And the Mali's are used in SOOO much 
hardware, from dirt cheap chinese tablets, up to some high-end Samsung 
smart phones (different spec's of course, but would only be tiny 
differences in the drivers) So having great open source drivers could 
really open up so many possibilities for the hackers out there that love 
finding and playing with new open hardware. Just a bit of a side note :)

Link to an article about "Freedom based" Open Source Mali drivers: 
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=arm_mali_reverse&num=2
<http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=arm_mali_reverse&num=2>

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