[ Thanks to Rex Djere for
this link. ]
“I recently visited a local Best Buy, and I played around with
several of the current generation of tablets. I avoided the one
tablet that I knew that there was no chance of me buying: Apple?s
Ipad 2. The Ipad 2 is a wonderful device, but it is far too locked
down for my tastes. For the most part, this left me with the latest
Android tablets as my only option. I played with the Samsung Galaxy
Tab 10.1 and the Toshiba Thrive, also a 10.1? tablet. I liked the
Toshiba Thrive a lot more. Some nice features that made the Thrive
much more attractive were its full-sized USB ports, an HDMI port,
and an SD card slot. The only minus is the Android OS: I really
want a fully FOSS tablet. The upcoming Open Spark tablet fits the
bill.“The Open Spark has a smaller screen than the Toshiba Thrive,
7.1? vice 10.1?. However, the advantages of a truly GNU/Linux-based
system outweigh the Toshiba Thrive?s larger screen size for me. The
Open Spark, a Free Software tablet announced a couple of weeks ago,
is VERY exciting. It is based on somewhat older hardware, so its
specs are less than the most modern tablets, but it will be
released at a great price: about $260. This is one reason that I
would buy it. The Galaxy Tab and the Toshiba Thrive are pretty
expensive, priced comparably to some pretty decent laptops. The
Open Spark comes with the Mer OS installed. Mer is a GNU/Linux OS
derived from the defunct Meego OS. The Spark will utilize the
Plasma Active Desktop from KDE, and it will be released in May
2012. I cannot wait!”