Like many people [that was sarcasm], I have a graphing calculator. I'm 
pretty sure it's powered by a Z80, and it has an awful 160x120 LCD. You 
can "program" it, in that you can write a macro that opens menu pages in 
a specific order. (WTF is the point of that, BTW?)

I keep thinking to myself "man, if only this had an actual programming 
language on it. It's already a hand-held computer, if only I could write 
code on this thing!"

Several times a week, Ebuyer sends me emails telling me about all the 
wonderful stuff I could be giving them money for. I notice that some of 
the really small tablets have now reached a price point where normal 
humans can realistically afford to buy them. I'm vaguely tempted. But I 
wonder... what can you actually do with a tablet?

I'm genuinely curious. What does a tablet let you do? Can you use it as 
a hand-held Unix computer, run arbitrary code on it, use it to control 
other electronic devices, and so forth? Or is it hard-wired to only let 
you surf the Internet? For that matter, how does a device with no GSM 
even connect to the Internet in the first place?

I have a couple of ideas for projects where a hand-sized computer would 
be really useful, but I don't know if a tablet will actually do what I 
want. Maybe it would be simpler to buy a Raspbery Pi and a touch-screen 
hat. (OTOH, you can't really put that in your pocket, so...)

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