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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On 10/18/2015 12:24 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> 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?
>

Android devices can connect to the internet via Wifi or GSM if they have 
a SIM.

As for running your own code on it. Quite a few people write their own 
apps. (Sorry programme is too big a word to use.)
For instance the battery monitoring app I have will record, store and 
graph the battery voltage. It can access the tablets internal inputs, 
temperature, phone signal strength, accelerometer etc. It can output a 
text file for debugging.

Does this help?
TL;DR

http://lifehacker.com/i-want-to-write-android-apps-where-do-i-start-1643818268


> 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...)

Raspberry jam, indeed. ;-)

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On 10/18/2015 3:58 PM, Stephen wrote:

Bugrit! My fingers are out on strike with the junior doctors. :-(

I mostly use my small tablet for reading ebooks on and looking up words 
I'm not sure of the meaning off.

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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coding on touchscreen is no fun.  Then again, neither is writing and yet, here I
am.

I have a scheme interpreter and, just out of curiosity, PARI/Droid.  Sometimes I
use them to test out algorithms for project euler while on the bus.  As any
handy calculator.

I have a tablet, I use it mostly just to read sheetmusic.  My phone however, I
use for pretty much everything a pocket pc should prove useful, including
communications, media playing, web browsing, photographing and gaming...

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On 18/10/2015 04:54 PM, nemesis wrote:
> coding on touchscreen is no fun.  Then again, neither is writing and yet, here I
> am.

Does it vary depending on the size of the screen? I guess either way 
there's no tactile feedback. Ooo, does it have that gizmo that weights 
the next letter by probability according to what you already typed?

> I have a scheme interpreter and, just out of curiosity, PARI/Droid.  Sometimes I
> use them to test out algorithms for project euler while on the bus.  As any
> handy calculator.
>
> I have a tablet, I use it mostly just to read sheetmusic.  My phone however, I
> use for pretty much everything a pocket pc should prove useful, including
> communications, media playing, web browsing, photographing and gaming...

Yeah, the *other* possibility is to just buy a smartphone. But then, the 
idea of accessing the Internet with a PAYG account sounds... expensive.

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On 18/10/2015 04:06 PM, Stephen wrote:
> I mostly use my small tablet for reading ebooks on and looking up words
> I'm not sure of the meaning off.

Seems legit.

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On 10/18/2015 7:13 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 18/10/2015 04:54 PM, nemesis wrote:
>> coding on touchscreen is no fun.  Then again, neither is writing and
>> yet, here I
>> am.
>
> Does it vary depending on the size of the screen? I guess either way
> there's no tactile feedback. Ooo, does it have that gizmo that weights
> the next letter by probability according to what you already typed?
>

You can switch that function off if you want. Also there is a function 
that you can "type" by sliding your finger over the keyboard and pausing 
for a fraction on the letter you want to select.



>
> Yeah, the *other* possibility is to just buy a smartphone. But then, the
> idea of accessing the Internet with a PAYG account sounds... expensive.

I turn that function off so I only connect to t'internet (Yorkshire web) 
by Wifi. Home or work. So it is free-ish :-)

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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yes, there is the autocomplete gizmo.  I actually mostly don't type individual
letters, I swipe over letters and form words or best guesses.  Except for sites
in english, because it's a dog changing languages for the mechanism... with
programming language constructs, it's not much help, though you can edit chunks
of text by pressing over a word until a selection cursor appears.

that said, you can of course simply connect a keyboard to the device, but that
won't help with mobility, huh?

finally, can't you just use wifi for internet?

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I use my Android tablet to read books, watch TV, check social media, read 
my e-mail (and reply to it), occasionally play games on, and to connect 
to my Linux boxen to run ssh commands.  I have OpenVPN running on it, so 
if I have wifi connectivity (mine doesn't have a SIM slot), I can do that 
from anywhere in the world.

With my phone, I can tether it to a phone network, so if I really need to 
do something remotely, I can as long as I have cell phone coverage.

Jim



-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

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On Sun, 18 Oct 2015 19:54:44 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> You can switch that function off if you want. Also there is a function
> that you can "type" by sliding your finger over the keyboard and pausing
> for a fraction on the letter you want to select.

Using swype (which is what I use), you don't even need to pause.

But I do have a bluetooth keyboard (built into the case) for the times I 
need to write something more involved.  Swype, though, is pretty fast 
compared to normal typing.

Jim



-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Post a reply to this message