[GTALUG] cheap Windows tablets today

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

The Microsoft Store is selling two Win 10 tablets at a low price today.

<https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msca/en_CA/list/categoryID.70394700?icid=HP-12DD-Day5-LTH-120916-MSCA>

Both have IPS displays with 1920 x 1200 resolution (nice).

Both can probably run linux, but with varying amounts of difficulty.

The $74 one has 32-bit UEFI firmware which is annoying for Linux.  So I
would ignore it.

The $119 one has a 64-bit UEFI firmware.

At a minimum, you should be able to install Windows Linux subsystem on 
this (most of text-mode Ubuntu).

I have a Win 10 tablet with a similar processor and have been able to boot 
Ubuntu (some months ago).  I needed a kernel parameter that de-tuned the 
video drive a lot to get it working.  With enough experimentation, I could 
probably have figured out a better work-around.  But desktop distros 
aren't actually much fun on tablets

These tablets have very limited USB: one port, USB 2, probably also
used to charge tablet.

There's something quite interesting about being able to buy a tiny
Windows box quite inexpensively and Windows is an OK tablet OS.  But
generally an Android tablet makes more sense as a tablet (more
relevant software, longer battery life).  Still, if I didn't already
have Windows tablet, I'd consider buying one of these to play with.