http://rhombus-tech.net/

Why has Rhombus Tech been created?

If you have heard of Phonebloks you will know that there are at least hundreds of thousands of people who are deeply concerned about the environmental impact of our throw-away culture in electronics. And whilst Phoneblocks is starting with mobile phones, Rhombus Tech is starting with everything else. [...]

Not a good choice: I tried out a cheap tablet netbook PC. It is the Trekstor SurfTab twin 10.1 with MS-Windows 10. After about four months of (not to frequent) usage, the keyboard now sometimes stops working. The issue also is related to the position of the tablet. I think, that the cable between the keyboard and the dock for tablet is a weakpoint due to the bending that occurs when opening and closing the device.

By the way, don’t consider to use such cheap tablets for Linux. You can boot it externally (with some tweaks), but latest if it comes to start graphical mode, you’ll be in trouble. I guess that Microsoft made sure, that no competing operating systems can kick Windows out.

Try https://community.linuxmint.com/hardware in case you search computers (including Netbooks etc.) which support Linux.

I now use that SurfTab with an USB hub (which has its own power supply) and an external keyboard for tasks where I cannot avoid Windows (e.g. for my iPhone). But my main computer is a Acer Aspire R11. Computers from that family work fine with Linux.


2016-10-31: I could’t stop myself and opened the keyboard and its dock for the tablet. Now I lost the warranty, but got some insight. What we see here, doesn’t need any further comment.

Choosing pen drives (with flash memory) for external operating systems:

• Hama Valeus FlashPen 64GB Speicherstick (150Mbps, USB 3.0). It’s a “LaCie RuggedKey” drive. I use it for an external Linux.

 
Not really suitable for external OS:

• Sony 64 GB MicroVault Entry USB3.0 Pendrive [USM-64X/W], “up to 110 MB/s” reading speed: Slow writing. Perhaps the original partinioning is optimized for that drive. I didn’t test it with the original partition. Reformatting (as required e.g. for Linux) may not be recommended. As for NTFS, writing is very slow, but works.
• I installed Linuxmint on a 64G SanDisk “Extreme USB 3.0″. It boots on an old EeePC 901, but not on a Lenovo 205. (2015-10-14)

I added a new PC with Windows 8 to my little Network, which so far only hosted Linux PCs (and Windows 7 or earlier from guests).

Technically Windows 8 is fine, but all SW suppliers try to sell things to me which I am not interested in. I have to be carefull with any “accept” click. Linux people don’t do that.

There is one issue with Windows 8: Some scanners (I use the HP Officejet 4500…) don’t work, as no drivers are provided. I experienced that with a networked printer/scanner. Solution:

1. Switch off virus protection.
2. Install new driver from printer manufacturer’s web site. (In case of HP the tool hppiw.exe helps.)
3. Switch on virus protection.
4. Test printing and scanning.
5. During the procedure, something also in the printer/scanner may have been changed. If other clients in the network don’t recognize the printer anymore, in their configurations the printer/scanner has to be reinstalled.

I still prefer Linux.

Mein alter Computer wird schon klapprig. Ich merke mir hier mal http://community.linuxmint.com/hardware/search für’s Einkaufen.