€200 KDE Plasma Active Tablet Announced

By , Published January 29, 2012

Does a €200 tablet running KDE Plasma Active sound good to you? 

Say hello to Spark.

Spark KDE Plasma Active Tablet

Spark is a fully open-source $270 7″ tablet running KDE’s Plasma Active interface. Notably, the device is not being brought to market by a profit-motivated hardware company but by the KDE/Plasma Active community itself. Profit made from sales of the device will be poured straight back into developing KDE Plasma Active.

The hardware used by the tablet is unlocked (for hacking fans) and additional features/apps/productivity will be provided through ‘an open content and services market‘.

Despite the low price and cheap looking case, the specs of the tablet are nothing to be sniffed at: -

  •  1GHz AMLogic ARM processor (Cortex-A9)
  • Mali-400 GPU
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 4GB internal storage
  • SD card slot
  • 7″ capacitive multi-touch screen (800×400 resolution)
  • Wifi (802.11 b/g)
  • 1x mini-HDMI Out
  • 2x mini-USB ports
  • 1.3MP webcam
  • 3.5mm audio jack
  • Weight: 360g
Based on the board within the device, Spark will support 1080p HDMI output as well as onboard decoding of 1080p for H.264 files.

Details on precisely when the device will begin shipping is expected in the coming days.

The device is expected to start shipping in May 2012. 

Below is a video showing Plasma Active Two in action (albeit not on a Spark tablet)

Via Ian Hex

Related posts:

  1. KDE Plasma Active Two Sees Release
  2. [How to] Run KDE Plasma Widgets in Ubuntu Unity
  3. Dual-screen Ubuntu-based tablet ‘Kno’ to ship this month
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  • Anonymous

    any video presentation?

  • Ian Hex

    Thanks for the credit. You might want to point out that it’s going for 200 Euros, rather than US Dollars.

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ Joey-Elijah Sneddon

      Y U NO REFRESH? ;) 

  • Sigurd Kristvik

    Awesome

  • http://twitter.com/matt_j_bell123 Matt Bell

    Although I said on the KDE 4.8 post I didn’t like KDE that much, I would definitely buy this amazing linux device. I could pop it in the kitchen or something, somewhere where space is an issue.

    • Anonymous

      Yes you say that every time. It starts to get boring.

      • http://twitter.com/matt_j_bell123 Matt Bell

        It would be amazing to have it inside on of those touch screen coffee tables… that would be something

        • http://twitter.com/matt_j_bell123 Matt Bell

          Oh oops… didn’t realise it had a screen! Next time I need to read more carefully on the article. sorry!

      • edu ard

        IMHO unity is designed for everything.

        • Anonymous

          If there is sth for everything that is good for nothing.

      • http://www.ubuntu.com/ Moraru A. Lilian

        The interface that comes with this tablet is more tablet ready than the piece of sh** Unity is. It is really a hassle to use Unity on a tablet, small buttons(close, minimize and all the other buttons), hard to press on menu items which were intended for the sharp mouse pointer and not fingers. KDE did a better job, here is the interface it will come with: http://plasma-active.org/

  • http://profiles.google.com/simon.delhaye Simon Delhaye

    Wow ! Very interesting 

  • Michal Kohútek

    From what I see on the picture, it seems, that this beauty sports 2 mini-usb ports, not one :)

  • http://twitter.com/williekoomson Willie Koomson

    Nice! Any chance it can support Android?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ Joey-Elijah Sneddon

      The documentation for the board it uses certainly supports Android 2.2, so I would imagine so. 

    • https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ActionParsnip ActionParsnip

      If you can find a ROM for it, sure why not :)

  • Anonymous

    definitely my next e-book reader. and of course more than that. i am really excited!

  • Hein Hanssen

    Very nice. But isn’t this tablet a big fat? It seems to be at least twice as thick as any other tablet currently available. In my opinion it looks just as awfull as a TomTec tablet. 

  • https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ActionParsnip ActionParsnip

    Is it the Ubuntu compiled kernel or is it something else?

    • Anonymous

      As far as I can tell it is built on top of either Mer (community meego) or Balsam (open suse compatible distro).

      • https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ActionParsnip ActionParsnip

        So not ubuntu then…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5TT52G5ULGPRKEZRGCXBQCX75E On a need to know basis ONLY

    I’ve only just started reading about spark, but the big question I have is how will developers make apps for this? Better yet how will developers publish apps for this? What is the platform for publishing and will there be a proper SDK and/or documentation for development?

    • conor rynne

      the UI is based on KDE, which uses QT, and I’m assuming you go about making apps for it the same way, using the same software and SDKs as KDE. If this is implemented well, the apps could well be KDE desktop apps as well (to configure the interface/apps for tablet use is very much possible on KDE itself)

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5TT52G5ULGPRKEZRGCXBQCX75E On a need to know basis ONLY

        What about memory management? I think only a very few desktop apps could run on it, even then maybe not simultaneously. A tablet device is very different from a desktop computer, which is why I’m asking about a proper SDK or at the very least documentation for developing on Plasma Active. Also what about purchasing or downloading free apps? There is the App Store and Android Market. What will Plasma Active make/use?

        • http://perot.me/ Etienne Perot

          KDE has a very, very extensive set of libraries. That is what earns it its reputation of being “big and bloated”.

          What most people don’t realize is that because their libraries is so large, programs that rely on them can be very small, devoting much of their functionality to the library code, not their code.
          That means that while the memory footprint of the libraries is large, the additional footprint of each extra application is much smaller than what you would expect on another desktop environment or another operating system. This makes it quite suited to tablets.

          • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5TT52G5ULGPRKEZRGCXBQCX75E On a need to know basis ONLY

            How much of Plasma Active is similar to the usual Desktop KDE? Also how
            much of the RAM on the Spark tablet does Plasma Active take up? I am very interested in this new platform.

        • Anonymous
    • http://www.ubuntu.com/ Moraru A. Lilian

      There will be a store to put the apps. And they build a system that allows anyone to build their own store.
      “… The content store is also going to be interesting. On release, the
      client will be Free software and the APIs openly documented so others
      can write front-ends. Most interestingly, however, is the server side.
      It has been designed in such a way that other people with other devices
      or concepts can use that same back end to make their own stores. It
      supports the idea of a single, large set of content which can then be
      curated into any number of different stores with different focuses and
      delivery targets.

      Think about the possibilities: a school district or educational board
      could decide to set up a “store” with learning materials and content
      with access granted to their students.  …”

      • Roger Siegenthaler

        seriously… just work together with the ubuntu store and then make a massive open-source server content thingo… for ubuntu the ubuntu app-store front-end, KDE whatevs, Windows/mac Opensource-app-store, etc. maybe even for android…

  • Anonymous

    Awesome. Finally some tablet with the real Linux stack. I’m definitely buying this. And KDE Plasma Active interface also looks much better then Android tablets interface. Can’t wait.

  • http://profiles.google.com/lilianftp Moraru Lilian

    I think that it has a little bit to low RAM but anyway, I want it!

  • Anonymous

    Wow superb and so cool.Now can we run on any existing tablets ? It would be great too.

    • Anonymous

      KDE Plasma Active Interface has been available to run on existing tablets for a while now.
      http://community.kde.org/Plasma/Active/Devices

      • Anonymous

        Whoa !!! nice looking forward to it.Have to install on my tablet hopefully whenever I’ll be getting it :P

  • Lucas Betschart

    Will this KDE Plasma run on Mer/Meego? 

  • Jamie Twells

    Where can I buy!?

    • Anonymous

      It is not available for sale yet, it will be soon.

      • http://twitter.com/Ederico Ederico

         Then I call on the omgubuntu.co.uk to make sure to inform when it is available and where to order it from! I’m sure they will. I was considering an iPad but now this beats it! Excellent, I’ll be an open-source advocate! (Pun intended, I’m soon to be a lawyer in the Republic of Malta)

  • Carlos Espinal

    Just bought and Ipad… I’m returning it… 

    • Anonymous

      No you’re not. Don’t lie to make your point.

    • http://twitter.com/kallisti5 Alex

      Just bought a puppy… I’m returning it…

  • http://twitter.com/TheBlueSnowball Laura García

    What about battery? 

  • Anonymous

    I’m not a huge fan of tablets and I don’t use KDE as my primary desktop, but I would buy one of these just because of what it represents to the free software community.  There is something appealing about a tablet with free software, regardless of what it uses.  I really want to find out how this device performs in actual use.  From the videos above, it looks like Plasma Active is smooth in operation and most importantly looks to be streamlined for tablet use.

    • Patrick Gillespie

      I’m not a fan either, but this is awesomely cool for two reasons. First, the mobile OS market is the mirror image of the desktop market. In the latter, Linux has 1% of the market, Windows something like 85%. In the mobile market (and since IOS is a ‘nix) ‘nix accounts for close to 98% of the market, Windows around 1%. (How’s it feel, Redmond?) That means that if just 10 of us buys this KDE tablet, we’ll reduce MS’s share by half. (Joking… sort of…)

      But even better, arguing over which LInux *Desktop* DE is better is *so* DÉMODÉ. As soon as a Unity tablet comes out, we’ll have so much to argue about. I’m already taking sides: “Plasma Active just feels funny…  “

  • Ole Albers

    I think 70% of the buyers will install Android on that device. Great work nonetheless

    • Gabriel Rousseau

      I would install Ubuntu and Lubuntu with 3-boot =]

      • Anonymous

        Well, I think Android + some Ubuntu or this in dual boot = awesomeness. :) Although I find I can do more and more in Android alone on my tablet these days. And it has better apps for most tasks (ezPDF is for example increadibly good).

  • http://twitter.com/digitaljail Davide Pagani

    looks slow and non responsive… and what about multi-touch?

    • Anonymous

      I don’t think it looks slow at all.
      The video is old and is not showing plasma active of this announced tablet.

      • http://twitter.com/digitaljail Davide Pagani

        …in this video it look quite slow, the on-screen keyboard lag when pop up and some time when he click on some button it take an instant to show the push-down animation…

        • http://www.ubuntu.com/ Moraru A. Lilian

          Don’t worry, the KDE Team is very awesome now, it shouldn’t be a problem to fix something in this Tablet. Btw, I reported a few days ago a bug on the new Dolphin 2.0 and if I remember correctly it got fixed and merged into the next release of KDE in 54 minutes. And the performance stuff, oh man they have a new KWin developer “Martin Grablin” that does wonders… The KDE Team is really awesome now, don’t worry about it.

  • http://twitter.com/7akula7 7akula7

    512MB is way too little same as 4gb of storage

    • Anonymous

      This is a tablet, how much damn ram do you need.
      The first ipad had 256mb while the second had 512mb.
      As for the 4gb storage, if that is not enough get an SD card.

      • Anonymous

        On Android most apps save state and can be killed and restored invisibly to the user at any time. On iPad there is only one app running at a time. This thing won’t have any of this and it has less memory than typical Android tablets…

  • Tasos Zachariou

    nice!!! i want it….

  • Gabriel Rousseau

    But Spark comes with Kubuntu, OpenSuse or what?

  • Anonymous

    who’s manufacturing it?

    • Chad Germann

      its a Zenithink ZT-180 C71

  • http://twitter.com/danizmax Daniel

    I like it… but it’s lagging too much for my taste

  • http://about.me/ifrit ifrit

    I miss one or two USB ports, but the rest look great :)

    Greetings to the community!!!!! :)

  • Anonymous

    “Notably, the device is not being brought to market by a profit-motivated hardware company but by the KDE/Plasma Active community itself. Profit made from sales of the device will be poured straight back into developing KDE Plasma Active.”

    That has to be one of the dumbest statements ever made.  Because profit-motivated hardware companies never ever pour profit back into product development.

    • Ruben Bakker

      Not exclusively, anyway. A lot of money from for-profit organisations goes into fat salaries, PR, etc.

      • Anonymous

        Yes I get it.  Paying people is evil.  Marketing your product is evil.  Etc. is evil.  Did it ever occur to you that those fat salaries are possibly earned?  Or possibly that instead of going Stalin and shipping engineers off to the gulags they actually pay the R&D staff.

    • Anonymous

      They are saying 100% of all profit goes back into continuing the development of the product.

      • Anonymous

        Which is not close to what is stated at the link.  Nowhere in the link does it state that 100% of profit will go back into hardware development.

        • Anonymous

          Product development…..
          Hardware != Product
          It will fund development of the software since the hardware was not built/design by them, they just found an OEM.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6CLU5ZOTFN5KZODOREOPZ27B7Q John Nelson

      Many companies (Apple being a notable exception, although that is expected to change) pay out dividends. Apple, on the other hand, is sitting on something like $80 billion in cash. Again, that’s $80 billion, with a “b”, and that’s in the form of cash AFTER paying out R&D expenses.  To suggest that all money goes back into R&D at all profit-motivated companies is simply incorrect.

      • Anonymous

        Did I suggest that all money goes back into R&D?  No I did not.  Perhaps you need a remedial read class.

  • Anonymous

    The RAM is a bit disappointing but in any other case, I’m in!

    • Anonymous

      The original ipad had 256mb RAM and ipad 2 has 512mb ram. It’s not low for a $270 tablet!

      • http://www.ubuntu.com/ Moraru A. Lilian

        I agree with you but, iPad has a dual-core while this one…

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/RM5XA6GZTIHT65B5YCBRNRUMQI Bryan

    Want this software.  Hope they open it up and port to the touchpad.  

  • http://twitter.com/appleseedhuman Appleseed Humanity

    This is the perfect blend – it runs Linux, offers a smooth-looking demo to friends still enduring the Redmond Virus -and- helps fund further work to make Linux/KDE even better. I’m buying one the day they appear.

  • Anonymous

    Sweet, a tablet I can install GNOME 3 on! :D

    Nah, I actually love KDE. I just don’t quite relate to their take on touch-based interfaces. It’s not very intuitive. Also, Oxygen’s widget set is just too narrow for my big, fat, honkin’ human fingers on a small display.

    We need Oxygen mobile, as well as mobile versions of UXes. Qt is well suited for this purpose, so hopefully we will see more mobile versions of our favorite desktop applications. Unfortunately, this may take a lot of work before we see a large amount of them. A fat theme is probably the easiest and quickest way to remedy this.

    Still, I’m really happy that this is even a possibility. It’s good to see the community build up around hardware, now- the one thing we don’t really have, yet. Now we just need these guys to make a phone. XD

  • http://twitter.com/MisanthropeBob Bob The Misanthrope

    Who is funding this?  How will it be distributed, etc?  Bringing a product to market, I rekcon, is a very expensive risky endeavor.

    While it is cool, and I hope it succeeds, I can’t imagine anyone would want it if there is no “app store” or eco system built around it.

  • Anonymous

    I am a KDE user and as much as I love the idea, I just cannot see it making any kind of impact on market completely dominated by Android and iOS which are both well established and have their app markets all in place and everything.
    I think the tablet market will actually tire out long before anyone comes close to them.

  • salaheddin shtewi

    4GB internal storage …….. disadvantage

  • http://twitter.com/SonicLizzz Sonic Lizzz

    I must say, when I heard about this now, I was really getting interested, but upon watching the video featured in the post, I’m not as impressed as I’d like to be. I mean, I’m not sure if I’m having a “deja vu” of a dream I’ve had, or if it is in fact so, as I believe it to be, that this just looks like an enlarged version of the KDE mobile desktop already available to install onto mobile phones. But, I’m not saying “never”, I’m just saying I’m not pre-purchasing it quite yet.

    • Anonymous

      The video is quite old, it is not running on this hardware.

      • Andy Suarez

        um, it’s from one month ago. I wouldn’t call that “quite old”

        • Anonymous

          By old, I mean not relevant to thsi new tablet.
          This is new hardware whcih will be running this from the OEM.
          The video is older hardware that does not have OEM support for plasma active.

  • John Barclay

    It looks like the problem with this is that there are no apps for it. Unless I am very confused and didn’t realize this was something popular.

    • http://twitter.com/mastermikewwt Michael Masters

      Because its open source and built on QT with KDE. It would be possible to run pretty much all QT applications from desktop Linux and build Linux apps from source. In short this probably has more apps than any other market when you start adding new repo’s

  • Fabian Bakkum

    Will this be Ubuntu based?

    • Anonymous

      I read somewhere it is based on openSUSE but don’t quote me on that

      • Chad Germann

        OpenSUSE is the likely choce seeing as a large amount of  KDE developers are also Developers of OpenSUSE

  • http://twitter.com/no_mans_land_00 no man’s land

    Nice tablet, but the pinch and zoom doesn’t work or what? awesome hardware, would definitely buy one :-) Apple/Android you are warned.

  • Chad Germann

    To bad it is based on Zenithink hardware

    Expect a Device that rattles and feels cheep in your hand

    • Anonymous

      Source?

    • Anonymous

       I have had the Zenithink C71 for a couple months now and it doesn’t rattle or feel cheap.  The screen is actually pretty decent quality.

      • Chad Germann

        I a mbaseing my experance of Zenithink hardware based on a z102 wich is sadly a terrible little device

        • Anonymous

           This will be based on the zt-280 c71.  The only complaints I have about it are short battery life (roughly 4 hours), and the wifi antenna is a little weak.  Other than that it runs pretty well.  Great touch screen and smooth 3d.  I was impressed for the price, but then again I only paid $135 for the Zenithink/Android model.

          • Gabriel Rousseau

            Only 4 hours!?!?! =O

          • Anonymous

             On my Andriod 2.3 version this is sadly the case.  Not sure how much more the KDE version will be able to squeeze out.

  • Anonymous

    I’m in for one.  When can we get it?

  • Anonymous

    hello, we are the linux  hardware & software development company, we are looking for a partnership to  discover more technology in the future. if you are  interest , please email me lily@ezos.info  thanks

  • http://twitter.com/Setup_Artist Andrew L. Kelley

    I Want one!… This is great, and just when I figured I would never get a tablet because I didn’t want the proprietary crap. Awesome!

  • Anonymous

    I’ll buy it for the same reason I bought Nokia N900, LINUX!!! :)

  • http://tomslominski.net/ Tom Slominski

    Very excited about this, looks perfect!

  • Digi

    Resolution anyone? I wanna know what this displays resolution is. Aslong as it is 1024 x 600+ I’ll probably pull the trigger. I also hope it has bluetooth =

  • http://twitter.com/erayince Eray Ince

    it cannot compete with Ipad even galaxy tablets. Please check 1:29sec in video. while user is using galery, tablet is stuck and response time is late

  • Anonymous

    it cannot compete with Ipad even galaxy tablets. Please check 1:29sec in video. while user is using galery, tablet is stuck and response time is late

  • Anonymous

    it cannot compete with Ipad even galaxy tablets. Please check 1:29sec in video. while user is using galery, tablet is stuck and response time is late

  • CharlstonChew

    I’d get it  - but I want at least 10 inch screen.

  • http://twitter.com/woddy68 coppa carlo

    I do not like!

  • https://launchpad.net/~tim.timwahrendorff rakete

    I do not get the hole activities thing… I would make one activity “Workign at computer” and that’s it. But probably there are so many design issues and faults, that it is needed.
    It is nothing for me, and it makes me angry that it is so twisted that I just cannot understand whats the point here. Do I really have to “add” files before I can open A program to create one?
    “Useful Recommandations” is also something that never worked, in no distro, like this Zeitgeist nonsense that also makes totally no sense to me.

    Rant over.

  • Andrew Mezzi

    I know what I’m buying when I get a tablet… I wonder how to install Kubuntu once the tablet version gets a stable release.

  • http://twitter.com/DuckSir Kwan Woong

    Only 4 gigs of internal storage? Needs way more. -_-

  • Stephan Goosen

    People seem to be missing the point.  Yes, the hardware is mediocre, and the screen only 7″.  But that doesn’t matter.

    The important thing, is that it is an entirely community driven tablet.  That is being sold “on our terms, not theirs.”  WIth unlocked bootloader, etc.

    Now that we’ve reached this important milestone, we’ve shown the world that it’s possible.  Now, we have a foot in the door, it will be far easier to convince hardware manufacturers to support our community projects.

    Basically, this is the start of an entire range of products that will receive constant TLC from it’s developers.  Unlike the commercial products which basically become obsolete after a year or so.  It’s already impossible to find covers for my HTC Desire.

  • http://twitter.com/Karriereguide Oliver Förster

    A good BlackBerry playbook in good condition is available for 250 € on ebay. Ithas more power and is mature.

 
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