KDE developer Aaron Seigo has announced a new upcoming tablet computer, called the Spark, that will ship with KDE's Plasma environment. The device, which has a seven-inch display and a 1GHz ARM CPU, will sell for €200 ($262). Underneath the shiny KDE surface, the Spark reportedly runs Mer, a community-driven fork of the Linux-based MeeGo platform. Seigo says that the device will be open and that users will be able to install custom firmware.

Although the Spark's hardware specifications aren't particularly impressive and the device is unlikely to attract a mainstream audience, it will appeal to open source software developers who want an inexpensive hardware environment for developing touchscreen-friendly applications with Qt and QML.

"This is a unique opportunity for Free software. Finally we have a device coming to market on our terms. It has been designed by and is usable by us on our terms," he wrote. "We are not waiting for some big company to give us what we desire, we're going out there and making it happen together. Just as important: the proceeds will be helping fuel the efforts that make this all possible."

KDE enthusiasts commenting on Seigo's blog have pointed out that the hardware appears to have been sourced from a Shenzhen manufacturer called Zenithink and that it resembles one of the company's Android tablets.

The Plasma user interface shell, which was introduced in KDE 4.0, offered a new take on the desktop. It replaced the aging surface-for-icons concept with a richer and more versatile system. Plasma is ambitious and controversial, but it has brought a lot of value to the KDE ecosystem.

The flexibility of the Plasma architecture has enabled KDE developers to adapt the shell so that it can be used productively across a number of additional form factors, including netbooks, televisions, and tablets.

The Spark will ship with Plasma Active, which is a variant of Plasma designed specifically for touchscreen devices. It has an onscreen keyboard and a variety of other features that make it suitable for tablets. It has also been optimized to keep the memory footprint small. Seigo says that additional information about the Spark, such as the launch date, will be available later this week.