

The tablet is shipped with Plasma Active by default

Source: aseigo / plasma.kde.org

Senior KDE developer Aaron J. Seigo has announced the forthcoming release of a 7-inch tablet that will use Plasma Active as its default user interface – developed for tablets, media centres, smartphones and similar devices, this UI is based on many of the same components that are also used for KDE Plasma Workspaces.

Seigo says that the tablet will include a 1 GHz AMLogic ARM processor with Mali 400 GPU, coupled with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of storage; an SD card slot will allow users to add further storage to the device that also offers Wi-Fi connectivity and a capacitive multi-touch screen. According to the developer, a "content store" will offer additional apps, as well as free content such as books from Project Gutenberg. The plan is to release the tablet "unlocked", so that there will be no obstacles for users who wish to install other operating systems.

Seigo said that the tablet, called "Spark", will cost "a mere €200", and added that he will soon share more about where to order and when the tablet will start to ship.

At the end of his blog post, the developer says that, in a few months, he will no longer be sponsored by the Qt Development Frameworks to work on KDE full time. However, he added that he plans to continue working in the KDE and Plasma environments: "this is an exciting doorway through which I am stepping. I can not see with perfect clarity what lies on the other side, but it looks bright."

(sno)