PengPod 700 & 1000 – Linux Tablets Based on AllWinner A10

There are plenty of tablet based on AllWinner A10 and A13 processors, but all of them run Android, and you are out of luck if  you want to run Linux on your tablet, unless you hack this yourself. But this is about to change as PengPod will launch 2 tablets and 1 mini PC running Linux from NAND flash or micro SD card:

  • PengPod 700 – 7″ tablet with Allwinner A10, 1GB RAM and 8GB Flash
  • PengPod 1000 – 10″ tablet with AllWinner A10, 1GB RAM and 8GB Flash
  • PengStick – AllWinner A10 mini PC with 1GB RAM and 4 GB Flash
Allwinner A10 Linux Tablet
Pengpod 1000

The table below gives more detailed specifications and comparison of the three devices.

Device PengPod1000 PengPod700 PengStick
Type Tablet Tablet TV Stick
CPU Allwinner A10 AllWinner A10 AllWinner A10
Android 4 4 4
Linux 3.0.42 3.0.42 3.0.42
Screen 10” 7” External
Resolution 1024×600 800×480 1080i
Ram 1GB 1GB 1GB
Rom 8GB 8GB 4GB
SD Micro 32GB Micro 32GB Micro 32GB
USB Host 1 0 1
USB-OTG 1 1 1
Wifi B/G/N B/G/N B/G/N
HDMI Yes Yes Mini
Camera 0.3 MP Front 1.3 MP Front External
Head Phone Yes Yes No
Speaker Yes Yes No
Buttons 1 1 No
G-Sensor Yes Yes No
Battery 6000 mAh 3300 mAh No
Size 267x164x14 mm 195x120x10 mm 87x33x14 mm
Weight 720g 375g 30g

Pengstick will ship with a power supply, a USB OTG adapter and mini HDMI-HDMI cable. PengPod tablets will ship with a charger, USB OTG adapter, headphones and a screen protector. All devices can be sold pre-installed with Android or Linux, which can boot either from flash or micro SD card (dual boot). They do not mention the Linux distribution, however based on the screenshots and video, the desktop environment appears to be LXDE, so it should be Lubuntu or one of the latest Linaro ALIP image (See Wiki).

The company also plan more Linux products if the first campaign is successful:

  • PengPod713 – 7” Tablet with A13, 512MB ram, 4GB flash
  • PengBox – Mini PC with 1GB ram, 4GB flash
  • PengBook – 10″ Netbook with A10, 1GB ram, 8GB flash

The also mentioned the possibility of getting a Mele A2000 with 1 GB RAM.

The hardware for the first three products is already available, and the software is almost ready, but support for G Sensor based automatic screen rotation, hardware button support and on board camera support with Video4Linux still need more work. Watch the PengPod 1000 running Linux, Plasma Active (UI for tablets) and XBMC (under Linux) in the video below.

AFAIK, beside the Vivaldi tablet, those are the only other Linux tablets available. Pengpod sells the tablets and mini PC via Indiegogo, and like other projects I’ve seen on this crowdsourcing website, it does not really come cheap, with the Pengpod 700 selling for $99 (early bird) and $120, the Pengpod 1000 for $185, and the PengStick going for $85. Shipping is included for the US, but an extra shipping fee (Up to $39) needs to be added for international orders. The tablets won’t be ready for Christmas, but they can provide a (nice) certificate so that you can offer it for Xmas and the receiver will get his/her tablet a bit later.

You can visit pengpod.com for further details.

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9 Comments
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mj
mj
11 years ago

>the possibility of getting a Mele A2000 with 1 GB RAM.
The model name are Mele A1000G and Mele A2000G, with 1GB RAM

DX has them dx.com/p161823 and dx.com/161843
so does AliExpress
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Mele-A1000G-upgrade-Android-STB-IPTV-Box-HTPC-Allwinner-A10-1GB-RAM-8GB-Storage-WiFi/666274802.html
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/HK-Post-Free-Shipping-Mele-A2000G-Android-4-0-HD-Media-Player-Smart-WIFI-PC-TV/672941851.html

onebir
onebir
11 years ago

How hard is it to get Linux running on an A10 tablet? Can it then still run Android apps?

onebir
onebir
11 years ago


That’s good. 🙂 Now I’m wondering if the Linux they get working for this will need (much?) further work to use with the forthcoming quad core A10….

Khadas VIM4 SBC