How feasible is building a tablet with an arduino ? It definately won't have all the capabilities and features of a tablet pc, but just something close to a tablet that does one(or very few) things.
I wouldn't use an Arduino for that. May I recommend the Raspberry Pi or the Beaglebone Black. Even those have limitations, like no flash player. Just my opinion.
Yes, you can do it if you want, but will be a very crappy device. The other thing is the amount of work. You will need to build some kind of SO (if you want, you will need to build something like Android by your own). With other devices, like SurferTim said, you have those SO, an the work is considerably less.
Tablets are commodity items anymore.
You can't even buy the material to make one cost effectively.
Compare a list of proposed parts to this:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Ematic-EGM003BL-with-WiFi-7-Touchscreen-Tablet-PC-Featuring-Android-4.2-Jelly-Bean-Operating-System-Blue/34528875
$50!
Technical Specifications:
•1.2GHz dual-core processor
•512MB DDR2 of system memory
•7.0" touchscreen, 800 x 480 resolution
•Built-in 802.11b/g/n WiFi
Additional Features:
•Front-facing webcam
•USB 2.0 port
•4GB on-board storage memory, additional memory via microSD card slot
•3-axis gyroscope
•Rechargeable battery
Software and Applications:
•Android 4.2 OS (Jelly Bean)
•Kindle books
•Amazon App store (for applications)
•Media Formats: Popular media formats
What's in the Box:
•Tablet, USB cable, Quick Start Guide, battery, warranty card and AC adapter
Thanks for the reply SurferTim, luisilva
While I'm a bit familiar with Raspberry pi, I'm not used to Beaglebone Black. What I'm trying to build is an Ereader, does that also require a SO?
Now we are talking! If you change EReader to "txt"reader (I mean plain text reader) my answer will be: "sure you can", because I don't know how hard can be read a pdf file, and manage the font and images etc. that a pdf can contain.
About the SO, of course you will need some kind of SO, but will be something mush more easy. You will need to be able to:
- read an SD card;
- "travel" in the directories (folders) of the SD card;
- chose some file;
- open the file and read the data;
- show the data;
- "travel" in the data (changing the data that you display).
It seams more "feasible" (like you said) to me.
You might find that the cost of a high quality long battery life LCD display component on its own is more than a kindle. Therefore I have to ask what you intend to acheive.
imraj:
How feasible is building a tablet with an arduino ? It definately won't have all the capabilities and features of a tablet pc, but just something close to a tablet that does one(or very few) things.
You could make something the right size and shape to look vaguely like a tablet. If you want it to actually do something, then the feasibility depends on exactly what you want it to do. If you want it to drive a tablet sized graphical display that implies straight away that the Arduino is probably not suitable for the job. What are you trying to achieve?
When you say 'EReader', what files are you hoping to be able to read?
If you want a simple touch screen device then you can get such a screen that pairs up with a Mega quite easily.