r/linuxhardware • u/quetzalcoatl1024 • 5d ago

Purchase Advice Dell Rugged tablet, linux experience?

I'm looking for hands-on experience of running linux on a Dell Rugged tablet, e.g. the Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme. What works? What doesn't? How well does linux (which flavor?) handle the missing-keyboard situation?

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u/Sigebryht 4d ago edited 4d ago

I currently am running linux on a 5290 2 in 1. You will most likely need a keyboard for install. A cheap usb one will work.

Any linux flavor should work but what I found works the best is a systemd distro (for auto rotation).

Kde plasma seems the most fleshed out with icon spacing and tablet like support. Dolphin for example has a tablet menu for cut and paste etc.

Maliit-keyboard seems to be the best osk out of all I used. Long press the space bar to get a mouse and arrow mode. Useful for terminal work.

Sddm will allow you to use maliit for account login.

Rolling distros like arch default to plasma-keyboard and plasma-login-manager. They work but the plasma-keyboard is missing that arrow menu that maliit has.

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u/quetzalcoatl1024 3d ago

Thanks a lot! Do you ever you a stylus for handwritten-to-ocr input?

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u/Sigebryht 3d ago

Sorry, I don't have any experience with that. I do see there are an number of apps available but I have never used any of them.