So at some point I'd like to have a tablet in the 5 to 7 inch range (Galaxy Note to Nexus 7), preferably around 6 inches so it will fit in my pocket without too much jamming (Nexus 7 fits but rather awkwardly). It should run FOSS software to the maximum possible extent (e.g. Mer rather than Android). It should have a good camera (5mp say) (Nexus 7 doesn't have this) capable of close focusing. I can't believe the Raspberry Pi camera is 5mp but doesn't focus, DOH! Almost all of my pictures are close-ups. Other than that I don't care much about fancy gui, games, etc.

Anyone know of anything like this in the works? It looks to me like good cameras are found only in phones and in big tablets. They skip over the small tablets.

Thanks.

Best bet is:
- wait for NOTE 3
- hope NOTE 3 has the same SoC as Nexus 10 (and somewhat similar kernel)
- wait for interest and support
- someone takes the "know how" on porting Ubuntu from the Chromebook and Nexus 10
- they make an Alpha-stage port of Native Ubuntu running on the NOTE 3
- as time passes, port gets slightly better
- you figure how to iron out some kinks yourself, and manage to install your GUI of choice (Mer/Plasma Active etc)
- done!

Otherwise you could:
- wait for exactly 12.3456789 years for a company to make a FOSS mini tablet

And if worse comes to worse:
- bite me :P

Nice idea but Samsung has been secretive enough about hardware specs that the Cyanogen mod guy has given up on them in frustration. So I think the Note 3 is likely to be unhackable. The only thing really missing from the Nexus 7 is a good camera though. The Ipad Mini has a good camera and I wonder if there's any prospect of flushing IOS and running Mer on it. Hmm...

What do you mean by that?
My Raspberry PI has no camera whatsoever...

Maybe he was referring to this...

Ubuntu? Ubuntu isnt a real linux distro for tablets! Forget...
Its a crap Android hack.

No good camera, neither specs, but it is closer to a Linux tablet than ubuntu on Android.

http://pengpod.com/products/pengpod700

I bought the S note 10.1 as they delayed the delivery of my Pengpod 1000 order excesively and now I regret it. Samsung is made useless their technology, as they have turned so desperately into profiting for every click we do on their hardware that pretty much lags or stops working when you try to do most of the ordinary things we expect from computers. Shame on their greediness. This is corporations killing creativity and progress. That is what killed Maemo and MeeGo

Thanks, the Pengpod is kind of interesting but I knew of it already. The first thing I looked at was the camera spec, and it wasn't adequate for my purposes. Older generation Archos tablets can also run Linux, with an "official" Ångström build available from the manufacturer, if that's of any interest.

I was in a similar situation before. Eventually, I was struggling between smartq t20 and smartq t30. They both have good camera (5M&2M). T20 officially supports Ubuntu, but t30 with better specs does not. Well, these are 10' tablets. They do have 7' and 5' versions. Looks like This brand does have good reputation in terms of quality and support. However, I haven't decided to buy any one. Just for your reference as another option.

I have a Pengpod. It makes me sad. The hardware is just not good. The screen is awful. The battery life is awful. No Bluetooth. I was very hopeful about it....but it's just not a winner.