Hi Gary.

So I think the hardest part will really be agreeing on what gestures mean what.

I've run Squeak, Cuis, and Pharo over iOS (thanks mostly to John McIntosh and Bert Freudenberg,) and I'd recommend avoiding that platform for what I'm guessing your purposes might be. App Store cuts us off at the knees for everything except "end-user" applications, which basically shoves anyone wanting to write a program and share it with other people (young or old) into the $99:year iOS developer program; not a suitable arrangement for either revolutionary thinking or early education.

Android, whichever version: I've heard folks have made some progress here, but maneuvering around all of the Java infrastructure isn't my bag, (rather just compile and run C code) so I haven't even tried it.

I'm looking forward to this whole Ubuntu Mobile thing. At least that's just Unix at some (accessable) level in a mobile device.

Here's what I'd do right now if I had an income: Raspberry Pi model-B rigged up (somehow!) to a Pixel Qi dual mode transflective display. These aren't too expensive, can do the natural light ebook thing as well as the backlit usual thing. The prototyping kit is around $300 last I checked, but it gets a loooooooooot cheaper when you buy in bulk (these are basically XO screens.)

So stick one of those underneath a capacitive touch screen kit. Now autocad yourself a nice enclosure, and have Shapeways 3D print it. Put the bits together, USB wifi module optional!

Make your own interrim DynaBook, except Shapeways has way better materials than cardboard! Sounds involved, I know, but if we went to KickStarter with it... maybe someone would want an unencumbered BSD/Squeak-based tablet, eh? (Cough, half the people here.)

CC Etoys dev just because.

:D

On Jun 17, 2013, at 2:42 PM, OpenSlate ChalkDust openslateproj@gmail.com wrote:

As some of you know I spent quite a bit of time getting nowhere trying to get Squeak running on top of FreeBSD in a tablet form factor.The situation has changed considerably, in that the world has gone tablet crazy. Typically using fingers rather than a mouse or stylus.

I would appreciate any recommendations on what tablets work well with squeak, and what to avoid. What has been done to adapt the three-button mouse squeak expects to have to a fingertip input? Then of course there is keyboard input in general, including keyboard shortcuts.

I'd be happy to collect the results in a table on Google Drive.

-- Gary Dunn Open Slate Project http://openslate.org/