I've got a Dell Latitude D520 on the way -- it's a touch-screen tablet-convertible (screen folds back, like a Lenovo Yoga), Core2Duo 2.0 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB hdd with Windows 7 Pro pre-installed. Given Win7 is the least sucky version of Windows, possibly for the rest of time, I'll probably keep it and install Linux on a dual-boot, but I'm digging around for which Linux. Specs seem adequate for anything I'm likely to want (my desktop machine ran KDE pretty well when it had similar specs, though I don't know yet what video hardware the D520 has).

So far, it appears that OpenSUSE runs touch screens almost perfectly with Gnome, and Ubuntu Unity works well, but I'm used to KDE and Kubuntu Active seems to be"not ready". I'd like to consider an antiX option, since antiX seems to maximize performance on every machine I've put it on, but I don't know where I'd stand with antiX on a touch screen that needs to rotate for tablet mode operation; fluxbox requires right-clicks to get anything done and I'm not sure how I'd generate those on the touch screen. I'm much less familiar with the other standard antiX desktops; do we have one that works well on touch screens, or is there one that can be recommended for convertible operation (potentially with a relog, since I can easily switch interfaces at the login screen)? I'm also open to MX, if the xfce desktop is a good choice for touch screen...

Right now on my Dell XT2 touchscreen laptop.
Between moderating and testing and real life.

I took the lazy route, and installed Linux-Lite 2 on mine.
It has about the same functions/features as yours.

My pen with mouse clicks and finger inputs are accepted on my Touchscreen on linux-Lite.
It is pretty light on resources and easy peasy to install and run.
Like I said. I have a lot on my plate.
I have more gear than most here.

You can always run AntiX or MX-14 live and see what works or not. I did that with Linux-Lite before I installed it.
It was the 1st one I tried is the only reason I went with it and everything was easy to get working.
Even the wireless N.

new-dell-touch-screen-for-rok-t5229.html

I've got a Dell 3147 two-in-one. The touchscreen experience on this device with antiX and MX was not very good. A lot depends on whether a specialized driver is available for the touchscreen to give you multi-touch support. So far I have not gotten multi-touch working.

I wrote little scripts to disable the keyboard and to flip the display upside down for when the thing is opened up. In"tent mode" you want the screen upside down. The keyboard disabler doesn't re-enable the keyboard so that is broken but I think I'm on the right path. The screen flipper works great. I have desktop icons for them because I haven't figured out how to find the inputs that would tell me how far the keyboard is bent back or which way up is. I haven't had as much time/energy to spend on this as I would like.

BTW: Windows 8.1 is not so bad if you have a touchscreen. There are aftermarket products like"Classic Shell" that give you the normal start button and screen. I hardly ever use Windows. The main reason I got this machine was to test booting MX and antiX in uefi mode. I thought the touchscreen mode would be useful for watching movies in bed. This works okay in antiX but I make sure I always have a mouse available. The Win 8.1 touchscreen experience was better but (perhaps because I boot into it so seldom) it seems to be spending 90% of the time"updating" itself. I usually have to leave it on for an hour or so for the cpu usage to get well under 50%. At least there is no hair growing on the palmrests (yet).

Thanks for the input, guys -- it was more than I've gotten on the Kubuntu forums or AskUbuntu Stack Exchange.

That said, it appears I'm guilty of not reading the eBay listing carefully enough; while perfectly usable as a notebook, I've found no evidence of a touch screen on the Latitude D520 and there is no physical way the screen will fold back any further than"flat" -- approximately parallel with the keyboard.

That said, it's a huge step ahead of my 1998-ish Gateway Solo 2500; with 1.8 GHz Core2Duo (labeled Centrino Duo, but that's just the low power version), 2 GB RAM, and 120 GB hard disk, it's doing pretty much everything my desktop machine did before the RAM and CPU upgrades of the past two years. Some of what I do on my desktop it can't do due to insufficient CPU performance, but video limitations (Intel 945 chipset, 8 MB video RAM, non-adjustable) are what will keep it back more than overall performance. Runs well in Kubuntu, and if I weren't such a KDE addict, I'm sure it would positively fly with antiX 13.2. I might well yet shrink the Windows partition a little more and try antiX on it...

With new batteries under $15 shipped, and"modular" batteries (to replace the DVD/RW drive) around $35, I should be able to set up for a good portable experience (both batteries should give 4-6 hours of steady operation). Built-in 802.11b/g (some specs say software upgradable to n spec, but I don't know how I'd do that), 10/100 ethernet, built-in phone modem, 4 USB 2.0 ports, Firewire, Bluetooth, and one double thick single wide PCMCIA slot (not sure what I'll use that for, all the PC cards I have duplicate internal hardware), plus PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, parallel and serial, and port replicators still available cheapish on eBay. I think I did pretty well for $80 shipped.

Update: I finally figured out that on the live system"antiX=LX" was crippling my touchscreen. I still don't have multi-touch but it is quite usable as long as I don't include that boot parameter. With it, the touchscreen is useless; I can drag the pointer around but I can't click. YMMVG

Touchscreen only Netflix on Chrome works okay. It's not great but it is usable and enjoyable. The only tricky thing is navigating the site. The touchscreen is pretty good for watching videos but sometimes frustrating when browsing. I don't need a mouse now. I switched from fluxbox to icewm because I can get to the icewm menu with a left click. I also now understand why both Chrome and Firefox replaced the standard menu system with that single window that opens up; it is easier to use with a touchscreen.

Got my other M&A touch today. Only 20 bucks in the hole on that one.
I was fighting trying to get the 40 pin zif ribbon cable to seat right on the
mother board zif plugin connector. The idea is to run a SSD in it instead
of the Toshiba 60 gig mechanical hard drive.

Those white chinese after market ribbon cables with the blue ends


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.microsatacables.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/650x/040ec09b1e35df139433887a97daa66f/z/i/zif-40pin-ffc.jpg"
linktext was:"http://www.microsatacables.com/media/ca ... in-ffc.jpg"
====================================


are not cooperating with me because that blue finish makes the end thicker to insert into the zif connector vs the


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://empegbbs.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/download/Number/5585/filename/ribbon.jpg"
linktext was:"http://empegbbs.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/ ... ribbon.jpg"
====================================


ones built like this. I found they also used these chinsy paper plugs to cover screw head on the philips screws holding
on the access cover. So I have another post to edit here also.
Leaving the SSD out of it for now. I guess. I am not going to force things.