Let’s see if I can keep this relatively short:
I’m a woodworker, I do my design work in FreeCAD and then I print out my drawings on paper to carry out to the shop with me. It would be nicer if I had a shop-proof device to run FreeCAD in the shop with me because over the past year I found myself saying the following things in the shop a lot:
- “Wait, let’s go in and look at the 3D model.”
- “Ah dang I forgot to note this particular dimension on the drawing, let me go fix that.”
- “I’ll measure this part up then go in and do some drawing.”
So what does “shop proof” mean exactly?
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Wood shop be dusty. Last year I hauled 250 gallons of sawdust to the dump. To me this means that a physical keyboard needs to be able to function if it’s been packed with dust and/or needs to be vacuum cleaner proof. I also think cooling fans are probably a bad idea; a passively cooled device is probably preferable.
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Not many outlets in the shop, so it needs a good battery life. I actually don’t need a tremendous amount of performance, I’ve used a Raspberry Pi 3 for the kind of CAD work I do.
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FreeCAD does not ship an APK so Android is no bueno, it’s gotta be GNU/Linux.
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It needs decent usable Wi-Fi because I envision using Syncthing to keep my woodworking projects folder synced between my desktop and this device. It doesn’t necessarily need to get signal out in the shop (my phone barely does; I lose signal if I stand behind the drill press) but it does have to connect to my Wi-Fi when I carry it into the house.
I think this means I’m looking for an ARM tablet that can competently run Linux. Is there such a thing?
ADDENDUM:
Thanks to everyone who commented, I think I do have a plan of action: I’m gonna buy a used Lenovo!
To answer the question I posed, no it doesn’t seem that a Linux ARM tablet is really a thing yet. Commercial offerings that run Android or Windows on ARM are often so locked down that switching OS isn’t a thing, the few attempts at a purpose built ARM tablet for Linux like the PineTab just are not ready for prime time.
In the x86 world, it basically came down to 10 year old Toughbook tablets or 4 year old low-end 2-in-1s, and I think the latter won out just because of mileage and condition. A lot of the toughbooks out there will have 10 year old batteries in them, and they’ve been treated like a Toughbook for some or all of that time. The few Lenovo’s I’ve looked at are barely used, probably because of how Windows “runs” on them.
I’ll eventually check back in with progress on this front. Would it be better to add to this thread or create another?
You could also try some remote desktop thing like VNC or teamviewer with your phone or an android tablet, and put a router closer/inside the shop.
This is great advice actually. Even if you might need to sit down and actually do some work; all the horsepower (and supporting systems) are on the far end; safe in another room (or across town, or in the cloud!) and you just need a decent connection (consistent 10mbit bidirectional is plenty) and a device capable enough to connect and display, which isn’t gonna be much.
There are a lot more security and configuration/maintenance factors to consider, but it’s certainly a lot cheaper than trying to shop-proof an expensive rig
I’m pretty sure my Wi-Fi connection out there isn’t reliable enough for that, and there’s not really much I can do about it.
Maybe consider using a WiFi extender/wireless bridge and set it up properly to ensure a seamless connection to the main network. You really just need to be on the same LAN, at least with VNC, so even running some cat 5 will do the trick. How many feet are we talking, 300-500? There’s also the VPN option but that will require you to get a mobile data plan and either a tablet that supports SIM/ESIM or a hotspot (your existing mobile plan on your phone would work if you are able to create a hotspot and have a significant data limit). Its just a bit more work but should allow you to remotely access VNC over the internet, that or just use anydesk/team viewer
Edit TLDR: You can use a WiFi extender or wireless bridge to establish a long range LAN. There’s also the options of a hotspot from your phone to a tablet, VPN to your desktop from the tablet then use VNC or hotspot from your phone to a tablet then use Anydesk/teamviewer on your computer and tablet. Probably the cheapest way
As I have said elsewhere in this thread, putting in a bunch of LAN infrastructure out to my wood shop and then getting a device that doesn’t natively run the app I want is a significantly more expensive and labor intensive proposition than just getting a device that does natively run the app I want.
Yeah didn’t read that reply, my apologies. I do still believe the other method I mentioned, Anydesk/teamviewer + phone hotspot + tablet, is the best budget and convenient method imo. Would cost you around 150$ - 200$ for a tablet maybe less if brought used, which is significantly more “shop-proof” than any device at that price point since its fanless and the ports can be covered with a case. Add in ~15$ a month for a subscription to the remote service since you don’t want to setup LAN, lastly as for the phone hotspot I’m assuming your phone already has that feature. I don’t think installing a client on your phone & computer and setting it up is really labor intensive so you really shouldn’t worry about that. Again I do apologize for not reading the other replies I just wanted to help get you other ideas besides underpowered laptops
Edit just re-read the post: looks like you already settled on a decision so congrats on finding an answer hope you have a good one and yeah probably a new thread since this one might get buried after a few weeks