Not the OP, but I'm guessing Ubuntu? Especially since Unity is touch friendly and Ubuntu is generally the best Linux distro out there when it comes to drivers etc. Also because Ubuntu are developing a touch version for the N7.
I'm guessing the battery life is probably around 7 hours or so. Again, take this with a grain of salt :)
Ubuntu Touch is currently in a weird state with regard to Nexus 7 support in that the current pre-release build doesn't support the newer, far superior Nexus 7 2013 model (razor), only the older model (grouper), but Canonical also has announced that moving forward grouper support will be killed and only razor will be supported.
Considering it is all in a developer preview state at this point, this isn't a big deal but may be important information for anyone thinking about buying a nexus 7 right now to be used as a native Ubuntu device.
Ubuntu is generally the best Linux distro out there when it comes to drivers etc
Thank you for this comment. It shows how RMS was correct; when people think "Linux", they should really be thinking about the kernel inside the computer. This is what handles "drivers, etc" that you were talking about. a Linux Distribution (normally referred to as GNU/Linux, because it has a full GNU system alongside the kernel) can have a branding such as Red Hat, Debian, or Ubuntu. A similar situation exists in the BSD landscape as well; FreeBSD and Apple's MacOS share kernels (Darwin was based off FBSD's kernel), but you're really just using a branded version of Berkeley Systems Distribution.
Ubuntu provides a GNU/Linux distribution (though they seem to be anti-GNU overall) with the latest stable kernel they can get away with. Any distribution with a kernel of the same version will have the same hardware compatibility with "drivers, etc".
Unity is not the only touch interface. Plasma Active and Enlightenment both have touch interfaces that make Unity pale in comparison.
Ever used plasma on an touch screen? It's terrible. Getting better, sure, but not good in my opinion. Unity is far more consistent and modern in touch usage, IMO.
After trying Ubuntu Touch on my 2012 Nexus 7, and finding it WAY too unstable for my needs (I averaged maybe 10 minutes of use between hard crashes), I installed Arch on a chroot, accessed via VNC. The specific applications I used are Linux Deploy and bVNC Free. Added an external bluetooth mouse and keyboard (the keyboard being a cheap cover-with-gutter thingie), and presto, a usable desktop Linux in my coat pocket.
It works better than expected (no crashes, slight lag but nothing serious), and I can do 50 wpm on the cheap keyboard (after some extensive remapping), which surprised me (my average speed on a full keyboard is around 100 wpm). I've typed and LaTeXed a few papers on the thing, and just yesterday I built R from source for a biostats class.
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Are there any commercially available Linux-based tablets out there that people can recommend?
Nexus 7, replace ROM with any Linux port. That's what I did anyway :)
What's the average battery life like (and which distro)?
Not the OP, but I'm guessing Ubuntu? Especially since Unity is touch friendly and Ubuntu is generally the best Linux distro out there when it comes to drivers etc. Also because Ubuntu are developing a touch version for the N7.
I'm guessing the battery life is probably around 7 hours or so. Again, take this with a grain of salt :)
Ubuntu Touch is currently in a weird state with regard to Nexus 7 support in that the current pre-release build doesn't support the newer, far superior Nexus 7 2013 model (razor), only the older model (grouper), but Canonical also has announced that moving forward grouper support will be killed and only razor will be supported.
Considering it is all in a developer preview state at this point, this isn't a big deal but may be important information for anyone thinking about buying a nexus 7 right now to be used as a native Ubuntu device.
Thank you for this comment. It shows how RMS was correct; when people think "Linux", they should really be thinking about the kernel inside the computer. This is what handles "drivers, etc" that you were talking about. a Linux Distribution (normally referred to as GNU/Linux, because it has a full GNU system alongside the kernel) can have a branding such as Red Hat, Debian, or Ubuntu. A similar situation exists in the BSD landscape as well; FreeBSD and Apple's MacOS share kernels (Darwin was based off FBSD's kernel), but you're really just using a branded version of Berkeley Systems Distribution.
Ubuntu provides a GNU/Linux distribution (though they seem to be anti-GNU overall) with the latest stable kernel they can get away with. Any distribution with a kernel of the same version will have the same hardware compatibility with "drivers, etc".
Unity is not the only touch interface. Plasma Active and Enlightenment both have touch interfaces that make Unity pale in comparison.
Ever used plasma on an touch screen? It's terrible. Getting better, sure, but not good in my opinion. Unity is far more consistent and modern in touch usage, IMO.
After trying Ubuntu Touch on my 2012 Nexus 7, and finding it WAY too unstable for my needs (I averaged maybe 10 minutes of use between hard crashes), I installed Arch on a chroot, accessed via VNC. The specific applications I used are Linux Deploy and bVNC Free. Added an external bluetooth mouse and keyboard (the keyboard being a cheap cover-with-gutter thingie), and presto, a usable desktop Linux in my coat pocket.
It works better than expected (no crashes, slight lag but nothing serious), and I can do 50 wpm on the cheap keyboard (after some extensive remapping), which surprised me (my average speed on a full keyboard is around 100 wpm). I've typed and LaTeXed a few papers on the thing, and just yesterday I built R from source for a biostats class.