I picked up an older Thinkpad Helix. It received excellent reviews when released, but has since become known as something of an oddity. It shipped with Windows 8 and is a hybrid two in one device. Probably more a laptop than anything else, but the keyboard detaches and it can be a tablet too.
I installed Endless OS on it. I am impressed with the support Endless has for different hardware configurations. Endless OS is one of very few Linux based systems that supports a full range of sensors. It allows for automatic screen rotation, automatic brightness, picks up both the touch screen and the Wacom stylus. That is very impressive really.
Not all is prefect though. The onscreen keyboard pops up or does not pop up at its whim. It seems to be somewhat application related, but most often it seems to be up blanking out the bottom of the screen when I do not need it and not being there when I do need it. Gnome use to use OnBoard for the on screen keyboard and it had configuration options. However I can not find any configuration options the on screen keyboard in Endless. Are there any?
The Helix has a Wacom stylus. It works, but it is too sensitive. It will record a “click” when it is well above the screen. And when I try and write with it it just keeps drawing until I move the stylus a couple centimeters off the screen. Again from what I read about the Wacom stylus setting it should have settings for sensitivity as well. But I can not find any settings. Are there any?
The only other niggle I have at the moment is that every time I uninstall Chrome, it downloads itself and reinstalls. So at the moment it seems I can either live with it installed or just uninstall it again every time I restart.
It is a very nice system, and I remain impressed with the quality of the OS the Endless team provides.
Thank you
Details