Stellarium on a tablet?

[N3ptune]

Hello everyone, I would like to get some advices on tablets for me to be able to consult Stellarium outside and access other documents. I actually don't know  very much about tablets, so I could learn from what you use outside, what is bad, what is good, etc.

This is what I would imagine has suitable for my need:

- It can have the minimal memory (probably 16 gb or less for a second hand) and a small screen.
- It has to be an android operating system.
- It has to have some sort of card reader or usb interface, an easy way for me to transfer material from my desktop computer using linux, with no Wifi
- It would be possible to plug the power from the car maybe? and use the thing while it's plugged. (Even if the battery is good no more, I could still plug it and use it?)
- I would like to pay 100$ maximum. (Actually I am looking at something less then that, maybe a second hand device)
- It has to resist humidity a minimum, or perhaps  is it possible to put it in a large ziploc, can we do that?

- Do they work at 0, -5, -10, -15 outside?

Is it a realist project or a waste of money really?

Thanks.
 

[Paul M]

I use a cheap Huawei Android tablet. I think it has 2gig Ram and expandable to 16 or 32 via an SD card slot. It has micro USB,  4g and WiFi. 

Anyway,  it's low spec but runs the Stellarium app just fine. 

The Stellarium app for Android was very basic when launched and although vastly improved is still less configurable than the Windows version. 

I'm sure there'll be a iPad version too but I know absolutely nothing about Apple stuff. 

There are some very capable Windows tablets now and I believe they are so much more usable than early Windows tablets that they can replace desktop PC's and laptops for many if not most users. 

Sorry,  I think I just made the minefield worse! 

[Ricochet]

I would look for at least 16gb of internal storage as you will lose about 4-5gb to the operating system and anything stored on an sd card runs more slowly. 2gb of ram would also be good. Many lower end tablets seem to come with 1gb but on my android phone my use is often higher than that. 

A 7 inch screen seems a bit small to me so if you can find an 8 inch device in your price range that would be better. 

You should be able to connect any android device to a Linux computer via USB with no problem assuming you have a recent distribution. 

I would expect a tablet to have a micro USB port and car chargers for this format are readily available. 

The price may be restrictive. I expect you will need to find something in a sale or second hand unless you can increase your budget.

I doubt anything in your price range will have any sort of weather resistance. Putting it in a bag will defeat the object as you will be unlikely to be able to use the touch screen.

It's  worth noting that the android and iOS versions of Stellarium are much more simple than the desktop version. If you want the full version a windows 10 tablet is probably your best bet unless you want to try getting a Linux distro to work on a tablet. 

[N3ptune]

Ok ok!

What's pushing me in having stellarium outside is almost exclusively to have the name of the stars and the information about the spectral class, so when I find a faint little red star or another interesting star, I can get the name of it directly and know if I am really looking at a carbon star or a M type for exemple.  That would be my only goal for now. It's the stellarium database I wish to have with me.

Does the tablet version has the complete database with has much stars has the standard desktop version? (I know there is a star expansion pack to get a few millions more stars but it's not installed on my computer, so I assume it's the basic package. (If my memory serve me well, it was about 600 000 objects, I GUESS in the 0.12.4 revision.

 

 

2 hours ago, Paul M said:

I use a cheap Huawei Android tablet. I think it has 2gig Ram and expandable to 16 or 32 via an SD card slot. It has micro USB,  4g and WiFi. 

Anyway,  it's low spec but runs the Stellarium app just fine. That's nice, Huawei it,s a Chinese name but they don't look inexpensive.

The Stellarium app for Android was very basic when launched and although vastly improved is still less configurable than the Windows version. What is the difference?

I'm sure there'll be a iPad version too but I know absolutely nothing about Apple stuff. Bah, we don't need to waste time on apple.

There are some very capable Windows tablets now and I believe they are so much more usable than early Windows tablets that they can replace desktop PC's and laptops for many if not most users. I am finished with microsoft also.

Sorry,  I think I just made the minefield worse! i thinks it's ok.

 

 

1 hour ago, Ricochet said:

I would look for at least 16gb of internal storage as you will lose about 4-5gb to the operating system and anything stored on an sd card runs more slowly. 2gb of ram would also be good. Many lower end tablets seem to come with 1gb but on my android phone my use is often higher than that.  Ok

A 7 inch screen seems a bit small to me so if you can find an 8 inch device in your price range that would be better. ok

You should be able to connect any android device to a Linux computer via USB with no problem assuming you have a recent distribution. great news (:

I would expect a tablet to have a micro USB port and car chargers for this format are readily available. great news

The price may be restrictive. I expect you will need to find something in a sale or second hand unless you can increase your budget. Bad news

I doubt anything in your price range will have any sort of weather resistance. Putting it in a bag will defeat the object as you will be unlikely to be able to use the touch screen. Ok.. I can do like with my eyepieces, i keep them in a close box, so they don't get wet.

It's  worth noting that the android and iOS versions of Stellarium are much more simple than the desktop version. If you want the full version a windows 10 tablet is probably your best bet unless you want to try getting a Linux distro to work on a tablet.  I guess Android count for linux?

 

Update:

I saw the 600 000 stars are insde the googleplay version of stellatium, but i have to pay 3$ to get it actually.

[cloudsweeper]

From my own experience:

Skyportal and Sky Map on a tablet are very limited and lack detail.  I believe there is a "Stellarium" for Android, but I wasn't convinced it's the real thing.  (Others can correct me here.)

So I recently bought a 15.6 inch laptop and installed the latest Stellarium on it.  I used it for the first time last night, and the difference was marvellous!  I moved round the sky, zoomed in and out, and was able to confirm exactly what I saw against the screen image (inverted, of course).  It has made identification of objects (against a starfield) much easier, and I am really pleased with it and look forward to further satisfying sessions.

For example - M71 (glob) was not clear in the eyepiece (bright Moon!), but I knew I was right on it from its position amongst neighbouring stars shown on Stellarium.  Then a GoTo to M27 (pl neb) showed a faint circular fuzzy patch which again was readily confirmed as the target.  

Stellarium "in the field" is a powerful tool, which removes uncertainty and saves a lot of time!

Doug.

 

[happy-kat]

Stellarium for Android I gather was created from a branch of the real code but done by different people. It is a similar display of the core star field but the extras like occular view, load comets, telescope control are not present.

I also use SkySafari on my 7 inch Nexus android tablet.

I like having both but Stellarium does provide enough for in the field work.

32gb minimun

[Ricochet]

From a Stellarium forum sticky

Quote

Stellarium Mobile (for Android, originally for Maemo/Nokia N900) is developed by Noctua Software, a small company held by the brother of Stellarium's original developer Fabien Chéreau. Unfortunately, Fabien hasn't been active in the desktop project for quite some time.

So when you buy it your money isn't going towards the development of the Windows/OSX/Linux Stellarium, only Stellarium Mobile.

That said, it is quite a nice app, but without occulars (which would be the most useful thing for star hopping) and a "small" number of stars like SkyPortal/Sky Safari compared to the number you will see though a telescope (Possibly this is the same number as on the desktop before downloading extra star packs). SkySafari Plus/Pro have bigger catalogues and so may be more useful.

Quote

It's  worth noting that the android and iOS versions of Stellarium are much more simple than the desktop version. If you want the full version a windows 10 tablet is probably your best bet unless you want to try getting a Linux distro to work on a tablet.  I guess Android count for linux?

Android does not count for this as it can only run "Stellarium Mobile" not "Stellarium".

[ronin]

From what I read Stellarium on a tablet is not that great, I don't have it, a friend does and they rarely mention using it. They have another one but I forget what it is.

People have said get an 8" over a 7", personally I would go for a 5" if I could, a phone without a SIM is I suppose one option. Looking at a tablet when reading email is one thing, holding it up to the sky is another. Mine is a 7" Nexus and it soon starts to feel "heavy". Nice screen however that I guess no mobile phone display will match.

I have just installed Skysafari5 on mine and it does what it says, I opted for the Plus version at about $8 US, around $10 CA I suppose. There is a more basic version at a bit less and if that does what you want try it. I cannot recall the difference in features but they will be in the Sky Safari site. May have to get it soon as their half price offer will end. Skysafari uses GPS and compass etc so if these are not in the tablet you lose functionality/features.

I did try the assorted free apps and after a short time each was removed. Short being usually less then 10 minutes.

May depend on whether you just want a scrollable display of the sky, as in you scroll the map by hand to display where you are looking - actually nice and easy, or if you want to hold the tablet up so it displays what you are looking towards. I will say that holding the tablet up is not really that great. You are likely to learn more from scrolling the map. In effect you do not switch off the brain and let the tablet do it all for you. As in "Yes that orion because the tablet says so."

[cloudsweeper]

Yes - holding a tablet up is inconvenient, and a moving display can be irritating.  Which is why I now have a nice, large, detailed display on Stellarium next to me.  As I look at different areas of sky, I just move the display around.

Doug.

 

[N3ptune]

13 hours ago, ronin said:

From what I read Stellarium on a tablet is not that great, I don't have it, a friend does and they rarely mention using it. They have another one but I forget what it is. ok

People have said get an 8" over a 7", personally I would go for a 5" if I could, a phone without a SIM is I suppose one option. Looking at a tablet when reading email is one thing, holding it up to the sky is another. Mine is a 7" Nexus and it soon starts to feel "heavy". Nice screen however that I guess no mobile phone display will match. Bah i don't think it's required to have large screen, all I want is to read the database of the stars. Is it possible to do whatever with a telephone with no sim card? like transferring data, some cellphone don't even have a card reader anymore..

16 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

So I recently bought a 15.6 inch laptop and installed the latest Stellarium on it.  I used it for the first time last night, and the difference was marvellous!  I moved round the sky, zoomed in and out, and was able to confirm exactly what I saw against the screen image (inverted, of course).  It has made identification of objects (against a starfield) much easier, and I am really pleased with it and look forward to further satisfying sessions. Nice

 
Stellarium "in the field" is a powerful tool, which removes uncertainty and saves a lot of time! Yeah i think so too, I an growing the need to use it.

 

14 hours ago, Ricochet said:

SkySafari Plus/Pro have bigger catalogues and so may be more useful. I don,t think that one is open source?

 

I don't wish to point a device toward the sky, for me it's like Goto, I don't want to get into that. The more I think of this, the more I think the best choice would be to get a second hand small laprop, install Linux on it and run the real Stellarium. That's the idea I prefer so far.

[N3ptune]

How can I protect a laptop from the humidity outside? (if possible to do?)  Do you wrap it plastic wrap or something like that?

[N3ptune]

Thanks for your answers here. It looks like nothing but this thread was instructive for me, and I don't think of that situation any more.

I gave a round of "likes" to celebrate me not buying a tablet