In regards to the tablet, I’m thinking about buying an Amazon Fire HD 8 though I’m open to any and all recommendations.
As for the distro, I’m fine with Ubuntu or Linux Mint (or for that matter anything that you may recommend).
For the ebook reading software, I’m leaning towards using Foliate since it supports kindle, epub, and pdf formats, not to mention that the UI is great and intuitive.
Why do you want to run linux? Wouldn’t an android app like Moon Reader be enough?
It’s an issue of morality for me. Google has done some politically questionable things over the years due to which I can no longer support them. I want to ultimately be Google-free. I stopped using Google Docs, Sheets, Calendar, and Drive. My next goal is to stop using Gmail, which I have been using for a long time.
Install something like LineageOS and use Librera or another reader from F-Droid. You will have a much better experience. If you really want to ditch Android , maybe you can get Ubuntu Touch, but device compatibility is dicey.
I looked into it and LineageOS looks good along with Libera.
If you’re going this route, a Galaxy Tab S7 Lite supports LineageOS
You could get an android tablet that can run LineageOS and install that on there without GApps/microg, so without any Google services. That way you can have a Google free tablet that’s also properly optimized for a touch workflow.
If you still want a tablet with a proper GNU/Linux distro you basically have two choices I know of right now: One is the Pinetab 2, it’s not too expensive, but the hardware is a bit limited, both in terms of processing power and display. Software support can also be spotty.
The other would be buying a x86 tablet and installing a regular Linux distro on there. I personally had some luck with the Microsoft Surface tablets, but you can get cheaper ones too. Just check on whether Linux will properly run on it beforehand, especially the cheaper Chinese ones based on Atoms often have driver issues or don’t even boot Linux at all (my biggest enemy on cheap devices: 32bit UEFI with 64bit OS. It’s nearly impossible to boot Linux on those). There’s also the Librem 11 but in my opinion it’s overpriced for the hardware
Can you recommend me an Android tablet that can run LineageOS?
Any android device that was released since Android 10 can take a GSI image. I know a galaxy tab 8 can run the GSI from Andy Yan based on testimonials. I will eventually install it on mine. I have it on my galaxy tab 10.1 2019 and I added MicroG. I’ve been running that for over 2 years.
Amazon is definitely not any better if morality is your concern.
For tablets, maybe one of the offerings from Pine64. Not sure how user friendly they are though.
I know and if I had electrical engineering skills, I would have loved to build my own tablet but I don’t have those skills. The next best thing is to buy something that is relatively cheap and put a linux distro on it.
You can’t do that. Installing custom ROMs on Android devices is very different than installing an OS on a desktop/laptop. Most devices don’t allow changing the OS at all, most of the ones that do don’t have any Linux builds, and then you’ll be stuck with whatever distro you’re given (probably UBPorts or maybe PostmarketOS) rather than choosing your own.
I was thinking of using this guide to install LineageOS on Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet: https://frontpagelinux.com/tutorials/how-to-install-lineage-os-on-amazon-fire-hd-8-tablet/
Kindles are really hard to root. Use XDA Developers forum for this kind of thing. https://xdaforums.com/t/fire-hd-8-2018-only-unbrick-downgrade-unlock-root.3894256/, which is what that guide is based on, looks like it only works for the 2018 version and seems way more difficult and risky than most ROM installations. Also, that won’t install Linux, just a different Android version.
I’m not saying build your own, I’m saying that if you want to avoid Google for morality reasons, buying a Kindle is, at best, a lateral move.
Like a Pi based tablet?
I looked them up and they are a bit too expensive for me.