06-16-2020, 06:14 AM
I have a Pinebook since July 2017. I was excited with the arrival, a cheap laptop Open Hardware with ARM processor! But today it still unsupported... and it's useless to make anything. I try use to read mail and write some document, but it's so slow and so unestable for any production task.
I try with KDE Neon, Ubuntu Mate, Android, Manjaro... and nothing...
It doesn't have GPU support, (LIMA drivers is so immature), the speaker are not heard, the HDMI is an ornament, the Wifi signal is weak...
I don't know... Now, I can see that the company is dedicating all efforts to the new Pinebook Pro. But I thing that the legacy Pinebook like me feel cheated, because we have bought without support forever...
Please don't forget the PineBook...
06-16-2020, 06:32 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-16-2020, 06:35 AM by tophneal.)
(06-16-2020, 06:14 AM)leperotero Wrote: I have a Pinebook since July 2017. I was excited with the arrival, a cheap laptop Open Hardware with ARM processor! But today it still unsupported... and it's useless to make anything. I try use to read mail and write some document, but it's so slow and so unestable for any production task.
I try with KDE Neon, Ubuntu Mate, Android, Manjaro... and nothing...
It doesn't have GPU support, (LIMA drivers is so immature), the speaker are not heard, the HDMI is an ornament, the Wifi signal is weak...
I don't know... Now, I can see that the company is dedicating all efforts to the new Pinebook Pro. But I thing that the legacy Pinebook like me feel cheated, because we have bought without support forever...
Please don't forget the PineBook...
Have you tried using Ubports, Armbian, or PostmarketOS?
One of the devs of Ubports started building images for the PB, and though not every .img booted/ran, the ones that did ran pretty well. It takes some patience writing to SD until you get one that boots well, but they're there.
I know the PB isn't listed on Postmarket's wiki, but the A64 LTS, PinePhone, and PineTab are, you can probably get it going on the Pinebook. It shouldn't be much different from getting it setup on an A64 LTS. Some of the devs are pretty active here, too, so guidance shouldn't be too hard to find.
Concerning the hardware of the Pinbook, Luke has already stated the PB owners can expect to see an upgrade board for the PB, that will allow you to replace the A64 internals, with the RK3399 of the PBP. Though the PBP has proven more popular, the Pinebook has not been forgotten about.
I use Armbian, I think that is the better option today, but it doesn't have support for all hardware and options. I don't try with Ubport or PostmarketOS, but I thing that the difference will not be significant. The drivers and the kernel is practically the same in all systems. 
(06-16-2020, 07:28 AM)leperotero Wrote: I use Armbian, I think that is the better option today, but it doesn't have support for all hardware and options. I don't try with Ubport or PostmarketOS, but I thing that the difference will not be significant. The drivers and the kernel is practically the same in all systems.
That's because the drivers have been in mainline since 5.2.
If you're not opposed to using Android, I can tell you for a fact that @ ayufan's A64 Android builds run pretty well on the Pinebook, too. I found it to be the most functional of all the OS imgs released for the device. The Android builds also likely use a different, BSP video driver.
I have seen that Armbian bring kernel 5.4 now. I will probe it... but I don't understand why there aren't any drivers of Mali GPU for Linux. We should appreciate the effort of Lima drivers guys, but it's only a try. Pine64 and others, like hardware company, should press to get Linux driver for Mali, free or nonfree, but al least usable. Of course, if they were free, better.
If I understand correctly, pine64 only supplies the hardware. So all the software support is community provided - and this is how they have structured it from the beginning.
But I feel your pain, still. :/
(06-17-2020, 02:56 AM)leperotero Wrote: but I don't understand why there aren't any drivers of Mali GPU for Linux.
There are Mali drivers for Linux: https://linux-sunxi.org/Mali
(06-16-2020, 06:32 AM)tophneal Wrote: (06-16-2020, 06:14 AM)leperotero Wrote: I have a Pinebook since July 2017. I was excited with the arrival, a cheap laptop Open Hardware with ARM processor! But today it still unsupported... and it's useless to make anything. I try use to read mail and write some document, but it's so slow and so unestable for any production task.
I try with KDE Neon, Ubuntu Mate, Android, Manjaro... and nothing...
It doesn't have GPU support, (LIMA drivers is so immature), the speaker are not heard, the HDMI is an ornament, the Wifi signal is weak...
I don't know... Now, I can see that the company is dedicating all efforts to the new Pinebook Pro. But I thing that the legacy Pinebook like me feel cheated, because we have bought without support forever...
Please don't forget the PineBook...
Have you tried using Ubports, Armbian, or PostmarketOS?
One of the devs of Ubports started building images for the PB, and though not every .img booted/ran, the ones that did ran pretty well. It takes some patience writing to SD until you get one that boots well, but they're there.
I know the PB isn't listed on Postmarket's wiki, but the A64 LTS, PinePhone, and PineTab are, you can probably get it going on the Pinebook. It shouldn't be much different from getting it setup on an A64 LTS. Some of the devs are pretty active here, too, so guidance shouldn't be too hard to find.
Concerning the hardware of the Pinbook, Luke has already stated the PB owners can expect to see an upgrade board for the PB, that will allow you to replace the A64 internals, with the RK3399 of the PBP. Though the PBP has proven more popular, the Pinebook has not been forgotten about. Does somebody try the Ubports version yet?
There are many version and build nightly, but no one can be used for me (pinebook).
|
