06-26-2016, 02:37 PM
(06-23-2016, 07:47 AM)MarkHaysHarris777 Wrote:(06-22-2016, 03:49 AM)fneves Wrote: Well, one thing I've learned is never buy an AllLoser SoC ever again. ...
Anyway, for an headless linux server it works rly well, with longsleep's kernel but that's about it.
The Allwinner SoC is pretty fabulous, really.
... aside from that, you're right about ONLY one thing ... the PineA64 is a fantastic headless server; external hdd and all !
I am nearing the end of my third full week using the PineA64 as a desktop PC / and I must say that I'm not only impressed with the overall performance, reliability, low interactive latency, and features; but hey !--- my hat is off to the team(s) who have created some of the best software (especially lenny, and longsleep); and there are others too numerous to mention here.
The PineA64 can truly be used as a desktop PC for all normal tasks, and even development tasks ! I am running into NO road block, show stoppers, nor even irritating glitches/ Everything just works for the most part. The only thing I had to futz around with was the locale in ubuntu... but hey, that's an ubuntu problem on every platform !
All the ports work, wifi works VERY well, hdmi is fully functional and actually beuatiful ! usb is there solid as a rock, and I have not had any kernel panics, core dumps, or annoying bugs of any kind... stuff is just working (I'm using midori on ubuntu at the moment, and the browser has been fantastic ! )
I did run headless for a few hours yesterday; no problems--- and serial just works, no futzing around period.
I have been a Raspberry PI user for two+ years (currently own about a dozen of those things) and I must honestly say this PineA64 board has the Raspberry PI beat hands down -- across the boards. Its open, its well designed, has 2Gb of memory, better pinctrl, more ports, runs somewhat cooler although it still needs a heat-sink IMHO, and has way better power management. The uboot process is way better, and although the GPIO software is a bit behind Raspbian, that's just a matter of time.
The irony is that this board was supposed to be tablet guts... an Android appliance ! It may turn out instead to be a Raspberry PI killer; one of the truly classic gnu+linux boards ever made ! At this point, I doubt I will do much with Android on this board except document it... but so far its going to be one of my favorite gnu+linux systems !
Well done team! (everybody, really!)
marcus
It is good to hear that *somebody* is getting their board to work well.
I have a Pi2, Pi3, a Droid C2, an UNO with a Yun Shield Dragino. I also work on a team delivering a Debian derivative running on 64-bit arm (for my real income). This has been the worst bring-up experience I've had. I have both a 1GB and 2GB board. I was able to successfully get the debian port installed and running. Android: Nope, Remix: Nope. I do think that Pine guys should have recommend the serial cable so one can see what is/isn't happening at boot time.
Between understanding what video requirements are, and what should/shouldn't be plugged in at first boot, what image and how it is to be created, (I had to borrow a buddy's windows system to try the PhoenixCard stuff) This has been a rabbit hunt. My intent was to use the Debian system to drive my 3D printer, and an Android system for my wife's older TV. So I am 1 for 2. I would consider myself very knowledgeable in doing this work and don't see how someone not skilled in the art would be successful.
Pine people: Documentation please! Just having random links in the wiki to downloadable bits and "wait for at least an hour" is not good documentation. You are only hurting your reputation by not having it.
