WHAT? The display works now?

[jasonriedy]

I'm not a big social network / instant messaging person, but I ran across this: https://fosstodon.org/@PINE64/107566967950259308

Are we off to the races?  So many ideas...

[Kairei]

Can anyone confirm this? If this is the case, I'm ready to buy one to start messing around with it... I have to assume somehow we'd have to put a more current version of Linux on it since whatever version ships from the factory wouldn't have whatever updates were done to get it working... how would that be done?

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I just noticed the big red warning note at https://pine64.com/product/pinenote-developer-edition/ now says "At present time, there is no default OS for the PineNote." I'm pretty sure it used to say "...for example the e-ink display doesn't currently work." That text is gone. So, that leads me to believe we are "off to the races" as you said... I also noticed that product page says "The device ships without an operating system with flashing mode enabled." So, it isn't that whatever OS ship may not allow the screen to work, but apparently no OS is shipped and we have to install our own. So, I guess my previous question becomes...

What OS can we install on this that has a recent enough version to have the e-ink display, and how exactly does one flash an OS onto it?

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Ok, I just noticed in the screenshot from the above link that it has Alpine Linux 3.14 which at first surprised me since that was released a while ago and I thought "how could it have a recent update that would support the PineNote e-ink display." But then I noticed the kernel from that screenshot is 5.16.7.0-rc7 which is very recent. I'm still learning linux but I guess you can upgrade the kernel independently of the OS and bring in support for this display. Would love some confirmation from someone more experienced, especially how exactly we'd get Alpine Linux with that latest kernal flashed onto this device.

[jasonriedy]

I'm not sure what is shipping *now*, but the vendor Android version is sufficient to use for note-taking, reading, etc. on the one I received.  Once you grab f-droid and Fennec of course.  The built-in browser is not so useful.

Side-loading Gboard for handwriting input even works.  So it's *usable* as an Android e-paper tablet now.  Many apps have horrible color schemes and font/icon sizes, but FairEmail is working for me to triage in the morning / at night without an emissive screen.

Note: The wiki page's mention of a USB UART seems a tad out of date.  The "Closed case UART" link before that explains some of the issues. Physically, the case is quite nice.  I'd hate to have to rip it apart.

[fasani]

I've seen also that some developers installed Arch linux and it seems to work correctly ( Video )


Seems a complicated install but it is well documented here:

https://github.com/DorianRudolph/pinenotes

I would like to give it a try also.

[TRS-80]

I have to assume somehow we'd have to put a more current version of Linux on it since whatever version ships from the factory wouldn't have whatever updates were done to get it working... how would that be done?

[...]

What OS can we install on this that has a recent enough version to have the e-ink display, and how exactly does one flash an OS onto it?

[...]

I'm still learning linux but I guess you can upgrade the kernel independently of the OS and bring in support for this display. Would love some confirmation from someone more experienced, especially how exactly we'd get Alpine Linux with that latest kernal flashed onto this device.

All due respect Kairei, but if you have to ask such questions, you might not be the person who needs this device in their hands the most at the present time?

I am not sure how many devices are really available, but getting them into hands of people who can help with development should (IMO) be a priority, at least for now.

Besides, unless you want to tinker / help development, you are likely not going to have a good time with current state of software.

JMHO.

[Zaf9670]

I have to assume somehow we'd have to put a more current version of Linux on it since whatever version ships from the factory wouldn't have whatever updates were done to get it working... how would that be done?

[...]

What OS can we install on this that has a recent enough version to have the e-ink display, and how exactly does one flash an OS onto it?

[...]

I'm still learning linux but I guess you can upgrade the kernel independently of the OS and bring in support for this display. Would love some confirmation from someone more experienced, especially how exactly we'd get Alpine Linux with that latest kernal flashed onto this device.

All due respect Kairei, but if you have to ask such questions, you might not be the person who needs this device in their hands the most at the present time?

I am not sure how many devices are really available, but getting them into hands of people who can help with development should (IMO) be a priority, at least for now.

Besides, unless you want to tinker / help development, you are likely not going to have a good time with current state of software.

JMHO.

Well Pine64 did remove the questionnaire that was sort of a gatekeeper for getting these development units so if someone has the resources available to help offload stock it may be worthwhile. I'm not sure if Pine makes any margin of profit for the developer units which would be the counter to that argument.

The Android version is currently functioning mostly from the Wiki. Hopeful that more variations will come along. My one question is if there's anyway to help reduce the screen retention ghosting (or whatever proper term should be used here). The afterimage of previous pages or the boot screen is very noticeable. I know eInk have their issues with retention/burn-in of sorts but I wonder if there are hardware/software features that can help mitigate or reduce it.

My guess is a custom render mode would be needed for doing partial refreshes in void/white areas if possible.

[Kairei]

All due respect Kairei, but if you have to ask such questions, you might not be the person who needs this device in their hands the most at the present time?

I am not sure how many devices are really available, but getting them into hands of people who can help with development should (IMO) be a priority, at least for now.

Besides, unless you want to tinker / help development, you are likely not going to have a good time with current state of software.

Agreed, I'm not capable of helping with development right now, but...

...Pine64 did remove the questionnaire that was sort of a gatekeeper for getting these development units...

...so, at this point (and based on their stock page saying they expect continued availability throughout 2022) I assumed it was the time to potentially get one. I wanted to buy one last year but it was clear I wasn't ready and Pine64 wanted them going only to specific developers. Now that people have made such tremendous progress with the software/drivers etc. it seemed I might be able to get one and learn a bit with one in my hands. And if getting stock sold to help fund future batches is of any help, I am going to be looking to buy 10-15 units for my students to help them avoid eye strain when using our software.

As an aside, I was exclusively a Microsoft developer for 20+ years. Over the last decade I've gotten increasingly interested in Linux and open source software to the point where I've moved all my web stuff over to my own cloud Linux servers and haven't touched a Windows server in almost 10 years. When I started looking for an e-ink device for my students I was extremely frustrated about requirements to use proprietary paid cloud services and I just wanted an open piece of hardware I could put my own software on. I stumbled on the PineNote and was ecstatic. Just what I was looking for! I figured it might be fun to tinker with, perhaps even leveraging my web skills by just using a device like this with a browser-based app for my students. Admittedly, yes, I'm still very much a Linux beginner on the hardware/embedded side but my hope was to find some help here to get into it.

Maybe this isn't the best place for such basic questions but when I learn something new, I like to do it with a project I'm passionate about, even if that project is complex... and stopping the ocular migraines of my students and having an amazing tech platform is all I want to do right now... so if anyone is willing to help I'd love a point in the right direction. I'm willing to put in the work but it is a bit tough to start (especially when there seems to be a very real risk I could brick a $400 device).

[josh.rubyist]

I just set mine up a week or so ago. I can tell you what was helpful for me:

https://github.com/DorianRudolph/pinenotes
https://github.com/aumouvantsillage/awesomewm-pinenote
https://musings.martyn.berlin/dual-booti...and-debian <-- I referenced various things on this guy's site (not just this post) but I'm not sure I did anything particularly like he did ultimately. It was where I learned how to invert my touch display when I ran into that though

In my current configuration, I have awesome-wm set up and I like it. I presently have to hop into u-boot each time I'm booting to actually make it boot into the linux installation rather than the android setup, which requires connecting the USB-C UART dongle. Make sure you don't lose that when the device arrives - it's kind of nestled into a box and easy to overlook.

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My next move is to get postmarketos installed on it - https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/PINE6...-pinenote)