Hi everyone,

I have one of the original Pine64s from the kickstarter. I was wondering if these are able to be set to boot from a HDD connected via USB (like you can with the pi3/4)?

Any help would be most appreciated.

I've bought one a year ago, attracted by the idea and the somewhat low price point (somewhat because the shipping and import tax doubled the price, but I wanted to support the project) plus the idea of getting better at working with linux.

A year later, I have to say this failed big time. You built a neat product, looks sleek, the premise is awesome. But the included software is ancient, so you start looking for a new OS. Now, I am somewhat proficient with linux in that I can apt-get my way around the command line and maybe understand a simple script or symlink, but compiling something or building something myself is not something I know how to do. And that's where things break down.

None if the images (and I tried neigh all of them) that are mentioned as being fit for the Pinebook were stable in any way. I haven't been able to use any of them with any measure of success. My latest install of Manjaro ARM KDE lasted for 2 bootups: After the first major 'update' the system broke down and the wifi is since inoperable. I'm sure it's easy to fix for a linux guru or when I get down to it and put a couple of hours of research into it, but having to fix a new issue every freaking fresh install is getting up my nerves after a year. I've had update cycles break the system, but often the system will just break itself and stop working after X bootups. Weird audio issues. Weird mouse issues. Weird display issues. Weird network issues. Every time I give it a go something else breaks without me having even touched the system or the configuration. 

The actual 'installation procedure' is either boot from SD, install from a capable installer FROM SD to EMMC or the dreaded "DD" which for me, no matter the amount of instructions from people who assume half an word is enough, has never worked. I've tried scripts, after failing those I contacted the people who made the scripts, and they didn't respond or stopped responding after I asked a question. Numerous attempts from users to create something viable have died out, and many of the builds still being produced by avid enthusiasts are riddled with issues. 

I know this product was sold with a big disclaimer. It's supposed to be a 'learning experience'. It's such a shame the product is so unusable even that is not an attainable goal because the 'experience' is condensed down to keeping the bloody thing running (or even getting it to work). 

I would have loved to be able to have some form of Debian running on it, because that's a system I know. But the 'armbian' images are DD only (and I've tried ever method I've found to DD the installation to the EMMC, every try has borked the system and did not give the described results) so I couldn't get them to work. Heck, I couldn't even figure out why it didn't work as described, and attempts to find support have landed me nothing. 

Can't say that I'm anything but dissappointed in this project, and my purchase.

Out of curiosity, I have tried putting the Pinebook Pro into developer mode via holding esc and F3 during boot, but it seems not to "see" that I am holding the keys down, booting to the login screen like normal. Is chromium developer mode not supported on the Pinebook Pro? I have Chromium installed on my emmc via Wizzard's AWESOME Dual booting chromium and linux tutorial.

Has anybody tried this yet?  I'm looking at the Pinebook Pro as a solution to x86 laptop woes, but there's still a bunch of questions about compatibility.

Fedora updates to the latest stable kernel soon after release while Debian doesn't.  They also mentioned that the panfrost driver is available now, and they've shown it running Fedora Workstation 31 w/ stock Gnome3 on an RK3399 SBC at some kind of trade show (I forget who had the link).  According to Collabora, the panfrost driver was supposed to have been mainlined in Linux 5.2.  So is this actually usable now?  Has anybody tried it with Fedora 31 aarch64?

Also, there's the question about the other hardware that makes the PBP unique from its SBC counterparts, namely things like screen compatibility and the big elephant in the room: wireless and Bluetooth support, specifically in Fedora.  I'd like to see some kind of 802.11ac wireless that DOESN'T require proprietary firmware blobs, but that situation is looking pretty grim, with no manufacturers committing to changing for "WiFi-6".

The PBP looks good, but I also work with GTK3+ apps and want to target Gnome3 development, so this is a requirement.

I'm debating whether to invest money into a laptop that could still have compatibility issues, or to go with an SBC that lacks some of those troublesome hardware for OSS.

I could not sign in and sync my chromium preferences because Chromium crashes when I access "settings". So I installed the snap version of Chromium and now can sync my account and change all preferences. The snap version is a bit slower but usable.

Hello everyone,

I know it's a controversial subject. I would just like to put the idea out there and hear what you think and whether anyone would be interested (or not).

Whenever I talk about the Linux phone to friends who know what Linux is, I get the same answer: apps, apps, apps! What about Snapchat? Instagram? Bleh! I have zero interest in having Instagram for Linux, but I would like to have a wide selection of apps that appeal to geeks and non-geeks. I would also love it if indie developers could make a living developing Linux apps full-time. 

So imagine we have closed-source apps sold on an app store. Those apps could be cross-platform (also sold on iOS and Android) for wider appeal, compatibility and profitability. A worker cooperative could own the apps and run the back-ends when needed (a pain point for free software I think). The same or another coop could run the app store. With the right public statutes, this organization would give everyone confidence that the developers are compensated fairly and that only ethical software is being sold. It would also be possible to prevent acquisition by a tech giant. 

So what do you think? Worth discussing further?

Hey,
It seems to me that the Pinebook Pro does only enter into S1 suspend when closing the lid or pressing the power button. At least the output of journalctl | grep "PM: suspend" | tail doesn't indicate any form of deep suspend and my battery drain is around 3% / h which seems quite high.
Does anyone know how to change this behavior? I would prefer a deeper suspend, even for the price of a longer wake-up time.
Ideally I would like to set the suspend mode to s3 which is suspend to ram (meaning mostly anything exept for the ram self refresh is turned off).

Thanks in advance!

I am looking to do an engraving on the PBP. 

I'd rather send it to someone from the community than to a random shop. So if you have a laser engraver and are in the EU and could do it for me - please let me know

Hey @Luke! Has there been any contact or interest shown in PinePhone (or Tab) from the GrapheneOS developers?

Linux is great, but I'm curious to see if a privacy-focused Android (AOSP) would attract additional interest in the hardware. After all, the "general public" "knows" than "linux is hard" but are already familiar with Android.

I would like to get involved in the development of PineTime. There was mention in the forums that the developer kit would be available in the store but I can't find it anywhere. How do I get a developer kit?
Thanks.