Hello savants,

After reinstalling "Factory Reset KDE Neon" on my Pinebook 1080P (it crashed in the middle of updating) I was in the middle of updating applications when the computer starting freezing every 5-10 minutes, requiring me to shut the system down by long-pressing the power button and pressing it again.

I found a thread in this forum tracing similar behavior back to Firefox (https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=7690) so I removed the setting that autoloaded Firefox when KDE Neon loads ( per https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=6443 page 3). I have tried working carefully without Firefox running, and the system still freezes.

My only major adjustments to the system's operation have been to enable it to start up without prompting for username/password, and enlarging the default font.

Any ideas what might be causing this behavior?

Thanks in advance, R.M.

Hey everyone! I'm in the process of building a replacement (home) backup server for an old rpi3 I had around: it was running arch + (native) encrypted ZFS. Disks were connected through a USB hard-drive bay. It worked, but it was clumsy and slow.

When I learned about the rockpro64, I figured that would work great for a replacement of that server.

Here are the specs:

- RockPro64 4GB
- 2x1Tb HDD WD Blue (will upgrade to 4x2Tb if this works well)
- Qnine 4 port SATA PCIe card
- Norco ITX-S4 Black mini-ITX case
- Solid Gear FLEX 320W power supply
- Debian stretch (last version available on ayufan's github)

I first installed debian + the (testing) dkms modules for ZFS: this was a super pain-free process.

After I got all the parts (case, power supply, some extra cables) I test-mounted it:



This is still all super messy as I'm waiting for some extra connectors to properly get power from the power supply (I want to avoid soldering as much as possible).

After rebooting with the SATA card, it was immediately recognized, as well as the zpool that I had in those drives. A full scrub took less than 20 min as opposed to the 9 hours in the rpi!



Next steps for this:

- Add some extra holes/mounting points that will fit the rockpro64
- Make wiring better

Some further steps

- Figure out how to fwd the USB ports to make the ports at front useful
- Figure out how to control some of the LED lights at the front of the case, as well as the power/reset button

I'll update this thread as I make progress

Hello,

A couple of things are important about a laptop to me. First, the battery. Is the battery removable and can I buy a new one? Batteries do wear down so a replacement is important. If the batteries are replaceable, how much would they be?

Next, I missed the free hard drive upgrade and 64 gigs is nothing. How much for the hard drive upgrade?

Finally important, but not always a deal breaker, is screen flex. Some manufacturers add extra plastic around the screen so it is not as flimsy and won't break easily. Is the screen for the laptop stable or does it flex?


Please advise and thanks!

There is this thread here https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=7802 for USB-C docks.  Which many users might find useful since the PBP has a limited amount of ports, but are also more complicated than single-use adapters.

Based on the connectors it has https://store.pine64.org/?product=14-pin...nux-laptop these seem to be the most desirable functions:

1. USB 3.0 to Ethernet
   
2. USB-C to Ethernet
   
3. USB-C to HDMI
   

Hi,

I installed a while ago ayufan's Debian Stretch image on a Rock64 as a server, and wanted to know if it was possible to upgrade it directly to Debian 10 Buster by following the standard upgrade procedure (i.e by changing the repo versions in /etc/apt/sources.list), or if there was some things to be taken care of first, like switching to another custom repo, switching kernels, etc.).

Thanks in advance !

Hello,

I have one of the Pine64 boards from the Kickstarter project.
I did not use it much and when i did, it was without the Wifi/bt adapter.
I have installed the adapter later and only used Android on it.

It runs on Android, but i want to run a linux distribution that supports the Wifi/BT adapter.

I have downloaded many versions from the Pine64 Page (A64 version) and i did not have any succes for booting it up without any problems.

I have installed a bananaPi version, that runs good, but does not support the Wifi driver.

Trying to install the drivers sepparatly ends up with lack of the Pine64 modules to make the files.

I would like to know, what version is best with GUI and hasslefree. I am not a Linux-guru, so any advice is welcome.

Regards,
Roverius

How exactly do I order a Pinebook?

It seems I am required to create a community account to purchase one, however, I am now told I do not qualify to purchase one either.  

Is there a guide somewhere? 

Hi guys and gals,

I was wondering if anyone managed to boot the already compiled Android 9 image from eMMC. I am using ayufan's SPI flash U-boot and I get strange errors like:

{code}
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc0(part 0) is current device
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Unrecognized filesystem type **
Card did not respond to voltage select!
mmc_init: -95, time 9

{code}
or timeout when trying to read from the mmc. 

The SD version works fine, I have not issues.

Furthermore, not even the older Android versions work from eMMC and the SPI U-boot (same errors) but in this case, if I disable the SPI flash, they will boot correctly as opposed to Android 9 which won't boot from regardless.

I'm going to try a linux image on the mmc next, see if I get any different results.

Has anyone encountered this before? please let me know about your experience.

Thanks,
Octavian

PS. I have tried 2 versions of the SPI flash image, the latest and this one https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-u...f9f19116f1
Edit: Yes, Linux works perfectly

Is possible to send one working device to Debian developers or for fedora?
The new distribution image with all new features will be great.
Or send cheaper version for developers?

Linux desktops are something of a mystery to me - the last time I ran a full time Linux desktop was in 2009ish, and I’m sure there are more interesting options available now, more variety and so on. If I recall correctly, it was an Ubuntu setup, but pretty vanilla. I don’t remember which release, sorry!

So, being incredibly lucky to get in on the first batch (yay!), I’d like to try and get ahead of things, and try out some different options in a VM before getting actual hardware. The command line is natural home, from a few years of running Linux servers, so minimal gui is appealing. I3 with x11 or sway on Wayland look like good options - but keeping hardware accelerated graphics available is a must (Chromium / OpenGL etc). I’m at zero on what the implications are here, or even how the stack itself looks, building it up from scratch. 

What are the options? Could any of you recommend a minimal build / distro to play with in a vm that might tick some of these boxes, that might be close to steps taken on actual pbp hardware? Thanks!

editing in some resources as I find them:

https://a3nm.net/blog/wayland.html - experience with wayland / sway (thanks @hmuller )
quote from @Luke :
> <lukasz> hmuller the little I tested wayland I must say performance was MUCH better than X11 on the RK3399. I cannot remember the reason why, but it was discarded as an option for the default build