I recently purchased a Pinecil from a German reseller since I am convinced that it is a good product and I was not disappointed when I got it. A great soldering iron which suits my needs perfectly.

However I wonder about two things:

At https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart...ring-iron/ the Pinecil V2 is offered for a retail price of $35.99 - but there it is out of stock.

However at https://eleshop.de/pinecil-smart-mini-tr...olben.html which is one of the "official" resellers, the same product is 52.07 EUR plus shipping which is more than 70% more expensive (currently this would be around $61.77).

When combining this with the "offical" power supply "PinePower - 65W GaN 2C1A Charger", the Pinecil USB cable with silicon sleeve and the "Portable Mini Stand" the total price will be more than 100 EUR since nearly every item is at least 70-80% more expensive in Europe. The "Mini Stand" is sold for about $5.27 in Europe compared to the original price of $1.99 in the Pint Store which is more than twice(!) the price.

I also looked for other sources, but original Pinecil V2 and not fake ones, are not available for less then about $60-$70.

Why this huge price gap?

Another thing about getting tips:

The tip which comes with the Pinecil is not very useful for many soldering tasks. Due to its pointed shape it will not transfer heat very well. Wedge shaped tips like D24 are usually much better suited since you can either use the wide side to transfer a lot of heat if needed or the smaller side to do fine soldering tasks. So I also got a pack of short "gross" tips which includes the D24 tip. As an initial accessory collection this is ok since the other tips in the package are also useful.

However when I ever need to replace a single tip I would have to be a complete new pack of four - which makes no sense of course. Why are the tips not available individually? I'd like to have at least one D24 as spare part but I also don't want to use TS100 tips which are available individually but also longer and with less power.

Ask and ye shall receive?

Genode OS has just dropped their latest PP OS prototype of a battery friendly micro kernel.

I am by far unqualified to weigh in on their claims, but will be installing it to test out vs. Arch ARM (the best most stable Distro for Calls/Text in my opinion).

Here are the relevant links:

https://genodians.org/nfeske/2023-02-01-mobile-sculpt

https://depot.genode.org/nfeske/image/

Hello Friends,

Is there a proper e-mail client for UB Ports on the pinephone? Something like Thunderbird, Evolution or Geary? I don't mind Dekko but would prefer something with which I'm familiar.

Chris

I am selling my Pinebook Pro

I was using it for quite a while and really enjoyed it!

Recently (because I am working at a new job) I didn't use it anymore and that is why I decided to give it away.

Some infos:

• It has the ISO / UK Keyboard Layout
  
• I was using Manjaro sway edition, everything was running perfectly fine. I never used the NVMe Adapter, only the internal storage and an 128GB microSD Card.
  
• There are no dead pixels
  
• After learning about the problem with the screen hinges slowly destroying the plastic around the USB ports (several forum posts are reporting about this issue), I was extra careful when opening and closing the lid; Therefore the plastic frame is still in good condition.
  
• Overall look & feel is in great condition. You can clearly make out the areas that were most used on the keyboard and other surfaces on and next to the touchpad.
  
• I cleaned the whole notebook to make it look almost like new.
  
• I never opened the notebook in the sense of removing any screws.
  

So, based on Luke's December update, especially the update to the update that said ...

"[edit] Since the publication there have been further developments on the SailfishOS port. SailfishOS and ofono now work much better form suspend, and could be used as a reliable phone. Both call and sms are handled from deep sleep with work  done over the last week. Check out Adam’s post on Twitter."

 ... I was very anxious to try Sailfish, so I followed all the links and found that the Sailfish website said that it was listed on the Pine wiki as "Nemo", so I got it, tried it, and it looks like Sailfish.  However, it does not wake from deep sleep on calls or texts, and none of the sensors work.

At this point I'm assuming I got the wrong thing ... can somebody point me to the right thing please?

Busted out my PineTab the other weekend to charge it up and update my Danctnix and Manjaro images for it, and I noticed an odd behavior between both images. I was able to see wifi networks, but I couldn't connect to them.

Admittedly, I haven't taken the time to dig into the journal or dmesg to see what's happening, but it struck me as odd that the issue persisted between images, and after updating them (thank goodness for usb>eth adapters!) Figured I'd ask if anyone else has noticed a similar issue.

Just stumbled over this here:

hackaday.com/2023/01/31/all-about-usb-c-pinecil-soldering-iron

Appears to be a very favorable review of the Pinecil.

I am very disappointed by pine phone, the phone I bought a short time ago, it never worked, the battery does not charge, it freezes often and is unusable, thanks for the scam of 270 euros, now I retouch resell it on ebay come as spare parts to 50, thanks pine for making me throw 270 euros thanks a lot.!!!!

I have a newly built RockPro64 that I need to get working, and I have no idea how to do it.

Backstory (Soz - long): I have a 28yr old son with multiple intellectual and physical disabilities. He is entertained by watching YouTube - things like The Wiggles, Thomas the Tank Engine, and music videos of all sorts. This entertainment is his life, and when it stops working he is immediately very stressed and nobody has a good day. Initially he used a PC, and later an iPad, but because he is a very heavy user - this often runs for 16 hours straight, gets covered with food, dropped or knocked off the table etc etc - these were prone to failure.

We got some really good advice to use a RockPro. All we needed was a mouse and monitor. This has been excellent and has been working very hard for 4 or 5 years now. A while back we struggled to get it running properly. Quite possibly it was something else, not the unit, but I realised that we need a spare set up and ready to go, in case ours fails. Unfortunately the guy that helped us before is no longer available. I bought the same items (as per the list that I had from the other one), and assembled it - so far, so good.

I have tried to read How to Write an Image... but seeing I'm not in the industry I just don't understand the language - I'm Googling every other term, and struggling. I got a Micro SD card and writer adaptor and got as far as some text on the monitor at bootup but that was all. A bit frustrating, so I put it away for a few weeks.

Before I try again, is there somebody that is prepared to help me with this please - step by step instructions: Download <link>; Run XYZ; Send screenshot; etc etc. on here, or via eMail, Video Call, or whatever?

I'm an engineer, so not a complete ID10t but needing help please.

Let's look inside a Touchscreen App that will be useful for NuttX Developers on PinePhone: Our Terminal App for NSH Shell.

Read on to find out how we…

1. Pipe a Command to NSH Shell

2. Poll for NSH Output

3. Render the Terminal with LVGL Widgets

4. Handle Input from LVGL Keyboard

5. Handle Output from NSH Shell

And how we might simplify the LVGL coding with the Zig Programming Language.

NuttX RTOS for PinePhone: LVGL Terminal for NSH Shell