Howdy all,

I got a RockPro64 (4GB model) a while back and intended to use it as a NAS/Plex server.

Some info:
Running: Armbian Buster (Linux 5.10.63-rockchip64)
With: OpenMediaVault 5.6.21-3

I have had constant on and off issues getting my 6TB Seagate Ironwolf HDD to work with the RP. At first, I thought it might be the SATA card, so I replaced the Pine64 one with this card: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QGRVGVM

That worked for a few months, but then randomly the disk stopped showing up in the OMV filesystems menu. The disk still shows up in lsblk (sda):

• 6TB 3.5" HDD was working fine for months with the original Pine64 power supply and the SATA adapter listed above.
  
• The drive stopped working and even though it shows up in lsblk, the partition is missing and the drive makes strange noises when powering on.
  

• Replacing the SATA card
  
• Replacing the power supply
  
• Replacing the SATA cable
  

I would love to get an e-book reader that runs GNU/Linux, but I feel like $400 for this type of device is too expensive. Since I would only use it to read books, I have no need for a quad core CPU or powerful graphics. Even original PinePhone's hardware should be good enough for this task (apps would load slowly, but that's fine for reading books) and it would be much easier to pay $200 for example. Making the screen smaller might also be fine.

Why is PinePhone Pro almost twice as expensive as Pinebook Pro? They both have very similar hardware, so I don't understand this big price difference. Pinebook Pro actually has a much larger screen and battery, so it would make sense for the laptop to be a more expensive device. We can see a similar thing when we compare the price of regular PinePhone and regular Pinebook.

Current prices:
Pinebook Pro - $219.99
PinePhone Pro - $399.00

Pinebook - $99.99
PinePhone - $149.99

Let's start this with a disclaimer that what I have done is stupid and I am aware of that.

Does anyone have a picture of the traces around the pogo pin section of the keyboard case? You see I've cut through the case pretty close to the short side of that pad array nearest the camera cutout and I can see copper from the PCB. I think the VBUS trace was the only one hit but I can't be sure.

Why did I make the cut? I put an NVMe drive heatsink on the can over the SoC to help with heat, this added to the thickness of the phone so I cut through the back cover to allow it to fit and when I tried to make the same modification to the keyboard I got overzealous. Measure twice cut once!

Edit: the keyboard works but power from keyboard to pinephone doesn't seem to, that supports the damaged vbus theory

I received the keyboard yesterday!  Very pleased with it, now that I've got it working (needed to raise the pin contacts on the keyboard case with a bit of paper/card).

However, I can't get the function keys (eg F5) to work.  I believe the modifier is the Pine key (Super-L/Meta), but it just outputs the number of whatever key I'm pressing with it.  Fn+F1-10 gives me the other characters like +=- etc.  Not checked they're all accurate, but it works.  I've used xev to check the Pine key actually does produce a signal, and it does.

The Pine key also works to move windows around (Pine+FN+Left/Right).

Do I just have to be patient, or is there a way to get the F keys working now?

I'm using Phosh.  Not tested these key combos in any other distro yet.

I've had a Pinebook Pro for some months now, and in general I am extremely satisfied with its performance.  But this week, I was closing the clamshell when I felt something odd. 

I opened the cover to check whether I might have attempted to close it with, perhaps, a pencil in the hinge, but there was nothing. I turned the unit over to find the bottom cover had sprung open at the screw nearest the "ESC" key.  Worse yet, it appeared that the head of the flathead screw had pulled THROUGH the magnesium cover.  Closer inspection revealed that the hole in the cover was approximately the same diameter as the screw's head.

I have not yet disassembled the laptop, and in fact, I'm typing this on it at the moment, so I don't know whether this was a simple manufacturing error or, far worse, all the other holes are similarly finished.  Bluntly, after a lifetime of engineering and design work, I can say that no responsible engineer would seat a flathead screw flush with a surface without drilling a hole which passed the screw thread only, then countersinking the hole to support the head properly.

I've tried to order a new bottom plate, but needless to say, they're out of stock, as well as the other items I'd also wanted to order.  So I am leaving the laptop open, so as not to stress the hinges, board or anything else.  A sincere suggestion...  Considering the ever worsening stability situation in Southeast Asia, when combined with component supply issues there, perhaps it's time to consider manufacturing elsewhere?

Hey recently my pinphone stopped sending me text messages when I get a new voicemail and I have not taken an update or anything. Anyone else having this issue?

I am running Manjaro/Phosh on a pinephone 3gb
T-Mobile service.

I used to get an sms from a strange number like 127 anytime I received a voicemail or called my voicemail to listen to / delete messages.

Thanks.

Hi


I ordered a PinePhone keyboard to go with my PinePhone community edition, but am having some issues getting my order processed and shipped.
Sales claims they are not able to ship my recent order to South America, when they were able to ship the Pinephone itself using DHL in 2020 without problems.
They are now saying they will cancel - which I obviously do not want! - and have even offered them to pay for extra shipment costs if need be.

Initially there was a problem on the shopping page to select my destination country. After contacted sales they said I should select a different country in the dropdown and they would search for specific shipping options for me, After doing that and placing the order, I got an email from sales a few days later that said they weren't able to ship. I insisted they had shipped to me before and do not understand why they can't ship to my country now, when they were able to before.
The provider they used at the time (DHL), has not issues shipping to my country, not in 2020 & not today.

My ordernr is:222026  Please have someone review my order & provide options to ship using DHL, as before.
Could someone at Pine64 properly look into this, because it is very disappointing to me that the rest of the world would be left out of the pine64 community like this.

Thanks,
Gert

Hi folks,

I plan to initiate one or more projects where small but useful native apps could be built by students in their 4th semester as part of an internship. My idea is to go for libhandy. Hence, I am looking for ideas/suggestions for native apps that match the following criteria:

- no useful mobile native app that does the same exists or is already developed with substantial progress
- open source reference implementations are available (e.g. as a normal desktop app or an android app in F-Droid)
- the app is small and not very complex (good example: offline dictionary; bad example: turn-by-turn navigation)
- the app is useful for a large userbase (not a niche app only 10 or 20 people are interested in)

I already have some ideas myself, but I warmly would welcome *your* ideas/suggestions as well! The goal is to find good candidates for "most missing app".

Hello!

I've been using debian images from here to run on my pinebook pro and while they work fine for a microsd card how do you install not to microsd but to the built in emmc?

From what I gather a normal install isn't possible direct from the debian installer to emmc is there a way to do this at all?

ljones