Since my PinePhone arrived yesterday I've started distro-hopping to find which one suits me best.

The one major problem that prevents me from feeling I've given Mobian a fair shot is the onscreen keyboard. I use the terminal a lot on my desktop computers and the lack of Ctrl, Tab and arrow keys means it's very tedious to work in a terminal.

I've had this issue before with the GNOME 3 OSK but it seems like it's still not fixed upstream. Maybe we could hack the layout downstream or use another keyboard?

Hi all,

I am interested in the NASCase as a replacement for my quite dated QNAP arm based NAS and would like to hear about the experiences of others who have gotten it.  My primary question is whether the 12V 5A power supply is sufficient to power the RockPro64, a case fan and two 3.5" hard drives.  If there is any issue with two hard drives, I would opt for an un-RAIDed setup but I really would like the redundancy.

Any other impressions and advice are appreciated.

Many thanks!

I am running Debian on a Micro SD card.

I used the pinebookpro-debian-desktop-mrfixit191226.img.xz installer.
I have run the /usr/bin/update_widevine.sh script.

If I log in as the 'rock' user I am able to view Amazon Prime Video using the Chromium browser.

If I create a new user (using 'sudo adduser') that user gets a 'this browser is not supported' error message when trying to view Amazon Prime Video.

I have tried re-running /usr/bin/update_widevine.sh script when logged in as the new user but this does not make any difference.

For the moment I will log in as the user 'rock' if I want to watch Amazon Prime Video.

But if anyone has any thoughts on what else I might need to do in order for the new user to be able to do this I would be gratful for any advice.

Hi all

I'm wondering, as there are a few pcs of software that are not available for ARM, is it somehow possible to emulate x86 under arm64/linux? Don't care about performance in this regard, only to be able to run a few apps.

Cheers!

Not sure where to report this, but is this a Pinebook Pro or ARM thing, maybe? I am on the stock Manjaro KDE build. The LibreOffice Writer, Calc, etc. that ship with the Pinebook Pro have a weird issue in the toolbar where only bits of the buttons are displayed:

My PinePhone with the latest factory UT has very low volume when making phone calls compared to Android or iPhones I've used (not a hearing problem). The volume is turned up all the way. It is making and receiving the calls themselves fine on an AT&T MVNO.

Is this a problem with my particular PinePhone, a software issue in UT, or just how the hardware is? I realize "normal volume" is subjective, but this is noticably harder to hear on than any other phone I've used. I don't know anyone else with a PinePhone to compare mine to. Thanks!

Those of you that tried TELEports on the Pinephone noticed for sure that writing a text message is quite a mess because the on screen keboard covers the text field making it impossible to see what you're typing. Some of you tweaked the keyboard opacity in System Settings to be able to see the text field under the osk, but that's still an horrible UX...

This is not an issue with TELEports itself, but rather an issue with QtQuick Controls 2 auto-scaling not working under wayland (https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch/issues/1320)

Since UT users on Pinephone are gowing quickly and many of them may want to be able to use a telegram client, you can install a TELEports version tweaked to work well only on Pinephone (or other devices using wayland).

Instructions:

1. Close TELEports if you already have it opened
   
2. Downlaod this click package on your Pinephone using Morph browser
   
3. Tap on it the Downlads list in the browser
   
4. Choose Open with: OpenStore
   
5. It will ask you if you want to install an unknown app, tap Install
   
6. Wait for the installation process to end
   
7. Open TELEports and enjiy chatting!
   

I looked at the pineloader github page, and there wasn't much I could find about actually getting it onto the phone. I did a git-clone, pulled 1 or 2 dependencies and tried running 'make' but with no joy. Anyone with better linux-fu willing to guide me I'm the right direction?

With so many fast moving OS choices, it would be a good way of continually trying each.

I've been trying to change the default debian (mrfixit) installed on the eMMC to a new Manjaro. As part of that process, I've been trying to boot from an SD card, and failing to do so. 

* MrFixit's updater says "There are no updates"
* I've tried writing the image to the SD using dd on linux, and Etcher on windows
* I've tried booting from a USB drive

I've been using the manjaro eMMC installer images from osdn

Whaterver I do, the pinebook pro only boots into the debian on the eMMC.

What can I do to troubleshoot this?

Thanks!

pbp-tools: pinebook pro tools
https://github.com/xmixahlx/pbp-tools

tools for system management, hardware acceleration, and wayland environment for the pinebook pro.

desktop:
pbp-install-desktop

system:
pbp-install-ap6256-firmware
pbp-install-postinstall
pbp-install-boot

hwaccel:
pbp-install-alacritty
pbp-install-ffmpeg
pbp-install-gstreamer
pbp-install-jellyfin-kodi
pbp-install-kodi
pbp-install-kodi-inputstream-adaptive
pbp-install-kodi-p8-platform
pbp-install-kodi-platform
pbp-install-libva
pbp-install-libva-utils
pbp-install-libva-v4l2-request
pbp-install-linux
pbp-install-mesa

media:
pbp-install-libcamera
pbp-install-libudfread
pbp-install-pipewire

misc:
pbp-install-fontawesome
pbp-install-libinput
pbp-install-xdg-desktop-portal

wayland:
pbp-install-dmenu-wayland
pbp-install-sway
pbp-install-waybar
pbp-install-wdisplays
pbp-install-wlogout
pbp-install-xdg-desktop-portal-wlr

info:
pbp-info-cpupower
pbp-info-nvme
pbp-info-upower

config:
pbp-config-cpupower
pbp-config-danielt-installer-conversion
pbp-config-nvme-ps
pbp-config-system
pbp-config-systemd

reset:
pbp-reset-emmc
pbp-reset-wireless

notes:
* system management tools borrow manjaro configurations for mainline kernel and mrfixit2001 boot images.
* many scripts have variable override via commandline (ffmpeg, kodi, linux, etc.).
* recommended core hwaccel setup includes, in build order: linux, mesa, ffmpeg, and kodi.
* libudfread is an optional kodi dependency.
* kodi addons include kodi-platform, kodi-p8-platform, jellyfin-kodi and kodi-inputstream-adaptive.
* libva, libva-utils, and libva-v4l2-request are VAAPI related packages that have some use, but are currently less useful due to an ffmpeg bug.
* gstreamer includes v4l2codecs from upstream and VAAPI is enabled, so depends on VAAPI packages.
* alacritty is a GL(ES) enhanced terminal.
* to use sway, first build the sway suite (wlroots, sway, swaybg, swaylock, and swayidle), then optionally dmenu-wayland, waybar, wdisplays, and wlogout.
* fontawesome is an optional dependency of waybar for fancy icons.
* please feel free to modify and adapt to your own distro, and contribute changes or raise issues.
* REVIEW EACH SCRIPT PRIOR TO USAGE.

discussion:
mainline kernel froum thread
mainline hwaccel forum thread
mesa forum thread
kodi forum thread
sway forum thread
danielt's unofficial debian installer forum thread


for those that also have an x86_64 system, i started a similar project here: https://github.com/xmixahlx/nix-tools
i'm also staging temporary debian packages at https://github.com/xmixahlx/debian-packages for now - currently just linux 5.7.3 and 5.8-rc packages.