Hi all,

I just received my PBP yesterday, and I'm very excited.

I started to use it and all wroks well and fine, but I have a question; is there any PDF reader? By default I didn't find one in the apps installed in the PBP, is there any way I can install one?

Thanks very much in advance!

Best Regards and Happy New Year!

I wanted to change the boot splash image that is used during boot up. The Debian Swirl with the Open Sesame and Pine64 Logo did not really fit with the look and feel I have set up on the desktop, lock screen and login screen.

So I decided that I would need to change the boot splash image. To do so I had to figure out the raw format for the framebuffer image  (/usr/share/backgrounds/splash.fb). After some experimenting I figure out the format of the raw file and managed to convert it to a PNG. After I had done that I was able to figure out the reverse command that would create the raw FB image from a PNG.

You can use this command to turn a PNG into the FB raw file. For this to work, your PNG has to be 1920x1080 resolution. I have not tested this with other resolutions. Make sure you have installed ImageMagick before running this:

Hello all!

I've literally just received my pinebook pro. Fortunatly most things seem to be working - the sound is definately working ok and I'm not experiencing any wifi issues; as for bluetooth however I haven't as yet tried it.

The first thing I did was to update the firmware for the keyboard and touchpad and that went without issue as well. Then it was a case of running the /usr/bin/mrfixit_update.sh . That completed ok and then it was just a case of performing a normal apt update/apt upgrade as per normal debian.

The only problem I seem to be having is with any sort of acceleration on the laptop itself. To give an example I can open (let's say) a terminal window. Moving the window seems to get a little slower if the window is large but the problem is largely with resizing windows - the pinebook pro is struggling to resize windows. Also I've noticed that if I click the menu button (bottom left) there's a big black square that appears just before the menu itself appears.

Is the pinebook not using any sort of xorg acceleration (2d) at all?

Firefox (which seems to crash a lot) also seems to be struggling and just loading a webpage exhibits similar issues; scrolling through a webpage seems to be painfully slow.

I also decided to try to check if 3d (GPU) acceleration is working. Glxgears gives me the result of 295 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.532 fps in a window although a game like "torcs" dosen't seem to be running quite right - it is running at around 1-2fps.

One thing I did notice is I have the following in /etc/X11/xorg.conf;

Hi everyone,

I just received my PBP yesterday and I wanted to install a few games on it, I had an issue when I tried to run DevilutionX, I started by downloading the latest release from github (https://github.com/diasurgical/devilutionX/releases), I then extracted the archive, copied my "diabdat.mpq" file and attempted to run it but it fails with the following error :

Quote:# How To Install:
 - Extract the files in the zip.
 - Install libsdl2 libsdl2-mixer libsdl2-ttf
 - Copy diabdat.mpq from your CD, or GoG install folder, to the DevilutionX install folder; Make sure it is all lowercase.
 - Run ./devilutionx

I have seen the threads on FCC and CE testing where tllim kindly outlined the timing for regulatory approval testing.

I saw no mention of regulation in Japan which has its own regulatory framework... According to this: https://www.quectel.com/product/eg25g.htm the modem is apparently TELEC (Japanese approvals agency) approved already.

I understand that Japan may not be the largest target market, but I have chatted with a few individuals who are very interested in acquiring a pinephone but will not do so unless the Technical Conformity Mark 　[in Japanese 技適 (giteki)]  is present somewhere on the device. Without this approval using the phone may be technically illegal or at least possibly so.

Could anyone from Pine64 kindly clarify the status of regulatory approval in Japan? If said regulatory testing has not yet been applied for, are there plans to do so and if so, is there any expected timeframe?

From my research, I have discovered that even devices that have not passed the regulatory framework can be used for development / experimental purposes for up to 180 days while testing is carried out so long as this "experimental" use is expressed to the appropriate authority - getting this experimental use licence is free of charge; although unfortunately I don't know about the price of the Technical Conformity Mark certification.

I live in Japan and am quite concerned that I may have to cancel my Braveheart order and that if this hurdle is not passed, and that myself and others will not be able to use the pinephone in the future either. This in turn might hinder the progress of multilingual support in the future with fewer language-specific bug reports being posted etc.

Some indication of what the future holds would be very much appreciated, and if approval is on the way, I'll be sure to spread the message as far and wide as I can.

In case they are useful, I found the following resources which have some information about applications / rules etc.:

TELEC site (in English) for application procedures https://www.telec.or.jp/eng/services/ter...index.html

Telecommunications Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications which details some things about mobiles (in English) https://www.tele.soumu.go.jp/e/adm/monit...mobile.htm

Happy New Year!

Here is a super casual end of year update. I've been rather busy these past 2 weeks, and will be busy for another week or so, but after that I'll sit down and write a proper update for mid-January 2020. By that time PinePhones ought to be shipping and there will be plenty to talk about.

Let me take this opportunity to say that I am very thankful to you all for helping PINE64 grow into what it is today. Its been quite an exciting (and stressful year) and we appreciate you being with us throughout this journey. You have shown patience with the delays and a high degree of understanding at various hiccups and shortcomings; this tells me we've fostered a great and mature environment that we all can be proud of.

I'd also like to thank all developers from within the community and the partner projects. I hope and trust that we managed to make a friendly and enjoyable framework for us to cooperate and work in. On our end, its been a real pleasure as well as a lot of fun.

Last and not least, a shutout to moderators on the forum, in particular to @evilbunny who's been quietly at it for years, and our newcomers @tophneal and @Arwen for doing a great job on here. And a very special thank you to @fire219 for getting the forums and website in order ... and endlessly fixing broken bridges in the chats (hopefully something we can further improve in 2020). 

FOSDEM 2020

Its hard to believe it but FOSDEM 2020 is just a month away. What the hell happened to 2019 ... it feels like it just began and now its over. Anyways, we'll have a stall on Sunday (Feb 2) so if you're around make sure to pop by and say hello. On Saturday we'll be walking around, checking out stalls and going to talks. We'll probably linger at some befriended stalls too. So if you see me or TL feel free to stop us for a chat. Also, I know a nice secret spot nearby the Free University of Brussels with decent food, so you're welcome to PM me if you wan to join me for lunch.

We will be making a couple of announcement at or just a day before FOSDEM starts, but I expect that the PinePhone and Pinebook Pro will still steal the show on our stall. Speaking of the PinePhone, for those of you who will be rocking your PinePhones at the conference we may just have something special So make sure to take your PinePhone with you if you're attending.


Pinebook Pro (ISO & ANSI)

ISO Pinebook Pros have already gone out and, from the looks of Twitter / Mastodon tweets/toots, many have already been delivered.
The ANSI keyboard batch will start going out at the beginning of January. I am looking forward to hearing how you ANSI folks find the keyboard - I have only tried the prototype keyboard, so I am keen to hear how the end-product turned out (I'm an ISO person, so won't be getting/using an ANSI version). I hope and trust its on par with the ISO offering.

If you have ordered a Pinebook Pro in the last ~7-10 days or so, then your unit will ship out later in January (after Brave Heart PinePhones). So please do not bombard the shipping or pinebook team with questions such as 'why hasn't mine shipped yet?', if you placed an order just recently.

The default OS Build has gotten some major improvements in recent weeks and more are coming in January (we've got some nice tweaks in the works). Full acceleration for Chromium, improved performance and rock-solid stability of Firefox and support for (many/ most) USB-C docks are just some of the highlights of the default Debian OS in the past month. Regardless of if you want to run mainline OS images such as Manjaro, or novel alternatives such as Q4OS or Ubuntu MATE, lets take a minute to recognize the work @Mrfixit2001 has put into this default build. It's amazing to always have a good out-of-the-box experience and a solid image to fall back on.

I am also happy to let you know that we'll soon be seeing Recalbox for the Pinebook Pro. I for one am very much looking forward to that!

Lastly, huge shutout to those who helped draft the welcome letter for the Pinebook Pro! I highly appreciate your help.

PinePhone

There is currently so much happening in the PinePhone sphere that I literally have no time to cover it all. I've recently released a video showing 4 OSs running on the PinePhone. I have been told that the video is garbage - and I appreciate that it true - but just turn off the audio and your experience will improve by ~40%   

The Brave Heart edition phones will ship some 5-7 days later than we initially anticipated. This has nothing to do with production or some issues - the reason is simply that Pinebook Pro ANSI need to be shipped first. As to why the decision was made to ship ANSI Pinebook Pros before Brave Heart PinePhones, I don't know. My guess is that Pinebook Pros, as a batch, take up physically much more space and hence its preferable to clear them out first as they take up much space. This is just my guess. 

In anticipation of your questions regarding why these devices can't ship at the same time: there is only one shipping team and they can only handle one device at a time. PinePhones and Pinebook Pros are manufactured at different factories, shipped using different means, and probably also require different paperwork when crossing into Hong Kong. I know you're all eager to get your devices - but its just a few days delay. Thanks for your patience!  

Speaking of shipping, you'll get a shipping notification from PINE64 once your phone ships out. In my experience, tracking for Asendia is so-so but shipping is rather quick (some 10-14 days to EU). Here is my experience with getting the PinePhone in a nutshell: the parcel was registered as outgoing in HK then there were no more updates until it reached the destination country. When It reached Europe,  I plotted the tracking number into the local couriers tracking system and got updates where the phone is. BTW, I wasn't asked to pay tax and it looks like most EU based devs weren't asked to pay import tax either... *fingers corssed*.  

TL posted a picture of the PinePhone Brave Heart packaging. Packaging is from recycled materials and, if you decide not to keep the box, we encourage you to recycle it too. 

Inside box you'll find:

• The PinePhone (with a screen protector installed ... if you love it, great. If you hate it, peal it off).
  
• A welcome letter,written by the community (many thanks to those who offered suggestions and help!)
  
• A high quality charging USB-C cable (its a really good cable - use it)
  

It's great I can boot/run from the SD card!  How big a card can I put in there?  (Gotta figure out how much of a media library can travel with me off-the-grid.)

Hey all,
    I have a Pine64 from the kickstarter, I hope I am posting this in the right forum, I don't recall if it was considered a (+) version or not. I am trying to find an image that works with the LCD display. I much prefer a Ubuntu version, but I am not sure if there is one? I tried OpenSuse, but the OS simply doesn't seem to work. It won't update or install anything as it seems the site it is trying to connect to doesn't work anymore. I am hoping someone might be able to point me toward a Ubuntu (or really any distro that works, as I can't find *any*) image that works with the LCD panel.

Thanks!
-MH

As the title suggests my PBP just died on me. I was really happy with it and worked with it  for several weeks without any hitches. I took it to a conference and worked with it there with a USB3.1 Dock attached and all was fine until the display started flickering and the machine shut down. I tried to restart it and it got stuck with the green PowerLED on but did nothing. I tried a hard reset, but it did not react to keyboard input. Not even the on-off switch. After a while it switched off and now it’s dead. 

Any suggestions? Will there be replacement PCBs available?

Cheers,
WhiteDragon

- is there a pinout diagram for the 3.5mm Audio jack for the pine 64+LTS ? 
- is it a mono or streio output?
- is there a workaround for the swiching issue in android?