Just discovered Pine64 ! - first Q

[philip_rhoades]

People,

I can't find a way of searching the fora so I will ask my first Q here.  I found this site because of a post on the Fedora Linux forum re the PinePhone - I am interested in all the devices here but the first Q is:  can any of the Pine64 devices conveniently talk to external GPU devices?

Thanks,

Phil.

[tophneal]

We did have a link for Search up in the top nav, but @fire219 may have removed that to replace it with a new search option. You should still be able to find a link for the forum search int the page footer, though.

For your question, that's likely going to rely upon whether the OS you choose to run has the driver(s) to support your eGPU. Though, it likely won't be of much use, since no Pine products have eSATA or Thunderbolt ports.

[fire219]

There is a search button in the top (black) navbar, third from the right.

As for your question: unfortunately none of the Pine64 devices can use external GPUs. A few of them do have PCIe (RockPro64, Pinebook Pro), but for technical reasons GPUs won't work on them (except maybe with some extreme hacking).

technical reason: GPUs want a very large "memory window" to transfer data through over PCIe. The RK3399 SoC that the RP64 and PBP use only has a 64MB window, which most GPUs won't work with.

[Lancer_MiG]

Thanks for the answer, even if I'm not the one who posted the question; it's a shame that working with GPU's isn't an option, but I already have everything I wanted from my PinePhone, so it is no big loss as I didn't think about that before buying it.

[tophneal]

There is a search button in the top (black) navbar, third from the right.

That's what I thought. Might be our browser window size(s) is hiding it. When I wrote that reply while viewing the forum on a vertical monitor, the only links in the top black bar are the user CP and PM links on the left. I honestly thought I was going crazy lol