09-27-2023, 08:53 PM
Hi all, I'm not sure where to post this. I'm finally selling my Pinebook Pro. I wrestled with it over the last couple of years and tweaked it to where I want it to be, aaand now I don't really need a laptop anymore.
It's here on ebay - and I included a lot of photos and several screenshots of the system running.
I succesfully installed a Western Digital Blue 500 GB NVMe SSD drive. It boots from the SSD and doesn't seem to exhibit any extra battery drain. Manjaro ARM is already installed to the NVMe, and should boot right up to Manjaro's first-time setup wizard. I advise running an OS update immediately though, Manjaro likes to stay current.
I flashed Tow-boot to the SPI and now the bootup experience is infinitely better. It's a total improvement in my opinion. As most of you know, if there's an error in your boot media the laptop is normally unresponsive and inert, you don't even get a power light. With the new SPI boot image, it acts like a normal laptop. If there are any errors in the normal boot sequence, you'll still get a power-on light and the boot menu. From there you could boot from a rescue disk however you like.
The old eMMC was removed long ago. Not really needed with the NVMe working anyway. And the device boots perfectly from microSD as well. If you really need an eMMC they're pretty cheap, but I haven't ever felt the need for one. Too small and too slow.
I do not have the original slow barrel charger. I've been charging it with any USB-C charger for the duration that I've had it. It seemed so much faster.
Feel free to ask me any questions!
It's here on ebay - and I included a lot of photos and several screenshots of the system running.
I succesfully installed a Western Digital Blue 500 GB NVMe SSD drive. It boots from the SSD and doesn't seem to exhibit any extra battery drain. Manjaro ARM is already installed to the NVMe, and should boot right up to Manjaro's first-time setup wizard. I advise running an OS update immediately though, Manjaro likes to stay current.
I flashed Tow-boot to the SPI and now the bootup experience is infinitely better. It's a total improvement in my opinion. As most of you know, if there's an error in your boot media the laptop is normally unresponsive and inert, you don't even get a power light. With the new SPI boot image, it acts like a normal laptop. If there are any errors in the normal boot sequence, you'll still get a power-on light and the boot menu. From there you could boot from a rescue disk however you like.
The old eMMC was removed long ago. Not really needed with the NVMe working anyway. And the device boots perfectly from microSD as well. If you really need an eMMC they're pretty cheap, but I haven't ever felt the need for one. Too small and too slow.
I do not have the original slow barrel charger. I've been charging it with any USB-C charger for the duration that I've had it. It seemed so much faster.
Feel free to ask me any questions!
