FOSDEM 19 Announcements Discussion

[Selden]

Here is a Pinebook Pro question to ask at FOSDEM: 

Specs say it comes with a charger with a barrel connector, but it also has a USB Type-C port. Since USB Type-C can usually be used for charging, my question is does it require a 5V charger, or will it negotiate the USB Power Delivery spec to deliver the appropriate charging voltage? Even at 5V a 10000 mAh battery should charge fairly quickly, but if it can accept a higher voltage, charging would be faster. For example, I have a HP Chromebook 13 G1, which charges through the USB Type-C port @ ~14.5 V. Being able to use that charger with a Pinebook Pro would be very handy.

A Texas Instruments tech sheet says:

The USB Power Delivery (PD) Specification describes a standard negotiation process for establishing all
PD power contracts. Although the USB Type-C standard allows for providing 5 V at up to 15 W of power,
following the PD protocol is critical for offering or receiving any voltage higher than 5 V. As a result, any
product that requires or delivers power from 5 to 20 V (15 to 100 W of power) must negotiate according to
a specific set of standardized rules.

It would be nice to have an authoritative answer, as I wouldn't want to answer this question by trial and error.

[Baldnerd]

Selden I believe you are speaking of QuickCharge, which is a standard that has not been mentioned in any of the documents I've seen at this time... so it is unlikely to be supported. Though definitely a good question to ask. I'll see if I can get an answer (unless someone beats me to it).

[Selden]

Thanks Robbie, but Quick Charge is Qualcomm's proprietary charging implementation; I'm talking specifically about the USB Power Delivery standard, as proposed by the USB Implementers Forum. Since its implementation, one of the problems with USB Type-C has been insufficient enforcement, which leads to compatibility issues.

This article outlines some of the pitfalls: It’s 2018 and USB Type-C is still a mess

Using a dedicated power port isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I can imagine a situation where I lose a charger with a proprietary barrel connector while travelling (DAMHIK) and using a USB Type-C charging cable would be a useful fallback. 

Google engineer Benson Leung has achieved some notoriety as a USB Type-C investigator — including destroying some of his devices in Type-C charging testing that went wrong. 
Here is the tl;dr version from Benson: USB Type-C™’s Configuration Channel

So, my questions are:

1. Can the Pinbook Pro's USB Type-C port be used for charging?
   
2. If yes, what charging voltage range is supported?
   

[cmeerw]

The one thing I would really like to see is Tizen running on the PinePhone, but I guess no one is working on that...

[CampGareth]

Thanks Robbie, but Quick Charge is Qualcomm's proprietary charging implementation; I'm talking specifically about the USB Power Delivery standard, as proposed by the USB Implementers Forum. Since its implementation, one of the problems with USB Type-C has been insufficient enforcement, which leads to compatibility issues.

This article outlines some of the pitfalls: It’s 2018 and USB Type-C is still a mess

Using a dedicated power port isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I can imagine a situation where I lose a charger with a proprietary barrel connector while travelling (DAMHIK) and using a USB Type-C charging cable would be a useful fallback. 

Google engineer Benson Leung has achieved some notoriety as a USB Type-C investigator — including destroying some of his devices in Type-C charging testing that went wrong. 
Here is the tl;dr version from Benson: USB Type-C™’s Configuration Channel

So, my questions are:

1. Can the Pinbook Pro's USB Type-C port be used for charging?
   
2. If yes, what charging voltage range is supported?
   

1) Yes the USB-C port can be used for charging
2) 5V, unsure about anything else.

My guesses would be that the barrel jack and power pins of the USB-C port are connected together, and that 5V 3A charging via USB-C (no negotiation required for that) will be the fastest charging we can do.

Anyway I'm super excited for this as it'd be nice to have an ARM daily driver laptop that is fast enough for a 1080p youtube video and has simple options for battery life extension. I just hope the keyboard's fairly good, I've asked a friend at FOSDEM to visit and check that aspect out!

[Selden]

I zoomed in and rotated (but didn't un-keystone) one of the stock images for a close up of the PBP keyboard. In principle, I like the idea of discrete Backspace and Del keys, and there appears to be a "Menu" key on the left, between Fn and Alt, and it looks like Alt-Esc puts it to sleep. Both the Google Pixelbook and the Remix keyboards had dedicated menu keys, which is an idea that I like a lot. For $200, I can live without back lighting.

[wolfen1125]

sunsmoke - I'll post more when we're in Brussels at the conference.

---

The new Pinebook looks fantastic - congratulations. Hope  you can keep up with demand once you start taking orders

I'll make sure to take more pictures of the Pinebook Pro at FOSDEM. Regarding demand, lets see if people put their money where their mouth is. People have been asking for a  Pinebook Pro for over a year now, declaring that they will buy it 'day one'. Lets hope they do

Will they most likely be taking pre-orders?

Build To Order (BTO) orders - yes. You'll hear about it ahead of time, no worries.

Definitely interested in the Pinebook Pro when the time comes....I am hoping sooner than later....I am a noob here, but I have converted many Chromebooks (and other laptops) to run Linux over the years, and have recently started playing around with ARM equipment.  The specs on the Pro look good, almost exactly what I have been hoping for, and it ships with Linux?  Count me in! 

[Selden]

Luke, Eagerly waiting for pictures, and whatever you can information glean from the show floor, including first impressions, if you can get your hands on one for more than 30 seconds.

Try not to drink too much Belgian beer while you are there!

[thafra]

Hi, I just signed up for this community as the Pinebook Pro looks very promising to me. As far as I know there has been no release date announced yet, correct? Could you maybe give me a rough approximation such as "first half of the year"?

My T410 is slowly but surely dying after almost 9 years of service and I would love to make the PBP it's successor!

[vg8020]

Hello,

I have signed up to show my interest in Pinebook Pro. Amazing specs & prospects + FOSS. It cannot go unnoticed. I have tested DietPi and it's a great thing, but would also like to see a Debian release tailored to the specs.

I'll keep an eye on this forum and blog for updates.

Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk