Pinebook Pro Initial Impressions

[User 6582]

Although the wifi speed has improved somewhat with the increased CPU speed, web pages still load much slower than my other laptops. The connection information is still a quarter to half less in the PBP than in the other laptops that I use. I knew that the PBP was a work in process when I bought it but I did expect a machine! that could at least surf the internet, download email, etc. This is a disappointment.  

I'm running Ubuntu with Mate now. I'm wondering if changing to bionic lxde would fix this problem? Any suggestions? (I booted biopic lode from microsd and could not connect to my gateway. Starting to think I got a device with wifi hardware problems).

Question. Is there any actual tech support for these devices?

I think that answers will be more "community supported" than some tech person with a dedicated job.
And to be more specific, we're the test drivers.. So with that comes all of us working together for answers.

WiFi is not a strong point with these devices, BUT there's been discussion earlier of software improvements to make WiFi better. We'll see.

In the meantime, please read through the forum posts and you may get some info that will help with some of this.

And to any question that starts out with "Should I try..." ABSOLUTELY!!! As we're all learning here, anything that helps move us toward greater enlightenment has gotta be a plus....And maybe, get us closer to a Pinebook Pro smooth operation :-)

Rick, thanks for your reply.  I understand this is a community project but what if my wifi problem is a hardware problem?  I've tried everything everyone has suggested as you can see from my posts but it's almost impossible to use the PVP with any internet application. I've seen no one else here describing this problem so I'm assuming my PVP problem is unique. It's not that wifi is a weak point, it's practically unusable. I'm used to working with Linux on arm chromebooks so know something about the architecture. I'm flashing the original debian img file to the PVP now so we'll see.   However it's been a week since I received the device and have not been able to get it working satisfactorily yet.

You're welcome!

Clearly, there's a chance you could of got a klinker piece of hardware.

If it were me, I'd open a support request. From the pine64.org "start" page, along the top is tab listed as "Order Support". Click on it and submit a ticket (did I miss you've already done this?) for the problem. I, for one, will be interested to see how that plays out. If you're dissatisfied with that, perhaps a PM to an administrator, founder or someone like Luke might help it along....

There's absolutely no doubt that, despite best efforts, a hardware glitch could get through. You'll be helping not only yourself, but the rest of us see how the support function works here...

Does that help? :-)

Yes it does help, thanks. I've contacted tech support. I'll keep you posted.

Good Luck & Please do!

We'll all benefit from your experience!!! Standing by!! :-)

[Depau]

Hi! Alright, my first impression? I'd say pretty bad.

I got the laptop and it turned on, it worked. Turned it off, turned it back on, no such luck.

Reading logs from serial it shows random eMMC issues, either it won't detect it, it won't manage to power it on, it won't boot because of corruption or it will fail later to mount the filesystem because of that.

Also it manages to set up the eDP link with the display one in probably 50 trials, so if it does boot, most of the time I'll only know it booted from the UART console.

I opened a support ticket and not only it wasn't even read properly (because the answer I got was one thing that could be clearly seen from the ticket) but I was told to go into IRC and ask for support there.

Which is what I'm doing right now.

So, as of now I'm very disappointed. I did expect minor issues and I was ready to find a way around them, but I wouldn't say the computer not booting at all is very "minor"

Let's see if the guys on IRC can help me though

[zaius]

Reading logs from serial it shows random eMMC issues, either it won't detect it, it won't manage to power it on, it won't boot because of corruption or it will fail later to mount the filesystem because of that.

There is a known problem with eMMC's coming loose during shipping somehow.

If you are careful and comfortable doing it, you can try opening the PBP and making sure the eMMC is plugged in properly.

https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebo...Reassembly

[Depau]

Reading logs from serial it shows random eMMC issues, either it won't detect it, it won't manage to power it on, it won't boot because of corruption or it will fail later to mount the filesystem because of that.

There is a known problem with eMMC's coming loose during shipping somehow.

If you are careful and comfortable doing it, you can try opening the PBP and making sure the eMMC is plugged in properly.

https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebo...Reassembly

Hi, thanks for pointing that out but yes, I read that and the eMMC module is installed correctly. The issues seem to be either hardware or firmware related.

This is the ticket I sent if you want to read more about all the issues: https://notes.depau.eu/kZh232qERoWN9WlKs_jV8Q

[Depau]

Reading logs from serial it shows random eMMC issues, either it won't detect it, it won't manage to power it on, it won't boot because of corruption or it will fail later to mount the filesystem because of that.

There is a known problem with eMMC's coming loose during shipping somehow.

If you are careful and comfortable doing it, you can try opening the PBP and making sure the eMMC is plugged in properly.

https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pinebo...Reassembly

Hi, thanks for pointing that out but yes, I read that and the eMMC module is installed correctly. The issues seem to be either hardware or firmware related.

This is the ticket I sent if you want to read more about all the issues: https://notes.depau.eu/kZh232qERoWN9WlKs_jV8Q

It turns out the issue was caused by the SD card daughterboard ribbon cable. Apparently it came loose during shipping. Reconnecting it on both sides fixed it.

Thanks to mrfixit2001, anarsoul and Xalius for helping me pinpoint the issue

[stealthbanana]

Well, had it a week now, though I have been away for a few days and could not take it with me, so only about 3 days actual use.

I am very impressed, the case is great, screen awesome. and the software has been helped a lot by the Pinebrook, and Rockpro / Rock64 development. Very nippy and responsive.

Just installed KDE NEON* on an old SD card, will chuck it on an emmc from my old OG Pinebook next week and see if any speed improvement. Only downside is the cable supplied for the NVME daughterboard, hopefully a replacement will not take that long to be delivered. I am also stoked to see that the Pro update boards for pinebook are coming next year, hopefully will support is original buyers pre 1080 11inch owners.


*To install KDE Neon, installed ayufan's Arm64 flavour rockpro64 buster minimal, installed the Pinebookpro kernel, added the KDE neon repository and installed it (Not all plain sailing but it gets done.) It will do me until a decent KDE NEON is packaged.

[richfm]

I think that answers will be more "community supported" than some tech person with a dedicated job.
And to be more specific, we're the test drivers.. So with that comes all of us working together for answers.

WiFi is not a strong point with these devices, BUT there's been discussion earlier of software improvements to make WiFi better. We'll see.

In the meantime, please read through the forum posts and you may get some info that will help with some of this.

And to any question that starts out with "Should I try..." ABSOLUTELY!!! As we're all learning here, anything that helps move us toward greater enlightenment has gotta be a plus....And maybe, get us closer to a Pinebook Pro smooth operation :-)

Rick, thanks for your reply.  I understand this is a community project but what if my wifi problem is a hardware problem?  I've tried everything everyone has suggested as you can see from my posts but it's almost impossible to use the PVP with any internet application. I've seen no one else here describing this problem so I'm assuming my PVP problem is unique. It's not that wifi is a weak point, it's practically unusable. I'm used to working with Linux on arm chromebooks so know something about the architecture. I'm flashing the original debian img file to the PVP now so we'll see.   However it's been a week since I received the device and have not been able to get it working satisfactorily yet.

You're welcome!

Clearly, there's a chance you could of got a klinker piece of hardware.

If it were me, I'd open a support request. From the pine64.org "start" page, along the top is tab listed as "Order Support". Click on it and submit a ticket (did I miss you've already done this?) for the problem. I, for one, will be interested to see how that plays out. If you're dissatisfied with that, perhaps a PM to an administrator, founder or someone like Luke might help it along....

There's absolutely no doubt that, despite best efforts, a hardware glitch could get through. You'll be helping not only yourself, but the rest of us see how the support function works here...

Does that help? :-)

Yes it does help, thanks. I've contacted tech support. I'll keep you posted.

Good Luck & Please do!

We'll all benefit from your experience!!! Standing by!! :-)

I found this in the PBP wiki and it seems to speed up wifi. "If having issues with wifi connectivity, try to disable power management in the 8723cs module options, adding rtw_power_mgnt=0 in /etc/modprobe.d/8723cs.conf

options 8723cs rtw_initmac=00:ba:ch:16:85:46 rtw_power_mgnt=0"

I didn't find a file named /etc/modprobe.d/8723cs.conf in the modprobe.d folder so I created one as root and copied the text "rtw_initmac=00:ba:ch:16:85:46 rtw_power_mgnt=0" and rebooted. Seems to help.

"

[User 6582]

Rick, thanks for your reply.  I understand this is a community project but what if my wifi problem is a hardware problem?  I've tried everything everyone has suggested as you can see from my posts but it's almost impossible to use the PVP with any internet application. I've seen no one else here describing this problem so I'm assuming my PVP problem is unique. It's not that wifi is a weak point, it's practically unusable. I'm used to working with Linux on arm chromebooks so know something about the architecture. I'm flashing the original debian img file to the PVP now so we'll see.   However it's been a week since I received the device and have not been able to get it working satisfactorily yet.

You're welcome!

Clearly, there's a chance you could of got a klinker piece of hardware.

If it were me, I'd open a support request. From the pine64.org "start" page, along the top is tab listed as "Order Support". Click on it and submit a ticket (did I miss you've already done this?) for the problem. I, for one, will be interested to see how that plays out. If you're dissatisfied with that, perhaps a PM to an administrator, founder or someone like Luke might help it along....

There's absolutely no doubt that, despite best efforts, a hardware glitch could get through. You'll be helping not only yourself, but the rest of us see how the support function works here...

Does that help? :-)

Yes it does help, thanks. I've contacted tech support. I'll keep you posted.

Good Luck & Please do!

We'll all benefit from your experience!!! Standing by!! :-)

I found this in the PBP wiki and it seems to speed up wifi. "If having issues with wifi connectivity, try to disable power management in the 8723cs module options, adding rtw_power_mgnt=0 in /etc/modprobe.d/8723cs.conf

options 8723cs rtw_initmac=00:ba:ch:16:85:46 rtw_power_mgnt=0"

I didn't find a file named /etc/modprobe.d/8723cs.conf in the modprobe.d folder so I created one as root and copied the text "rtw_initmac=00:ba:ch:16:85:46 rtw_power_mgnt=0" and rebooted. Seems to help.

"

Thanks Rich!
I'll give it a try when next using the PBP and let you know my results. Hope others will do the same :-)

[brucec1999]

Received my PBP yesterday, and could not be happier. Just love it - it's a  beautiful machine.
Just to add a couple of comments, for me just using it for web browsing and email, it's been perfect, and couldn't ask for more.
First thing I did when I got it home was fully charge the battery and run the update script.
I've mostly been using Firefox, and has not crashed on me yet. Initially had no sound, but after opening the "Control Center" then Sound: found that output volume was set to "Mute". Once unchecked - all good. Sound quality is OK, may be a little on the tinny side, but I haven't played around with any other setting at this stage.
I found the Touch-pad (apart from the already know issues) can be markedly improved by setting the Pointer Acceleration and Sensitivity to max (I only type with one finger, so no issues with the keys not registering).
The display is just beautiful - superb for watching video. A really nice keyboard, and battery life seems excellent at this stage.
On first 100% charge down to 12%, I've had a good 8 hours of use, watching some YouTube, browsing the web and email.  
So thanks everyone, well done.

Edit: I do note that the touch-pad is playing up somewhat while I'm charging the PBP, remove the power pack plug and everything returns to normal.

[Watercourse]

---

So I fixed the firefox crashing problem by flashing Ubuntu+Mate img to MMC with Wizzard's great instructions. However page loading in Firefox and chromium is very slow. I waited for 11 minutes to load www.pine64.org in firefox and gave up. Reading the "connection information" in the wifi icon on the top menu I get values between 0 and 26 Mb/s on the PBP and 60+ Mb/s on my Asus laptop running Ubuntu+Mate  in the same location in my house and even more in my Mint netbook. Since I bout the PBP mainly to surf the inte4rnet, read email, etc online, this makes the PBP virtually unusable. Thunderbird times out while downloading 4 emails! Does anyone else have this problem?I'm guessing it's either a problem either with the wifi hardware, firmware, the or kernel. I like the PBP other features and look but this is a deal breaker for me. What can I do about this?

I noticed putting processor speed to performance helps a lot...

That worked, Rick! I turned up the processor speed to 2.02 GHz. Thanks you so much. I was on the point of of turning my PBP into a trivet! Internet speed is  better.I thought the processor speed was dynamically set to save power? I had it on "interactive" whatever that means.

Care to share where to find the setting for processor speed?