Pinebook Pro Initial Impressions

[8jef]

Speakers? That's REALLY interesting.

Got these babies today. More comin'.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000346113210.html

[fortran]

About Jan 10, there was a note from Luke to OT upgrade the keyboard/trackpad.  I had only seen advice to upgrade things, so I did that upgrade

Some days before that, another note from Luke mentioned that xorg should not be upgraded.  I haven't looked to see if xorg is pinned.  Is there a list of which packages should be pinned?

Small computers like this often seem to have problems with entropy, so I typically install haveged.  It is now in the laptop.

I gather the GPU won't really work well with MESA, until a person is at MESA-19.1; which is where the big support for midgard/panfrost shows up.  If xorg needs to be pinned, I don't think I'll be getting to that eany time soon.

I think trying to use the laptop while on a bumpy road might be interesting.

Oh, terminals and character sizes.  one of the terminals that seemed to be installed, allowed me to change the font for the terminal session.  So, I installed the xfce4-terminal.  And that works fine.


At some point down the road, it might be nice if there was a tarball of this particular thread.

[jazzmans]

Hey all!
I've had my Pinebook Pro for 24 hours now,  and  I must say, I'm very happy with this device.  It ain't perfect, but it sure is nice!  
I missed the first batch of beta machines window  by a few hours

I have a weird debian apt problem,  when I initiate anything,  it sits at 'connecting to' for up to ten minutes, without doing anything, then suddenly works, and downloads everything without delays or problems.  It's almost as if the os is waiting for 'something' before finally processing whatever apt install I've initiated.  This problem occurs with mr fixits update script, and never did get any further then 'checking for dependencies'

firefox doesn't work (yet)  I'm assuming it's because of the lack of mr fixit script update.


I did the keyboard/trackpad firmware update without issue.

one other problem I've discovered;

There are two different instructions for changing the rock user to user name of choice on the wiki,  and I can say,  the first truncated instructions do not work properly, and do somewhat b0rk the system,   maybe this could be edited? (I'm not qualified enough on the workings of the PBP to edit anything on wiki yet,  I'm gonna baby step it)

I've  only charged the battery once,  and haven't messed with the usb C display yet,  I'm going to work on getting to know the basics of this device first.

Congratulations to the team who designed and manufactured this device,  it's a fantastic little device, I hope it'll serve me well for a long, long time.

It might be trying to use IPv6 which can cause a large delay.  Something like this will disable it for apt*:

Code:

$ echo 'Acquire::ForceIPv4 "true";' | sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99force-ipv4

You might want to run 'netstat' in another terminal window while apt-get or an updater is active to see what's going on tcp socket wise.

Code:

$ netstat -tn
Active Internet connections (w/o servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State
tcp        0      0 1.2.3.4:1234 5.6.7.8:5678      ESTABLISHED
tcp6       0    280 fe80::1:2:3::22 fe80::4:5:6:22 ESTABLISHED

Basically you should normally see a connection from your local ip address to a foreign address that would be a debian repo or similar, probably on port 80, maybe on 443.  An active / open / working connection is ESTABLISHED as above, but a connection that is being attempted would say SYN_SENT for example.
If your apt-get or script is trying to use IPv6 it would be pretty clear  as you would see an IPv6 style address (like second line above with ':' in addresses) and SYN_SENT under the State field.  Adding the config file to apt.conf.d to force IPv4 should fix that and make connections quick.

The first option, (slightly modified as I don't enable sudo) to disable IPv6 did it.  Thanks!

echo 'Acquire::ForceIPv4 "true";' | sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99force-ipv4

Firefox now works, and my system is updated.

Does anyone know how to tell the wm to start XFCE4 instead of mate by default?  There doesn't  seem to be a GUI option to choose desktops.  (not a fan of gnome, never have been) XFCE4 is fully installed, including goodies.

Bluetooth is working fine, (for audio purposes, haven't tried a bluetooth keyboard or mouse yet)
And this machine is really fun, light, and cool (both in temperature, and in fashion)  I really dig the absolute lack of branding anywhere but the magic key.

Thanks again!

[rleasle]

Does anyone know how to tell the wm to start XFCE4 instead of mate by default?  There doesn't  seem to be a GUI option to choose desktops.  (not a fan of gnome, never have been) XFCE4 is fully installed, including goodies.

Select "LightDM GTK+ Greeter"  (which is the login screen) from the settings menu (or settings manager). Under the "Panel" tab is a list of Indicators. Make sure that the "Sessions menu" is included and add it if not.  Next time you log in, check in the upper right corner of the screen. There should be a tiny MATE icon (probably next to the power icon). Click on that and you should see a choice of DE to launch. Select XFCE before you log in and you should be set. And it should remember your choice the next time, so you only have to set it once.

[fortran]

Two (more) things.

If I cat /proc/cpuinfo, all 6 cores are the same (all 48 bogomips). I'm guessing this is known.

Someone mentioned armbianmonitor (I've since run across mentions of Pi-monitor and OPi-monitor). Where do you get this from? All I can find is the complete Armbian Built Tools code.

---

Searching for "benchmarks" at Debian.org, the first that caught my eye was hpcc or
HPCC).

It installs and runs fine via apt-get.

All of the floating point speeds measured on the default (out of the box, Debian) install seem to be bounded by 0.1 < x < 5 GFLOPs. The benchmarks don't seem to be indicating any problems.

---

I hadn't run hpcc on anything before. So, I ran it on my Ryzen 1600X system that is running this browser session. It has 10 BOINC jobs running in the background, which might have some affect.

But, the GFLOPs mentioned for this machine, are 0.5 < X < 10. This is just a little faster than the Rockchip did. :-)

[Kochise]

https://pocketnow.com/pinebook-pro-revie...ool-people

[jazzmans]

Does anyone know how to tell the wm to start XFCE4 instead of mate by default?  There doesn't  seem to be a GUI option to choose desktops.  (not a fan of gnome, never have been) XFCE4 is fully installed, including goodies.

Select "LightDM GTK+ Greeter"  (which is the login screen) from the settings menu (or settings manager). Under the "Panel" tab is a list of Indicators. Make sure that the "Sessions menu" is included and add it if not.  Next time you log in, check in the upper right corner of the screen. There should be a tiny MATE icon (probably next to the power icon). Click on that and you should see a choice of DE to launch. Select XFCE before you log in and you should be set. And it should remember your choice the next time, so you only have to set it once.

Thank you!


Now this laptop is my daily driver. XFCE4 is simply a requirement for me, it's all about that right click full program menu anywhere on the desktop.

very, very happy.

[bcnaz]

ON my default OS "sign in" screen,
there just below and to right of the password box is a real small dot or icon, click on that and it shows the "installed Desktops"

choose one.

On the next boot up it will automatically boot to the last used desktop, unless you change it before signing in.

---

Please NOTE :

This thread is "First Impressions"

So while many of the subjects mentioned here are very interesting Indeed.

A Lot of these posts would be better suited,   to be posted under a correctly labeled thread.

[BronzeBeard]

This is more for the powers that be, if they read it...

Hardware:

Pros:

• Shell is great. Beats the paints off my $400 Lenovo G50.
  
• Lightweight, yet feels sturdy.
  
• Screen is awesome for the price point.
  
• Performance is the same as my A8-6410 Lenovo G50. Which is good for an ARM device.
  
• Cut off switches are great.
  
• Rubber feet are good.
  
• Ease to open is good.
  

Cons:

• Touchpad is awful. As a friend of mine says, touchpad are bad, bad touchpad are abysmal. This one is the later.
  
• No real buttons on track pad.
  
• Power button is in a terrible spot. Tried to hit backspace twice, only to shut down.
  
• No lid switch. I would have liked the monitor to turn off with I close the laptop.
  

Meh:

• I have done little typing on the device yet. But the keyboard feels cardboard-y. Although beats the pants off most chiclet laptops like my G50. Might even be better than my IBM Thinkpad. I like the stroke. I use IBM Model M’s for work. So I am not normal.
  
• Weight is back heavy, so a light touch to the front tips it backwards.
  
• Monitor hinges do not allow for the screen to lay flat (near flat). Not good for being around a toddler with a computer addiction.
  
• ANSI keyboard, backspace seems too small, function keys seem to be too wide... I would have liked PgUp, PgDown, End, Home keys squeezed in the function row.
  
• Charging cable is short. I can’t charge it on my desk.
  
• Charging LED light is by the power plug, PITA to view depending on circumstance.
  
• Some monitor bleed.
  
• No quick change battery.
  
• Speakers are meh.
  

Changes I would make:

• I would pay extra to get rid of the touchpad and have only a pointing stick with 3 buttons.
  
• Turn power button into a physical switch.
  

The Pinebook Pro hardware impressed me after the first few hours of use. Being a MIPS man, It’s been a long time since I touched an ARM device outside of my BlackBerry Passport. The performance was better than I expected. The build quality kicks the pants off my $400 Lenovo. Although it is 5 years old or so. Everything but the touchpad is liveable. It's almost to the point that I feel like I need to install and use Rat Poison. It might come to that, luckily, I used Rat Poison in my counter productive teenage years...

Software:

To preface this, I am a *BSD user. But I use Linux (Slackware, Mageia) on nearly half my work hardware.

I’m not a fan of Mate. I think needs more themeing done to the application menu if this were to become a consumer product. It defaulted to UK keyboard layout even though I have an ANSI keyboard. Apt-get upgrade didn’t fix Firefox crashing, only after I RTFM did I notice I had to click an icon to upgrade. Tried to switch to XFCE, but Debian/LightDM got in the way. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to change the default DE. Update-alternatives did not work, setting the .dmrc didn’t work. So I just purged LightDM, threw in a .xinitrc file as god intended, and magically it worked.

I would suggest that if Pine64 ever tried to sell this design to the general public, we should be given a true setup system which allows us to pick DE and have them all nicely themed up.

It would also be nice to have a minimal image of any distro.

I have yet to try booting from SD, flashing storage, etc. I plan on doing this when NetBSD’s wifi drivers are operational. Then I’ll put the effort into a nice FVWM2 setup.

Ordering:

This is where Pine64 dropped the ball. This is not the first batch product I have ordered. I believe Pine’s communication could have been better. The store page says shipments are one day, the forums have quotes from IRC that say another day. Then twitter says they’ve all mostly been shipped out, but you don’t have a notification that yours shipped out. You then read that they will push late December orders back in favor of phone orders, but there is no definition of “Late”. Is the 20th late? You finally get your shipment notification from DHL, 5 days after it left the factory, and your mind is put at ease.

I would like to see communications centralized. The store page and the forums should never have conflicting information. There should be a page to enter your order number and email address, and it tells you where you are in the process. I don’t mind the delay, I mind when I get conflicting information and uncertainty. Such a system will save a lot of frustrations and headaches both from the customer and employees.

It’s probably the last time I batch order anything from Pine64 until I hear that it has improved. But I am considering buying some stuff out of inventory even as I type this.





Summation:


The hardware is beyond my expectation for the price point. It’s a very good product, and I expect to get much use out of it. The only major flaw is the touchpad. Not a complete deal breaker, but I groan every time I have to use it. The default software is sane. Although I think Mate could be made to look better. (I didn’t like the application menu style.) Would be nice if we get a pop-up with the manual at start, or if we’re given configuration options at first boot. I am not a fan of LightDM, I consider it bloatware. Typically, I would have ignored it, but I couldn’t find a DE selector in the version shipped. Luckily enough, I know enough about what I am doing that I could jettison that crap and set it up normally.

I look forward to the NetBSD image making progress. Sadly, I have little free time these days (this post is all my evening free time for today), otherwise I’d pop in and try to get wifi going. I hope that the flashing process is easy to do. But from what I read, looks like it might take some effort.



I hope to see a Pinebook Pro 2 in a few years. With a point stick... Or at least a pointy stick upgrade.

[rossk]

I got my PBP yesterday, and spent a little time futzing with it:

I like it a lot! Wifi works fine, and I've enjoyed experimenting with a couple OS images that are available. I've noticed a few quirks, but nothing that makes me question the purchase:

- the trackpad is still a little weird, even after the firmware update. Other people have noted this.
- The texture on the trackpad seems... odd, but I actually like it better than the rubbery coating on my old XPS13. I'm most used to the smooth trackpads on Apple products.
- When the screen is on-but-black (for example, when booting Manjaro, where the screen is black except for their logo), there are areas near the bottom of the screen that are noticeably less-black, like there is some extra light leaking through. I can take a picture if that's useful.

Software: I played around with @danielt's debian installer, and tried out Manjaro. Both seemed fine, but neither can be my primary OS until suspend-when-I-close-the-lid works . I hope to see Fedora soon, and maybe even Fedora Silverblue!