Quartz64 chat

[Arwen]

I'm really quite excited about the Quartz 64 as it sounds like it will be the chip that becomes the PinePhone 2. Knowing that you are making a 10' e-ink display that attaches to it makes me wonder if Pine has any intention to make an e-reader? Everyone know of the kindle and those e-ink drawing tablets that cost a fortune. If Pine64 could make a competing product that would be a dream come true for those wanting to get away from the walled garden of Amazon and Barnes and Noble devices and also a device for artists who prefer FOSS products and services. Just my two cents.

- Braillynn

In regards to the e-Ink display. My opinion is that unless it is a color e-Ink display, I don't think another e-Ink tablet would be popular. Plus, it would be useful to have reasonable dots per inch. And that applies to both smaller size, like 6-7" or larger 9-10". But, just my opinion.


For those that don't know, their are reduced color e-Ink displays. For example, one was able to display 16 shades of gray, and 4,096 colors.

[poVoq]

I think it would be a trade-off between price and refresh rate. From what I have seen the cheaper (reduced) color e-ink screens have a really low refresh rate, making them more suitable for digital signage than a e-reader type device. Of course if Pine64 can source a nice & cheap 10" color e-ink that would be awesome, but I personally would be fine with a reasonably good monochrome one as well. For me refresh-rate and accurate touch input would be more important.

[Surehand53]

I think it would be a trade-off between price and refresh rate. From what I have seen the cheaper (reduced) color e-ink screens have a really low refresh rate, making them more suitable for digital signage than a e-reader type device. Of course if Pine64 can source a nice & cheap 10" color e-ink that would be awesome, but I personally would be fine with a reasonably good monochrome one as well. For me refresh-rate and accurate touch input would be more important.

I  very much agree. of course I don’t mind colour, I would much prefer a cheaper, faster monochrome than an more expensive, laggy colour display, though.

I am wondering if it might be a good idea to have a monochrome small Pinebook ?
Typewriter style, maybe with a slightly better keyboard than the old OG Pinebook ?

Or more reader style with a stand and a clever solution to use a good Bluetooth keyboard? I think a clever stand or cover would be key for this idea. Then you can use the eInk display with a nice (mechanical?) keyboard as luxury distraction free writing machine. As a 10” display is already planned, maybe this is an option?

[r10game]

What happened to IRC?

The reality is that other protocols are more popular by a magnitude of X than IRC. And bridging IRC, as I understand it, is a pain in the behind.
You'd have to ask @fire219 to bridge IRC up to the other Quartz64 chats and see what he says.

Just bridged it this morning.

me too want try 

[KJ6OHG]

Why not a channel here?

[Luke]

Why not a channel here?

I assume you mean sub-forum? fair point...

[ryo]

I received the Quartz64 earlier today during lunch time, my first Pine64 product that isn't a PinePhone.
The first thing I noticed that's radically different from the PinePhone is that I wasn't charged for customs this time, literally just a guy saying my name + "is this correct", I say "yes", and the guy gives my the box, smiles, and runs back to the elevator.
Maybe because shipment was done by UPS this time instead of DHL/SAGAWA?

I didn't set anything up yet because I'm still at work at the time of posting, I did insert the eMMC chip and put the thing into the protective case which I ordered at the same time though.
I'm pretty excited to play around with it over the weekend, I might order more in the near future, but only bought 1 for now as a little sandbox so I can see how ready it's going to be as a VPS replacement.

Overall, I'm pretty enthusiastic about Pine64 in general, PinePhone is still serving me very well, though I do hope that either Megi's kernel would finally come to Mobian, or Plasma Mobile would mature sooner (and preferrably the latter would become more desktop-like rather than the Android-wanabee it's becoming), because the one draw back is still the battery life on Phosh and the lag + lack of localization on Plamo.

I was always forced to hold back on Linux laptops in general because none of them come with an (optional) Japanese keyboard layout.
But it's getting more and more apparent that we're heading towards a pretty sad future when it comes to laptops, as they are becoming less repairable, more expensive, they break faster, software and hardware get more locked in and such, but hey, at least they're getting thinner and sexier right?
And then if you look at Windows 11's system requirements, it seems like Microsoft is going to force laptop makers to turning laptops into some kind of PaaS (PC as a Service), right in line with Klaus Schwab's "you'll own nothing and be happy about it" vision.

My laptop I bought only 1.5 years ago already started crashing entirely every time I'd connect to WiFi with no way of opening it using any normal screw driver, every replacement laptop is twice the amount I paid for this one at the exact same specs etc, so I thought "fuck the lack of Japanese keyboard layouts, I'll just buy a PineBook Pro once it's finally available again regardless".

[poVoq]

Not sure what happend to the regional distributor idea that Pine64 wanted to implement this year, but if there was a Japanese one they could probably take pre-orders for a batch of PineBook Pros with a different layout.

[ryo]

Not sure what happend to the regional distributor idea that Pine64 wanted to implement this year, but if there was a Japanese one they could probably take pre-orders for a batch of PineBook Pros with a different layout.

Perhaps they're waiting for the alleged "global chip shortages" to end.
I say alleged, simply because I can't see this shortage anywhere, neither any evidence of it other than overseas stores just saying so.

[CounterPillow]

Not sure what happend to the regional distributor idea that Pine64 wanted to implement this year, but if there was a Japanese one they could probably take pre-orders for a batch of PineBook Pros with a different layout.

Perhaps they're waiting for the alleged "global chip shortages" to end.
I say alleged, simply because I can't see this shortage anywhere, neither any evidence of it other than overseas stores just saying so.

Here's some evidence: https://twitter.com/CounterPillow/status...8949615622

Wasn't very hard to find.

Here's LCSC advertising not just having parts, but also having backorders open. Do you think they'd do this if there wasn't a global shortage?


Here's Microchip advertising that their silicon carbide line is not backed up as hard as others:


And here's a BBC article about the issue, which I guess counts as not "an overseas store".

I hope this suffices to convince you that there isn't some conspiracy, but that high consumer demand is genuinely putting a strain on supply chains.