Looking ahead and seeing what problems the pros on the various forums and chat channels have dealt with, it looks like there are a few bits of hardware needed to be sure you can easily rescue your phone.
The first is an extra card and a way to write images to it.
The Pine 64 shop offers this: https://pine64.com/product/64gb-class10-microsd-card/
Another item that the pros are using is a serial cable.
The Pine 64 shop offers one and it is a great deal: https://pine64.com/product/pinebook-pine...l-console/
I am going to make one, since it would take forever to get here. I will base mine on this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TXV...UTF8&psc=1
There are pre made serial cables for this sort of thing on Amazon, but all of them I have seen have the tip and ring reversed. For those who are new to the term tip and ring, they are ancient terms. The tip is the connection at the end of the jack. In this case a 3.5mm stereo jack. The ring is the middle connection and the shaft is the base. From what I have been able to find, it looks like the Pine64 standard is tip=rx, ring=tx, and the shaft=gnd. As I said before, most similar items on Amazon show the opposite for tip and ring.
Using the serial cable if you are old school like me, is going to be a pain but not a crazy pain. Expect a learning curve unless you have used one or you are the type that doesn't mind using a bash shell to configure things.
Another issue that has come up is completely discharged batteries. Apparently, if your battery is entirely discharged, then the software to control your battery charging is not going to have power and not be able to charge your battery. So it looks like a spare battery and an external charger might be smart to have.
The PineStore has one: https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-lithium-battery/ but it is currently out of stock. From the data I have gotten it matches with the Samsung EB-BJ700BBC, EB-BJ700BBE, or EB-BJ700CBE from the 2015 J7 phone.
As far as a charger goes, it might be easy to make a simple charger if you can precisely control power and keep from charging too fast. I will be going with this item just for the convenience: https://www.amazon.com/Onite-Universal-B...B01JZLHTHG
Hopefully it works.
In any case, having an extra battery you can swap out is not a bad thing to have. Hopefully I never need the serial cable, but I have had cell phones brick before and I would rather have a way to unbrick mine ready.
The first is an extra card and a way to write images to it.
The Pine 64 shop offers this: https://pine64.com/product/64gb-class10-microsd-card/
Another item that the pros are using is a serial cable.
The Pine 64 shop offers one and it is a great deal: https://pine64.com/product/pinebook-pine...l-console/
I am going to make one, since it would take forever to get here. I will base mine on this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TXV...UTF8&psc=1
There are pre made serial cables for this sort of thing on Amazon, but all of them I have seen have the tip and ring reversed. For those who are new to the term tip and ring, they are ancient terms. The tip is the connection at the end of the jack. In this case a 3.5mm stereo jack. The ring is the middle connection and the shaft is the base. From what I have been able to find, it looks like the Pine64 standard is tip=rx, ring=tx, and the shaft=gnd. As I said before, most similar items on Amazon show the opposite for tip and ring.
Using the serial cable if you are old school like me, is going to be a pain but not a crazy pain. Expect a learning curve unless you have used one or you are the type that doesn't mind using a bash shell to configure things.
Another issue that has come up is completely discharged batteries. Apparently, if your battery is entirely discharged, then the software to control your battery charging is not going to have power and not be able to charge your battery. So it looks like a spare battery and an external charger might be smart to have.
The PineStore has one: https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-lithium-battery/ but it is currently out of stock. From the data I have gotten it matches with the Samsung EB-BJ700BBC, EB-BJ700BBE, or EB-BJ700CBE from the 2015 J7 phone.
As far as a charger goes, it might be easy to make a simple charger if you can precisely control power and keep from charging too fast. I will be going with this item just for the convenience: https://www.amazon.com/Onite-Universal-B...B01JZLHTHG
Hopefully it works.
In any case, having an extra battery you can swap out is not a bad thing to have. Hopefully I never need the serial cable, but I have had cell phones brick before and I would rather have a way to unbrick mine ready.