03-16-2020, 08:24 AM
Hello,
While the rest of the world may have moved on to the Pinebook Pro, I personally still love my Pinebook 1080P. Yes, it is a bit quirky, but not so quirky as to be unusable. In fact, most of the quirks have simple workarounds that teach you about how Linux works, so I see it as a fun and interesting challenge.
I have been making Slackware work on my Pinebook in one way or another since I first received it. For a long time, I was using Anarsoul's ArchLinux with XFCE as the base, then I would strip everything out except /boot and /lib/modules and /lib/firmware. Then I would copy over a root filesystem, and build it up from there.
Wanting a newer kernel than 4.20.0 (despite the appeal of the number itself), and after many failed attempts to build my own kernel (these ARM devices sure can be tricky...), I finally reached out on LinuxQuestions.org, and got help from sndwvs there. If you would like to follow that thread, here is the link:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions...175669005/
The build script at gitlab is not currently working, but I can still build fresh images using a commit from a few weeks ago, details are on the link above. If you are interested in following the build script development, that his happening here:
https://gitlab.com/sndwvs/slackware_arm_build_kit
And if you would like to skip all of that and just grab the latest working image, you can find those here:
https://3space.xyz/pineslarm/
I will put up a full image there soon, so that you do not have to do any downloading after installation to get a GUI desktop. Stay tuned for that, it should be uploaded sometime this week.
Note that this last link also contains a directory of the SlackBuilds that I have built for Slarm64. Not all of them work, some I have built for testing purposes only. Some might be outdated, sometimes I build a package, try it out, and never update it after that. So, there are no guarantees here, I just provide them in case you want to use them instead of building them yourself.
A build of note is LibreOffice with a single dependency (libfreehand), which I am currently building an update for, hopefully with no dependencies at all.
FWIW, I am finding that this image with JWM as the window manager (see my builds above) is the snappiest and smoothest image I have ever tried on the pinebook, and I have tried all that I can find, including everything on the Wiki (even the BSDs). Your mileage may vary. And, "nostalgic" is not the word that I would use when referring to Slackware-current. Yes, you can go retro with it, but it is just a base to build from, so I see it as basically the same thing as Anarsoul's ArchLinux without systemd and easier to build your own packages on, more or less. This only has to be as "nostalgic" as you want it to be.
Oh, and I believe this script supports Pinebook-Pro as well, but since I do not have one of those, I cannot comment on how that one is working.
One last note: I do not think that Slarm64 has received the official blessing from either Pat Volkerding or Stuart Winter, so I do not think this is "official" Slackware in that sense. But nothing has been added beyond boot files and kernel modules needed to make the Pinebook work. This is a true Slackware experience on the Pinebook, regardless if it has been Blessed By "Bob" ™ or not.
Enjoy.
While the rest of the world may have moved on to the Pinebook Pro, I personally still love my Pinebook 1080P. Yes, it is a bit quirky, but not so quirky as to be unusable. In fact, most of the quirks have simple workarounds that teach you about how Linux works, so I see it as a fun and interesting challenge.
I have been making Slackware work on my Pinebook in one way or another since I first received it. For a long time, I was using Anarsoul's ArchLinux with XFCE as the base, then I would strip everything out except /boot and /lib/modules and /lib/firmware. Then I would copy over a root filesystem, and build it up from there.
Wanting a newer kernel than 4.20.0 (despite the appeal of the number itself), and after many failed attempts to build my own kernel (these ARM devices sure can be tricky...), I finally reached out on LinuxQuestions.org, and got help from sndwvs there. If you would like to follow that thread, here is the link:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions...175669005/
The build script at gitlab is not currently working, but I can still build fresh images using a commit from a few weeks ago, details are on the link above. If you are interested in following the build script development, that his happening here:
https://gitlab.com/sndwvs/slackware_arm_build_kit
And if you would like to skip all of that and just grab the latest working image, you can find those here:
https://3space.xyz/pineslarm/
I will put up a full image there soon, so that you do not have to do any downloading after installation to get a GUI desktop. Stay tuned for that, it should be uploaded sometime this week.
Note that this last link also contains a directory of the SlackBuilds that I have built for Slarm64. Not all of them work, some I have built for testing purposes only. Some might be outdated, sometimes I build a package, try it out, and never update it after that. So, there are no guarantees here, I just provide them in case you want to use them instead of building them yourself.
A build of note is LibreOffice with a single dependency (libfreehand), which I am currently building an update for, hopefully with no dependencies at all.
FWIW, I am finding that this image with JWM as the window manager (see my builds above) is the snappiest and smoothest image I have ever tried on the pinebook, and I have tried all that I can find, including everything on the Wiki (even the BSDs). Your mileage may vary. And, "nostalgic" is not the word that I would use when referring to Slackware-current. Yes, you can go retro with it, but it is just a base to build from, so I see it as basically the same thing as Anarsoul's ArchLinux without systemd and easier to build your own packages on, more or less. This only has to be as "nostalgic" as you want it to be.
Oh, and I believe this script supports Pinebook-Pro as well, but since I do not have one of those, I cannot comment on how that one is working.
One last note: I do not think that Slarm64 has received the official blessing from either Pat Volkerding or Stuart Winter, so I do not think this is "official" Slackware in that sense. But nothing has been added beyond boot files and kernel modules needed to make the Pinebook work. This is a true Slackware experience on the Pinebook, regardless if it has been Blessed By "Bob" ™ or not.
Enjoy.
