03-26-2021, 05:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2021, 05:34 PM by dsimic.
Edit Reason: Fixed a typo
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(03-26-2021, 03:32 PM)moonwalkers Wrote: I think "stop manufacturing and selling" would go against their stated goals, though I agree there is no point in the whole "development" if it doesn't actually manifest in improved product. But I personally would be OK with improvements incorporated on a generation-by-generation basis. That is, I'm not going to be too offended with existing PBP flaws not being addressed in the current iteration because frankly even the charging current limit is not gonna motivate me enough to buy a new unit for as long as my current one still works fine. But if Pine64 releases next PBP iteration, say RK3588-based, and that next iteration still has the same issues with low charging current, overheating charging circuit, having to deal with SW workarounds for headphones switch-over, crappy touchpad, dislocated lid magnet, etc. - yeah, I'll definitely be upset in that case and probably will be looking into other ARM laptops.
I agree with you to a certain point, but there are a couple of important things to remember, which I will describe below.
As a result of the awful pandemic we're all suffering from, it's been quite a while since the last PineBook Pro was manufactured and sold by Pine64. Thus, there's been more than enough time to acknowledge and resolve all major hardware issues, meaning that the "stop manufacturing and selling" policy actually has been already in effect for quite a while, but nothing has been done by Pine64 to acknowledge or fix the hardware issues identified by the community.
It will be a long time before we see a successor to the PineBook Pro. Yes, RK3588 with its four ARM Cortex-A76 cores is much better than RK3399, but there hasn't been even a hint from Pine64 about an RK3588-based SBC. Furthermore, even when an SBC becomes available, it will take a lot of time for the RK3588 support in the Linux kernel mainline to mature to the level already achieved by RK3399. Thus, resorting to a generational fix of the issues simply isn't the way to go. Even worse, if that would be the general approach, what can guarantee that the next-gen device isn't going to be plagued with similar issues that will be left unresolved?
(03-26-2021, 03:32 PM)moonwalkers Wrote: I can kinda understand that. If they sell at no profit they'd be losing money sending you a free unit. With no guarantee (no offense intended, mate) that you actually follow through and don't stuff things up. And communicating with customers (A.K.A. PR) takes a lot of time and effort even when it's just a polite "no" and is (or at least can be) pretty much a full-time job. But yes, it would be very nice if the communications were better.
Quite frankly, there's no way that sending me a free PineBook Pro would cost Pine64 more than what it would've cost them to hire someone to do what I've done so far. The value of the work I'd actually be able to do with the free PineBook Pro would be at least ten times greater. What I'm trying to say is that the donation of hardware would actually be a very profitable investment for Pine64.
I understand that the world is full of crooks, but I'm not one of them. See, I do not want a free PineBook Pro; I actually want to buy another PineBook Pro with all hardware bugs fixed, but as Pine64 is probably not going to make that available, I have to invest my own time into making that happen. That's fine, too, but then I need some help from Pine64, which would be the donation of hardware required for the debugging and development of hardware fixes.
It wouldn't be only nice to see better communication from Pine64, it is crucial for Pine64 to have excellent communication with the community. Without the community, Pine64 cannot continue to exist.
