Need Advice for Wiping eMMC on Dead LCD Pinebook Pro
05-09-2021, 05:07 PM
I was very impressed with my new Pinebook Pro for the entire day it ran after delivery, but the backlighting on the screen flickered and died, rendering my PBP unusable. (I can still barely see the Manjaro "M" logo on the splash screen during boot but, after that, I can't make out anything.
I have an RMA to return it for the Freemont CA service center, but I didn't encrypt my Manjaro installation so I'd like to to erase or re-flash the eMMC before returning it. I have some passwords saved in Firefox that I'd rather not ship off with the PBP. From what I recall about migrating Firefox passwords, they are stored in the clear, and with no whole drive encryption, my user password is insufficient protection.
Some may say I'm paranoid but there is an entire industry in India and the PRC that salvages disk drives from computer "recycling" bone yards to harvest personal data and passwords from them.
I have a Pinephone and dock but no Pinebook Pro dock. SSH connections are refused, because I never set it up on Manjaro.
Maybe forum members with greater knowledge of PBP than I can save me some time with suggestions or other ideas.
1. Boot via SD card to Jumpdrive. (Is there a Jumpdrive that runs on PBP?)
2. Image an OS with SSH enabled by default to an SD card and boot it. (Any suggested images?)
3. Try my Pinephone convergence dock for HDMI video out to my monitor. I know the dock is not designed for PBP, but perhaps the video out will work and I don't have a PBP USB-C video adapter.
I haven't looked into the serial port connection but it's probably a pretty big hassle to get setup.
Thanks!
-Cal
I have an RMA to return it for the Freemont CA service center, but I didn't encrypt my Manjaro installation so I'd like to to erase or re-flash the eMMC before returning it. I have some passwords saved in Firefox that I'd rather not ship off with the PBP. From what I recall about migrating Firefox passwords, they are stored in the clear, and with no whole drive encryption, my user password is insufficient protection.
Some may say I'm paranoid but there is an entire industry in India and the PRC that salvages disk drives from computer "recycling" bone yards to harvest personal data and passwords from them.
I have a Pinephone and dock but no Pinebook Pro dock. SSH connections are refused, because I never set it up on Manjaro.
Maybe forum members with greater knowledge of PBP than I can save me some time with suggestions or other ideas.
1. Boot via SD card to Jumpdrive. (Is there a Jumpdrive that runs on PBP?)
2. Image an OS with SSH enabled by default to an SD card and boot it. (Any suggested images?)
3. Try my Pinephone convergence dock for HDMI video out to my monitor. I know the dock is not designed for PBP, but perhaps the video out will work and I don't have a PBP USB-C video adapter.
I haven't looked into the serial port connection but it's probably a pretty big hassle to get setup.
Thanks!
-Cal
