About the Pinebook - What to expect

[Luke]

I received my invitation for the 11" on April 26 and promptly paid for it via paypal and got an order confirmation.

Today, on the 27th I got a message that the 11" are out of stock but it appears to be a general message.   Does this mean that there is an 11" model with my name on it already in the queue or does this mean that I didn't make the cutoff and I need to reorder a 14" model?

Thanks!

Can anyone chime in on this?   I don't want to be rude, but I emailed sales@ and no one has responded yet and according to the email, there is a 1 week window to make a decision.

I suggest you make a separate post about it - will be easier for pgmy64 or tllim to see your question. The rest of us cant  answer you with certainty. Alternatively, try to get hold of tllim or pgmy64 on IRC.

[davide]

As written in IRC, since firefox kinda ....


You can try Chromium 59

Use this build https://launchpad.net/~osomon/+archive/u...d/12469594

and run it with chromium-browser --disable-seccomp-filter-sandbox

Thanks a lot! I installed chromium at the very beginning and was stuck with it, now it works flawlessy

---

I also need to ask: when I try to dd an image (like the android 7.1 one) the pinebook initially starts the process, then get stuck (in the sense that dd continue running but without writing) and i simply need to restart the whole system.

Has someone a suggestion on how to write with dd safely from the pinebook the images?

[Prophesi]

As written in IRC, since firefox kinda ....


You can try Chromium 59

Use this build https://launchpad.net/~osomon/+archive/u...d/12469594

and run it with chromium-browser --disable-seccomp-filter-sandbox

Thanks so much for this! I'm amazed by how much faster and stable Chromium is on here compared to Firefox. Here's a screenie of me running i3wm with VS Code, installing a ton of NodeJS dependencies, and Chromium on my second workstation with a few tabs including Youtube. I could still go about my business with all that nonsense happening in the background, lol.




Overall, I'm really impressed with my 11'' Pinebook. Once most of the issues mentioned in this thread are fixed, this'll make for an amazing budget developer laptop.

[Wizzard]

I wonder what is the performance like on PB. According to Geekbench results, it is comparable to my former 3 years old low-end mobile phone with Snapdragon 400.

I own a tablet with Snapdragon 600, which has roughly twice higher Geekbench score, but it seems to me quite slow already.

So I would like to ask the guys who already have their PB, about the performance impressions. Which system is faster, Linux or Android? If you run Android, which apps do you use and how fast are they?

[joe]

I wonder what is the performance like on PB. According to Geekbench results, it is comparable to my former 3 years old low-end mobile phone with Snapdragon 400.

I own a tablet with Snapdragon 600, which has roughly twice higher Geekbench score, but it seems to me quite slow already.

So I would like to ask the guys who already have their PB, about the performance impressions. Which system is faster, Linux or Android? If you run Android, which apps do you use and how fast are they?

Have you  to buy the pinebook before you haven't to check about this chip is use Allwinner A64 ? 

but the pine64 web page has very clearly to said pinebook is used pinea64 chip the CPU is  1.2G CPU GPU is Mail 400mp2  , you don't expect this performance the Snapdragon 600 1.9G CPU and  the GPU is Adreno 320

[pagesix1536]

I wonder what is the performance like on PB. According to Geekbench results, it is comparable to my former 3 years old low-end mobile phone with Snapdragon 400.

I own a tablet with Snapdragon 600, which has roughly twice higher Geekbench score, but it seems to me quite slow already.

So I would like to ask the guys who already have their PB, about the performance impressions. Which system is faster, Linux or Android? If you run Android, which apps do you use and how fast are they?

Android seemed faster to me, but I guess I would expect it to be considering it looks like a smaller footprint of an OS, the UI is much simpler, and it the multi tasking is very different.  I will say though that the UI limitations are not worth it in my opinion. Overly large icons, status bars, soft keys, the weird dragging / scrolling (Android really likes touch interfaces, mouse/touchpads are kinda like a hack) etc..etc.. just really wasn't worth it to me.

That being said, I really don't think the Linux UI was tuned very well.  I would have figured they would choose lxde or xfce for the desktop and not Mate.

[Wizzard]

Have you  to buy the pinebook before you haven't to check about this chip is use Allwinner A64 ? 

but the pine64 web page has very clearly to said pinebook is used pinea64 chip the CPU is  1.2G CPU GPU is Mail 400mp2  , you don't expect this performance the Snapdragon 600 1.9G CPU and  the GPU is Adreno 320

Joe, I was not complaining, I was just asking, peace

Of course I checked the specification of Allwinner A64 and nevertheless I wanted to have it and I ordered it. I am looking forward to my Pinebook, because I always wanted to have some Android notebook and I loved this idea of Pinebook from very beginning.

I was just asking the users about their experiences with real use, so I would know what to expect from it, that is all.

Btw, Snapdragon 600 had 1.7 G CPU, not 1.9 G, but it does not matter.

[pfeerick]

Of course I checked the specification of Allwinner A64 and nevertheless I wanted to have it and I ordered it. I am looking forward to my Pinebook, because I always wanted to have some Android notebook and I loved this idea of Pinebook from very beginning.

I was just asking the users about their experiences with real use, so I would know what to expect from it, that is all.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I haven't run Android on mine yet, but the linux image pre-installed seems to run pretty smoothly. Ditch firefox ASAP, and install chromium, and you'll be able to browse the web without much drama. I have a Asus TF-101 tablet (now ancient) with a lock-on keyboard, and have found using it with android to be a great experience, but the pinebook is way faster than it, will run just as long, and is running a more open and configurable OS, and the minor niggles with the software are being fixed.

[CaptainZalo]

UnixOutlaw, 

I am not sure I understand what you mean by "the lack of software (i.e. Linux)" -- are you referring to issues running software requiring 3D acceleration as well as accelerated video playback or something else? 

Yes, it will be good to see the reviews of the production unit. 

________________________________________________________

wrtahir,

You can sign up for BTO here 

Of course I checked the specification of Allwinner A64 and nevertheless I wanted to have it and I ordered it. I am looking forward to my Pinebook, because I always wanted to have some Android notebook and I loved this idea of Pinebook from very beginning.

I was just asking the users about their experiences with real use, so I would know what to expect from it, that is all.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I haven't run Android on mine yet, but the linux image pre-installed seems to run pretty smoothly. Ditch firefox ASAP, and install chromium, and you'll be able to browse the web without much drama. I have a Asus TF-101 tablet  (now ancient) with a lock-on keyboard, and have found using it with android to be a great experience, but the pinebook is way faster than it, will run just as long, and is running a more open and configurable OS, and the minor niggles with the software are being fixed.

I've installed the Android (6) version for Pinebook made with the PineInstaller. It works very well. Way better than I anticipated. No hiccups, fast and the responsiveness of the pad is good. I'm missing the convenience of a touchscreen, but personally I can live with the pad. I've installed a bunch of software on it and added a UHS1 Class 10 32 gig microSD-card as extra internal storage.

Installation with the image was fast and very easy. With the microSD-card images from the pineinstaller, it booted straight up and installed the OS straight to the eMMC. No extra hassle on installation, no menus, no nothing. Just fast and easy install.

The left USB port doesn't react if I've got something plugged in the right USB plug, but it hasn't made any problems for me so far.

Retroarch works like a charm on Android too. NES, SNES and N64 emulation works without glitches for all the roms I've thrown at it. My USB gamepads were even detected without any hassle. My only non-working controller so far is the Shield controller. As I know it's very hard to get working outside the Shield ecosystem, I haven't been bothered to test more than with the USB-cable attached.

[Luke]

CaptainZalo,

I am running ayufan's android 7 on the Pinebook and its considerably quicker (and not only in generic benchmarks) than android 6, so I strongly suggest you give it a go. It also comes with with the benefit of split-screen. Notably, the build I am using (labelled pre-release from 4 days ago - at the time of writing) the webcam and earphone jack does not work. Everything else works like a charm however.
And yes, N64 as well as PS1 emulation using a controller is quite a bit of fun