Pinebook Pro?

[soupbowl]

Stabbing in the dark, but I think it's because ARM is mostly used in embedded systems, and has only recently began being adopted into other purposes. It weren't too long ago that PowerPC was a growing contender in the server market (and briefly Apple devices), then disappeared.

Will the PineTab adopt the same SD-Card preferential boot? Personally prefer this approach, makes distrohopping really easy.

Maybe they can use LibreBoot and Coreboot?
https://www.coreboot.org/
https://libreboot.org/

Either one would make things way easier for Linux and BSD distros to support ARM devices and PCs.

Will check out Libreboot in some more detail soon. I'm still boggled by the idea of no-BIOS, so I'll need to do some investigating.

[dumetrulo]

I also signed up because of the media coverage. Thumbs up to the suggestion of a backlit keyboard! However, even without that, I have been looking for a decent(-ish) ARM-based laptop for a long time, and it looks like this could be it! Even considering import duties this should be a good device at a reasonable price.

[Luke]

Backlit keyboards are surprisingly expensive. There will be other component improvements and aesthetic changes over what has already been shown, but I very much doubt that a backlit keyboard will happen. It would increase the price of the PB Pro over the $200 mark.

[Jeff115]

It would be nice to have a dual boot os, especially with the 128g version, and Microsoft is working on bringing Windows on ARM, maybe we could dual boot Windows with Linux?
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/arm/

[Jerrbear]

Would there be any problems with using the PB Pro for Kali Linux? I would primarily be buying it to use to teach myself pentesting but I'm worried it wouldnt have even horsepower.

[Luke]

Would there be any problems with using the PB Pro for Kali Linux? I would primarily be buying it to use to teach myself pentesting but I'm worried it wouldnt have even horsepower.

Plenty of horsepower. As for Kali - if you want official support, I think we could probably approach Kali devs and see if they are interested.

[asoltesz]

I am also very excited about the Pinebook Pro, seems like great specs for the price.

I am not worried about the 4 GB RAM not being expandable. Since the SOC only supports up to 4 GB and the chip itself is not a powerhouse anyways, the use-case for this machine is certainly not heavy software development or something requiring 8-16 GB of RAM and a fast processor. You need to buy a proper dev laptop for that (which is sadly, x64 at the moment).

This machine will be great for mobile activities:

- knock-about browsing/media-viewing machine at home

- ultra mobile machine for casual activities where you woudn't bring an expensive laptop (like outdoor stuff, conventions...etc) and you need low power consumption + usb-c charging (not a psu brick) anyways

- secondary machine at work. e.g. when you have an ultra-restricted work computer in the office with a snooping firewall so that you cannot even check your bank account from them. (using the guest wifi that is not firewalled and proxied so proper https works through them without snooping)

- lightweight software development for ARM (probably manages Android Studio and even Dockerized web app development on simple projects)

[gallowji]

I'm also very excited about the PB Pro and have already set the money aside. Out of curiosity, any idea what eMMC chip is going to be used?

[Liquid Cool]

Another new user...although, I originally read about the PineBook Pro from Lilliputing.  I love Brad Linder's site...been a regular reader for a few years now.  He has quite a few articles that support mini pc's(and sbc's).  

I'm actually quite excited to see the possibility of this laptop supporting KDE Neon.  Works for me.  I actually don't think you need to add back-lit keyboards, more ram etc etc etc.  The specs look perfect as they stand. 

The only question I have is there any type of video acceleration expected with these?  I have an ASUS Tinker Board...and poor video acceleration support has really killed the performance.

I'm in for one either way...quite excited.

Best Regards,

Liquid Cool

[giorgitd]

Backlit keyboards are surprisingly expensive. There will be other component improvements and aesthetic changes over what has already been shown, but I very much doubt that a backlit keyboard will happen. It would increase the price of the PB Pro over the $200 mark.

Before backlit keyboards, Lenovo (then operating as IBM) included a tiny LED in the screen bezel and angled down to the keyboard.  A revelation (for me ) at the time.  I still much prefer a backlit keyboard, but if that is too spendy to be consistent with the objectives of the PBP, maybe something like the bezel LED to illuminate the keyboard could be functional and low enough cost?

But, hey, I'm ready for the PBP with or without key illumination!