Default OS update log

[Luke]

Hi Everyone,

I will update this post, which effectively serves as a log, when improvements are made to the default Debian with Mate build by @Mrfixit2001  for the Pinebook Pro. Perhaps this is obvious, but the development for this build is ongoing and continues despite the device not being shipped out yet (at the time of writing).

Please provide all feedback regarding this OS build, and ONLY this OS build, in this thread.

N.B. Once you get your unit make sure to use the update script on first boot [icon next to time/date] to download the new kernel, device tree and various other improvements.
N.B. ii. Perform the initial update on full battery charge. If the battery is partly drained, the update will temporarily cause a faulty battery calibration / software power read. This however is not a permanent issue, and does not cause damage to any components, but it may at take one charge/discharge cycle to correctly re-calibrate.  
[edit 25/11/2019]

Changing Username and Home Directory
Log into root (root/root) and open the termial. To change the username and home directory name type the following, replacing  NewUser with your desired username:

Code:

usermod -l NewUser rock
usermod -d /home/rock -m NewUser

Once you log into your new user Bluetooth will complain about no transfer folder location. To fix this open terminal and type:

Code:

blueman-services

From here, select incoming folder under the 'transfer' tab.


Update 11/08/2019:

Kernel and device tree updates with following effects:

*Significantly increased speaker volume
*improved power consumption in suspend
*Improved power management / battery life

Notes:
One of the main improvement areas after shipping the OS to the factory was power management and battery life. This first update brings reduced power consumption to these approximate values at the specific settings:

*in idle / under low load [e.g. terminal work / LibreOffice / light browsing] - approx. 5-6W at 40% LCD brightness. Approx. battery life - 7-8hrs continues use
*under moderately high load [tested with WebGL demos] - approx. 11W at 40% LCD brightness. Approx. battery life - 3-4hrs continues use
*in suspend - approx ~1.5W. Approx suspend time from 100% to 0% bat drain - ~ 48hrs

Speaker volume has been significantly increased to a point where the sound distorts at 70%. This will be fixed in a future update.




Update 12/08/2019:

* Improved compositor settings / fixed issues

Notes: improved performance and fixed an issue where some windows would incorrectly cast shadow.   Also fixed an issue where a large see-though box would be rendered around some drop-down menus. Please make sure to have compositor set to 'No Compositor' in Mate Tweak - we override the settings to have acceleration as well as drm vsync (the latter works better than glx).

Update 22/08/2019:

* Performance improvements
* Suspend on closing lid now works
* Firefox fixed
* LED blinks on disk activity / turns red in suspend

Notes: a number of performance improvements in the kernel + dtb.

The LED power light now blinks when the disk (eMMC/SD) is accessed and turns red when the laptop is suspended. The Pinebook Pro now also suspends when you close its lid reliably (although, I encourage you to always use FN+ESC [Zz] to suspend the Pinebook Pro).

Firefox is now usable and is stable. Firefox has been unsuitable until now due to instabilities which, among other things, caused a crash during video playback. Performance is very good.

Update 30/08/219

*Changed boot sequence giving SD priority

Notes: This is an important update - uboot got patched to look for extlinux in /boot partition on SD card before booting off of eMMC. This means that SD now has boot priority on the Pinebook Pro, allowing you to try out builds without Commiting as well as easy flashing (dd) of eMMC from a SD booted OS.

Update 04/10/219

* Improved SD booting compatibility

Notes: and update to uboot has been pushed. It fixes some issues and improves compatibility with booting other OSs from SD card.

Update 15/10/2019

* Updated kernel; WiDeving install and update script added; bug fixes

Notes: this update includes a kernel upgrade to 4.4.196 as well as a number of bug fixes. A key quality of life improvement includes a WiDevine installer / updater. In the event WiDevine gets updated and NetFlix or Amazon Prime Video stop working for - you can either use the new update tool (on desktop) or just run from terminal:

Code:

sudo /usr/bin/update_widevine.sh

Update 23/11/2019

*Updated Kernel, DTB, and Modules
*Updated bootup script
*Updated uboot
*Updated chromium and Firefox
*Disable power management on WiFi adapter
*Updated Firefox to newest
[*]*Updated Chromium to newest
[*]*No more screen flicker
*Various tweaks


Notes: Alongside many improvements to the underlying system (uboot, DTB, Kernel), this also includes updates that help the overall stability of the system.
Browsers have been updated to newest versions - respectively Firefox 70.1 and Chromium 78. In my testing Firefox is now perfectly stable.
WiFi stability and strength have been improved.
[*]The periodic screen flicker / turning off of the LCD is resolved.



Update 02/12/2019

*updated kernel
*significant improvement to Firefox performance

Notes: this update includes various under-the-hood improvements. From an end-user perspective, the biggest change is a significant improvement to Firefox performance.



Update 10/12/2019
* Kernel update
* Many mainline backports
* Fix for USB 3.0 suspend/ resume
* WiFi verbosity fix
* Fix for USB C suspend/  resume
* Enable USB C hubs support

Notes: this is an important update. It fixes a lot of USB issues and adds initial support for USB-C docks. Known issues include smearing / smudging on external displays when output using USB-C.


Update 23/12/2019
* Chromium acceleration massively improved
* Chromium broken settings page fixed
* Kernel update
* Various improvements and fixes

Notes: from an end-users perspective, the most important thing in this update is the significant Chromium improvements, making good use of the Pinebook Pros GPU to a greater degree.


Update 17/01/2020
*Kernel update
*Newest Firefox
*Fix for sound not working in Firefox 
*Added community made wallpapers as background options (in /usr/share/backgrounds)
*Added support  for BT audio output
*Updated uboot
*Option to NVMe boot
*Improved USB-C dock support 

Notes: New Firefox; in future updates to both Chromium and Firefox will be upgradable via apt - working on it. Sound in Firefox has now been fixed too.
BT audio support has been added, so you should be able to just connect your BT headphones without issues and the PBP should remember them after reboot. Option to boot from NVMe is now available thanks to updated uboot. We'll keep on adding community made wallpapers to the build, so keep submitting them.


Update 07/02/2020
*kernel update
*uboot update
*USB 3.0 is now bootable (!!!)
*PMIC GPIO fix
*Numerous other fixes and clean-ups

Notes: The big one for this update is USB 3.0 booting (priority over eMMC). A number of other fixes and quality of life improvements included too.

[aleksei]

Any chance of upstreaming kernel improvements to mainline kernel?

[Der Geist der Maschine]

That "update script applet icon" is a wrapper around a shell script /usr/bin/mrfixit_update.sh which is using curl an svn to download the latest kernel image from mrfixit's github account.

Wouldn't it be the right way to set up a deb package server and provide the kernel as a deb package?

I can't imagine that's difficult. Debian already provides the make-kpkg package turning the kernel source tree into a kernel image deb package and I suspect hosting can be done from github (at least one of my deb servers in /etc/apt/sources.list is sourceforge).



PS: We are all very curious what you pixeled out on that screenshot

[Luke]

PS: We are all very curious what you pixeled out on that screenshot

Picture of my daughter plaing in a sandbox.

As for the other questions, I'll leave them to @Mrfixit2001

[zaius]

OK, so

1. Charge battery
2. Set up network
3. Run update script

Perhaps, we should have detailed instructions for step #2 for people new to Debian or Linux.

[Luke]

OK, so

1. Charge battery
2. Set up network
3. Run update script

Perhaps, we should have detailed instructions for step #2 for people new to Debian or Linux.

Re. 2 - Its identical to any OS (including windows/ OSX); click icon, select your wifi, type in password so don't really see a need for that.

[zaius]

OK, so

1. Charge battery
2. Set up network
3. Run update script

Perhaps, we should have detailed instructions for step #2 for people new to Debian or Linux.

Re. 2 - Its identical to any OS (including windows/ OSX); click icon, select your wifi, type in password so don't really see a need for that.

Maybe not everyone has WiFi?  I don't run my own WiFi in my home because I live close enough to access a hotspot from my ISP, but to use it I have to register the MAC address of any device I want to add to their service.

https://debian-administration.org/articl..._addresses

I also have hard-wired ethernet from my cable modem, and a USB to 8P8C adapter which I'm hoping will work with the PBP.

I just want to make sure everyone has a working internet connection before they try to run the update script

[Der Geist der Maschine]

Update 11/08/2019:


Update 12/08/2019:


Update 22/08/2019:

When you edit the first message, we don't get notified of updates. Would it be possible to continue posting updates to the first message, but simultaneously reply to  this thread (perhaps with the same update)?

[Luke]

Update 11/08/2019:


Update 12/08/2019:


Update 22/08/2019:

When you edit the first message, we don't get notified of updates. Would it be possible to continue posting updates to the first message, but simultaneously reply to  this thread (perhaps with the same update)?

Good question. Not sure ...

[sjk]

It seems like the current mrfixit default OS supports nearly all the functionality the PBP has to offer. Is it a armhf image or an arm64 image? I require an arm64 image for some work that I am doing, and would like to know if there is a arm64 variant that supports all the PBP's features?