A true mainline Linux Kernel for the Pinebook Pro

[danielt]

Hey everyone,

more good news: DP altmode on the USB-C port is now working!

Support is not perfect and pretty hacky but it should still work just fine. It does only work in one USB-C plug orientation for me though. Since it does only work in one orientation on the stock debian image, too I'm currently suspecting my USB-C -> HDMI cable. Unfortunately I do not have any other device that can do USB-C DP altmode thus I can't really test that hypothesis.

I tested today with all three of my USB-C to HDMI adapters... all can put up a display (and are reversible).

Only odd thing is that one of the adapters doesn't seem to pass through the charger correctly. This is very likely to be an adapter problem rather than a PBP problem. With a slightly more "better" (more expensive and more attractive) adapter then I can have one type-C connected to the board and it is providing a bunch of USB peripherals, HDMI output and is charging at 12W.

[tsys]

I tested today with all three of my USB-C to HDMI adapters... all can put up a display (and are reversible).

Thanks for testing! Kind of expected my cable to be at fault here.

Only odd thing is that one of the adapters doesn't seem to pass through the charger correctly. This is very likely to be an adapter problem rather than a PBP problem.

There are two debug logs, /sys/kernel/debug/usb/fusb302-4-0022 and /sys/kernel/debug/usb/tcpm-4-0022 in case you are interested in digging into USB typec configuration channel defails  

With a slightly more "better" (more expensive and more attractive) adapter then I can have one type-C connected to the board and it is providing a bunch of USB peripherals, HDMI output and is charging at 12W.

Huh, I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly here. Did you actually try a nicer adapter or would you just like to have one for the PBP? Would be totally amazing if it does actually work already since I had no way to even test that yet 

[danielt]

danieltWith a slightly more "better" (more expensive and more attractive) adapter then I can have one type-C connected to the board and it is providing a bunch of USB peripherals, HDMI output and is charging at 12W.

Huh, I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly here. Did you actually try a nicer adapter or would you just like to have one for the PBP? Would be totally amazing if it does actually work already since I had no way to even test that yet 

Sorry, I should be clearer.

I have three adapters. All work find for simultaneous USB2 and HDMI.

However the cheapest one doesn't pass through the charger properly and one I couldn't test because (for very good reasons) it is attached to my desk in a manner that obscures the charger socket.

However the third one (http://www.raycue.com/?product=raycue-us...r-notebook) does charge well whilst running all the other functions.

PS One thing I have discovered since posting yesterday is that there do seem to be some problems with USB3 devices (USB3 devices won't enumerate and the hub built into in my adapter doesn't show up in lsusb -t). I only found this when I went looking for trouble though ;-) since all the kit I usually hang off a docking adapter is USB2.

[tsys]

Sorry, I should be clearer.

I have three adapters. All work find for simultaneous USB2 and HDMI.

However the cheapest one doesn't pass through the charger properly and one I couldn't test because (for very good reasons) it is attached to my desk in a manner that obscures the charger socket.

However the third one (http://www.raycue.com/?product=raycue-us...r-notebook) does charge well whilst running all the other functions.

PS One thing I have discovered since posting yesterday is that there do seem to be some problems with USB3 devices (USB3 devices won't enumerate and the hub built into  in my adapter doesn't show up in lsusb -t). I only found this when I went looking for trouble though ;-) since all the kit I usually hang off a docking adapter is USB2.

Thanks for clarifying. I kind of expected USB3 to be broken. My cheap HDMI + USB3 adapter is supposed to arrive today, maybe I'll get around to do some testing and fixing this evening.

[Arwen]

...
PS One thing I have discovered since posting yesterday is that there do seem to be some problems with USB3 devices (USB3 devices won't enumerate and the hub built into  in my adapter doesn't show up in lsusb -t). I only found this when I went looking for trouble though ;-) since all the kit I usually hang off a docking adapter is USB2.

There is a difference between the various types of USB C Alternate mode with DisplayPort. All versions of USB C Alternate mode with DisplayPort do seem to allow USB 2, (480Mbps, half-duplex), to work. If a users wants 4K @ 60hz, then then they sacrifice the 2 USB 3 lanes so DisplayPort can use them.

Your device seems to be one that supports 4K @ 30hz, so it might be able to work with USB 3, as the vendor claims. We will have to wait for @tsys to see if there is an issue with USB 3 on our side.


I think most of us want the USB 3 port active, so we are looking for 2 lane DisplayPort devices. I wish we could determine that in advance of purchase. There are some on Amazon that do claim to be "USB C Alternate mode with DisplayPort" that also claim USB 3 support. But I am not yet ready to pull the plug. At present, I use a plain USB C to DisplayPort device, with no USB at all. Works fine for it's use to my 1080p monitor.

[tsys]

Hi all,

I've just received the USB-C to HDMI + USB 3.0 adapter and could not resist the urge to try it out immediately. As it turns out there was a small logic bug in my extcon code preventing a hot-plugged displayport + USB 3.0 Adapter from having working USB 3.0.

Now all altmode DP + USB 3.0 docks should work fine. @danielt

[Arwen]

To clarify for others reading this, the RK3399 SoC chip used in the Pinebook Pro supports USB C alternate mode DisplayPort.

When buying a USB C dock for video from the RK3399, the USB C dock must support USB C alternate mode DisplayPort regardless of the connector on the other end. Any other video connector, like HDMI or VGA, would be an active translator from DisplayPort to HDMI, (or VGA). Those should work fine.

However, there are USB C alternate mode HDMI devices which would NOT work with the Pinebook Pro. These are rarer, and came out months, (or was it years?), after USB C alternate mode DisplayPort came out as the first video alternate mode.

Last, a few USB docking stations have chips for the video using USB to the host computer. These are not USB C alternate mode video devices, (DisplayPort or other). You would likely need drivers for the chip used, and Linux ARM64 type drivers at that.

I suspect a Wiki page update will happen to describe how to select, use and troubleshoot such devices.

Edit: Here is a Wiki page link;

Wiki - Pinebook Pro - USB docks & USB C alternate mode video

As usual, feel free to correct, improve or comment, (good or politely bad).

[Solra Bizna]

Now that I have a debug cable, I can confirm that the default Debian+MATE distro does boot with pinebook_pro_defconfig plus CONFIG_COMPAT, just (as sort of expected) without functioning video. Next stop: debootstrap!

[danielt]

Next stop: debootstrap!

I wouldn't normally tour the threads here plugging my own work ... but given you are already talking about debootstrap and that's exactly how my installer works then I'd love to see this tested from Debian Stretch (it should work but I've only tried running it on Debian Bullseye):


https://github.com/daniel-thompson/pineb...-installer

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Next stop: debootstrap!

I wouldn't normally tour the threads here plugging my own work ... but given you are already talking about debootstrap and that's exactly how my installer works then I'd love to see this tested from Debian Stretch (it should work but I've only tried running it on Debian Bullseye):


https://github.com/daniel-thompson/pineb...-installer

This looks really promising! Thanks for the effort. LUKS encryption would be a beautiful addition, but I have retrofitted this on to other Debian-derived distros, post-install. In this case, it looks like a job for which the USB eMMC adaptor would be very useful!

— Jeremiah