An unofficial Debian Installer for Pinebook Pro

[tpchuckles]

YOU select what is installed by default. just skip tasksel.

I believe I only selected "xfce" and "laptop" (not sure if the latter is required, but it seemed like a good idea at the time).

safe to assume the "bloat" was included on one of these two?

[yawnoc]

If you're comfortable with temporarily running a non-graphical system (TTY console only), then don't select any item at all . You'll have a 100% bloat-free system to begin with and can always install a desktop environment and display manager afterwards.

[xmixahlx]

it was xfce. all DE options are purposefully designed to be "full" i. e. bloated.

select nothing in tasksel and install manually after booting the new install.

[LiXCE]

I have the exact same symptoms using Debian Sid. And I -have- read through all 38 pages of this topic, as well as all the other info I could find.

When I boot from an SD card with Mr Fixit's version of Debian, speakers and headphones work as expected but still do not show any additional controls in alsamixer or pavucontrol-qt.  That kernel is ancient 4.6, I think.  

i.e. When I plug in the headphones the speakers stop making sound, headphones work and actually sound pretty good (Grado wireless but with the wire plugged in).  When I unplug the headphones the speakers emit sound again and the headphones stop : )

I looked through all of the alsa related files on Mr Fixit's Debian but did not find any real difference.  There was an asound.rc file in /etc but it was very simple and had no effect on the problem we are having.

My guess is that this is a kernel issue but I am not quite ready to start swapping around kernels.

Sorry, I don't have a solution but hopeing the slight additional information might help someone smarter than me figure it out.

-j

[talpa]

Hi I have sometime ago installed Debian unstable using danielt's installer, thanks for the installer btw.

The result seems for work quite fine except one issue, a stable picture on a external monitor.

The setup consists of X11 using the internal eDP-1 and DP-1 though a USB-C "dock" -> KVM switch -> 4K monitor.
No issues have been observed on Manjaro so I think it is relatively safe to rule out hardware as an issue

I would describe the issue as part of/the entire external screen jumping one (maybe more) pixel to the right for maybe a frame.
The laptop internal display seems fine.

I have tried:
* Reducing the resolution (the problem persists but is even more annoying as the pixel size is bigger)
* Compiling a custom kernel 5.7.0 based off the Manjaro one
* Comparing "xrandr --verbose" from the Pinebook pro with a stationary connected to the same KVM switch
  (The EDID information is the same as are the clock speeds for the different modes)
* Forcing the CPUs to run in performance mode (to prevent frequency changes that may interfere with the GPU if they share clock domains)
* Updating the system to get the latest mesa (available from Debian)

---------------------------
    GLEW Extension Info
---------------------------

GLEW version 2.1.0
Reporting capabilities of display , visual 0x172
Running on a Mali T860 (Panfrost) from Panfrost
OpenGL version 2.1 Mesa 20.1.2 is supported

I have yet to try to compile mesa-git

My current theory is that the display/pixel timings are very slightly off causing the issue.


Does any one have any similar experiences and/or any suggestions?


Regards and thanks for your time Visti Andresen

As a follow up:
I eventually capitulated and removed the emmc containing Debian and replaced it with the one containing Manjaro.
At first there were no issue, but after some time it started to jump as well (I suppose I just didn't test it for long enough the first time)

I took the laptop to work and tried a Deltaco brand usb-c->hdmi adapter, which seemed to work.

I then ordered a Moreslan 11in1 hub, and it works just fine.

Regards Visti Andresen

[ThatGeoGuy]

the stock debian kernels do not yet support all the necessary pbp drivers. not sure about danielt's kernel packages, but i'll include this in my kernel config at pbp-tools.

I've made a terrible mistake and installed the stock debian kernel, and now my system boots to a black screen.

Does anyone know how to pull up the GRUB menu from uboot so I can switch back over to the correct kernel?

[Solra Bizna]

I've made a terrible mistake and installed the stock debian kernel, and now my system boots to a black screen.

Does anyone know how to pull up the GRUB menu from uboot so I can switch back over to the correct kernel?

U-Boot presents its menu over the serial port. To talk to it, you'll need a 3.3V serial interface that can do 1.5Mbaud, which you can plug it into the PBP's audio port. You'll also need to flip the switch on the PBP's mainboard that enables the serial port.

Note that it's really easy to end up with a 5V serial adapter. The one I bought from the PINE store ended up being 5V, and caused horrible problems when I tried to actually use it. I tried another adapter from a different manufacturer, and it turned out to be 5V as well. (In both cases, the part was advertised as 3.3V.) At that point, I ran out of money to keep trying to find a 3.3V adapter and just... used other means of debugging.

If you don't already have a fast 3.3V serial interface available, and either an adapter or some cable-making experience, you're probably better off making an install of some bootable Linux to an SD card, chrooting into your main system, and removing the stock kernel package. (Assuming you're running from the eMMC.)

[GloriousCoffee]

Installed debian for LUKS via the Thompson installer.
After doing apt update and upgrade at this point in time something breaks the system and it won't boot.
Anyone else having the same issue?

[pine76]

Hi,

I am a new pinebook pro user and very excited to set up this machine to match my workflow. I was not happy with Manjaro KDE that came with default flash drive. So, I ended up switching to Debian testing using a micro sd card. Currently, Manjaro KDE is in the flash and I am using Debian Bullseye (Gnome). I am having some problems.

1. When I shut down the computer for a while and boot (let's say after an hour); Manjaro KDE on the flash comes instead of the Debian on the micro sd. How can I prevent this?

2. My output device is set to "Headphone - Built-in Audio" by default in the sound settings of Gnome even though no headphone is connected. I am not sure if this would be the correct setting. If not, how can I set it to the correct one? I checked the alternative device and I have the other option as "Multichannel Output - Built-in Audio". Are these settings correct? If not, how can I set the sound card correctly?

3. After hitting the gdm and login to my account. I am hearing strange "poff" noises. Are these related to my sound card settings? How can I prevent this noise? It becomes annoying after a while and I want to learn the reason.

I would be appreciative of receiving any help or suggestions.

Best,

---

I forgot to ask about the display settings. On the Manjaro KDE plasma the screen was flickering with black screen occasionally. Debian testing feels much better. However, it flickers sometimes. Would you recommend anything to make the display better?

[moonwalkers]

Installed debian for LUKS via the Thompson installer.
After doing apt update and upgrade at this point in time something breaks the system and it won't boot.
Anyone else having the same issue?

I had Debian installed on my PBP since AFAIK late January or early February, few days after I got it in the mail. The only times when system completely failed to boot was when I tried installing kernel from Debian's main repositories instead of danielt's repo. I still keep a microSD card handy with another Debian install that I barely touch, that way I can always boot from it if I need to recover the main system on eMMC. When I need to recover I just boot off microSD, chroot into eMMC, and make necessary repairs (usually switching the default boot item in /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf is sufficient). As to the updates - all I can recommend is pay attention to the packages being installed or (especially) removed. Also make sure you have up-to-date u-boot, as older versions don't bring up big cores correctly and the system may appear as if it is not booting for IIRC few minutes because it is too slow.

---

Hi,

I am a new pinebook pro user and very excited to set up this machine to match my workflow. I was not happy with Manjaro KDE that came with default flash drive. So, I ended up switching to Debian testing using a micro sd card. Currently, Manjaro KDE is in the flash and I am using Debian Bullseye (Gnome). I am having some problems.

1. When I shut down the computer for a while and boot (let's say after an hour); Manjaro KDE on the flash comes instead of the Debian on the micro sd. How can I prevent this?

2. My output device is set to "Headphone - Built-in Audio" by default in the sound settings of Gnome even though no headphone is connected. I am not sure if this would be the correct setting. If not, how can I set it to the correct one? I checked the alternative device and I have the other option as "Multichannel Output - Built-in Audio". Are these settings correct? If not, how can I set the sound card correctly?

3. After hitting the gdm and login to my account. I am hearing strange "poff" noises. Are these related to my sound card settings? How can I prevent this noise? It becomes annoying after a while and I want to learn the reason.

I would be appreciative of receiving any help or suggestions.

Best,

---

I forgot to ask about the display settings. On the Manjaro KDE plasma the screen was flickering with black screen occasionally. Debian testing feels much better. However, it flickers sometimes. Would you recommend anything to make the display better?

1. Install Debian onto eMMC :-D
Jokes aside - Manjaro is keeping more up-to-date with hardware-specific developments on PBP, but unless you're using A1-class microSD your system will run faster of eMMC, so if you prefer Debian over Manjaro (like I do) - just install it on eMMC. But keep a working microSD handy for recovery purposes.

2. Someone else will have to help you here - I forgot when was the last time I even used sound on my PBP...

3. If you're talking about popping sounds I think it may have something to do with audio device power state toggling. I have heard those on PBP and quite a few other laptops even with sound muted. It is indeed annoying, though it never bothered me enough to actively search for a solution, if you find one - please share it with everyone.

4. Sorry, never observed any screen flickering. I'm on kernel 5.7.4-0.40-1-pinebookpro-hwaccel built using pbp-tools by xmixahlx@ with Mesa 20.1.4-1 from Debian repos.