Am I supposed to flash keyboard firmware and u-boot imgs?

[superkazuya]

Just got my PBP Aug batch and have 2 questions:
1. Am I supposed to flash the touchpad/keyboard firmware linked in the wiki?
2. If I want to boot from SD, am I supposed to flash anything? I believe that the chip boots to emmc first, then the u-boot on the emmc is supposed to try booting from sd-card. Is that how it works?

[bcnaz]

1)  I have not seen any recent official statement pertaining to the need to flash new firmware for the keyboard, try it and see,  I guess.
If it works good, then all is well.  If you have problems, THEN  reflash as per the instructions.

2) just download an OS from the wiki, then flash it to an sd card ( I use Balena Etcher ) then that should boot automatically when the card is
in the sd card slot, from a fresh boot up.

[superkazuya]

Thanks. For 1 I did flash the keyboard firmware and didn't notice any difference. Regarding 2 I think the SOC boots to EMMC uboot if it's present, and apparently different u-boot builds behaves differently... I had to flash u-boot listed here https://github.com/samueldr/wip-pinebook-pro to get nixos to boot .... Thanks for the help!

[KC9UDX]

I agree. SOC boot order is SPI, eMMC, then SD card. The first one in that order that has boot code gets the baton. That device's boot code can decide to try booting somewhere else.

[pfeerick]

1. Am I supposed to flash the touchpad/keyboard firmware linked in the wiki?

No need - it was only PBPs manufactured in 2019 that needed the touchpad/keyboard update. After that, it would only be if you wanted the features offered by a custom firmware, or if you were having issues.

2. If I want to boot from SD, am I supposed to flash anything? I believe that the chip boots to emmc first, then the u-boot on the emmc is supposed to try booting from sd-card. Is that how it works?

Generally no. Since the boot order is SPI flash -> eMMC -> SD, and the SPI is blank, it will try to boot from the eMMC. I'm pretty sure the stock uboot checks the SD card for a boot image, and will transfer control to that if present. You should only need to fiddle with the eMMC's uboot image/version if you want other functionality (like nvme boot) or due to compatibility issues with certain OSs. Hopefully things are not too far away from a stable uboot that will control the display and respond to keyboard input (as well as allowing NVMe and maybe even USB boot), making it good candidate for putting on the SPI flash, so you don't even need to worry about the eMMC or SD.