09-18-2020, 10:54 AM
Ok, got mine a few days ago and have spent a few hours with it.
BT worked out of the box, it was flawless; it paired instantly to a little portable BT keyboard. Then updates broke it.
Now this is in dmesg:
Easy fix. Go to /lib/firmware/rtl_bt and make a symlink from rtl8723cs_xx_config-pinebook.bin to rtl8723cs_xx_config.bin. Probably easiest to just reboot at that point and it works again. Assumed pinebook was similar enough and apparently it is.
Chromium's Wayland support isn't ready for prime time apparently. Chromium almost works but you must launch it from a terminal after doing unset GDK_BACKEND so it will fall back to X. You won't like the result though, there are no controls, no url bar, etc. Installed a few more X packages to get this far, the errors suggest more are needed, dri / GL things perhaps.
Still looking for a video / music player. VLC doesn't ship a gtk front end, only QT, mplayer doesn't ship a front end at all. Gnome-Music launches then locks up or complains about tracker, installed that and no change. Gnome dependency madness? So bit the bullet and let Audacious drag in some QT libs. It fails to do anything useful, displaying a dialog that won't fit in portrait mode and just a blank screen if launched in landscape. VLC with the QT front end behaves exactly like audacious so mixing QT / Plasma apps with Phosh looks like a no-go at this point.
The text editor shipped doesn't work well. You can type all you want, when you try to save it locks up. kill from a terminal is the only solution to get rid of it. If you enable the side panel you can browse to and open/save an existing file. None of the dialogs work with the screen size though, making navigating it a pain.
If the camera situation can be resolved, Cheese probably works AND Gnome Authenticator looks like will also be usable once the camera works. Might be able to import existing keys from FreeOTP as a workaround, will update if that works. Big "road to daily driver" check box if so. Gnome Maps also looks like it works, haven't pushed it yet but it runs and shows stuff, scrolls, zooms, etc. Another very hopeful sign.
Installed xterm. It is strange. The BT keyboard works almost perfectly with it, the onscreen keyboard types gibberish into it. Can't hold CTRL while clicking so the menus aren't accessible by BT, at least not from this little keyboard. As soon as I click it releases CTRL and the menu disappears again.
The usb network port is erratic. If it boots plugged in it doesn't seem to appear. Unplug and plug after it boots and it works in a USB 2.0 port but not in a 3.0 or 3.1gen2. Need a dialog somewhere to control it, whether it does anything (i.e. charge only), network, mtp, etc. Haven't found where gadget mode gets detected and configured yet. Still learning.
BT worked out of the box, it was flawless; it paired instantly to a little portable BT keyboard. Then updates broke it.
Now this is in dmesg:
Code:
[ 8.013982] 8723cs: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[ 8.610158] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8723cs_xx_fw.bin
[ 8.616714] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8723cs_xx_config.bin
[ 8.616810] bluetooth hci0: Direct firmware load for rtl_bt/rtl8723cs_xx_config.bin failed with error -2
[ 8.616822] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: mandatory config file rtl_bt/rtl8723cs_xx_config not foundEasy fix. Go to /lib/firmware/rtl_bt and make a symlink from rtl8723cs_xx_config-pinebook.bin to rtl8723cs_xx_config.bin. Probably easiest to just reboot at that point and it works again. Assumed pinebook was similar enough and apparently it is.
Chromium's Wayland support isn't ready for prime time apparently. Chromium almost works but you must launch it from a terminal after doing unset GDK_BACKEND so it will fall back to X. You won't like the result though, there are no controls, no url bar, etc. Installed a few more X packages to get this far, the errors suggest more are needed, dri / GL things perhaps.
Still looking for a video / music player. VLC doesn't ship a gtk front end, only QT, mplayer doesn't ship a front end at all. Gnome-Music launches then locks up or complains about tracker, installed that and no change. Gnome dependency madness? So bit the bullet and let Audacious drag in some QT libs. It fails to do anything useful, displaying a dialog that won't fit in portrait mode and just a blank screen if launched in landscape. VLC with the QT front end behaves exactly like audacious so mixing QT / Plasma apps with Phosh looks like a no-go at this point.
The text editor shipped doesn't work well. You can type all you want, when you try to save it locks up. kill from a terminal is the only solution to get rid of it. If you enable the side panel you can browse to and open/save an existing file. None of the dialogs work with the screen size though, making navigating it a pain.
If the camera situation can be resolved, Cheese probably works AND Gnome Authenticator looks like will also be usable once the camera works. Might be able to import existing keys from FreeOTP as a workaround, will update if that works. Big "road to daily driver" check box if so. Gnome Maps also looks like it works, haven't pushed it yet but it runs and shows stuff, scrolls, zooms, etc. Another very hopeful sign.
Installed xterm. It is strange. The BT keyboard works almost perfectly with it, the onscreen keyboard types gibberish into it. Can't hold CTRL while clicking so the menus aren't accessible by BT, at least not from this little keyboard. As soon as I click it releases CTRL and the menu disappears again.
The usb network port is erratic. If it boots plugged in it doesn't seem to appear. Unplug and plug after it boots and it works in a USB 2.0 port but not in a 3.0 or 3.1gen2. Need a dialog somewhere to control it, whether it does anything (i.e. charge only), network, mtp, etc. Haven't found where gadget mode gets detected and configured yet. Still learning.