Basic questions of somebody new to pine64

[bcnaz]

Check out the older forum posts for the Pine Tab.

Perhaps someone compared the Pine Tab to a 'Pinebook', that is not publicly available anymore.
Today we have the Pinebook Pro, that is different.

[biketool]

(snip)

A big reason why I am looking at the pine devices is that I really don't like the way most phones and tablets do not get (os/security) updates after 2-3 years anymore (the other reason is privacy).
I don't really understand why it is that way for phones but not for pc's, which also support a variety of hardware. I always read something about drivers and chip producers not providing patches or something along those lines.
So how about the pine hardware in that regard? Is it that open source that as long as the community supports it, it will be updated?
(snip)

To be fair I would expect a rocky experience if you are not a big Linux user at this point even a 20 year Linux user will have to either code their way out of some problems or experience an unsatisfactory 'daily driver' phone experience.
There are options like LineageOS with Microg that give you a mostly private and free software android OS experience while still using the standard un-auditable 'binary blob' android hardware drivers and you can find a build for most android devices that allow unlocking the bootloader.
I hope you can find the time and money to join our merry crew but just realize we are taking the road less traveled or more like we are cutting that new road with hand tools.  If you have realistic expectations for the hardware(not as fast as modern Qualcom ARM CPUs) and your choices of community developed OSs you can have a very pure Linux in your hand experience with hardware updates that are chosen mostly by the requirements of a community who wants ultimate utility and privacy for the cash spent and not your mobile service provider or a phone manufacturer who wants to milk you for profit any way it can.

As for hardware repair and upgrades, the store is pretty good about having the parts for sale though i am not sure there is any guarantee of repair or upgrade parts availability for any extended period of time.

[NotAPowerUser]

Once more - thanks for your replies.

I decided not to rush things and give it a bit more time. Both the pine project and my Linux knowledge.
I will instead dabble into Linux - by which I mean dual booting Linux alongside Windows to first get some experience and then ultimately switch to Linux permanently (once I get along with using Linux well enough).

I will reconsider the various options when it comes to alternative phone OS's and alike (such as the pine project) when I have a more profound knowledge of Linux.

Many thanks to all that provided me with help and information.

I hope you all are having a nice day.

[bcnaz]

If you want to try dual booting with some easy to transition Linux operating systems, I would suggest Linux Mint Debian Edition, and Zorin.

They both have great online support groups that can help you from first time users, and up.

At Mint they have one of the largest support groups, while at Zorin you can often catch one of their developers live online for assistance.

Both of these can be test driven from a 'live' disk or usb stick, so you can try them without actually installing them.

Good Luck !

[johnmusk60]

Thanks a lot for all the replies!

As of now I'm thinking of giving the PinePhone more time to develop into something that I can handle. Right now it is called "Beta Edition" and the description states that it is aimed at early adopters. The answers up to this point clearly state that it is not yet a daily driver. Also in the wiki the list of operating systems has a "what works, what does not work" section for each system indicating there is quite some stuff that does not yet work.

However I do not find this kind of warnings (from the shop and wiki) when looking at the PineTab - which raises my interest in it. The PineTab is based on the PineBook - which _is_ labeled not to be a daily driver. From my unterstanding the PineTab and PineBook support the same software.

So what is the current state of the PineTab?
Is it ready to be used by someone without extensive Linux knowledge - and if so, is it reasonable to change the os for someone like that (me) by just following some kind of step by step instruction?
I know the PineTab is not really available right now, but depending on it's state I'm willing to wait until it is back in stock.

I do not quite understand what mainline Linux/kernel is. Could somebody roughly explain it to me? Does the PineTab support this?

I agree with you. I also want to get an answer to this problem.