My Pinebook Pro after a month of use.

[carlosqueso]

Sometimes my Pinebook works fine other times it is buggy. Not currently learning the Linux language. I am learning a new language that I can speak to other humans rather than machines. I am happy about the price I paid for the Pinebook. Overall unless you are fluent in Linux code the machine can be rather a nightmare. Occasional screen flickering. Weak or no sound output. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi sometimes works. The screen output blacks out for a few seconds and then returns all the time. My connected hard drives and flash drives do not always respond and well...If you enjoy writing Linux code this machine is probably a dream for you. For average humans this machine is somewhat a disappointment. Developers if you want a machine that introduces Linux novices to the wonderful world of Linux this machine needs lots of work. Peace.

07/24/202
My experiences with the Pinebook Pro is obviously just my own. I have noticed though some people are not thrilled with the machine. When I could not install an upgraded  OS on mine no matter what I tried the sparkle faded about the machine. I did read about the Pinebook Pro beforehand. Finding out about the blessed Linux code is for the birds imho. I could not find any concise easy to understand lexicon about it. I am not a computer geek nor do I wish to become one. To those of you who understand Linux more power to you. Imho the Pinebook Pro is more of a toy or busy box for adults. Peace. 

I've found the the PBP to be a fairly good piece of hardware and it's actually pretty good to use as a computer without much babysitting.  However, the software for it is definitely still in development (ARM64 Linux feels like x86 Linux was circa 2007, but with far quicker development).  If you're not used to Linux, that can look a bit intimidating (especially since the folks that hang out in these forums are crazy smart developers).

Now the good news.  Once you get used to doing things a little differently, Linux can be really easy.  One big change you'll notice is that people will ask you to type in things will look like code.  It's not really code per se, just you typically tell Linux systems what to do by typing text (there's usually a graphical way to do these things too, but in a text-based forum like this one, it's WAY quicker to give you a line of text to type than describe a 10 step process to find things in the menu).

So, if you'd like help, let's start from the beginning on the Manjaro that came with your system.  Open up a terminal (really, when dealing with forums, I promise this is the easy way).

Let's first make sure that your system is updated to the newest Manjaro.  We can do this with one line of text:

Code:

pamac update

It'll ask you for your password and update everything.  If you run into any snags, you'll want to post either to this thread or a new one with the text of any complaints it gives you.

Next step, let's see if mesa-git fixes your screen flicker (I've not noticed this, but I put mesa-git on my machine first thing).  We can do this easily too using our friend pamac (the cool kids all use pacman, but I'm not cool):

Code:

pamac install mesa-git

It'll do the password thing and install the updated graphics drivers.  I don't think you need to restart, but I did anyway after just to be safe.

To get the sound to go up, we don't need to use the command line.  In the volume control on your taskbar, there's a checkbox for something like "make sound louder" (I'm on my couch, my PBP is in the other room, and the cat will kill me if I get up right now).  Try clicking that.

If your wifi and bluetooth doesn't work after this update, let me know and we can try something pretty quick (I needed to fix mine, but I'm interested to see if the later updates have fixed it).