NetBSD 1.0 runs down battery

[donn]

I have Pinebook Pro that's new as of Nov 2023.  I can run NetBSD 1.0 from the image at http://nycdn.netbsd.org/pub/arm/



(NetBSD 9.3 and NetBSD 9 daily don't run - power light comes on and eventually goes off, followed several seconds later by a blink from the the other two lights, and that's it.)



But I can run it only as long as the battery lasts, because while I'm running NetBSD, the USB-C cable apparently doesn't charge the battery.  Eventually it runs down and crashes, and Linux shows the battery at 0%.



envstat shows only voltage, all other parameters are 0;  I could presumably infer charge state from voltage - looks like when we get down to 3.5V it's time to go back to Linux, but that could stand more research.



Is there a charging method that NetBSD supports?

[ edit ] Stuck my hand down in the paper bag packaging, and lo - I have a DC charger!  And it seems to be holding a charge now under NetBSD.  That is, still isn't getting charged, but I can run off the DC charger at 3.9V.  When I pull it out, the voltage drops to 3.5V, and percent to about the 68% it was when I left Linux, and dropping.
[ /edit ]

[tophneal]

does it not support charging through the original PBP barrel charger? iirc it's a 3.5mm OD/1.35mm ID barrel

[donn]

That's what I meant by "DC charger". So i tried it again, and this time it's charging the battery just fine. So yes, apparently it does support charging through the barrel charger.

Still the same story on the USB C power - that isn't working.

[KC9UDX]

I have run 9.3 and now 10.99 on two PBPs with excellent results.  I've run nothing else for 3 years, and I use them a lot. Get and run estd to automatically throttle the CPUs. On my older ones, if I don't run that, the charger will not keep up.  On my 2023 model, it will keep up just fine. But I get around 10 hours of actual use on battery with estd running and the backlight turned down.

I'm pretty sure you are actually running 10, not 1.0

Sign up for the NetBSD Arm mailing list.  Jun Ebihara regularly sends a very helpful email about NetBSD on the PBP.

Also, I exclusively use a USB-C charger on one and have never had an issue.  I suspect you have a USB-C power supply that is trying to negotiate something.  I use a generic USB-A supply with an A to C cable.

[donn]

RIght, 10.0_RC1. I was pleasantly surprised. Will try estd - battery life is really my only serious complaint. The trackpad is a little too sensitive, but better than Manjaro where it seemed to be actively fighting me. I don't suffer from the performance. I expect I will leave it on the SD card. The mailing list = port-arm, I presume.

My USB-C was an A-C cable from a wall socket USB, that I have for charging my cellular phone. I can charge with it, while running Manjaro Linux.

(I did run NetBSD 1.0, too. In fact, as best as I recall it came with my only source contribution, a one-character change in Amiga video code.)

[KC9UDX]

Yes, port-arm. Depending on the window manager you use, you can tweak the touchpad settings; I was able to make it work pretty well in KDE, but it's still just a touchpad.

I would see what that USB cable identifies as; and maybe try another one. I'll see if mine shows up as a

Thank you for your contribution! I wonder what version I had; I bought a copy for Amiga in the 90s. I ran it for one day but promptly switched back to Amiga

[donn]

I tried two A-C cables. Linux likes them, NetBSD not.

I don't know about estd, will have to fool around with it more. I was sure able to make it slow, but not so sure it was saving a lot of battery discharge.

NetBSD was OK on my Amiga 3000 with a lot of extra memory, a hard disk and Retina Z3 video. As it came from the factory, I can't see it.

[KC9UDX]

Do you get any kind of system message when you plug in these cables?  (Sorry haven't had a chance to check mine yet).  Edit: I get nothing, my cable has no logic, and it just works.
As far as I know, the operating system doesn't have control over charging, so there must be some kind if logic in the cable, and it's expecting something from the computer.

I have estd set to a maximum -M of 1416.

I have hw.pwmbacklight0.level=19 and that seems to helpa lot.

NetBSD ran OK on my Amiga, an A3000UX.  (I still have it).  But to me NetBSD was the same as Amiga Unix in the respect that it just wasn't AmigaOS, and I just can't see wasting an Amiga not running that.

[donn]

No messages.

Indeed the best thing to run on an Amiga was the OS it came with, but my main practical use for it was as a terminal emulator to work over the modem - and as best as I could make out, the Amiga's terminal program had an absolute limit of 78 or 79 columns, where I really needed 80. Nice font, but not enough screen for it. And since I was doing UNIX at work, I could mess around with Kerberos 5 authentication and stuff like that.

[KC9UDX]

I used Termite, which I don't recall having less than 80 cols. But in any case I could make the screen larger.

If that cable isn't trying to negotiate, I wonder how it can know if you're running Linux or NetBSD.