First Impressions
#1
I received my 14” Pinebook on 5 May. Paid on 25 April. I don’t know when I put my name of the BTO list but it must have been early.
The package was delivered by DHL. The PineBook was packaged in a plastic “waffle” case for protection. (A note says that this is a shipping case designed for one time use. It did have a few minor cracks from shipping but it did it’s job of protecting the PineBook.) It doesn’t have any external logos but comes with a set of stickers. 
I turned it on and it booted Ubuntu Mate. This first boot took a long time but subsequent boot times are less than 30 seconds. Shutdown and wake up when closing and opening the lid works well. 
Since the package also included a note to check for an update of the OS, I installed the Pine64 Install utility on my OSX laptop. I was able to download the latest build 20170505. The installed did have some problems with the download as it disconnected about 5 times during the download but fortunately it was smart enough to resume where it left off. After that, I wrote an SD card, put it in the PineBook and booted. It found the new  image and automatically installed it and the new image booted up quickly. 
I also tried out the Android 6.0 build 20170411 which is the only other option available in the install utility. This also installed automatically from the SD card and booted to Android. The USB next to the power jack doesn’t work on this but a mouse does work on the right side USB port. The HDMI port mirrors the display. (Set it to 720p)
I used the Pine64 Installer to try out the Android 7.1 image (you can drag an image into the installer) and this successfully started to boot but got hung up during the Android animations with a system process failed to start timeout. This did (start to) boot from the SD card and did not install itself in the eMMC memory.
There are two microphone symbols and holes on the case. Informal testing (with Android 6 image) seems to indicate that only the left hand microphone is active.

Initial assessment.
Well, it’s amazing! I bought this pretty much as an impulse purchase to see what was possible with a $99 laptop. It runs great and is quite responsive. The keyboard requires deliberate typing or you will miss keystrokes. The screen is very good for straight on viewing but fades rapidly to the sides (vertical worse than horizontal). The mouse pad is responsive but I did end up with a lot of sudden mouse shifts when clicking. I think I need some practice with it.

The specs mentioned that it can boot from the SD card or internal memory and that would be nice to have multiple OS options rather than installing everything to internal memory (and wiping out the old installation in the process). I’m not sure how to do that. (Android 7.1 image does this)

All in all, I’m very impressed by this $99 notebook. It’s clearly not up to the performance and hardware of a $1000 notebook but for 1/10 the cost, it’s an effective notebook. Once a few niggling software issues are resolved, it should function well.
#2
Thanks for sharing. Quick note re. the trackpad - it will get better, it's being looked into to. ]
Regarding A 7.1. I suggest reflashing and waiting 5 min AFTER it finished flashing before removing the SD card.
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#3
(05-09-2017, 09:58 AM)mspohr Wrote:  The keyboard requires deliberate typing or you will miss keystrokes. The screen is very good for straight on viewing but fades rapidly to the sides (vertical worse than horizontal). The mouse pad is responsive but I did end up with a lot of sudden mouse shifts when clicking.

All noted.  I can confirm all three points on my 14" as well.

The keybuttons improve with use ;  if you deliberately aim for the center of the key the habit forms and you'll miss less keystrokes.  The keys are a bit large, so the bubble-dome switch underneith tends to fold if hit off-center.
As lukasz noted the trackpad can be improved with software--stay tuned.
The viewing angle of the screen is one of the down-sides of the older and less expensive TN display technology (it really only has one effective viewing angle).  
All of these "features" constitute three of the reasons that the price-point is so low. The pinebook is the first 'stab' at a truly affordable notebook that is also actually useful!  
I agree that for the price-point it is a fabulous computer;  I'm carrying mine around the block.
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#4
All my builds can be put either on eMMC or run from SD card. This allows you to have multi-boot when needed.
Homepage: https://ayufan.eu

Releases:
Rock/Pro 64/Pinebook Pro: LinuxChromium OS
So/Pine A64/Pinebook: LinuxAndroid 6.0Android 7.1

Buy me a Beer
#5
I wonder that you got yours because I paid the same day and still did not get it.
#6
(05-09-2017, 10:14 AM)Luke Wrote: Thanks for sharing. Quick note re. the trackpad - it will get better, it's being looked into to. ]
Regarding A 7.1. I suggest reflashing and waiting 5 min AFTER it finished flashing before removing the SD card.

Thanks for this feedback.
I'll try waiting after flashing (presumably until all the write buffers are flushed).

(05-09-2017, 11:27 AM)MarkHaysHarris777 Wrote:
(05-09-2017, 09:58 AM)mspohr Wrote: The screen is very good for straight on viewing but fades rapidly to the sides (vertical worse than horizontal). 

The viewing angle of the screen is one of the down-sides of the older and less expensive TN display technology (it really only has one effective viewing angle).  
All of these "features" constitute three of the reasons that the price-point is so low. The pinebook is the first 'stab' at a truly affordable notebook that is also actually useful!  
I understand that is one of the limitations of this TN screen. Actually, it's not a problem for a laptop since you just set it up and don't move around. Only one person looking at the screen so it can be adjusted optimally.

(05-09-2017, 11:41 AM)ayufan Wrote: All my builds can be put either on eMMC or run from SD card. This allows you to have multi-boot when needed.

Is there something you can do at boot time to choose whether to have it run from SD card or install to eMMC?
It seems that this is set within the image file and not a boot option.
#7
(05-09-2017, 12:54 PM)mspohr Wrote: - post stripped-

(05-09-2017, 11:41 AM)ayufan Wrote: All my builds can be put either on eMMC or run from SD card. This allows you to have multi-boot when needed.

Is there something you can do at boot time to choose whether to have it run from SD card or install to eMMC?
It seems that this is set within the image file and not a boot option.

Once you use Ayufan's install_to_emmc script, the Pinebook basically goes:
You got an SD card in me? Alright let's try booting from that.
Oh, there isn't an SD card? Then let's try booting from the eMMC.

So you can theoretically plop in an SD card when you'd like to use a different OS. The Pinebook comes with only 16gb eMMC, but you can upgrade that pretty easily.
Some with certainty insist no certainty exists.
#8
(05-09-2017, 02:04 PM)Prophesi Wrote:
(05-09-2017, 12:54 PM)mspohr Wrote: - post stripped-

(05-09-2017, 11:41 AM)ayufan Wrote: All my builds can be put either on eMMC or run from SD card. This allows you to have multi-boot when needed.

Is there something you can do at boot time to choose whether to have it run from SD card or install to eMMC?
It seems that this is set within the image file and not a boot option.

Once you use Ayufan's install_to_emmc script, the Pinebook basically goes:
You got an SD card in me? Alright let's try booting from that.
Oh, there isn't an SD card? Then let's try booting from the eMMC.

So you can theoretically plop in an SD card when you'd like to use a different OS. The Pinebook comes with only 16gb eMMC, but you can upgrade that pretty easily.
The problem is that some of the SD card images boot and immediately overwrite the eMMC with their contents. I'd like to change these images so that they boot the OS itself from the SD card and leave the existing eMMC contents.
Ayufan's Android 7.1 image appears to do this but the Android 6 and Ubuntu Mate images install themselves in the eMMC.
#9
Mine images do not do it. You can easily install them and overwrite:

https://github.com/ayufan-pine64/linux-build/releases
https://github.com/ayufan-pine64/android-7.1/releases

To install Android-7.1 on eMMC. Get an SD card with my Ubuntu image. And from terminal execute `pine64_install_to_emmc.sh`. You can choose which system you want, as there is a number from which you can choose.
Homepage: https://ayufan.eu

Releases:
Rock/Pro 64/Pinebook Pro: LinuxChromium OS
So/Pine A64/Pinebook: LinuxAndroid 6.0Android 7.1

Buy me a Beer
#10
(05-09-2017, 03:14 PM)ayufan Wrote: Mine images do not do it. You can easily install them and overwrite:

https://github.com/ayufan-pine64/linux-build/releases
https://github.com/ayufan-pine64/android-7.1/releases

To install Android-7.1 on eMMC. Get an SD card with my Ubuntu image. And from terminal execute `pine64_install_to_emmc.sh`. You can choose which system you want, as there is a number from which you can choose.

I appreciate that your Q4OS build asks if you want to install rather than just blindly installing and overwriting the eMMC.
Is there any way to run if from the SD card and not install to the eMMC?


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