An unofficial Debian Installer for Pinebook Pro

[pine76]

Installed debian for LUKS via the Thompson installer.
After doing apt update and upgrade at this point in time something breaks the system and it won't boot.
Anyone else having the same issue?

I had Debian installed on my PBP since AFAIK late January or early February, few days after I got it in the mail. The only times when system completely failed to boot was when I tried installing kernel from Debian's main repositories instead of danielt's repo. I still keep a microSD card handy with another Debian install that I barely touch, that way I can always boot from it if I need to recover the main system on eMMC. When I need to recover I just boot off microSD, chroot into eMMC, and make necessary repairs (usually switching the default boot item in /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf is sufficient). As to the updates - all I can recommend is pay attention to the packages being installed or (especially) removed. Also make sure you have up-to-date u-boot, as older versions don't bring up big cores correctly and the system may appear as if it is not booting for IIRC few minutes because it is too slow.

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Hi,

I am a new pinebook pro user and very excited to set up this machine to match my workflow. I was not happy with Manjaro KDE that came with default flash drive. So, I ended up switching to Debian testing using a micro sd card. Currently, Manjaro KDE is in the flash and I am using Debian Bullseye (Gnome). I am having some problems.

1. When I shut down the computer for a while and boot (let's say after an hour); Manjaro KDE on the flash comes instead of the Debian on the micro sd. How can I prevent this?

2. My output device is set to "Headphone - Built-in Audio" by default in the sound settings of Gnome even though no headphone is connected. I am not sure if this would be the correct setting. If not, how can I set it to the correct one? I checked the alternative device and I have the other option as "Multichannel Output - Built-in Audio". Are these settings correct? If not, how can I set the sound card correctly?

3. After hitting the gdm and login to my account. I am hearing strange "poff" noises. Are these related to my sound card settings? How can I prevent this noise? It becomes annoying after a while and I want to learn the reason.

I would be appreciative of receiving any help or suggestions.

Best,

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I forgot to ask about the display settings. On the Manjaro KDE plasma the screen was flickering with black screen occasionally. Debian testing feels much better. However, it flickers sometimes. Would you recommend anything to make the display better?

1. Install Debian onto eMMC :-D
Jokes aside - Manjaro is keeping more up-to-date with hardware-specific developments on PBP, but unless you're using A1-class microSD your system will run faster of eMMC, so if you prefer Debian over Manjaro (like I do) - just install it on eMMC. But keep a working microSD handy for recovery purposes.

I am hesitant to install my os of choice onto emmc for a few reasons. First, 64 gb is small space for my files and I will not fit there no matter how much I downsize. I am planning to use pinebook as a daily productivity machine, not for casual traveling companion. Second is Manjaro is the default OS that came with pinebook; in spite of the fact that I am unhappy with Manjaro, I prefer to keep it if possible due to it being the choice of pinebook.

The SD card I am currently using is a 256 GB Samsung Evo Plus; I bought it with a hope that I could use it as my main drive. I am not sure if it is A1 class (it was saying class 10 or something) and I am unsure which one is faster. But the storage amount is 4x more and it is a feature I was looking for. Samsung Evo Plus feels fast enough and I am not feeling any difference in opening my files etc.

2. Someone else will have to help you here - I forgot when was the last time I even used sound on my PBP...

I am guessing it was a driver problem. I am using past tense because I have switched to Fedora 32 Workstation. I had to choose between Debian Bullseye and Fedora 32; I opted for Fedora because fedora is doing better in giving an out of the box experience; it recognized my card, keyboard and fixed the black screen flickering that I observe in the default Manjaro KDE. It is a bit heavier than Bullseye gnome but otherwise I am more satisfied with Fedora than other oses including the default Manjaro KDE for the time being.

3. If you're talking about popping sounds I think it may have something to do with audio device power state toggling. I have heard those on PBP and quite a few other laptops even with sound muted. It is indeed annoying, though it never bothered me enough to actively search for a solution, if you find one - please share it with everyone.

The popping sound is also gone with Fedora 32. I am keeping an eye on it though in case I experience it with Fedora workstation as well. I will let you know if I find a solution.

4. Sorry, never observed any screen flickering. I'm on kernel 5.7.4-0.40-1-pinebookpro-hwaccel built using pbp-tools by xmixahlx@ with Mesa 20.1.4-1 from Debian repos.

Flickering is gone with Fedora Workstation (gnome). However, I am frequently experiencing this with Manjaro KDE whenever I boot into emms. At some stage, my display ended up turning into a white color in default Manjaro KDE, whatevery that is...

I really don't think Manjaro is a good choice for a default os on a laptop; but it is pbp decision. For the time being I am doing much better with Fedora. I may come back to Debian if the rough edges are gone. Fedora is my choice now and I am using it on my Samsung sd card with the boot problem. It is best I can get for the time being.

I was not expecting any hardware problems with a machine built for linux. I was hoping to have a fresh air from the MS Windows loaded pcs and converting them to linuxes. I guess I was wrong...

I am just updating the previous post that I have still the "poff" noises with Fedora, but somewhat less noticeable. Otherwise, everything else work well.

I am just guessing the screen going black is due to laptop running out of resources; it happened once in Fedora too. I guess reasonable to expect this from time to time.

Fedora Gnome feels heavy on resources. I wish they ported xfce instead. Nevertheless, I will stay with Fedora for a while. I hope to switch back to Debian Bullseye sometime, which feels lighter.