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Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

pine64.org

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Re: Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

#241

Post by nkristoffersen »

mistermann wrote: post #171
jancsika wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know how you can sustainably make a laptop and sell it for $100. I'm selling the first developer models for EUR 549/599 and I'm not making any profit on these, it's basically passing on the material cost. I guess it's a tradeoff between cutting enough corners to bring the price down and trying to achieve some base of quality and durability. These are different goals. I don't completely understand your goal.…

Are these things good enough that you could buy one and say stick it in the laundry room (or wherever) with a web browser on it and make actual use of it? Like a laptop in every room?

Chromebook would better for that use case I think. Since it’s entirely managed and simply runs a browser.

Re: Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

#242

Post by jandrese »

DogRunner wrote: post #236
jandrese wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has one of those goddamned AllWinner chips in it, I wouldn't hold my breath on the HDMI or any of the GPU acceleration working in the foreseeable future. Hardware drivers is not their business, nor is releasing docs that might allow someone else to write a driver. I have a dev board with one of those chips and getting any of the peripheral hardware working turned out to be a complete nightmare. I eventually gave u…

Oh! I would hold my breath, because I backed this project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bootlin/allwinner-vpu-s... The bootlin group is a awesome collection of embedded linux engineers and they are well known if not one the top of the lines engineers for the Linux-Sunxi community.

This will be big if it pans out. There are tons of SBCs with AllWinner chips that look amazing on paper but are kneecapped by the poor/nonexistent driver support. It's shocking how many ship with Linux distros that support only half of the hardware on the board.

Re: Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

#243

Post by shadeslayer »

nerdymanchild wrote: post #191
shadeslayer wrote: post #131

I just released a OS Image for this nifty piece of Hardware with full hardware video decode and gpu acceleration. Check it out here https://kshadeslayer.wordpress.com/2018/04/17/launching-netr...

Is the 2D X11 acceleration done via glamor using the closed source driver? (Congrats btw!)

Any EGL calls go through the armsoc driver to the closed blob.

I tried the X11 modesetting driver, but the mali blob is missing GBM support on there.

Re: Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

#244

Post by nerdymanchild »

shadeslayer wrote: post #243
nerdymanchild wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the 2D X11 acceleration done via glamor using the closed source driver? (Congrats btw!)

Any EGL calls go through the armsoc driver to the closed blob. I tried the X11 modesetting driver, but the mali blob is missing GBM support on there.

Oh so is there actually 2D X11 acceleration? Or just 3D acceleration?

Re: Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

#245

Post by boomlinde »

hyperpallium wrote: post #235
boomlinde wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

11" is bigger than 7" for sure, but that's not my point. My point is that 11" is at the upper end of what I'd consider a netbook, and it wasn't immediately obvious to me when I browsed the page that there was an 11" model so I thought you might have missed it, too.

Thanks for being helpful, but I think we must be working with different definitions of the term "netbook". I'm not sure of the proper definition, but I'm using it to mean something smaller and less powerful than a laptop - a kind of "sub-laptop" category. What definition are you working with?

I'm thinking a small laptop with less moving parts (no DVD) and less powerful for the sake of price, mobility and battery life.

I'm intentionally vague about the specifics, but as far as I'm concerned, 11.6" fits the bill. For example, Eee 1101HA was 11.6" and was widely considered a netbook. The Pinebook, by comparison, must be somewhat lighter (no mechanical HD, tiny motherboard).

That said, I haven't really kept up with the ensuing maze of laptop terminology since the netbook days. Some late era netbooks would probably be classified as "sub-notebooks" or "ultra-portables" or some such today.

But I get that you'd ideally want 7", since you stated that explicitly. I've been passing time on train rides with a Libretto 50CT lately, and it's so damn practical in terms of size, so I feel you.

Re: Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

#246

Post by newscracker »

prophesi wrote: post #240
newscracker wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's good news. Could you please point me to where these updated images are? I had been looking at the official site [1] once every few months last year, but didn't find the Ubuntu (or Debian) images updated. The dates are still from end of 2016. [1]: http://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Pine_A64_Software_Release

https://github.com/ayufan-pine64/linux-build/releases/ I'd recommend the Xenial images. There are Mate/i3wm versions for the pinebook, but all the others (Pine64 & Sopine) are headless and require the installation of a GUI.

Thanks for that link. I'm looking for updated images for Pine64 (not Pinebook), and all of them on this repository seem to be minimal images (without a desktop environment). Is my understanding correct? I'm looking for one with a desktop environment.

Re: Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

#247

Post by hyperpallium »

boomlinde wrote: post #245
hyperpallium wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for being helpful, but I think we must be working with different definitions of the term "netbook". I'm not sure of the proper definition, but I'm using it to mean something smaller and less powerful than a laptop - a kind of "sub-laptop" category. What definition are you working with?

I'm thinking a small laptop with less moving parts (no DVD) and less powerful for the sake of price, mobility and battery life. I'm intentionally vague about the specifics, but as far as I'm concerned, 11.6" fits the bill. For example, Eee 1101HA was 11.6" and was widely considered a netbook. The Pinebook, by comparison, must be somewhat lighter (no mechanical HD, tiny motherboard). That said, I haven't really kept u…

Fair enough! I had an original 7" eee, so that became my platonic form for "netbook". Though as a product category, that size doesn't even exist any more. Interesting that they got bigger, and today, phones are getting bigger. Perhaps approaching an ideal size?

I've switched over to android a few years ago as a development machine, expecting it to "disrupt" PCs, as other form-factors did. It has disrupted PCs, but not for development! BTW Always fancied the librettos, but seemed too expensive for me.

Re: Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

#248

Post by prophesi »

newscracker wrote: post #246
prophesi wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://github.com/ayufan-pine64/linux-build/releases/ I'd recommend the Xenial images. There are Mate/i3wm versions for the pinebook, but all the others (Pine64 & Sopine) are headless and require the installation of a GUI.

Thanks for that link. I'm looking for updated images for Pine64 (not Pinebook), and all of them on this repository seem to be minimal images (without a desktop environment). Is my understanding correct? I'm looking for one with a desktop environment.

Yeah, I'm afraid that's the case :/ So you'd have to SSH into your pine64 and install a GUI yourself.

Then to enable Mali support (which basically lets the device actually use the GPU to render the screen), you have to add an additional repository:

  - apt-add-repository ppa:ayufan/pine64-ppa -y
  - apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-armsoc-sunxi libmali-sunxi-utgard0-r6p0
then you'd run the script to enable it. Probably need root to run it.

  - exec /usr/local/sbin/pine64_enable_sunxidrm.sh
Then in your GUI's settings, you'd disable software compositing (force it to use the Mali GPU instead of the pine's CPU)

  -  System -> Preferences -> Look and Feel -> Windows and disable Enable software compositing.
If things go awry, or you have more questions, there's a community IRC that's usually pretty active with people willing to help. http://pine64.xyz/

Re: Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

#249

Post by oquidave »

Do people realize how game changing this laptop would be for students in developing countries like Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria? For $100 price tag on a useable laptop that you can run code or productivity apps, this is an absolute game changer. We have students at university going computer science without owning their own laptops! So this would really go a long way in bridging that divide. Kudo Pine64 team.

Re: Pinebook: An Affordable 64-bit ARM based Open Source Notebook

#250

Post by raesene9 »

GordonS wrote: post #237
raesene9 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd second this having just tried this yesterday. I picked up a Thinkpad X230 for £150. Battery test (looped windowed youtube video running over wi-fi) lasted 3 hours, so that's fine and the laptop itself all seems to work as expected.

Was that from ebay? I'm in the UK too, not sure of the best place to buy used Thinkpads

I got it from an amazon seller, but I think a lot of them sell on eBay too.
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