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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

#133
post #83

I'm also working on an ARM notebook in the spirit of Novena called Reform: http://mntmn.com/reform/ This version is 32-bit, but it has 4 cores @ 1.2GHz and 4GB of RAM. Also, it is actually open source, meaning that all the electronic design files (made in KiCAD) are available on GitHub and as soon as we have decided on the correct formats the same will be true for the mechanical/case parts, so you will be even able t…

I love the keyboard, reminds me of my old compaq beige brick laptop. What does it actually feel like to type on though? They actual keys look kinda squidgy but that may just be their translucent appearance.

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

#134
post #54

Reviews here to save people doing what I just did: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/pinebook-14-inch https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pinebook-64-review/ It looks like it might be worth the price. Anyone have one here? Any idea on delivery times?

I'm think those reviews are more or less fluff pieces. First, they intentionally gloss over the performance aspect; as a owner of multiple ARM boards, I can tell you that the A53 performance is terrible for desktop usage; it's not even good for headless servers (although "terrible" is relative). Second, I'm very skeptical about the 64-bit claim, which they haven't investigated. While ARM CPUs are 64-bit themselves, A…

I’m curious about Aarch64. Is it like x86 where you can just install a generic Aarch64 kernel and operating system and just make it works or do I have to build a very specific system for that board like images that are specifically aimed at the pi?

To be clear I’m really interested on the Rock64 boards but I don’t like any of their OS options. It would be great to be able to use the Aarch64 port of Alpine Linux on those.

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

#135

The only problems I see with this laptop is the 2 GB of RAM and resolution. Firefox with all blocking plugins takes regularly about 1.5-2.5 GB RAM on my machine, even with 5-10 tabs only. I would like to see 13" model with full size keyboard (not the 11.6 one with crippled/squeezed keys) and at least Full HD screen. Having 1366x768 resolution in 2018 is misunderstanding to say the least.

One thing about memory usage: programs will use as much as they can. Firefox will most likely use less memory if it has less.

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

#136
post #83

I'm also working on an ARM notebook in the spirit of Novena called Reform: http://mntmn.com/reform/ This version is 32-bit, but it has 4 cores @ 1.2GHz and 4GB of RAM. Also, it is actually open source, meaning that all the electronic design files (made in KiCAD) are available on GitHub and as soon as we have decided on the correct formats the same will be true for the mechanical/case parts, so you will be even able t…

im a huge fan of your work. may i ask if a IMX8M version will be available in the future ?

Hi, thanks! Not to trigger the Osborne effect, but yes, this is a plan. And/or RISC-V. But we need to get the ball rolling. I will give a discount or upgrade option for people who get the i.MX6 version now.

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

#137

What could you feasibly use this for? The 1.2GHz CPU seems like it would put a bit of a damper on almost anything besides answering email and basic word processing.

My phone is slightly faster, but only 1GB RAM. For linux tasks, it is overkill - many unix utilities were designed in the 70's with many magnitudes less power available. Command-line java development (ecj, dx, git, etc) is practically instant. (If you need an activity-center IDE, you're gonna have a bad time.) The only problems I've encountered are super javascript-heavy retail pages (Why do they do that? They can on…

Back in the day at Nokia Research we were abusing their N800 linux tablets (mind you, this was 2007, way before the iphone shipped and when android was a mere rumor). These things were running a debian linux based OS with X based UI, and a mozilla based browser. Pretty much anything command line just worked after a simple apt-get install and most gui stuff kind of worked except for formfactor issues (low resolution screen, touch based interaction, keyboard overlay, etc.).

The N800 specs were very modest compared to this stuff (something like 500Mhz and 256MB if I'm not mistaken). So, for command line stuff, most of the stuff you'd use 12 years ago would still be valid today. Stuff hasn't really changed that much. If anything, some things might run a bit faster than they used to on the same hardware due to ongoing optimizations and cumulative fixes. E.g. python has improved a lot since 2.5, which I think was current then. Compilers have gotten better, kernels have improved a lot, etc.

However, these days, a minimum requirement for most would be to be able to run a modern browser (i.e. with all the security holes patched) capable of browsing all popular websites. Unfortunately, that just requires a lot of memory and CPU these days. Websites have gotten a lot more complex in the last 12 years. I'd say memory is actually the biggest bottleneck here. Most laptops are effectively idling most of the time and grow extremely hot if you actually run them at 100% CPU. So a modern low power ARM SOC with enough memory suitable for e.g. a mid range smart phone of around 200$ should have everything you need for comfortable browsing.

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

#138
post #133
post #83

I'm also working on an ARM notebook in the spirit of Novena called Reform: http://mntmn.com/reform/ This version is 32-bit, but it has 4 cores @ 1.2GHz and 4GB of RAM. Also, it is actually open source, meaning that all the electronic design files (made in KiCAD) are available on GitHub and as soon as we have decided on the correct formats the same will be true for the mechanical/case parts, so you will be even able t…

I love the keyboard, reminds me of my old compaq beige brick laptop. What does it actually feel like to type on though? They actual keys look kinda squidgy but that may just be their translucent appearance.

It feels good. The squishy look is irregularities of the resin printing process for the keycaps. We are working on solving this so that all keycaps are exactly equal.

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

#140

What could you feasibly use this for? The 1.2GHz CPU seems like it would put a bit of a damper on almost anything besides answering email and basic word processing.

You know back in the 1990's we had email and web browsers and MS office. We even had CAD software. All that stuff could run on a 200MHz Intel chip with 128-512M of RAM.

I wonder why people think it's OK that their daily use software is too big for a computer like this.

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