That sounds awesome!, glad to hear about the software being so ready, especially since I was a Pine64 kickstarter backer where the first few months were rough but that is to be expected really from a new platform at the time
I would love to see a live stream with it
The only downside to the pinebook pro from my POV is the \ | key being moved instead of just putting delete down there, wonder if you guys can make it possible to swap them maybe
EDIT: What is the reason you guys didn’t just drop having a webcam on it?
There will be a different keyboard - a standard one - for production units. A lot of other things will change too, don’t worry.
[edit] you are right about the webcam - I have no clue why its there I guess some users will still want it. Anyways, there may be more Pinebook Pro privacy oriented announcements coming …
I’m not going to argue about the webcam since I agree with you.
But some people expect a webcam on a laptop so its there. Molding for the LCD bezel is done (those things are expensive, you know), so its staying no matter what. If you dont want it; a philips screwdriver + scissors and 15 minutes is all you need to not worry about it ever again
Did you guys consider going all out on the webcam? like smartphone quality video? (IIRC they can cost up to like 20 bucks a pop so not ideal for this market xD) which I’m honestly surprised some existing 2000 dollar laptops haven’t done
Their higher end variants actually are quite comparable to the mid tier adrenos. However without proper implemention of the gallium3D driver into the android variants of the linux kernel which is good because torvalds will likely find someone to yank that into the proper arrangement with the Linux kernel mainline… We will see… Its mainly that VP9 Video decoding will suffer. Software H.264 should be fine on that A72…
God dammit… I REALLY wish I could get one. Id probably figure out how to take the gallium driver from android to linux haha… and have full acceleration
@wendell I eagerly await the video. I have been waiting for an open platform phone FOREVER … this is the most open ive seen in ages. This gets me excited.
@Luke_PINE64 So I know this is early in your engineering process but say this little kit and phone takes off!? Are there plans to step up the processing power in the phones? Say something closer to qualcomm products? What I am getting at is more or less that Qualcomm builds their “krait” processors from ARM IP… ARM A75 + A55 in their Snapdragon 845. Heck even if you did not use those you could opt to mimic their 7 series platform. I see a ton of potential in chipping away at the locked down phone market. I know some of my buddies at XDA would jump on it so fast. Im rambling a bit but I am curious about what your way forward is?
Ive got alot of engineering experience. Ive always wondered (and I know this may require a seperate thread)… What goes into the engineering process for your Pinephone? Other than the obvious
As you may (or may not) know, we’re completely open about our hw/sw development and we disclose reasons for why we do things one way and not another. All software development is completely public (select #Pinephone from drop-down) and hw engineers’ and sw devs feedback regarding hw is accessible to anyone who wishes to follow along [edit] … or join in obviously - there is IRC, Discord and Telegram - all bridged - so plenty of options [/edit].
The reason why we chose to create an affordable phone is something I’ve already outlined at the UBPorts forum. In short, we feel that the market for a FOSS phone needs to be actively forged - since, as such, it doesn’t really exist. We feel that creating this market can partly be achieved by providing a (good) entry-level Linux phone. This in turn creates exposure to Linux Phone OS’… and a market emerges. I also talked about it at length in a chat with the Linux Lads last month (great guys, so have a listen!)
I really do not wish to talk about a future phone at this point (in part because of what I will write in the next paragraph), but its safe to say that we’d most likely base a higher-end Pinephone on a RK3399 soc paired with 4GB of RAM. That is exactly the same setup as in the Pinebook Pro that we probably should be discussing in this thread ;). This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone really; we know (and love) the SOC and have a large, dedicated and thriving community working on it.
As for engineering a phone, it turns out its very difficult to get it right and it costs a fortune. And engineering a FOSS phone is even harder, since choosing stuff like LCD panels, TP drivers, Wifi/BT modules, etc., we need to consider if they realistically can be mainlined (or patched into mainline), etc., This is, after all, a mainline only phone! Then we also needed a modem which itself would run Linux. With this out of the way, you need to make sure that it all works together and can run within a set thermal and electrical envelope (that is to say doesn’t produce lots of heat and doesn’t consume large amounts of power).
Now that we’re working out last kinks (issues with current hw on dev kits) we’re starting to think about how we’ll shrink the PCB into the actual phone case. This is an upcoming challenge.
Hope this gives you a little glimpse of how it works on our end.
This is the funnest part of the engineering challenge but also the most frustrating. Ive had a couple experiences having to shrink PCBs mainly on communications systems. It was an interesting experience.
Im going to head over to those links you provided its great that you guys are very transparent and open about all your development. Cant wait! Ill take a linux phone whether its the performance king or not! It would be one of my final steps in migration to all open built systems.
Ill check out the RK3399 SoC on your community page and see about purchasing one and having a bit of fun. If there is to be a future development on it whether as a pinebook or a phone it seems like a good place to get to know the platform.
Looking forward to your release! Ill hop on the telegram group. Thanks for the response even though I know it was partially off topic
Hi guys,
Granted customs do not decide to be evil and hold on to my the stuff for an eternity, I’ll be holding a livestream showcasing the Pinebook Pro (as well as a mockup of the pinephone and other stuff) on the April 28th 22:00 GMT. I’ll provide a livestream link in due time - once the parcel clears Heathrow customs finges crossed.
This will give you guys a chance to ask questions live and perhaps we can figure out together what works on the current prototype and what doesn’t - I’ll get some engineers and devs into the chat too in case you ask actually meaningful questions
For those who want to pop by and take a look at the current Pinebook Pro dev kit and hear a little bit about it and our roadmap for the next few months.
from a new platform at the time
I guess some users will still want it. Anyways, there may be more Pinebook Pro privacy oriented announcements coming …
Reminder on