Pinebook Pro: Shipping dates, ‘PINE64’ logo key and software updates

Before proceeding to discuss the PinePhone there are some Pinebook Pro news, which I think ought to be covered first. Let’s start with the shipping dates; the first community pre-orders will start shipping mid-September, followed by the public pre-orders in October. Please note that these dates are subject to change – if something changes you’ll be notified ASAP. A wide range of things can affect production at this early stage – as an example, we recently discovered that the Pinebook Pro does not power on from mains with the battery disconnected from the mainboard. Whilst this will not affect the great majority of users, a suitable workaround still had to be determined and implemented to mitigate the issue. Working out such things takes time and results in shipping dates slipping – thankfully, in the case described above, everything got sorted in a matter of a couple of days. A bypass cable, disconnected by default, has been added to the mainboard. In the event the laptop is required to run on mains power with the battery disconnected the cable needs to be joined; please read the engineering notice.

Onto the ‘PINE64’ logo key and its functionality. Before the community pre-orders began in July we announced that the Pinebook Pro will include privacy switches. In the same post I discussed the feedback we received regarding our decision not to brand the laptop, which prompted us to include a subtle touch in the form of a ‘PINE64’ logo key on the keyboard. Since then there was a lot of back-and-forth discussion regarding the functionality of the key. Eventually we put 2 and 2 together and reached a logical decision – the ‘PINE64’ logo key now functions as a regular Super key unless pressed down with F10, F11 and F12 key for 3 seconds. Pressing the combinations above will disable/ re-enable the laptop’s microphones, the WiFi/BT module and the webcam. We feel that this is a natural fit for the ‘PINE64’ logo key and its function, and we hope you feel the same way. Since we’re already talking about changes to hardware, and I have nowhere else to fit this piece of information, I am happy to let you know that the Pinebook Pro’s webcam has been updated to a 1080p cam; I’m sure that some of you will appreciate this.

Lastly, I want to discuss software related things. In the recent weeks ayufan has pushed a number of OS images for the RockPro64, the Rock64 and also the Pinebook Pro, which includes a very long list of improvements that result in great functionality and performance. A choice of Ubuntu with MATE desktop or LXDE as well as a great-performing build of Chromium OS will be available for you to try on day one. The default Debian with MATE desktop, which ships with the Pinebook Pro has also received a lot of development hours since the OS image was shipped to the factory. The list of improvements is quite lengthy so if you’re interested make sure to read the update-log here. The one truly vital improvement made is a patched U-Boot (pending feedback from early adopters), which alters the Pinebook Pro’s default boot sequence. This means that now the Pinebook Pro will boot OS images on the SD card and USB 2.0 / USB 3.0 ports prior to the onboard eMMC. It’s a simple way to try out other OS’, such as those offered by ayufan, without committing to wiping your current installation. To get this and the numerous other features please make sure to update your system using the included utility on first boot (please reference the update-log).