This month’s update will be slightly shorter than usual – I have been dealing with some health issues recently, which significantly reduced my time to actively engage with the community. Hopefully I’ll make it up to you in November.

September has been a bitter-sweet month for us. On the one hand, we’ve seen a lot of great developments: the first Pinebook Pros have reached their owners, and the reception has so far been great; core developers have started receiving their PinePhone prototype handsets and dev pre-order coupons have started going out; and we’ve announced the PineTime smartwatch – a companion for the PinePhone and other Linux phones.

On the other hand, (and I have no intention of sugar-coating the situation) things haven’t gone exactly according to plan regarding shipments of developers’ PinePhones and Pinebook Pros for end-users. A series of miscommunications, factory errors as well as just good ‘ol bad luck resulted in dates slipping by a few weeks. To those of you who had to wait for your units and to those whom are still waiting – we apologize for the delay, we’re very sorry. Read on to find out what happened.

[EDIT 18/10/2019] Since writing this blog entry I provided an update on the situation (Pinebook Pro, PinePhone and PineTime dev kits shipping) on the forum. Click here.

Bullet Points:

Pinebook Pro first batch shipping delay causes explained ; we’re sorry

Future shipments 2 weeks delay ; we won’t put shipping staff at risk

Pinebook Pro early adopter feedback very positive ; issues noted and worked on

PinePhone Dev edition delay explained ; prototypes run great

The PineTime ; a side-project with a lot of potential ; community driven

Closing thoughts – are we being stretched thin?

Pinebook Pro shipping delay detailed explanation

Let me give you a run-down of the events that caused the delay in the shipment of Pinebook Pros to customers. The delay was caused by a series of intertwined events, so it’s just appropriate that I list them in chronological order. The first issue we encountered during production was that the Pinebook Pro doesn’t power on with the battery disconnected. This isn’t an issue that will affect the majority of users, but it had to be addressed nonetheless. Finding and implementing a solution (a bypass cable – please see the engineering notice) set us back a few days.

However, the majority of time was lost on the second issue. To understand the problem you first need a little technical background; the RK3399, which is the SOC used in the Pinebook Pro, has a hardwired boot sequence that prioritizes eMMC over SD. This means that, unless the bootloader on the eMMC is altered to seek out bootable SD or USB 2.0/3.0 flash (such as uboot on the Debian + MATE build), the OS residing on eMMC will always boot prior to bootable micro SD or USB 2.0/3.0 flash.

Now here is the problem – the factory we work with is accustomed to carrying out hardware and QC test using a custom Android build. They always flash this build to eMMC modules before completely assembling the devices. This Android build doesn’t have the necessary uboot alterations to prioritize SD or USB bootable storage; as a result, we found ourselves in a position where all the fully assembled Pinebook Pros were running factory Android and there was literally no way to reflash them with Linux without disassembling all the laptops and reflashing them manually. Moreover, the factory uses a proprietary Rockchip utility to install the Android image and is completely unaccustomed to flashing ‘normal’ DD images. Needless to say, solving all problems related to this situation took a very, very long time – over a week in total.

For those interested, I am including our solution to the problem that will be used in future batches. Our offices in China will deliver pre-flashed Debian MATE eMMC modules (since the build features uboot that prioritises SD and USB storage over eMMC) to the factory, and the factory will carry out its tests on the custom Android running from SD. This effectively means that we’ve taken on a part of the production process, which is a burden to our staff but the simplest way to resolve this issue.

The third, and last, technical issue was first found after all units were assembled and moved out of the factory. Someone from the shipping team realised that the laptop emits an annoyingly high pitched noise when charging. This did not affect the operation of the Pinebook Pro, but we were certain that users would be displeased with this imperfection. So, the laptops were brought back to the factory over the weekend and the tiny component making the noise was removed and replaced. The reason for this issue being caught this late is quite simple – the high pitched noise isn’t loud enough to be heard on a factory floor with all sorts of machinery operating. It’s only noticeable at ambient noise levels; e.g. at home with the TV off.

At this point in time we missed our shipping date by weeks, but it was now September 27 and geopolitical events – which I will not discuss or debate here – caused further setbacks. The Pinebook Pros are produced in Shenzhen, mainland China, but ship out from Hong Kong via DHL. This means that our shipping staff needs to make the trip to the Hong Kong storage bay where the Pinebook Pros get picked up for delivery. If you follow global news, then in all likelihood you’re aware that the situation in the region is volatile at the moment. As a result of the situation in China and Hong Kong, only half of the original first production run shipped out. The remaining portion of the first batch will be shipped in the next couple of days, after the week-long national holiday comes to an end, and (hopefully) things calm down slightly.

Before I wrap this section up let me assure you that we will not expose our shipping staff to situations where their life or wellbeing could be jeopardised. I hope this decision is self-evident, and that we can all agree this it is the only sensible course of action. This also means that if the situation in the region will remain unstable, then future shipping dates may slip too.