PineNote Development/TODOs

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Status

Functionality	Component	Status (factory)	Status (updated)	Notes
Bootloader	Bootloader	Android only	WIP for Linux	Booting into linux requires a patched uboot. Instructions here.
Operating System	Stability	WIP		Users have successfully booted Arch, Manjaro, and Debian. Debian has most support right now.
	Suspend	Works		This kernel patch adds suspend support.
	Updates	WIP		GPU libs (mesa) and mutter rely on patched packages. These should not be updated via the package manager at the moment, make sure to exclude them.
	Networking	Works
Components	E-Paper Display	WIP		Mostly functional. There is some ghosting and work remains, but the device and screen are usable.
	Touch	Works
	Bluetooth	Works, audio stutters		Switching the driver provides stable connections for keyboards, but audio still stutters. Trying to fix this here.
	Sensors	Unsure		Light sensors? Rotational sensors?
	Buttons	Works		Power button works.
Accessory compatibility, spare parts	Spare parts	Not available yet		Spare parts currently not available yet in the store.
Software notes	Firefox	GPU Rendering Possible		Requires patched mesa and MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 . See here.

Kernel/driver TODOs

These exist, but they haven't been written down yet.

Userspace TODOs

The TODOs in this space are organized around what functionality they enable. A table of the important functions that a user may want in the Pinenote and a status are listed below:

Functionality	Approaches (apps)	Level of support (subjective)	Supports	Does not yet support	Notes
Reading Documents	Koreader	Great	Fully featured ebook reader; Supports many filetypes;	Handwritten notes	Large user base on many devices; codebase has a somewhat of a reputation for being messy
	Xournalpp	Good	Reading/writing PDFs and other files;	No definition support (long-press for definition)	Billed more as a note-taking app than a document reading app

Themes

A lot of getting the PineNote to work nicely will be theming things appropriately. Please list themes for various components here:

GNOME

Untested as far as I know: https://github.com/fujimo-t/gnome-shell-theme-e-ink

GTK

Todo

GNOME Configurations

See here.

Sway Configurations

See here.

Open questions that would be helpful during development

1. How do we pin packages so Mesa isn't updated when we update using our package manger?

Documentation TODOs

Note: These are things we know how to do, but they just haven't been documented in the wiki yet. If you know how to do one of these things, please make a page for it. If you aren't sure where to put it or just don't feel like doing it, please just message @aarondabomb on matrix and I'll be happy to document it.

Pin Mesa Packages so they don't update when we upgrade other packages

Should be super simple, I just don't know how. If you know, it would be helpful for you to add that information near step 5 here.

Force a screen refresh?

Maximilian mentioned how to do this, but I don't know enough to know what it means XD see conversation here: https://matrix.to/#/!QtTzSRYMuozjbOQkzJ:matrix.org/$tfumBpnP2UPouNpaeFrggR40ZkrD_pHAtJdQmQvzL-o?via=matrix.org&via=kde.org&via=tchncs.de

Trying to fix bluetooth

I tried to add latency as described here, but to no avail. I noticed the best performance with SBC codec, but still not usable.

Preliminary fix for stuttering bluetooth audio:

Following a fix used for the Quartz Model A (which uses the same SoC as the Pinenote), we can modify the device tree prior to building the kernel to try to mitigate poor bluetooth audio streaming. (reference: see https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20220926055435.31284-1-leo@nabam.net/T/)

Steps:

• Open arch/arm64/boot/dts/rockchip/rk3566-pinenote.dtsi
• Go to line 939, "bluetooth", under the "uart1" section
• Edit the two lines that read "device-wake-gpios" and "host-wake-gpios"; you want them to read "device-wakeup-gpios" and "host-wakeup-gpios" respectively
• Add the following line to the end of the bluetooth section (under the vddio-supply line in my .dtsi): "max-speed = <3000000>;"
• Count your zeros, don't forget your punctuation..

Caveats:

This will improve BT audio quality at least when using the AAC codec. In my experience, the quality is more than acceptable, but there are still issues apparent: occasional isolated stutters even on AAC; prohibitively frequent stutters on SBC-XQ remain. Fully resolving BT audio issues might require further changes similar to the one described above, or may alternatively be a matter of audio software settings (e.g., process priority, audio server buffer settings). Investigation ongoing..