this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2024
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Is Pine64 dead? (lemmy.zip)
submitted 3 days ago by possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip to c/linux@lemmy.ml
28 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I haven't heard anything in months. Maybe there is legal trouble?

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[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Both global and EU store still sell things. They are still active on social media. I have plenty of their products (PinePhone with keyboard case, PinePhone Pro with LoRA add-on, Pinecil, PineTab2, PineNote, PineTime) which I use often, some on a daily basis, other weekly basis. They just work. As others have pointers out they don't do software, "just" hardware with some community fostering. If tomorrow they announce another product (not sure what that could be as, simply by listing now they are covering already a LOT) and if I need it, I would buy it without much hesitation.

Now I imagine if they don't have anything new they don't announce much, which is reasonable. They might not need the "buzz" as long as they manage the sales in their pipelines.

I would honestly like to see more products but arguably they already have good coverage. Let me ask you then, what do you wish they would add to their existing product line?

[–] lengau@midwest.social 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I would guess that they'll be sourcing a next-gen RISC-V processor ASAP, since those will enable virtualisation. If they stick one in a laptop shell I'd probably buy it pretty quickly. Doubly so if it has EFI.

[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

They already sell the Pinetab RISC-V so quite feasible. I'm not sure I'd buy one as I already have a Banana-Pi (SpacemiT K1 8 so not exactly "next-gen") so my next purchase on that would probably be something that would be relatively powerful enough to "forget" it's not ARM/AMD64 for daily usage (which we might not be very far from, not really sure).

[–] lengau@midwest.social 1 points 4 hours ago

The moment I can get a laptop-style RISC-V device with virtualisation support I'm doing it. Double bonus if I can actually use it as my daily driver.

[–] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Pine64s "problem" was they only ever did the hardware. Like they sponsor some software, but they make and sell hardware. They gained a lot of popularity from the Pinephone, but very little changed internally at Pine64. They're still the same they always were

[–] delirious_owl@discuss.online 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

What? I get really annoyed at hardware companies that do software. Like, first thing I'm gonna do with anything I buy is wipe it and install my own OS. Why would you waste so much time making a forked OS?

Do one thing, and do it well.

[–] ReversalHatchery 6 points 2 days ago

for example to make sure you have got drivers.

but then, you need software for less computer-like devices too, like a smart watch or earbuds. do you immediately reflash those too? and who will make the software?

[–] IrritableOcelot 1 points 2 days ago

Sure thats true as long as the basic support on compatibility is there, but as I understand it Pine is so hardware-only that they make it hard for other projects to even support their hardware, i.e. with lacking drivers as the other comment addressed.

[–] koncertejo@lemmy.ml 26 points 3 days ago

Definitely a long way off from how active they were a year or two ago.

[–] axum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

https://pine64.org/2024/03/17/march-update-making-waves/

Doesn't look dead to me.

Are you wanting monthly updates or something?

I don't get why people freak out if they don't see constant updates. Is this the result of Fortinite updates on one's brain?

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 19 points 3 days ago (2 children)

They had monthly updates almost 2 years straight. They weren't big but they had the latest news. The fact they suddenly went quite with little community engagement is concerning to me

[–] axum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

To me that just signifies the company has stabilized and no longer needs to put out statements constantly to keep eyes on them for marketing reasons.

[–] delirious_owl@discuss.online 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Most orgs can't have someone doing marketing full-time.

If its one update per year, they're alive and focusing on the important stuff

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

Except this is incredibly uncharacteristic for Pine64. They rely heavily on volunteers

[–] minnix@lemux.minnix.dev 15 points 3 days ago

Check out their matrix https://pine64.org/community/

[–] exu@feditown.com 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

Certainly feels like it and I personally wouldn't buy anything from them at the moment.

Edit: would -> wouldn't

[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 12 points 2 days ago

Bought a Pinecil a few weeks ago. No problems.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I have ordered stuff from them before and they delivered every time. I don't think they would sell something they don't plan to ship. If you look at the inventory it is a little parse.

Also I believe they contract an outside company to manage the warehouse and to fulfill orders

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I have ordered stuff from them before and they delivered every time. I don't think they would sell something they don't plan to ship. If you look at the inventory it is a little parse.

[–] exu@feditown.com 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I don't have concerns about shipping, more about the community building and support aspect of their products.

If you're happy with a product's current state then fine, but if not you're pretty much on your own.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

There products pretty much run regular Linux so it they don't need a lot of extra maintaince.

[–] exu@feditown.com 3 points 3 days ago

They require a lot of driver work to get everything working. Many of their chips for example only support h264 hardware decoding at the moment, although they would be capable of h265 as well. Another example would be the PineTab 2, which now after a few years has working wifi and an alpha bluetooth driver. Yes, it's always getting better, but very slowly and it might well take another few years until you can just run a mainline kernel with full hardware functionality.

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Other people claim they have ordered and delivery was not happening for half a year etc. Seemed like something was up with supply.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago

Or they are getting sued over patient violations (pure speculation but that has happened to other small companies)

[–] VinesNFluff@pawb.social 4 points 3 days ago

minor spelling mistake

[–] ReversalHatchery 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

the EU store regularly posts updates on stock

[–] exu@feditown.com 3 points 3 days ago

I'm focusing more on the community building and advancing software parts of the work they did/do. Some products are in a pretty good state, but that's not the case for others.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 5 points 3 days ago

FUD