#pinenote — Public Fediverse posts

Had some more time to play around with the newly acquired #PineNote from @pine64

I got a new user account setup using systemd-homed which gives you an encrypted storage for that user. This will require you to log in with a password each time you fire it it up. I consider that a good thing! I also registered my public SSH keys into the systemd-userdb, which then allows me to log into the device with this user account. During the SSH login, you'll be asked for a password too - which is used to decrypt the home directory. Logging out, and the home directory is locked again.

Also played around with various apps, especially #Xournal++ and #Rnote. Both highly capable.

What currently irks me the most is that the #GNOME desktop environment is really not designed for monochrome displays. There are so many different shades of grey everywhere making it really hard to read the screen. This is even with "High Contrast" enabled. GNOME really need a different working mode for eInk displays.

#Flatpak seems to work fine, but recommend to install apps using the command line and add the --user argument to flatpak install. The user data partition has more storage space available.

Next up will be to get #Syncthing and #OpenVPN setup properly (openvpn3-client installed easily). Considering if I want to setup e-mail on this device or not. With that plus backup (I'll be using #PikaBackup) set up, its getting ready for some real daily use.

#Pine64 #foss #oss #opensource #hardware #tablet #systemd

Had more time digging into the #Pine64 #PineNote tablet today.

There were a few known issues related to getting apt upgrade work. This repo helped a lot.

Used both the serial console (via a USB-C adapter which was in the package) and SSH. All works like a charm.

Got git and @radicle running on the device after the software updates got installed. This will be great to fix stuff on-the-fly.

Tested #Xjournal, and that looks looks like it's going to work a lot better than what I expected. Together with Syncthing, this might actually replace the Kobo Elipsa tablet I have (which has collected dust for a while, due to Rakuten's/@[email protected] #enshitifaction of the Kobo devices).

Discovered the two different ways to adjust the light (separate white/blue-ish and orange-ish sliders).

Overall experience so far today is quite good! But still not convinced about GNOME as the desktop environment. Perhaps something like a tiling window manager would be better? It helped a bit though, reducing the default 200% zooming to 150% - values below was basically too tiny for this display.

I'm now pondering on encrypting the /home partitions at least.

And I'm going to look into installing OpenVPN on the device and getting some backup running as well.

But overall I'm quite happy what I've seen so far, at least in regards to the ability to hack this device.

Still find the pen way too simple, though.

I received my #PineNote from @pine64 yesterday evening.

I've not had much time to play with it yet. But I'm looking forward to do that.

First general impression:

• Nice specs, nice display
• Feels like a real computer and not a straitjacket. Great for hacking, but is it great for the average non-tech consumer? However, this is currently more a hacking device, so it makes sense
• It's an e-ink display, so it can feel a bit more laggy than it most likely is - due to the screen update latencies
• It runs a Debian Trixie build with GNOME. GNOME does not feel like that right choice for such a device. Floating windows and soft-keyboard getting in the way all the time
• The software keyboard is designed to look nice - functionally, it's quite annoying.
• The pen which follows feels extremely plastic and really poor quality. But it does the job.
• I would love the pen to be magnetic so it could be soft-attached to the edges of the tablet.
• It ships with Syncthing pre-installed!

But it seems to require some work to get apt update and apt upgrade working smooth. The images installed seemed to be quite out-to-date and several PGP keys used to verify packages was out of date. And there were some issues with the /usr symlink move. So the base install is very premature. Some hacking time will be needed to get it into a more proper shape.

The documentation both on paper and the pre-installed help docs is very scarce on details. And quite some details were even not correct.

Overall impression currently is that the PineNote is not a device I would recommend to non-technical people at all. But it feels like a very capable device for those who likes hacking and don't mind some "rough edges".

I do see this as a device which I should be able to tweak into a pretty functional device with some time. And I'm looking forward to that.

#foss #opensource #pine64 #hardware #tablet #eink #hacking

Today was leg (design) day on the PineNote!
I don't know if I have the skills to actually build this with the angles as drawn. I want something that's not just rectangles sticking out of a slab, want to try stuff, but without doing too many design elements and detracting from the wood figure.

I don't have enough walnut for legs but I have some cherry that I can mill up to be 1" (2.5 cm) thick or the most sensible way to say it: ⁴/₄ four quarter 🤦🏽‍♂️

Tomorrow we cut into the slab... hyperventilation!

#Woodworking #BuildThread #PineNote

Lilbits: Framework Laptop 12 gets a Wildcat Lake upgrade, Pine64 halts Linux device production due to RAMageddon

Fairphone is finally bringing a smartphone to the US market. Framework is upgrading its cheapest laptop. And RAMageddon claims another victim.

Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.

Pine64 is halting production of Linux devices like the PineTab2 tablet and PineNote E Ink slate due to the DRAM/eMMC shortage, and will reevaluate based on pricing & availability in mid 2027. […]

Pine64 is halting production of Linux devices like the PineTab2 tablet and PineNote E Ink slate due to the DRAM/eMMC shortage, and will reevaluate based on pricing & availability in mid 2027. Non-Linux devices like the PineTime, PineVoice, and Pinecil will continue. https://www.cnx-software.com/2026/08/19/pine64-hits-pause-on-linux-devices-due-to-ram-and-emmc-shortage-high-prices/ #PineNote #PineTab #Pine64

@dmacphee Very interesting, not the easiest to use but, good insight. I was hoping to see the #PineNote on that list to see how it compared to the other tablets.

In quite an aggressive bit of annoyance of my (fully functional) @Kobo Elipsa mostly collecting dust due to the #enshitification of the Kobo Firmware (requiring users to be logged in; working around that might put your data at risk of getting wiped at the next firmware update) ...

I took the plunge today and ordered a @pine64eu PineNote. At least that is a device which is properly hackable. Yes, I'm fully aware that the user experience will not be like a fully finished product. But that's perfectly fine - simply because it is hackable.

Simply a massive "F*** ***, #Kobo!" from me.

https://pine64.org/devices/pinenote/

If there are anyone who really wants a fully working Kobo Elipsa 2E in good condition, reach out and we'll agree on a price for it. I have the original box for it as well. The hardware is great, it's the firmware which is really annoying me and I don't have the patience to hack on a completely new firmware for it.

#opensource #foss #hacking #koboelipsa2e #pine64 #PineNote

All I want is a #Linux environment in #kitty terminal on eInk screen.

Would PineNote be any good for that? Or something else?

#pinenote

I had no idea that Xournal++ had geometry tools. I discovered the compass and the speed square while doing some idle sketching for an upcoming coffee table build on the PineNote! This is the appropriate level of "CAD" for me at this stage of the build, graph paper with a protractor but super easy copy paste to visualize various combinations.

This is open hardware running free and open source software, I love this so much!

#Xournal #SketchBook #PineNote #OpenHardware #FOSS #Woodworking #CAD

My PineNote blog posts were linked to from the main body of a discussion thread on Hacker News but due to the consistent and prolific AI scraping it's barely a blip on my traffic. Remember when humans used to hug sites to death? In the old days this would absolutely stick out.

The good news is a human emailed me and asked me for my experience one year in and that was nice (which is also how I found out about the HN post). I'll share my response below until I get around to fleshing out a blog post from it:

I should absolutely do a write-up a year in. I'll give you the highlights:

• I lost my original PineNote and after a few months of trying to get it back, I ended up getting a replacement, which should say something all in itself.
• I wish the device was a little bit smaller and lighter, but I have gotten used to it.
• I use it as a single function device at a time, mostly writing or reading, very occasional computing.
• However, I on a month-long trip and I only brought along my work laptop and the PineNote instead of bringing a personal laptop. I can do all the personal computing that I need on the PineNote and my phone. See my setup here: https://shom.dev/posts/20250406_a-pinenote-only-5-day-weekend/
• I wish Pine64 would update their images with the kernel optimization created by the community member hrdl, they do link to it from their official docs.
• There is also an interesting project called QuillOS, which provides a nice interface to the whole system, but it's not ready for primetime on PineNote.

#PineNote #HackerNews #AIScrapers #AIBots

My #Pine64 #PineNote e-ink Linux tablet arrived!

I'll see in the coming weeks what I can do with it. I'll get #SuperSakura running on it at the least, and maybe I can contribute something else too.

Phoooh..... #PineNote ordered. A bit steep... but I must have it.

A high-quality e-ink tablet with open hardware and free community software, can probably run whatever Linux distro you throw at it, and thus can do anything a full Linux can do.

I'm going to put SuperSakura on it. And maybe read some books or w/e

@da5nsy I looked into the #PineNote, but it's been out of stock for a while in the EU store and I wasn't able to get it from the global one either. It's not cheap nor "finished" and it's meant as a Linux tablet, but I imagine that, with a keyboard, I could make it work for my use cases

@srijan @jiewawa Holy crap! This looks like it can be super useful! This could transform my #PineNote from something that just allows casual passive reading for fun to a device for producing real knowledge in my #Denote database.

Thank you!

#emacs

Restock❗
The #PineNote CE is back, along with the #Pinecil, PineTime, #PinePower desktop and GaN, as well as accessories and bundles
- Devices: https://pine64eu.com/product-category/devices/
- Accessories: https://pine64eu.com/product-category/device-accessories/
- Bundles: https://pine64eu.com/product-category/bundles/

@pine64 Looking forward to seeing the #PineNote!

Sharing a small winter vacation project:

Tooling and scripts for a #PineNote to display a selection of images whenever the device goes to sleep.

I only tested it on a Debian-based installation.

https://gitlab.com/DanVukelich/pinenote-suspend-gallery

I'm really enjoying this blackberry-style keyboard + trackpad for typing on my #pineNote. It beats the on-screen keyboard by a mile whenever I have to open a terminal or enter a password, and it's so small I can take it with me wherever my PN goes.

https://github.com/ZitaoTech/9981_BLE_USB_Keyboard_Pro

Thank you @pluralistic for making your ebooks DRM-free, making it an easy choice to purchase to put onto my #PineNote e-ink tablet for reading.

With the v25.12 release of postmarketos, the Pinenote support is in a pretty good place. Although the device isn't in community yet, I backport fixes from edge so you don't have to. I've packaged hrdl's sway config under device-pine64-pinenote-sway-hrdl for those wanting an opinionated setup right away. I'll be working on optimising existing postmarketos UIs for eink displays in preparation for v26.06.

Install instructions: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/PINE64_PineNote_(pine64-pinenote)

#pine64 #pinenote #postmarketos