!Pinebook Pro 6-month update
---
agk's diary
22 October 2021 @ 14:06
---
written on Pinebook Pro
while watching pathopharm lecture
---
I got it new six months ago for $200. It's the most
modern computer I own. I use it for nursing school,
which I attend mostly via web browser and in real
hospitals.
Kernel: 5.14.12-1-MANJARO-ARM
Resolution: 1920x1080
CPU: (6) @ 1.416GHz
Memory: 889MiB / 3863MiB
I throw it in my backpack, drive to the college of
nursing, pull it out and invoke nmtui to connect to
the eduroam-managed wifi AP with my credentials.
st/tmux pane
------------
I keep st terminal emulator multiplexed by tmux in
the left 1/4 of desktop 1. I invoke sc spreadsheet
to track how I spend time. I break my school day
into 25 minute increments with a kitchen timer
shaped like a tomato, or invoke termdown 25m.
I write with micro editor. Sometimes I edit papers in
vi and use nnn to browse directories and open files
instead of remembering the name of the default
program to open pdfs or whatever. Need to look up
something? I made three little shell scripts to query
duckduckgo, frogfind, and etymology online.
> cat /usr/local/bin/frog
#!/bin/bash
case "$1" in
-g) lynx
http://www.frogfind.com/read.php?a=https://$2 ;;
*) lynx
http://frogfind.com/?q=$1 ;;
esac
# Purpose: call frogfind and search or go.
# Use: frog half-life+heparin
# frog -g ci.uky.edu/kentuckyhealthnews/tag/rural-health/
I check the forecast with curl v2.wttr.in, read news
with lynx legiblenews.com, social compute (email, com,
gopher, bboard) on SDF with mosh, post to gopher with
scp, and listen to the radio with a shell script:
> cat /usr/local/bin/radio
#!/bin/bash
case "$1" in
-a) mpg123 -b 768
http://anonradio.net:8000/anonradio ;;
-e) mpg123 -b 768
http://wevl.streamguys1.com/live ;;
-n) mpg123 -b 768
http://crystalout.surfernetwork.com:8001/WNOV-AM_MP3 ;;
-o) mpg123 -b 768
http://wwoz-sc.streamguys1.com/wwoz-hi.mp3 ;;
-t) mpg123 -b 768
http://azuracast.tilderadio.org/radio/8000/radio.mp3 ;;
*) echo "syntax : 'radio -a' plays anonradio, -e WEVL, -n WNOV, -o WWOZ, -t tilderadio" ;;
esac
# Original script posted on sdf bboard in 2021 by Publius.
# agk added 3 streams and removed one.
When I listen, radio and alsamixer run in tmux on
desktop 2. I keep notes on admin tasks with Hal
Pomeranz's plod (from comp.lang.perl). I invoke
poweroff to shut the computer down.
firefox pane
------------
The right 3/4 of desktop 1 is generally firefox.
Tabs contain class canvas shells, yuja media rec-
orded lecture videos, microsoft365 email, textbooks
on vitalsource, and interactive course material from
elsevier evolve, sherpath, simchart, and brainscape.
One professor requires us to use turning ttpoll and
adobe spark during zoom lectures. Everything required
for school except zoom and respondus lockdown browser
works on the Pinebook Pro. I run zoom on one of the
college's iPads, and lockdown browser on a sluggish
Dell the college where I got my first degree gave me
when I graduated (It's always using 100% of disk
write updating windows 10 and >300 MB RAM running an
unkillable endpoint security service).
I paste papers I write into libreoffice, do APA
formatting, and submit on canvas as microsoft word
documents. My firefox extensions are OneTab, Multi-
Account Containers, and uBlock Origin. School stuff
opens in a school container. Youtube and such open
in a sus container.
So: you can do modern uni stuff on a Pinebook Pro.
Annoyances
----------
Reaching for backspace key and hitting power button.
Good thing it boots almost instantly.
How the hardware stands up to my abuse
--------------------------------------
The magnesium case has a lot of flex. I use a little
screwdriver a couple times a month to tighten the screws
that hold on the case bottom. They wiggle loose. None of
them fell out and got lost yet.
The battery sometimes won't charge from the barrel plug.
I switch to USB-C and it's fine. I switch back for the
same reason. I think I overcharged it once. The power
LED flashed red and green. I unplugged the charger. All
was well. The battery life's great.
I busted the headphone jack. I dropped the computer
while it was attached to my home stereo's RCA phono ins,
playing radio -e. Maybe I can fix it. Otherwise, a new
side board is $7. When it's back in stock, I'll yank
the ribbon cable from my old one and plug in a new one.
There's no suspend or hibernate, which took getting used
to. Screen brightness keys don't work in i3 without
configuration I haven't had time to figure out. They
work in KDE plasma. The machine's light and thin. The
screen's good.
It's nice to have a laptop that obeys me and doesn't need
much attention. I like that it doesn't cost much and I
can use it how I like without a ton of work.
