Group: Hardware/Computers/Laptops/Freeable laptops/Pinebook PRO

== Introduction ==

This page research if it's possible to replace a Libreboot Thinkpad with a Pinebook PRO and how much freedom issue the Pinebook PRO has.

== Research ==

Nonfree firwmares:
* Internal WiFi / Bluetooth <ref>https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=11136</ref> => Use another WiFi / Bluetooth adapter on another bus (USB, PCIe, etc).
* dptx.bin: The internal display works without it but the external displays won't work without it.

There might be other too like video decoding offload (which can be avoided by decoding videos with the CPU) but if they are they are not very visible: users will probably not notice any lack of functionality.

== WiFi ==

An adapter <ref>https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=9727</ref> exists to enable to connect NGFF A/E key WiFi cards.

Thinkpenguin also seems to have some potentially compatible cards that use the ath9k driver: 
* The [https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/wireless-n-dual-band-bluetooth-40-m2-ngff-combo-card-tpe-m2ncrd TPE-M2NCRD] is an "E keyed card" and looks shorter
* The [https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/wireless-n-m2-ngff-card-v2-tpe-m2ncrd2 TPE-M2NCRD2 TPE-M2NCRD2] is an "A & E keyed card" and looks longer

I don't know if the length match or if you an E only keyed cards works with an A/E NGFF adapter.

Alternatively it's possible to use external USB WiFi cards, but they will be limited to 2.4GHz and there is a tradeoff to make between the range and the key size.

Some more research might be needed to understand if it's possible to easily mount an USB WiFi card inside that laptop.

== Storage ==
* 128M flash chip: can be used for the bootloader<ref name="Pinebook_Pro_SPI">https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php?title=Pinebook_Pro_SPI</ref>: This way you could encrypt fully the other storage which have internal nonfree firmwares.
* Removable eMMC (64G or 128G available at the time of writing)
* MicroSD (SD3.0, MMC 4.5, up to 50MB/s)
* Adding an NVMe is also possible but this has some downsides:
** This occupies the PCIe connector. It might be a better idea to try to find a way to connect an ath9k compatible card on that connector.
** The NVMe has an internal nonfree firmware and probably has DMA access to your RAM

== Status ==

According to the [https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2021-05/msg00032.html "Pinebook Pro no longer WIP" thread] on the guix-devel mailing list, the Pinebook PRO seems to have some of the basic functionality working and it doesn't seem to need any extra patches on top of linux-libre.

== Other differences with a Libreboot Thinkpad ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!
! Libreboot Thinkpad
! Pinebook PRO
|-
! Architecture
|
* i686 on some laptops
* x86_64 on others
|
* ARM 64bit
See [[Group:Hardware/FSDG_distributions|distribution compatibility]] for more infos.
|-
! Embedded controller firmware
| Nonfree
Handles:
* The keyboard
* The power up sequence (voltages, power rails)
* WiFi / bluetooth power on/off
* Battery charging
* etc
| Unsure if it's free software.
probably handles similar things.
|-
! RAM
| 4G, 8G possible with specific RAM DIMMs.
| 4G soldered
|-
! Ethernet
| Integrated
| Through USB adapter
|-
! Display
| Mate, good enough for working.
| Mate, more recent / better?
|-
! Debug
| 
* UART in the dock on some laptops, or absent on other
* It might be possible to add an UART through the express card connector
* USB Debug (not very practical)
* Reinstalling Libreboot can be time consuming on some laptops (~1day) while it can be really fast on other (minutes)<ref>It of course depends on people's skills, flash programmer speeds and so on but it's not uncommon to spend ~8h to disassemble and reassemble a Thinkpad T400 when doing it the first time, while it probably takes less than 10 minutes for a Thinkpad X200. Doing that is needed to install Libreboot or reinstall it if the computer doesn't boot anymore.</ref>.
|
* External UART connector (multiplexed with sound?)
* TODO: What is the SOC/device boot order?
|}

== References ==
<references/>