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PINE64 PineTab (pine64-pinetab)

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PINE64 PineTab
The PineTab running Sway (old prototype device)
The PineTab running Sway (old prototype device)
Manufacturer PINE64
Name PineTab
Codename pine64-pinetab
Released 2019
Type tablet
Hardware
Chipset Allwinner A64
CPU 4x 1152 MHz Cortex-A53
GPU Mali-400 MP2
Display 800x1280 IPS
Memory 2 GB
Architecture aarch64
Software
Original software
The software and version the device was shipped with.
Ubuntu Touch
Extended version
The most recent supported version from the manufacturer.
Ubuntu Touch
postmarketOS
Category testing
Mainline
Instead of a Linux kernel fork, it is possible to run (Close to) Mainline.
yes
pmOS kernel
The kernel version that runs on the device's port.
5.9.x
Unixbench score
Unixbench Whetstone/Dhrystone score. See Unixbench.
1056.1
Device package device-pine64-pinetab
Kernel package linux-postmarketos-allwinner
Features
USB Networking
After connecting the device with USB to your PC, you can connect to it via telnet (initramfs) or SSH (booted system).
Works
Battery
Charging and battery level reporting works
Works
Screen
Display works. Ideally with sleep mode and brightness control.
Works
Touchscreen
Works
Multimedia
3D Acceleration
Works
Audio
Audio playback, microphone, headset and buttons.
Works
Camera
Works
Connectivity
WiFi
Works
Bluetooth
Works
Miscellaneous
FDE
Full disk encryption and unlocking with unl0kr.
Works
USB OTG
USB On-The-Go or USB-C Role switching
Works
Sensors
Accelerometer
Auto screen rotation works in desktops e.g. Phosh or Plasma Mobile
Works

Contributors

Users owning this device

  • Alexeymin (Notes: Engineering sample, only 1Gb RAM, bad connection to keyboard pogo pins - collecting dust in a drawer)
  • Brutuss
  • Danct12
  • Drebrez
  • DylanVanAssche (Notes: Engineering sample with 2GB RAM, no keyboard)
  • Icenowy (Notes: Two with different LCD versions)
  • MartijnBraam (Notes: Engineering sample, only 1Gb RAM, bad connection to keyboard pogo pins)
  • Z3ntu


Installation

The PineTab will boot from a bootable microSD card if it is plugged, and fall back to booting from internal eMMC. You can install postmarketOS on either of them (or even on both).

Build your image with pmbootstrap using pmbootstrap install --sdcard. Either set a micro SD card as target, or boot your PineTab with JumpDrive and select the eMMC.

Serial console

The PineTab has a serial port in the headphone connector, it's activated by a switch behind the SD card cover. If the switch is pointed toward the SD card the headphone connector is in audio mode, if it's pointed the other way it's in UART mode.

The uart is 115200n8

The pinout for the serial connector on the tablet side is:

  • Tip: RX
  • Ring: TX
  • Sleeve: GND

The serial connection is 3.3V

You can also buy the debug cable from PINE64 Store.

Components

Component Model Driver
Touchscreen Goodix GT9271 TOUCHSCREEN_GOODIX
Rear camera OmniVision OV5640 VIDEO_OV5640
Front camera GalaxyCore GC2145 Nope
LCD Feixin K101 IM2BA02 DRM_PANEL_FEIXIN_K101_IM2BA02
WiFi Realtek RTL8723CS RTL8723CS
Bluetooth Realtek RTL8723CS BT_HCIUART_RTL
Accelerometer Bosch BMA223 BMC150_ACCEL_I2C
Volume buttons Buttons connected to the KEYADC KEYBOARD_SUN4I_LRADC
Power button X-Powers AXP803 INPUT_AXP20X_PEK
Battery fuel gauge X-Powers AXP803 BATTERY_AXP20X

Touchscreen

The touchscreen on the PineTab is controlled by goodix module on i2c-0, at address 0x5d.

Cameras

Both front and back camera shares the same csi-0 bus. Currently only the back camera (OV5640) has mainline support.

It's not clear what would it reacts to both front and back camera. More information needed on this.

Since Cerdus is at /dev/video0, the CSI is at /dev/video1 and can be controlled with /dev/media1 using media-ctl

pine-pinetab:~# media-ctl --set-v4l2 '"ov5640 2-003c":0[fmt:UYVY8_2X8/1280x720]' -d /dev/media1
pine-pinetab:~# ffmpeg -s 1280x720 -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video1 -vframes 1 selfie.jpg

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi works using the RTL8723CS driver from Icenowy, loads and connect to a Wi-Fi perfectly fine. However power saving capabilities aren't working, so the PineTab battery will drain more quicker.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth also works on this device after installing firmware-rtl8723bt, there is a patch series on LKML.

Accelerometer

The accelerometer driver is for BMA250 on mainline, and works just fine. The accelerometer value could be get here:

pine-pinetab:~$ cat /sys/bus/iio/devices/iio\:device1/name 
BMA222E
pine-pinetab:~$ cat /sys/bus/iio/devices/iio\:device1/in_accel_x_raw 
-1
pine-pinetab:~$ cat /sys/bus/iio/devices/iio\:device1/in_accel_y_raw 
28
pine-pinetab:~$ cat /sys/bus/iio/devices/iio\:device1/in_accel_z_raw 
-12

Audio

Speakers

Sound output should work after unmuting AIF1 Slot 0 digital and DAC. However Danct12's unit had it's speakers broken so this hasn't tested on him, but confirmed working on others.

The Speaker output is named "Line Out"

Headphone Jack

Thankfully our device still has the headphone jack, so you could still listen to "The Beatles", right?

Well, sure. Headphones should work after unmuting Headphone and AIF1 Slot 0 digital.

Microphone

Microphone can be enabled by toggle capture and unmute "AIF1 Data Digital Audio", "Mic1", "Mic2".

The microphone can be found here:

RAM

Changing the Clock Frequency

See the PinePhone article.

See also