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Pine64 has been producing reasonably priced Linux-friendly laptops, smartphones, and single-board laptop for just a few years. And now the corporate is on the brink of launch a Linux-friendly pill… once more.
The PineTab2 shall be a ten.1 inch pill with a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core ARM Cortex-a55 processor, help for as much as 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and a modular, repairable design. Like most Pine64 {hardware}, it’s designed to be low-cost {hardware} for Linux builders and lovers who need to flash their selection of working methods. Pricing hasn’t been introduced but, however Pine64 says it is going to start sending items to builders within the coming month and hopes to start promoting the PineTab2 after Chinese language New 12 months (which suggests you could possibly decide one up in February, 2023 or later).
Because the title suggests, this isn’t Pine64’s first Linux pill. The corporate unveiled the unique PineTab in 2019, started taking pre-orders in 2020… after which bumped into international provide chain points through the pandemic which made it tough to fabricate sufficient items to satisfy demand. On the identical time, the corporate’s PinePhone line of smartphones grew to become in style and so Pine64 shifted assets that may have gone towards producing tablets to creating sufficient telephones to assist the cellular Linux ecosystem develop.
Anyway, a bunch of issues have modified over the previous few years and Pine64 appears assured that it might probably truly ship tablets designed to run free and open supply software program. And the brand new mannequin is getting a little bit of a spec and design bump.
On the heard of the pill is the Rockchip RK3566 processor with Mali-G52 graphics. Pine64 says it provides a great price-to-performance ratio and helps fashionable enter and output. And whereas there wasn’t plenty of Linux help for the chip when it first launched, a number of corporations have launched single-board computer systems (together with the Pine64 Quartz64 Mannequin B), which developed have used to deliver help for the chipset into mainline Linux.
Pine64 says the brand new pill has a metallic chassis that measures 9mm (0.35 inches) thick, and which is straightforward to open by undoing two snap tabs that maintain the again panel in place. When you’ve finished that, it’s best to be capable of substitute most inside elements – the digital camera, daughter board, battery, and USB keyboard connector can all get replaced in lower than 5 minutes.
The LCD show will also be changed with just a little extra effort. And Pine64 plans to make substitute components for the PineTab2 in its on-line retailer someday after launching the pill.
Ports embrace:
- 1 x USB 3.0 Sort-C
- 1 x USB 2.0 Sort-C (additionally used for energy)
- 1 x micro HDMI
- 1 x 3.5mm audio
- 5MP rear + 2MP cameras
- microSD card reader
And the pill may have a PCIe connector uncovered on its mainboard for folk that need to tinker with it, though there’s not sufficient room contained in the chassis for a typical SSD.
Pine64 will promote at the least two configurations: one with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and one other with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. And all fashions will ship commonplace with a removable keyboard that additionally serves as a display screen cowl.
That keyboard options backlit keys and the identical chipset as Pine64’s Pinebook Professional laptop computer, which implies that customers will be capable of flash customized firmware to the keyboard.
The corporate says some specs may change earlier than launch, and some issues haven’t been settled upon but. For instance we don’t know what WiFi and Bluetooth card the pill will ship with. And whereas prototypes have a 6,000 mAh battery, it’s unclear if items that ship to clients may have the identical battery.
through Pine64 December 2022 replace
