Pinebook Pro: Install

These experimental images for the Pinebook Pro support running from the microSD card or the internal eMMC. Some users have reported success running it from an NVMe drive too, but this hasn't been tested/verified by the elementary team, so no instructions are provided for this.

Note: It is highly recommended to flash your image to a microSD card and test it before flashing to the eMMC. There is no testing that occurs on these images before they are uploaded, so they may be completely broken.

microSD Card

These steps can be performed on any computer with the image file downloaded and verified; even the Pinebook Pro itself if it has a working operating system running from the eMMC.

Choose a microSD Card

Performance can vary greatly depending on the speed and quality of the microSD card used. We recommend the following:

• At least 16 GB. This will be your main "hard drive" that stores the OS, apps, and all of your files. Bigger is generally better.

• Highest speed possible, but at least 10 MB/s. Due to differing ways this is listed, look for any of the following:

  • 10 MB/s or faster
  • Class 10 or higher
  • UHS 1 or higher
  • V10 or higher

• A reputable/known brand. Since this is your main drive, it will be constantly read and written to. Cheap no-name microSD cards can be tempting, but are much more likely to fail than a known brand.

Install to microSD Card

Note: These steps will overwrite the whole microSD card. Choose a card that is either blank or without important data.

1. Identify the device path of the microSD card (this is usually in the format /dev/mmcblkX). The easiest way to do this is often to run lsblk without the microSD card inserted, and then run it again with the card inserted. The new device that appears will more than likely be your microSD card.

   • Warning: If you identify the wrong device at this point, you can potentially lose data and/or render your device unbootable during the next stage. Please ensure the device is correct before continuing.

   • Hint #1: lsblk also lists partitions on storage device, so you may have entries like /dev/mmcblk1p1 and /dev/mmcblk1p2. We want to write the image to the whole microSD card instead of a partition on it, so ignore any of these partition devices, and just use the toplevel device.

   • Hint #2: On the Manjaro ARM build installed by default on the Pinebook Pro, the microSD card device path is usually /dev/mmcblk1. Though this can vary between different distributions, so be sure to check.

2. Once you are sure you have the right device for the microSD card, flash the image to it with the following command:

   • xzcat <path to .img.xz file> | sudo dd of=<device path> bs=4M status=progress (ensure you replace the bracket sections with the correct path to the image file and the correct device path as discovered in step 1)

3. Once the command completes, the microSD card is ready. Boot the Pinebook Pro with the microSD card inserted to test the image. The first boot will take a little longer as it automatically resizes itself to fill the free space left on the microSD card.

Install to internal eMMC

These steps should be performed on the Pinebook Pro itself, running an OS from the microSD Card. You should first test the elementary OS image you intend to use on the microSD card before flashing it to the eMMC.

Note: You cannot perform this process using an OS running from the eMMC.

1. Get the desired .img.xz file downloaded or otherwise copied into the running OS. You should re-verify the image at this stage if you have performed another download/copy.

2. Identify the device path of the eMMC (this is usually in the format /dev/mmcblkX). The easiest way to do this is often to run lsblk and identify the device which doesn't have any mountpoints. One of the microSD card partitions will be mounted on /. So you know this is not the device you need.

   • Warning: If you identify the wrong device at this point, you can potentially lose data and/or render your device unbootable during the next stage. Please ensure the device is correct before continuing.

   • Hint #1: lsblk also lists partitions on storage device, so you may have entries like /dev/mmcblk1p1 and /dev/mmcblk1p2. We want to write the image to the whole eMMC instead of a partition on it, so ignore any of these partition devices, and just use the toplevel device.

   • Hint #2: On the Manjaro ARM build installed by default on the Pinebook Pro, the eMMC device path is usually /dev/mmcblk2. Though this can vary between different distributions, so be sure to check.

3. Once you are sure you have the right device for the eMMC, flash the image to it with the following command:

   • xzcat <path to .img.xz file> | sudo dd of=<device path> bs=4M status=progress (ensure you replace the bracket sections with the correct path to the image and the correct device path as discovered in step 2 respectively)

4. Once the command completes, reboot the Pinebook Pro with the microSD card removed to test the image. The first boot will take a little longer as it automatically resizes itself to fill the free space left on the eMMC card.