post on Mastodon: https://social.treehouse.systems/@pine64/117111063654864544
Hi everyone! Just a quick reminder that due to the current DRAM/eMMC shortage, there isn’t any plans to continue producing more Linux devices in the near future. Whether production continues or not depends on the pricing situation for those components after mid 2027.
Devices like the PineNote and PineTab2 are currently estimated to run out of stock in three months time. Just pre-warning everyone in case people start asking when things are going to be in stock again.
Meanwhile, devices like the PineTime, PineVoice and Pinecil will continue production as usual!
As for the PineTime Pro, currently the demo firmware has basic drivers for the display, touch, motion, GPS, buttons, heat rate sensor (chip id only), battery charger, motor, microphone and the speaker. Though some issues do need to be ironed out first before a pilot batch begins production.
That’s it for this post, all in all it’s a bit bleak for the Linux devices, but in the meantime PineStore still have a great lineup of MCU powered devices which will continue to expand with more exciting devices.
Alrightttttt, have a great Monday! (or Tuesday, if you’re up that early)
And:
PINE64 isn’t the only Linux-focused hardware provider caught in this price surge.
The Orange Pi Neo, a Linux-first handheld built with Manjaro, has been sitting on ice since earlier this year for the same reason. The project has been in development for two years and still has no launch date, all because DDR5 and SSD prices refuse to come back down.
I’ve been seeing people in real life clearing out their old tech in the past few years. (I’m not declaring it’s a trend). I wonder if they’re going to regret it in this era of tech scarcity. We’ve gone from a period of throwaway devices to a shortage real quick.
I don’t. The tech I cleared out is old enough to still be useless even in the current landscape. Mainly boiling down to:
It’s battery tech so old the cost of a replacement battery is more than the tech itself
It uses connectivity (wired or wireless) that is no longer compatible with current tech without maintaining a separate set of workarounds (I’m keeping the PS/2 keyboards though)
The compute is so limited it’s easier to spin up a tiny container on my existing hardware
The last phone I threw away was so old it literally couldn’t run RPGMaker without lagging on every tile move. It did not have USB Type-C HDMI output due to hardware limitations and relied on Google Chromecast only. At that point, there really is no reason to keep it anymore.
Really depends on what the “old tech” is and who those people are, but the majority of people, the average person with average equipment, they’re not going to regret it at all.
Most of that old tech equipment is essentially just junk taking up space to the average person. Even if they had a use for it, new stuff (particularly low-end new stuff) is still relatively cheap. Like a quick peek at corporate retailer #4’s website and I see brand new tablets for less than $200 and laptops for less than $300. May not be good stuff, but generally good enough for typical non-techie users who are just simping for MAGA on Facebook while watching the Baby Yoda on their Disney+ account.
Physical books and other media have been the staple case of this.