Users of R-Comp‘s Pinebook Pro are now able to fetch a new ROM image for the ARM-based laptop from the users’ download site, the address and log-in details for which should be in the computer’s documentation.
The Pinebook Pro is built around a Rockchip RK3399 processor, and several months of work on the port of RISC OS to this chip means there are a number of improvements to it – but the two features particularly highlighted by R-Comp are that sound and PCIe are now enabled.
The enabling of sound doesn’t just cover the laptop now being able to output sound through its speakers; it also means there is automatic detection of devices plugged into the headphone socket, with sound therefore diverted to that method of output.
PCIe – or Peripheral Component Interconnect Express – is a expansion bus system designed to allow a variety of things to be connected to a standard interface, such as graphics and sound cards, SSDs, and more. On RISC OS, its usefulness may be somewhat limited, but it’s possible to type *commands to see connected devices, and write code code that accesses the PCIe bus.
Other RK3399-based systems from R-Comp, such as RockyRAID and RockPro, should also benefit from a similar ROM update in due course.
