Hi everyone! I’m new to this ecosystem, and was looking forward to the Pocket Reform to start learning more. I’ve been on Windows computers my whole life but I can see where that OS is headed and I am attempting to nope out lol.
So, as a beginner, and with a very early Pocket Reform, I have some questions I was hoping you could help with:
it’s been a while since I set up my computer and now I have forgotten my username and password. ugh. I even don’t mind reformatting if I have to but what are my options?
what got me to put up the computer was that the battery drained so fast, even when turned off that it wasn’t super usable. Has that been fixed in software since then? If so, what do I need to do to fix it?
are there any hardware upgrades / replacements you would recommend as needed? Is the wifi bad on everyone’s?
any tips for a new linux user in general? anything you’ve found to be helpful?
Thanks so much for your patience and any info you have - I realize there are lots of requests for help out there but there’s truly a learning curve with this hardware and OS and I very much appreciate any help
Finally, if this is in the wrong spot I am happy to move it! Thanks!
Unfortunately there is no suspend/hybernate working and that is tricky for me as well. I tend to leave the computer plugged in or completely off by fliping the side switch so it wont’ drain power while off.
The wifi was particularly bad due to the lid having a full copper layer blocking the signal. There are lid replacements that help with that here MNT Pocket Reform Back Plate - MNT Research Shop
I am afraid I don’t know where to point to… maybe others have ideas for where to start. There are also many different ways to use linux. In GNOME things are more or less intuitive (?) but I live in sway/terminal/emacs and that has a steeper learning curve.
Hello Hastus, I’m fairly new on the forums as you can see. But I’m a long term lurker and a Linux veteran so hopefully I can help a bit.
1 - Depending if you have encrypted your disk partition or not and if you remember the password for your encrypted disk you may or may not be able to do something about it.
If you don’t remember the password and you have an encrypted partition, I’m afraid you will have to install a new system.
If you do remember the encryption password, or you don’t have the disk encrypted then you have some options. This will require some learning as its not the most straightforward process for new users. The process usually requires using chroot from either a live image or a recovery mode. I don’t know about the image on the mnt pocket reform, but the default installation on my classic reform does not have a boot recovery option (I may be corrected on this one). So booting from an sdcard will likely be your only option.
You will then have to mount the nvme if that is where you installed the system, and then use chroot to get a root shell on your old installation. After that, if you don’t know the username. You check the /etc/shadow file for it and use passwd to update your user password. Great learning experience, but it will likely take you longer than installing a fresh system.
2 - Unsure if this is the case in the pocket reform, but I bet there are some optimizations done to the system controller since you got the computer. There are sections on the mnt documentation that address how to do this: Hardware — MNT Pocket Reform Operator Handbook, 1st Edition documentation
Some people has done mods to almost double the battery size on the pocket reform and it seemed pretty simple. You can find those searching on the forum. I’ve seen reports of 10+h doing simple tasks and 5+h with heavy cpu loads after upgrading the battery packs.
4 - My partner has been using linux as a normal user without issues for 10+ years. There is no need to go into superuser mode unless you really want to. This said, if you do want to go down the rabbit hole:
Start by customizing your system.
If you can, try to script some things to automate the process of setting up a new system with your preferred settings. (we call this configs dotfiles).
Learn how to use the terminal, there are plenty of tutorias online on basic commands on the linux terminal.
Understand the linux file system hierarchy. Where the logs are stored, where the configs are stored, where the binaries and supporting libraries are stored, where external devices are mounted etc. In UNIX land everything is a file and it usually lives somewhere in the file system.
Learn about package managers. APT is not everything, look into nix and guix.
Join the evil team in the editor wars.
HAVE A LOT OF PATIENCE. It takes time, I’m still learning a lot of stuff nowadays and I’ve been using linux as my daily driver for 20 years. What I can tell you is that when you do fix stuff and get things working how you want them, its quite rewarding.
Thanks so much for the info! Ok, I will look into the new image. There was a time when it wouldn’t even charge when on and plugged in, so I’m guessing that’s working now at least?
Yes there is a new firmware that improves the charging behavior. Check the pocket reform manual for instructions on how to update the system and keyboard firmware as there have been improvements.
About learning Linux, I just remembered the manual has a chapter on Linux basics which would be a good place to get started if you haven’t seen it.
Just wanted to update those who were helping. I ordered the Rockchip upgrade board, the wifi upgrade, and the new backplate and that finally came in (with a big tariff surprise ugh). Installed it, downloaded the latest firmware and did a reinstall with that. My MNT Pocket is up and running now! Thanks for all the help
