Just a small update:
Today I received the Pine64 today. So now that I have a visual, I can read the tech documents and see the workings and figure out how it ticks and how it can integrate into the project.

Just a shout out to the Pine Team: They were great. As any startup, they had some setbacks, but considering they started as just two people when the funding started and it severely outpaced their expectations (hard to anticipate the popularity of an idea when just starting) they did a fine job. They kept their backers updated as much as possible and despite some not being happy (we live in the "I want it NOW!!!" world) they still kept going. For those thinking about crowdfunding or backing one, there will be setbacks. Things happen. Production runs fail, natural disasters happen, QC doesn't live up to par... all these could set a project back. As long as the project leaders keep you inform and provide transparency in the process, you should just stay calm, sit back, and don't immediately think it is a scam. You are not working with Apple, the corporation, you are working with Apple, the garage startup. Patience.

Now without firing it up yet, the design looks fairly good. PCB looks professionally done, components look solid to the naked eye (except there was one momentary button loose in the box. It fits in the power or reset position and obviously not soldered. Wonder if this was intentional, an after thought at the production facility, or an option. Gotta read more.) , and the separate and optional bt/wifi fit snuggly without question how it fit.

In other news, I was going to set up a custom USB microscope to take pictures of PCB layouts, components, and such, and while I have the majority of the parts, the zoom lens is expensive for now. I choose a zoom instead of a fixed so I could adjust the view to fit the part without changing lenses. That way I could get the smallest component clearly for part identification while still getting the majority of a PCB in view to show where it goes. Trying to make things as one armed as possible. I do have 25x jeweler's glasses coming, So I might be able to use the detachable opticals and temporarily use them on my iPhone for pics until I find a price point I can afford.

So if you are interested in the Pine64 (no I'm not getting anything out of this plug, I just liked the idea and so far the product) you can head over to pine64.com and look around. They have links to the hardware and software on their wiki and are updating at wiki.pine64.org.

Now time to do some work. Pics of the board will be coming soon.