GPD Win
GPD Win is a small (5.5 inch screen) handheld device.
Contents
Fixes
Things not mentioned below should work out-of-the-box.
Built-in Wi-Fi
Before Linux Bug 185661 is resolved, a fix is needed to get built-in Wi-Fi working. Current solution is to grab brcmfmac4356-pcie.txt from here and drop it into /lib/firmware/brcm and reload the brcmfmac module.
Easiest way to get built-in Wi-Fi working on the Arch Linux installer is, from Windows 10, download the file above to C:\. Then from the installer do the following:
Make a directory and mount the Windows 10 partition (Replace mmcblk0p2 with your Windows 10 partition found by running lsblk)
mkdir windows mount /dev/mmcblk0p2 windows
Copy the file
cp windows/brcmfmac4356-pcie.txt /lib/firmware/brcm
Reload the module
modprobe -r brcmfmac modprobe brcmfmac
Connect to Wi-Fi
wifi-menu
Battery monitoring
Works but currently requires Hans de Goede's patched kernel. His kernel will also fix "Not charging when the power cable gets plugged in after boot" and "Only drawing max 0.5A from the charger, charging slowly if at all".
Rotating X Session
Because the device uses a phone screen, the display has to be rotated to function properly. Since kernel 4.9.2, rotating X session (manually with xrandr or within settings of a desktop environment) works out-of-the-box. (NB: before investing too much time (or buying the device) it is worth noting there may be idiosyncrasies in the gpdwin batches. Running 4.9.11-1 (March 7, 2017) did not fix the screen rotation issue on my gpdwin.).
Rotating touch screen
Since kernel 4.9.2, rotating X session will automatically rotate touch screen (so far, only tested with gnome-control-center). If not able to rotate, running the following command might work for you, but results seems to differ for people.
xinput set-prop 'Goodix Capacitive TouchScreen' 'Coordinate Transformation Matrix' -1 0 1 0 -1 1 0 0 1
Fixing occasional crash when using all cores
Turbo Boost on this CPU is software-controlled and the Linux kernel (4.4) is not throttling down the CPU enough, running at or close to 2.4Ghz the whole time even with 4 cores active which crashes the CPU eventually. Disabling the Turbo Boost feature ("Turbo Mode" in the BIOS) fixed those crashes. More info here.
Sound
Works out of the box with latest and linux-lts kernel. Headphone jack works but currently requires Hans de Goede's patched kernel.
Memory card reader
Works out of the box with latest and linux-lts kernel.
Physical power and volume buttons
Works but currently requires Hans de Goede's patched kernel.
Adjusting screen brightness
Works but currently requires Hans de Goede's patched kernel.
Suspend/resume/waking up when opening the lid
Works but currently requires Hans de Goede's patched kernel.
Installation guide
Boot the installer
Reboot holding either "Del" or "Esc" to enter BIOS. From the BIOS screen, either change the boot options to prioritize your usb drive or boot from it once.
On the Arch Linux boot option screen, with the first option highlighted, click "e" to edit boot options and add "i915.fastboot=1" to avoid black screen on boot and "fbcon=rotate:1" for screen to be rotated correctly.
Formating and mounting partitions for dual booting with Windows 10
Use "Disk Management" in Windows or similar tools to shrink the Windows 10 partition and use the space to create a new partition for Arch Linux.
Run lsblk to list partitions and note the numbers for the following partitions:
- (X) Windows Boot Loader, a 100MB partition
- (Y) Windows 10 partition
- (Z) New Linux partition
Format the new Linux partition and mount it
mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk0pZ mount /dev/mmcblk0pZ /mnt
Create boot directory and mount Windows Boot Loader
mkdir /mnt/boot mount /dev/mmcblk0pX /mnt/boot
Install Arch Linux
Install base system
pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel
Copy the file from the Wi-Fi fix to the new installation
cp /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4356-pcie.txt /mnt/lib/firmware/brcm
Continue by following the regular install guide until bootloader step, then continue below.
Install bootloader
Install bootloader
bootctl install
Create and fill /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
title Arch Linux linux /vmlinuz-linux initrd /initramfs-linux.img options i915.fastboot=1 fbcon=rotate:1 root=/dev/mmcblk0pZ rw
You have now installed Arch Linux on your GPD Win!