Although the GPD Pocket has already started to ship the support for running Ubuntu on the device is currently still in development. This means anyone trying to run Ubuntu is faced with the usual hurdles of booting, wifi, screen rotation and all the other frequently encountered issues.
Not surprisingly you can't just download an official Ubuntu ISO and be up running problem free. However I thought it would be interesting to see if the fixes required could be incorporated into an ISO through respinning using my 'isorespin.sh' script.
I've used the solutions that chrisawcom has posted on reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/GPDPocket/comments/6idnia/linux_on_gpd_pocket) and created a script that basically updates an official ISO with the required fixes allowing it to be respun.
The command I use to respin the ISO is:
isorespin.sh -i ubuntu-17.04-desktop-amd64.iso -u -p thermald -p "libproc-daemon-perl libproc-pid-file-perl liblog-dispatch-perl" -f linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh -f gpd_pocket -f gpd_pocket.sh -c gpd_pocket.sh -g "" -g "i915.fastboot=1 fbcon=rotate:1"
and I'll briefly cover each of the options as follows:
-i ubuntu-17.04-desktop-amd64.iso uses an official Ubuntu desktop 64-bit ISO as the base ISO.
-u updates the kernel to the latest Ubuntu Kernel Team kernel build located at http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline (current is v4.12-rc7). This is important as the proposed v4.12 kernel includes critical patches that fix many of the issues found when running Linux on an Intel Atom SOC including audio and wifi.
-p installs specific software packages required for thermal management and fan controls.
-f adds the scripts that I've written to specifically customize the ISO with audio, wifi and screen support together with the required files.
-g both removes the default kernel boot parameters and adds additional kernel boot parameters required for successfully booting the device related to screen handling.
Looking at the main configuration script (gpd_pocket.sh) in more detail this basically configures:
- the internet access for the script
- the Broadcom wifi driver
- screen rotation
- screen brighness
- touchscreen
- fan
by implementing the solutions identified on reddit.
The key benefit is including all the fixes within an ISO that can then be repeatedly used for testing. Respinning the ISO produces the log file:
Script '/usr/local/bin/isorespin.sh' called with '-i ubuntu-17.04-desktop-amd64.iso -u -p thermald -p libproc-daemon-perl libproc-pid-file-perl liblog-dispatch-perl -f linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh -f gpd_pocket -f gpd_pocket.sh -c gpd_pocket.sh -g -g i915.fastboot=1 fbcon=rotate:1' ...
Work directory 'isorespin' used ...
ISO '/home/linuxium/Documents/ubuntu-17.04-desktop-amd64.iso' respun ...
Kernel boot parameters 'i915.fastboot=1 fbcon=rotate:1' added ...
Initial kernel boot parameters 'quiet splash' deleted ...
Bootloader 'GRUB' added ...
Kernel updated with mainline kernel version '4.12.0-041200rc7-generic' ...
Package 'thermald' added ...
Package 'libproc-daemon-perl libproc-pid-file-perl liblog-dispatch-perl' added ...
File '/home/linuxium/Documents/linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh' added ...
Directory '/home/linuxium/Documents/gpd_pocket' added ...
File '/home/linuxium/Documents/gpd_pocket.sh' added ...
Command run ...
# gpd_pocket.sh
/usr/local/bin/gpd_pocket.sh: Configuring GPD Pocket ...
./linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh: Extracting UCM files ...
./linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh: Installing UCM files ...
./linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh: Reloading UCM driver ...
./linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh: Installation of UCM finished
/usr/local/bin/gpd_pocket.sh: Installing Broadcom files ...
/usr/local/bin/gpd_pocket.sh: Reloading Broadcom driver ...
/usr/local/bin/gpd_pocket.sh: Installing rotation files ...
/usr/local/bin/gpd_pocket.sh: Installing brightness files ...
/usr/local/bin/gpd_pocket.sh: Installing touchscreen files ...
/usr/local/bin/gpd_pocket.sh: Installing fan service ...
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/gpdfand.service -> /lib/systemd/system/gpdfand.service.
/usr/local/bin/gpd_pocket.sh: Starting fan service ...
Running in chroot, ignoring request.
/usr/local/bin/gpd_pocket.sh: Configuration of GPD Pocket finished.
Respun ISO created as 'linuxium-v4.12-rc7-ubuntu-17.04-desktop-amd64.iso'.
dd if=linuxium-v4.12-rc7-ubuntu-17.04-desktop-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M
where '/dev/sdX' is the correct device for your USB (but first check using commands like 'df', 'blkid' or 'lsblk' to confirm its correct name).
If you want to respin the ISO yourself then download and unzip the file 'gpd_pocket.zip' which contains the required script and files together with 'linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh' for the ALSA UCM files. For the ISO you need to download an Ubuntu 64-bit desktop ISO (e.g. Ubuntu 17.04 from http://releases.ubuntu.com/17.04/ubuntu-17.04-desktop-amd64.iso or Ubuntu 16.04 from http://releases.ubuntu.com/16.04.2/ubuntu-16.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso) together with my 'isorespin.sh' script and then run the command above.
One additional option you might consider adding is '-s 200MB' to add persistence to your ISO as it means that you can retain your data, settings and any changes you make between reboots which is particularly useful when trying to get things to work.
More details about my 'isorespin.sh' script can be found here including full documentation including examples.
If you find my script useful then please donate using the following link http://goo.gl/nXWSGf as everything helps with development costs.