GPD Pocket


@sm0kew0n, I really appreciate the video. It is the only review I have watched for the Pocket. I am looking forward to a follow-up that shows performance with Debian. :p

It does look nice. The hinge seems to be great. (I am now considering trying to swap my Pyra hinge if I feel it is lacking, our the case friction doesn't give it enough hold for me.) I don't really care about scratches, especially with metal things...painting something plastic with a highly contrasting colour, though, looks pretty bad once it starts to get scraped up a bit, if you know what I mean. ;) I am guessing durability isn't as much of a concern if the thing is intended to be disposable, which it seems it is.

My major concern regarding durability is about the dings and bends. In addition to looking bad, it could interfere with functionality, as it might not close properly, and the ports could be taken out of alignment with the holes for them. Then there is the problem of gaps that allow stuff in or otherwise expose the guts to the outside world. The two ways to avoid that are too make the case so thick it is built like a tank, which comes with a bunch of other potential problems, or make it flexible, which is where plastic has a better reputation. It seemed flexible enough when you were showing the bottom cover (love that it screws on, and looks easy enough to remove). The angles along the edges probably prevent the main body pieces from bending as easily. Looks better than I expected. (The reason I wasn't so sure about the durability is that I broke the lid and screen on my ThinkPad x220 a few months ago, and I don't know if there would have been less damage with plastic. Maybe I should just get a Toughbook or something like that.)

And, of course, comments on the keyboard, as mentioned in the video: It is a shame they didn't put more effort/money into it. I agree with your comments on it, and I think I understand what you mean by it being like a large remote. I got the feeling you were trying to show us how it feels at one point. Maybe they will make it better in the next one. I hope the Pyra keyboard has the right feel.

I never looked closely at the dimensions, so it seems a bit large to me. I guess that thinness is what allows for pocketability. Probably a bit easier to fit it in than a brick...not so sure I would be able to sit with it in my pocket, though. (It is already a bit of trying to sit with the Pandora in some of my pockets.)

I will definitely mention it to people looking for sub-subnotebook, non-smartphone/tablet devices, with a real OS and keyboard. Then I can try it out myself. ;)
 
I'm going to attempt this for Debian -

https://github.com/stockmind/gpd-pocket-ubuntu-respin

Info found over here -


This is as far as I got today with this installer - firmware-9.1.0-amd64-netinst.iso

IMGA0113.JPG
 
Got mine too since friday. Well, rather since last monday, but I've been on vacation until friday :)
My first impressions was, that it is bigger than I expected - but that's good as I want to develop on it
on the go. I like the case, the keyboard and the screen.
I started installing stuff today and that's where frustration began. I'm not too deep into Windows 10
so I need a few hours of fideling around with all kind of service- and network settings until I learned,
that remote desktop (as server) won't work on the home edition, *sigh*. Not very intuitive since the
OS let's you configure everything but it just won't let you connect to through a rdp client.
That's a shame as I really like to manage that whole setup-stuff through rdp using my bigger notebook.
I used tinyvnc instead, which was a real pain compared to rdp, but it worked. Now I've got the tools
I'm used to and will try and work on some of my projects on the go, I'll report later on my efforts.

Drawbacks so far: Batterylife shorter than expected and it still (I also own a GPD Win) gets quite warm
("just" from installing stuff and running a vnc server). Otherwise it's a great device as far as I can judge
for the time being.
Big thx to ED for the fast delivery, great service as always.
 
Are you planning on installing any other programs before swapping to linux? I'm curious on a few things like VICE

I tried VICE with a few C64 roms and it works nicely. No problems with sound and it looks great in full screen on the 7 inch screen, nice vibrant colours and glitch free. Checked "keep aspect ratio" so there was approximately 1 cm black on both sides. Haven't attached a gamepad and that is really needed to enjoy most of the games.
 
GPD have now started shipping Ubuntu versions of the Pocket to Indiegogo backers. They had some difficulty with a few things which delayed it until now
 
Interesting..
An Ubuntu image can be downloaded from http://www.gpd.hk/news.asp?id=1519&selectclassid=002002 Ubuntu Firmware (internal testing second edition)
Would like to know if the testing image is the final one and is currently being shipped.
this isn't the final image, the official image will be available soon (I asked gpd for the image )


Gesendet von meinem Aquaris M5 mit Tapatalk
 
this isn't the final image, the official image will be available soon (I asked gpd for the image )

Thx! A lot of customers changed from Linux to Windows, so I guess a bunch of them want to try the image.


Could be, but this method still has some issues - so I hope the official one will at least solve some of them. Most important for me are the suspend problem and sound issue. I have the suspend issue in Windows too btw - I think a bios update solves it.


Known Issues
  • Distorted audio (kernel bug – https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=196351 )
  • Suspend Issues (Enhancement: #25)

  • USB-C Data Connectivity (hansdegoede is working on this currently)
  • (DEBIAN) When installing you will be informed modules cannot be loaded. If you select "Yes" to continue anyway this will allow you to continue. (Enhancement: #22)
  • (FEDORA) When installing Fedora you will need to select the option without the media checking functionality. Performing a media check will result in a checksum failure. (Enhancement: #21)
 
I believe they have open sourced the Ubuntu kernel etc they use. So a lot of people have been looking at it to improve it. People were doing it on there own before hand.
I'm not sure that kernel above was the production release, I get the feeling it was the beta release, as GPD have said they wil provide the production release in Sept from memory
 
Gotta say; if that thing ran Ubuntu or some other linux flavour that I was familiar with out of the box it would be an instant buy for me. Looks very nice.
 
I wasn't really interested in the GPD Pocket for its gaming capabilities - but this guy managed to turn it into a quite nice gaming handheld with a cheap add-on. If you want to buy an Ipega Controller after seeing the video pay attention to the comments.

 
Wow, looks like it handles Street Fighter IV pretty well! I am very tempted
 
If you have a GPD Pocket Windows edition and would like to change it to Ubuntu, here is a video showing how to do it.

 
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