The GPD Pocket line of pocket-sized, laptop-like computers ship with Windows 10, but folks have been figuring out how to run GNU/Linux on them since day one.

Last year the developers behind Ubuntu MATE made things a little easier by offering official versions of the operating system optimized for the GPD Pocket and GPD Pocket 2.

Now they’ve released updated images, which means you can install Ubuntu MATE 18.04.2 or Ubuntu MATE 19.04 beta on one of these handheld computers.

Ubuntu MATE is a flavor of Ubuntu Linux with the MATE desktop environment — and the GPD Pocket specific version includes a number of tweaks for better out-of-the-box support on GPD’s tiny computers.

For example, the display orientation is set to landscape mode, display scaling is set to the equivalent of a 7 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel screen (but you can disable this if you’d prefer to see a 1920 x 1200 pixel display), firmware for the WiFi module and fan control.

In addition to bringing support for the latest versions of Ubuntu Linux, the new images also include updates affecting display rotation, touch screen, and GRUB.

The developers have also added support for a virtual mouse scroll wheel. If you hold the right trackpad button while scrolling on the trackpoint, it will work like a scroll wheel.

Ubuntu 19.04 is schedule for launch on April 18th, but if you install the Ubuntu MATE 19.04 beta image before then you should be able to update to the stable release when it’s available.

via Softpedia

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6 replies on “Official Ubuntu MATE for GPD Pocket handheld PCs updated to versions 19.04 and 18.04.2”

  1. I like it, but I hope it doesn’t get dumbed down like other Linux laptops.

  2. Too bad nobody is working on getting Ubuntu MATE working on the GPD MicroPC anymore. At least the Ubuntu MATE dev stopped working on it over a month ago now.

    1. Thanks for this. I refunded my backing because GPD hasn’t been transparent about the lack of work being done on Linux support. Reading through the GPD Discord channel and other places, there’s been zero work done on resolving the display issues since they were encountered at the very beginning of the campaign.

      Supposedly, GPD will send a unit to another dev but that’ll be after the campaign is over. Plus, who knows if he/she will get things working.

    2. Given how GPD hasn’t been very clear on the status of Linux (ie. it’s not working and nobody is actually working on it currently), I’m guessing there’ll be more than few angry people in May when they realize their just arrived MicroPC doesn’t support running Linux. With humans being humans, some of them will probably never buy any GPD product ever again and will try to make others not buy from them either…

      Oh well. Meanwhile, I’ll happily be using Windows 10. I’ll at least reformat and install from a clean Windows ISO from MS though. I’ve read that some previous GPD products came pre-installed with malware. I hope the BIOS/UEFI and other things are malware free at least.

      1. If the CPU was faster (the 6 GB RAM bump is sufficient for me), I would have been fine with running a Linux VM under Windows. Passing USB, Ethernet and RS-232 works okay with VMs for me. However, the CPU is too slow for VM usage (at least for me).

        I see someone asked for an official update in the Indiegogo comment section. If GPD doesn’t have a good response by tomorrow (end of their campaign), I’ll request for a refund.

  3. I thought you’d pick up on this. I wonder if they tried these ISOs on the Netbook One Mix Yogas?

Comments are closed.