GPD P2 Max - Unofficial build

Hi,

My GPD P2 Max has been dispatched. I wonder if anyone here had experimented with the GPD P2 Max and could tell me is it best to use stock Ubuntu Mate 19.04 image or would I be best to try the GPD Micro PC Alpha 19.10 image or GPD Pocket 2 image.

I appreciate that official support for the P2 Max is not likely to happen until October at the earliest but I just thought someone here may be able to help advise which is best.

Also I believe a kind soul has resolved the touchscreen issue now so all should work off a standard image I think.
see https://www.reddit.com/r/GPDPocket/comments/cuqb6x/on_the_issues_of_the_touch_screen_of_gpd_p2_max/)

Hi,
Has anyone tried Ubuntu Mate on GPD P2 Max ?
Which image is best?

I've installed Ubuntu MATE 19.10 on mine. Apart from the touch screen, everything else works "out of the box". 19.04 should work too.

I'll prepare a bespoke Ubuntu MATE image for the P2 Max soon that will hopefully include a fix for the touch screen.

Thanks I’ve run Ubuntu MATE 19.04 live and it’s great. (Obviously except touchscreen)

Thanks for offering to do a specific build for P2 Max which hopefully includes the fix this would be nice. Thanks

I will try 19.10 build bespoke build for P2 Max if and when its ready. Thanks.

Pete.

Hi @Wimpy

Sorry to bother you I know your very busy.
Can you clarify if you meant that you would be willing to release an alpha build 19.10 for P2 Max prior to 26th September beta release? Or did you mean a 19.04 release with touchscreen fix.

I’m trying to see if worth waiting for your bespoke image or just crack on myself with 19.10 alpha. Thanks.

I tried the Alpha 19.10 build and it as Wimpy said pretty much all works out of the box (with the exception of the touchscreen)

There are two observations of mine:

  1. The fan does not turn off during suspend
  2. Even with the latest bios version 0.23 at time of writing and setting to Silent / Energy Performance in Bios the battery life does not seem that good in Ubuntu Mate compared with Windows 10 Home. (I haven't fully tested it but it seems longer in Windows 10 with power management tweaks I made)

EDIT: Bios v.022 seemed much better in battery in both Ubuntu Mate 19.04 live and Windows I think GPD broke something in this version which is now affecting battery/performance.

GPD today release bios version 0.24.
This is to resolve touchscreen issue in Linux / Ubuntu (it removes the need for acpi_override)

It also appears to have resolved the power management sleep issues. I will test thoroughly over the next few days but this is good news as touchscreen should now work out of the box after bios version 0.24 is flashed.

Hi @Wimpy I’m running 19.10 beta on P2 Max and it’s working great.

I wonder whether there would be any advantage to switching to the customised build when it’s released? What benefit would it give.

Thanks for your continued work on this project.

I tried Ubuntu Mate 19.10 on the GPD P2 Max with BIOS version 0.24 and I still seem to be experiencing some touchscreen issues. The touchscreen works for clicking, but when I try to scroll in a browser (Firefox) it gets registered as a click and hold, causing it to select text instead. Is this the expected behaviour after all the fixes? (I don't know what the issues were before).

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I'm running the GPD P2 MAX 19.10 ISO and can confirm I'm having the same issue as yourself @Vashiru also when connecting an external display via micro hdmi or via usb c dongle through full hdmi port when i attempt to scroll on something on my gpd p2 max screen for example a firefox browser window open on my gpd p2 max screen only its randomly moving other windows and things around on my external monitor.

its very strange.

Just an update:
I did the following:

    sudo apt-get install xinput-calibrator

and then

xinput_calibrator

This gives a slight improvement when no external display is connected but scroll isnt great (still registering as click and hold and selecting text) in firefox.

as soon as you connect an external (in my case non touch) hdmi screen
the touchscreen is off on calibration.

attempting to run the command again with external screen present does not help unfortunately.

@petemcd I've found the real issue. The issue is NOT with the touchscreen but rather with how Firefox handles scrolling by default. The solutions can be found here:

Basically you need to set an environment variable to change it's behavior. After that it's smooth sailing :smiley:

Thanks for this.

I can confirm that

env MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1 firefox

does work, (although I note that it is not great with two external monitors attached. The work-around is to use one finger in the middle of the touchscreen rather than near either side edge.) For some reason, setting the permanent command isn't working for me.