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epsimatic/Installing Ubuntu or Fedora on GPD Pocket 3.md

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Installing Ubuntu or Fedora on GPD Pocket 3.md

Installing Ubuntu Linux 25.04 / Fedora 42 on GPD Pocket 3

Installation

Consult official Ubuntu installation tutorial for general help on installation. For Fedora, a small guide is also available.

  • Ubuntu: Get the installer named ubuntu-25.04-desktop-amd64.iso from Ubuntu download page and write it to a USB disk
  • Fedora: Get the ISO for Intel and AMD x86_64 systems from The Fedora Project page
  • Install as usual. Reboot when done

You'll get decent laptop experience out of the box. But let's fix a little annoyance and improve tablet and touch features.

Screen scale

  • Right-click on the desktop wallpaper, pick Display settings
    • Ubuntu: Enable Fractional scaling, then drag the window to fix it
    • Set Scale to 150%
    • Apply
    • Keep Changes
    • Close Display settings
    • (alternatively, set larger font size using gnome-tweaks)
  • Ubuntu: Unpin a few apps from the sidebar (Right-click → Unpin)
  • Ubuntu: Settings → Ubuntu Desktop → Icon size: 32

Display orientation on startup

To fix screen orientation on startup & shutdown:
Run Terminal from the menu, then paste this¹ and press Enter.
Enter your password when prompted to.
Expect it to output Success

Ubuntu:

echo 'GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="$GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT fbcon=rotate:1 video=DSI-1:panel_orientation=right_side_up"' | sudo tee /etc/default/grub.d/fbcon-rotate.cfg && sudo update-grub && echo Success

Fedora:

sudo grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args "fbcon=rotate:1 video=DSI-1:panel_orientation=right_side_up" && echo Success

Reboot to apply

Screen auto-rotation and on-screen keyboard

  • Run Terminal from the menu, then paste this and press Enter.
    Enter your password when prompted to.
    Expect it to output Success

Ubuntu:

sudo apt install --update gnome-shell-extension-manager && echo Success

Fedora:

flatpak install com.mattjakeman.ExtensionManager && echo Success
  • Run Extension Manager from the menu.
  • Click Browse
  • Search for rotate
  • Install Screen rotate extension. The screen is suddely broken, we'll fix it in a minute.
  • Switch to Installed page
  • Click the ⚙ settings icon on the Screen rotate extension
  • Check both Show OSK in protrait orientation
  • Set orientation offset to 1
    • Wrong orientation? You probably didn't reboot after setting display orientation on startup. Reboot now.

Now you can toggle screen auto-rotation from the quick menu on the top-right. Try rotating the device. Notice that on-screen keyboard (OSK) is enabled in portrait orientation and disabled in landscape (usual „laptop“) one. Swipe up from the bottom to show keyboard, click on hide button to hide.

Now let's get rid of accesibility icon in portrait mode:

  • Click Browse in Extension manager once again
  • Search for universal
  • Install Hide universal access extension. No further configuration needed

On-screen keyboard — option 2 (TODO)

To toggle on-screen keyboard from the menu bar on the top-right:

  • Run Extension Manager from the menu.
  • Click Browse
  • Search for OSK
  • Install TODO extension

KVM module

Works as a standard webcam. TODO: apps. In Fedora, it should be available in stock Camera app.

Fingerprint reader

It won't work. See FocalTech FTE3600 · Issues · libfprint.

Further reading

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