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GPD MicroPC 2

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This article or section does not follow the Laptop page guidelines.

Reason: Misses an Accessibility section, the sections talk about BIOS but it looks like the device uses a UEFI: Secure Boot support should be documented. (Discuss in Talk:GPD MicroPC 2)
Hardware PCI/USB ID Working?
GPU (N250) 8086:46d3 Yes
GPU (N300) 8086:46d0 Yes
Ethernet 10ec:8125 Yes
Wi-Fi 8086:54f0 Yes
Bluetooth 8087:0026 Yes
Audio 8086:54c8 Yes
Display Yes
Touchpad 36b6:c001 Yes
Touchscreen 222a:fff1 Yes
Fingerprint sensor Yes
SD card reader 8086:54c4 Yes

This page provides information for the GPD MicroPC 2.

Specifications

Only two variants exist so far; N250 and N300. Other specifications should be identical.

N250/N300

  • Display: 7" 1920x1080
  • CPU: Intel N250 or N300
  • RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 4800 MT/s
  • Storage: 512GB NVMe SSD PCIe Gen 3 2280
  • Network: 2.5Gbps Ethernet, Intel AX201 802.11ax (2.4/5Ghz), Bluetooth 5.2

Firmware

fwupd is not supported on the GPD MicroPC 2. GPD provides firmware updates via Windows executables.

See https://www.gpd.hk/gpdmicropc2firmwaredriver for firmware, primarily the BIOS is all we need and includes a method to update via USB; refer to the instructions provided within the zip.

Recommendations

It is highly recommended to use Wayland for this laptop and not X11, as Wayland will give a better end result and need less tweaking.

For the most like-for-like functionality and experience to Windows on the GPD MicroPC 2, KDE would be the most appropriate desktop environment; especially for overall on-screen keyboard functionality when using the touchscreen.

If the section does not exist it either works, or no issue has been found.

Display

The MicroPC 2 display is designed for portrait devices and is rotated by 90 degrees counter-clockwise by default. This can be solved as explained in Tablet PC#Screen rotation.

Automatic screen rotation

See Tablet PC#Automatic rotation.

Note As of systemd version 259, adding a rule to sensors manually is no longer required. This change can be found here.

X11 screen tearing

Due to the display being designed for portrait devices, the device experiences vertical screen tearing. This can be solved by ensuring xf86-video-intel is installed and following the instructions in Intel graphics#Tearing.

A user mentioned a possible fix with Intel driver set: Enable fractional scaling and set to 150, then disable it - this should prevent the mouse cursor from disappearing at the bottom of the screen.

Touchscreen

Note BIOS version 2.17 (or newer) rectifies issues regarding the touchscreen (not working on Linux, or not working after waking from sleep).

The touchscreen is an Ilitek ILTP7807.

X11

Touchscreen controls are very limited for X11. 

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-touchscreen-matrix.conf
Section "InputClass"
    Identifier    "rotate ILTP7807 touchscreen"
    Driver        "libinput"
    MatchProduct  "ILTP7807:00 222A:FFF1"
    Option        "TransformationMatrix" "0 1 0 -1 0 1 0 0 1"
EndSection

Then logout or restart for changes to apply.

On-Screen Keyboard

In Windows, when you use the touchscreen and tap an input field an on-screen keyboard will show but not with left click of mouse/touchpad.

KDE: It's recommended to use plasma-keyboard and enable it in Settings under "Virtual Keyboards" to get the same behaviour as Windows.

GNOME: With testing there is unfortunately no simple way to get the same functionality as presented in Windows. One solution is you may set the on-screen keyboard to be available only while in portrait mode with the extension mentioned before.

Touchpad and mouse buttons

Middle Mouse Scrolling

The script found on GitHub essentially unifies the touchpad and mouse - which are separate and mouse input only uses middle mouse which can be temperamental - and allows for middle mouse scrolling.

Wayland

Note As of libinput version 1.29.2, adding a quirk manually is not required. This change can be found here.

X11

Install xf86-input-synaptics. 

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-alps-touchpad.conf
Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "ALPS touchpad"
    MatchProduct "ALPS0001:00 36B6:C001 Touchpad"
    Driver "synaptics"
    Option "ClickPad" "false"
    Option "TapButton1" "1"
    Option "TapButton2" "3"
    Option "TapButton3" "2"
EndSection

Then re-log.

Fingerprint sensor

A Microarray MAFP8800 is used in the MicroPC 2. A fingerprint driver was released on a GPD Discord (gpd_devices) so far and seems to work.

Additional features

Charging control

The MicroPC 2 features threshold charging to limit max charging to preserve the batteries health. You can set this in the BIOS under Main > OEM System Configuration.

It also has a bypass feature, allowing it to run from the mains without stressing the battery.

BIOS reset

There is a pinhole BIOS reset button on the left hand side of the device.

TPD and Quiet Fan Mode

While the original MicroPC had a physical fan toggle, the MicroPC 2 does not. You may however set the TDP to either 6W or 8W within the BIOS and enable a quiet fan mode - which will only allow the fan to turn on when a certain temperature (~65c) is met.

Additionally, you can adjust the TDP manually which is effective until reboot. This is handy if you have set a quiet fan mode, as it will stay that way when you change to a higher TDP.

Warning Going beyond 15W is at your own risk, as it may not be suitable for the VRMs.

The following example sets 15W (+3W for turbo): 

# echo 15000000 > /sys/class/powercap/intel-rapl:0/constraint_0_power_limit_uw
# echo 18000000 > /sys/class/powercap/intel-rapl:0/constraint_1_power_limit_uw

If you wish to set 5W, 5000000 would be your first value and the second would be 8000000. Keep in mind the zeroes. There is a script with safe limits on the community Discord.

See also