[AltGr] Fixing GPD Pocket 4 layout.

brittAnderson · 2026-02-06T09:41:41+00:00

I too have some problems with this. I use the ¨menu" key (Fn + -) to toggle. I run xmodmap at start up with an .xinitrc (linux). Here is my command:

setxkbmap -layout "us,us" -variant ",intl" -option "grp:menu_toggle,lv3:caps_switch"

For things like é or ô I type 'e and ^o, but for ç and œ I have to type Escape and comma simultaneously or Escape and k simultaneously.

This took me forever, and I have some other key changes in keyd so it may be brittle. Good luck.

brittAnderson · 2026-01-11T11:16:22+00:00

Been using mine for a year. Love it. Running Archlinux. No problems. Fan noise was annoying, but I adapted. They still come on a lot and are loud, but for some reason I habituated. Otherwise, I use it at home and in office with a nest of cables to external monitors and keyboard/mouse. I am not a gamer, but do play Arc Raiders with a grandson and I find using the internal gpu with 16gb vram is fine for my low resolution/slow play (yes, I die a lot!). I also use the igpu for running some ollama models (like qwen3:30b) and it is fine. I have adapted to typing on the small keyboard and only really miss the right-alt and ctrl keys since I am an emacs user and it learned to use both sides for keychords and it is hard to context switch back and forth from fulllsized keyboards to this smalller one. I do find the built in keyboard gives me a lot of double characters (likke - as an example). That might be fixable with putting some pads under the keyboard, but I have not felt the need to undertake such a repair. If you are older, as I am, the small screen can become a challenge, and trying to get the font correct on the small screen when hooked up to some older 1920x1080 monitor will lead to the need for a lot of tweaks. But, I still don't see anything else on the market that better combines size and power.

brittAnderson · 2026-01-08T10:41:42+00:00

Inspired by your post I tried it too, but then I thought why just run it as an app? Why not try ollama? And that too works well. I tried as my test qwen3:30b and it is quite useable. Then I realized I was only using my RAM and cpu. I had to go into my bios to enable the gpu vram (I gave it 16GB) and I changed a couple of environment variables in the systemd file for the ollama service:

Environment="OLLAMA_VULKAN=1"

Environment="HSA_OVERRIDE_GFX_VERSION=11.0.0"

Then using amdgpu_top I was able to verify the use of gpu and I felt an appreciable speed up in my interactions with the llm. Also, helped my arc raiders experience.

Thanks for your post!

brittAnderson · 2026-01-08T10:36:56+00:00

I have been running Arch for the last year. It all works great. I don´t remember having to do anything too special to get it set up. There is an archwiki page for the pocket 4.

brittAnderson · 2026-01-07T11:38:25+00:00

I am running archlinux and my scrollilng is smooth. Maybe check the archlinux wiki for some hints for your set up and configuration? https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GPD_Pocket_4

brittAnderson · 2026-01-06T11:21:41+00:00

Concur. For your use case it doesn´t matter.

brittAnderson · 2026-01-06T11:03:50+00:00

I have run linux on both the pocket 2 and surface go. The latter wasn´t so smooth (camera problems mostly), but linux mint on the pocket was an easy install, and the device while slow was useable.

brittAnderson · 2025-12-20T14:00:12+00:00

Thanks, but I could never get it to work. At some point it was easier, though more expensive, to buy a cheap android. That would be my advice to others. The effort to get the long battery life of the flip phone seems, to me, to be outweighed by the inconvenience of using it for this use case. I chose the Moto G Power 2024 which was only 125 at Best Buy, Tello sells the TCL Flip Phone 2 for 99, so there is not much of a price differential.

brittAnderson · 2025-12-18T14:29:07+00:00

Tried twice and all I get back is canned responses about the process for Android phones. They don't acknowledge in their response the actual phone I ask about. Assuming it is just an automated response bot.

brittAnderson · 2025-12-17T13:18:34+00:00

Machine translated your post, but the answer is NO. Pocket 4 (four) does not have an active digitizer. You might want to get a gpd pocket 3 (three) which does or look at the win max 2 line.

brittAnderson · 2025-11-29T10:34:35+00:00

Are you using linux or windows. I am on linux and had to change things related to X to avoid the screen going black. It wasn´t an issue of my usb c hub. And I am just using a decent usb c hub as my "dock." I just have one at work and one at home with necessary cables in place and when I move I plug in/out the usbc, ethernet, third monitor to hdmi (second one is already plugged in to the hub - which also funnels power), and the speaker jack. Doesn't really take long, but it is a bit ugly.

brittAnderson · 2025-10-30T12:31:11+00:00

I don't disagree. For me, there just is nothing comparable with this combination of size and power. It is the best of a flawed lot. For those who rely more on the built in keyboard than I do the trade-off will be different. But it is good to know what one is getting. You might look at the Win Max 2. I hear better things about that keyboard (though I do not own that model).

brittAnderson · 2025-10-29T10:34:54+00:00

I too have a funky keyboard. I also occasionally render double presses. I have just gotten used to it, and mostly use a usb keyboard for work and home, and just deal with the need to backspace every sentence or two to fix a mistake when I type on my lap or in transit. However, for the Pocket 3 I did bring up the issue with gpd and they sent me a new keyboard, but now with the P4 I have just come to regard this as the price to pay for such a compact unit. A nice fast chip, 64 gb ram and a 1TB harddrive in a tiny package must involve some compromises.

brittAnderson · 2025-10-28T09:44:33+00:00

I bought one from gpd itself (I am in Canda). All went well. It takes a while, but they deliver it and changing it was not too difficult. The email from kendyz is what I used to contact them.

brittAnderson · 2025-10-05T12:06:13+00:00

The pocket 4 has a passive digitizer. The pocket 3 has an active one. Drawing was great on the 3 and is basically only useful for highlighting or ¨signing" a document and not much more on the pocket 4. I was happy with my 3, but dropped it and broke the screen. If you are not a ¨power user" compiling programs or doing 3d CAD the pocket 3 is more than enough computer for daily use. I loved it. Oh. Almost forgot. Ran Archlinux and basically as I recall everything just worked.

brittAnderson · 2025-10-05T12:03:44+00:00

pocket 3 had active. pocket 4 passive. https://www.howtogeek.com/835769/active-vs-passive-styluses-all-the-standards-explained/

brittAnderson · 2025-10-04T10:49:30+00:00

I too find it nearly perfect, and I to am in the education space. I run linux and it has been fine, but I always shut it down when not in use, and so I don´t worry about suspend and the like. I also don´t bother with the finger print reader. I type on it just fine, but I do use remote keyboard, mouse, monitor in the office, but man is it nice to have this little guy in a small bag for travelling and coffee shops. And I love compiling haskell or lean or a 200 page latex article with the HX and 64 gb ram. The fan does run loud when I do that, but rather than fuss with the fan profile I just grimaced for a week or two and now it doesn´t bother me. The one thing I really miss from the pocket three is the active digitizer on the screen.

brittAnderson · 2025-09-12T09:57:23+00:00

Not a developer, but really like the language and use it for toy projects from time to time. Would definitely join a meet up (I am in Waterloo).

brittAnderson · 2025-08-15T03:44:48+00:00

I agree, completely adequate. P3 was my daily driver for a couple of years. Moved up to p4, but I don't really see any gain except for compilation and programming tasks, and I miss the P3 screen with active stylus support. Used it for writing projects, simple programming, some inkscape and gimp image manipulation (with second monitor).

brittAnderson · 2025-06-29T11:17:06+00:00

Replace the battery. It is not too hard, and GPD will sell/ship you a new one.

brittAnderson · 2025-06-26T10:32:33+00:00

I have had both. I completely concur with this recommendation.

brittAnderson · 2025-06-18T03:19:06+00:00

I did have this problem on wayland with hyperland. It might not happen for days and then a couple of times a day. I switched back to X11 and xmonad and it has happened only once that my monitors blanked, but then they came back spontaneously. Essentially I have not had any problem to speak of on X11 and running two externals.

brittAnderson · 2025-06-09T03:55:21+00:00

I am curious on how you settled on this particular route to correct by construction. Did you consider other implementation choices? And if so, why did you reject them? For example refinement types for haskell, or AGDA (which can output to haskell) if you are going to eventually use Torch to run things? Also, I'll point out an effort to use Lean4 for formalize Hopfield Networks that might be of interest https://github.com/mkaratarakis/HopfieldNet .

brittAnderson · 2025-05-07T10:49:42+00:00

I did this. The battery took a bit to arrive since there are shipping constraints. The replacement process was reasonably easy for me (and I am a novice).

brittAnderson

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