Sunday, August 30, 2020

Running Kali 2020.3 on an original GPD Pocket

I recently needed to dust off my wifi skills, and to keep a low profile, I use my GPD Pocket laptop.  My install of Kali was old, so I decided to see if I could load Kali 2020.3 on it.  After much searching and futzing about, it turns out almost everything works right out of the box.  You need a couple files, some settings, and a trick with the installer.  I also found the archlinux wiki page on GPD really useful, oddly enough.
  • Run the text-mode installer.
  • When you're asked to load the brcm files from a USB drive, say "no."
  • It will successfully find all the APs around you, so select yours.
  • But, it *won't* be able to negotiate WPA2 without the missing files.
  • Tell it you're using an open wifi network.
  • Let this fail.  (If you'd told it WPA2 it it would be in a loop of failing and re-asking you the PSK.)
  • Now, select the option to continue without a network connection.
  • Install and reboot.
  • Log in to your new system.
  • (If your screen is rotated, click to the Kali logo, pick Settings, then Display, and set Rotation to "Right.")
  • Put a copy of this brcmfmac4356-pcie.gpd-win-pocket.txt file on a USB drive.  (Kali can read FAT.)
  • Write a copy into /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4356-pcie.gpd-win-pocket.txt on Kali.
  • Reboot.  (I know, I know, I could use modprobe.)
  • Log in to your system.
  • Click the Kali icon, choose Settings, then Advanced Network Configuration.
  • Double-click your SSID.
  • Go to the Wi-Fi Security tab.
  • Update your settings to reflect that you use WPA, and provide a password.
  • Save

You'll also need to tweak the touchscreen configuration, which doesn't know it is rotated, yet.

  • Edit /usr/share/X11/ xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf
  • Inside the "InputClass" stanza for "libinput touchscreen" add this:
  • Option "CalibrationMatrix" "0 1 0 -1 0 1 0 0 1"
  • Restart