I keep forgetting to return with an update on how this thing works.

I bought one from the official Aliexpress store:
https://gpdshop.aliexpress.com/store/1281164

and the first thing I did was let the win10 update,
reboot

then run gparted to erase every last bit of extra disk
to make room for a linux image.


I then loaded up the Xubuntu image from
https://apt.nexus511.net/

(I am not very happy about Ubuntu,
but Xubuntu is usable,
and Debian 9.2 still has a lot of issues hanging out the rear.)

I am one very satisfied customer.

It fits in my jeans pockets,
the keyboard is better than no keyboard
and more certainly better than any incarnation
of bluetooth or dongled wireless keyboards.

The wifi is the hopeless Broadcom,
but nevermind - it does work in close quarters.

It has no camera, GPS, or 3g/4g/LTE modem,
but that means I can encrypt
long before getting anywhere near the devil's playground.

Battery life under xubuntu is excellent, usually 7-8 hours
(I am not the best battery loadtester,
my usage is not video games or mining cryptocoins etc)

It does have some pointy places,
but once you recognize where they are
and how to avoid them all is well.


A few points:

get a better screen shield (the GD one is junk)

and

get someone to sew a jacket for carrying it.
Some people just use a sock, which is what I first considered,
but someone sewed me a nice slipover using microfibre fabric.

get a spare power brick make sure it has the quick charge spec
(I got a TOTU DK37T, QUALCOMM 3.0 quick-charge)
looks like this:
https://rozetka.com.ua/qualcomm_quic...e_3/p16085294/

Although GPD has created an image that is said to be functional,
the real deal is the community around the device.
Some have created a variety of images
and the driver issue argues in favor of :
* Get the Win10 device (not the GPD Ubuntu)
* Shrink the Win10 partition - but keep it for driver updates
* Make a linux partition and install whatever you want.
There exist hardware glitches,
but the new kernels and a little hacking makes it work.