Nazo
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2002
- Messages
- 3,672
So asking this on here is a bit of a shot in the dark. Probably not many here are terribly familiar with the GPD Win itself. It's worth noting that it is actually very much like your typical 2-in-1 as far as the actual setup goes though. They used exactly the same methods for most of the hardware including using an Intel Atom SoC as the core of the design -- even also having the same sound setup with I2C from the SoC going to a RealTek chip for the rest of the process (don't know why so many do it this way.) So what works for them works for this for the most part.
Now, no doubt the Windows 10 cultists will fuss at me for this, but I don't like Windows 10 and I wanted to get 8.1 running on this. It took a bit of doing, but for the most part it actually wasn't that bad. (Not like my old T100HA 2-in-1. I had no help with it at all and had to find everything myself. The GPD Win can use the same drivers many have already tracked down for a clean 10 install in 8.1 however -- most of those driver packs actually include drivers for 8/8.1 and a few even had drivers for 7, though I won't be trying to go that far back here obviously.) So I have almost everything working. I've only run into two problems here. One is the WiFi/BT chipset. As far as I can tell it uses the BCM4356A2 chipset. (And it seems there may be a problem here with the chip either misidentifying or the official OEM drivers just plain having screwed up or something. In a Linux project to get drivers for the chipset I've found this project in which they mention that the kernel may request drivers for a 4354. In the GPD Win's official "wifi fix" release the patch specifically states this in the text: "4356 chip = 4354 A2 chip" So I'm wondering if a huge part of my problem might be that it's just plain not identifying correctly. Now, many 2-in-1s use virtually the same chipset for their WiFi and Bluetooth, so there are actually plenty of drivers around. However most chose to integrate the chip via SDIO whereas the GPD Win -- as far as I can tell -- chose to use PCIe. Unfortunately the SDIO drivers I was able to find seem to not be working. I think I need drivers specific to the PCIe version of the chipset. (Perhaps it doesn't matter that this is an embedded device? Is there a PCIe card for desktops with this chipset? Might be worth a look anyway. I have no idea how to search that specifically though.)
The other problem I'm having is the battery detection. The system is completely unable to read the battery's level at all. There are two devices showing up in the device manager without drivers associated. One is "BCM2E7E\4&29E26D5C&0" so I'm guessing this is actually the Bluetooth. (According to the Linux setup stuff it seems you have to get the WiFi working first to get the Bluetooth working, so my guess is this is the same here.) The other is "USBC000\0". I don't know what this is. According to the person who first got Linux working on here the GPD Win can act in "gadget mode" via its USB type-C connector, but I don't think Windows would be showing a device for that without any specific setup. Perhaps it could be possible it reads the battery via an internal USB hub like a UPS?
The WiFi isn't so bad. I have a cheap USB adapter for WiFi. I don't even really use Bluetooth with this thing, but I do have a spare adapter if I ever find that I absolutely have to. (Too bad I never really saw a combined adapter, but like I said, I don't really use it. I doubt I'd ever actually need both at the same time anyway.) It does tie up the only USB port though, so I'd still really really like to get that working. (Plus it's just plain silly to have a built-in WiFi that should work just fine and be using an external anyway.) The battery is a much more serious problem however. Without any indication of its current level the system won't know when to shut down as it gets critically low and it would just shut off when the voltage eventually drops too low (potentially causing filesystem damage or loss of data along the way even.) If all else fails maybe someday I might even give up and wire in a voltage detector. If I could at least free up the USB slot I could even do one that uses software instead of a "bulky" (relative to fitting on a pocket-sized thing) display. I can't do that with a WiFi adapter always taking up that slot though. Obviously I don't want to actually wire something in like that unless nothing else at all ever works.
Anyway, I'm hoping maybe someone around here might be more familiar with the chipsets involved and finding the necessary drivers for these components. Perhaps from experience installing on some 2-in-1 or similar embedded system?
PS. Just to save people some trouble, there's really no point in fighting with me about not wanting 10 on here. I don't. That is all. I'd be terribly grateful if we could not fight about that point.
PPS. I was definitely not sure if this was the right forum. But given that we're dealing with drivers for different things and all I felt like maybe this was best. If a moderator disagrees feel free to move it if you want.
Now, no doubt the Windows 10 cultists will fuss at me for this, but I don't like Windows 10 and I wanted to get 8.1 running on this. It took a bit of doing, but for the most part it actually wasn't that bad. (Not like my old T100HA 2-in-1. I had no help with it at all and had to find everything myself. The GPD Win can use the same drivers many have already tracked down for a clean 10 install in 8.1 however -- most of those driver packs actually include drivers for 8/8.1 and a few even had drivers for 7, though I won't be trying to go that far back here obviously.) So I have almost everything working. I've only run into two problems here. One is the WiFi/BT chipset. As far as I can tell it uses the BCM4356A2 chipset. (And it seems there may be a problem here with the chip either misidentifying or the official OEM drivers just plain having screwed up or something. In a Linux project to get drivers for the chipset I've found this project in which they mention that the kernel may request drivers for a 4354. In the GPD Win's official "wifi fix" release the patch specifically states this in the text: "4356 chip = 4354 A2 chip" So I'm wondering if a huge part of my problem might be that it's just plain not identifying correctly. Now, many 2-in-1s use virtually the same chipset for their WiFi and Bluetooth, so there are actually plenty of drivers around. However most chose to integrate the chip via SDIO whereas the GPD Win -- as far as I can tell -- chose to use PCIe. Unfortunately the SDIO drivers I was able to find seem to not be working. I think I need drivers specific to the PCIe version of the chipset. (Perhaps it doesn't matter that this is an embedded device? Is there a PCIe card for desktops with this chipset? Might be worth a look anyway. I have no idea how to search that specifically though.)
The other problem I'm having is the battery detection. The system is completely unable to read the battery's level at all. There are two devices showing up in the device manager without drivers associated. One is "BCM2E7E\4&29E26D5C&0" so I'm guessing this is actually the Bluetooth. (According to the Linux setup stuff it seems you have to get the WiFi working first to get the Bluetooth working, so my guess is this is the same here.) The other is "USBC000\0". I don't know what this is. According to the person who first got Linux working on here the GPD Win can act in "gadget mode" via its USB type-C connector, but I don't think Windows would be showing a device for that without any specific setup. Perhaps it could be possible it reads the battery via an internal USB hub like a UPS?
The WiFi isn't so bad. I have a cheap USB adapter for WiFi. I don't even really use Bluetooth with this thing, but I do have a spare adapter if I ever find that I absolutely have to. (Too bad I never really saw a combined adapter, but like I said, I don't really use it. I doubt I'd ever actually need both at the same time anyway.) It does tie up the only USB port though, so I'd still really really like to get that working. (Plus it's just plain silly to have a built-in WiFi that should work just fine and be using an external anyway.) The battery is a much more serious problem however. Without any indication of its current level the system won't know when to shut down as it gets critically low and it would just shut off when the voltage eventually drops too low (potentially causing filesystem damage or loss of data along the way even.) If all else fails maybe someday I might even give up and wire in a voltage detector. If I could at least free up the USB slot I could even do one that uses software instead of a "bulky" (relative to fitting on a pocket-sized thing) display. I can't do that with a WiFi adapter always taking up that slot though. Obviously I don't want to actually wire something in like that unless nothing else at all ever works.
Anyway, I'm hoping maybe someone around here might be more familiar with the chipsets involved and finding the necessary drivers for these components. Perhaps from experience installing on some 2-in-1 or similar embedded system?
PS. Just to save people some trouble, there's really no point in fighting with me about not wanting 10 on here. I don't. That is all. I'd be terribly grateful if we could not fight about that point.
PPS. I was definitely not sure if this was the right forum. But given that we're dealing with drivers for different things and all I felt like maybe this was best. If a moderator disagrees feel free to move it if you want.