Pocket-Kali

Kali Linux on the GPD Pocket

Unofficial Kali ISO Image available now for download
UPDATE 09/09/2018: New stable and mainline kernel releases

Editions:

  • Gnome
  • KDE

What is working:

  • Proper screen orientation for graphical debian-installer
  • Display properly rotated in terminal buffer, login screen & desktop
  • Scaling set to 0.60
  • Touchscreen aligned to rotation
  • Multitouch
  • Wifi (including rtl8812au & rtl8814au w. injection)
  • Screen brightness
  • Cooling fan
  • Bluetooth
  • Sleep/wake
  • HDMI port
  • Charging at full speed
  • USB-C for data
  • Audio & Headphones

What needs some more work:

  • hdmi via USB-C is still work in progress

 

Installation:

  1. Download the latest ISO image from here:
      1. Gnome Edition
        https://whitedome.com.au/re4son/download/pocket-kali/
      2. KDE Edition
        https://whitedome.com.au/re4son/download/pocket-kali-kde/
  2. Write the image to a USB drive
  3. Insert the stick into your GPD pocket, turn on and press F7 until boot menu pops up
  4. Select boot from USB stick
  5. In the “Kali Linux Live Boot Menu”, choose one of the following two installation options:
    There are two ways to install:
    1. The comfortable way with proper screen orientation but no encryption support
    – select “Live (forensic mode)” and boot into desktop
    – in Kali, run the debian-installer (if you booted into normal live mode, run GParted and unmount disks first)
    2. The 90 degree way – use this if you want to install kali in an encrypted volume
    – select “Install”
    – tilt your head 90 degrees
  6. Install
  7. Reboot
  8. Enjoy
  • The Pocket-Kali image comes with a limited set of tools to keep the size down (i.e. “top10” and “wireless” meta packages).
    Just install “kali-linux-full” to get the whole shebang.
  • Install the latest kernel as documented in the next chapter

Kernel updates:

Version included in ISO: 4.16.0-re4son+_4

The Kernel is based on Hans’ source tree with all the latest patches to support the GPD Pocket.
It is recommended to upgrade to the latest kernel published below.

Latest Stable Version: 4.18.6-re4son+_1

  • Incompatible with the latest brcm80211 firmware – install mainline instead
  • Bump to 4.18.6
  • Fully pristine source tree with only the new rtl8812au added
  • Kalified config

Latest Mainline Version: 4.19-rc2-re4son+_1

  • Bump to 4.19-RC2
  • Fully pristine source tree with only the new rtl8812au added
  • Kalified config
    1. Download and install new kernel via:
      # Either download the stable version:
      # (SHA256: d2909390235de3ee4106b7072972f2a28e11b2503d3e34105794d55174cb8a3c)
      wget -O re4son-pocket-kernel.tar.xz https://re4son-kernel.com/download/re4son-pocket-kernel-current/
      # Or download the mainline version:
      # (SHA256:e14a54f50f902dc0b0e46135ecce566d687ae091f31e02f564563f80611e5acf)
      wget -O re4son-pocket-kernel.tar.xz https://re4son-kernel.com/download/re4son-pocket-kernel-next/
      
      sha256sum re4son-pocket-kernel.tar.xz
      tar -xf re4son-pocket-kernel.tar.xz
      cd 4.1*
      ./install.sh

      Optional: Manually removing or re-installing gnome-shell fixes:

      re4son@WOPR-Stealth:~/dev/4.16.0-re4son+_4$ sudo ./install.sh -h
      
      Usage: install.sh [option]
      	   (No option)	Install Re4son-Kernel
      		-h	Print this help
      		-v	Print version of this installer
      		-t	Only install touch rotation fix
      		-r	Only remove touch rotation fix
      		-s	Only scale gdm3 login screen
      		-u	Only undo scaling of gdm3 login screen

      Optional: Remove old re4son kernel, e.g.:

      apt remove linux-image-4.15.0-rc4-re4son+ && apt remove linux-headers-4.15.0-rc4-re4son+

Tips and tricks:

systemd-gpt-auto-generator failed to dissect:

Due to this issue, an error message appears at boot:
systemd-gpt-auto-generator[199]: Failed to dissect: Input/output error.
To avoid the error message, add this boot parameter to your boot loader.

systemd.gpt_auto=0

Feedback and help:

Please join the forums to provide feedback and support. Any help to improve the image is greatly appreciated.

Sources:

https://github.com/Re4son/Pocket-Kali-live-build

https://github.com/Re4son/re4son-raspberrypi-linux

Massive thanks:

Stockmind and friends for the audio and backlight fixes:
https://github.com/stockmind/gpd-pocket-ubuntu-respin

Hans de Goede for the kernel patches:
https://github.com/jwrdegoede/linux-sunxi