Sept 16 2020 First, I install my distro of choice. In this case I'll be using Fedora. I SSH'd into my GPD Win Max over Ethernet, since there's a port on the side. May as well use it. We highly recommend installing the RPMFusion repos (free and nonfree) after running updates when your install finishes. This simple task can set you up for success in the future when you want to install Steam, install NVIDIA drivers for eGPU etc.

After SSHing in from a laptop or desktop in a terminal, and typing loginctl you will likely see this:

$ loginctl
SESSION  UID USER SEAT  TTY  
      2 1000 eric seat0 tty2 
      4 1000 eric       pts/2

2 sessions listed.

Note the user is eric, which was the original redditor creating this guide. Your username will likely be here in place of "eric". This is fine if you see this while SSH'd in, everything is according to plan. Next, we will see whether wayland or x is being used for the GNOME display session on this bad boy. Type the command below.

$ loginctl show-session 2 -p Type
Type=wayland
$ loginctl show-session 4 -p Type
Type=tty

If you get type=x11 instead of wayland on the non-tty session, you are not ready to proceed. To set wayland as default, although Fedora should already be running it as default, use nano or vim and open vim /etc/gdm/custom.conf, then adding the line or uncommenting WaylandEnable=true, then, if in vim, use esc and :wq! to save and exit the file.

Now we get to the part of the guide that will truly change your experience from using this fun little device from having a borked display output to a usable one. Below is the extract of the firmware Windows uses to properly utilize the display. Linux can make use of this too.

AP///////wAJ5QMAAwAAAAEdAQOACxF4LwAAoFdJmyYQSE8AAAABAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBwhog
UDAAEFAQEDIAbKwAAAAYAAAA/ABUVjA4MFdVTS1OTDAKAAAA/QA8PBAQBwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMM=

Take that info, paste it into a text file and save it. If you're new to that, do something like this: vim firmware. Then, ctrl+shift+v to paste that firmware in the file. Esc and then :wq! to save and close the file.

Now run this command to create the edid directory that we will store the firmware in: sudo mkdir /lib/firmware/edid. Now to decode the firmware from the text file we pasted that stuff from above (I did it as root but using sudo should be fine)

base64 --decode /home/eric/firmware > /lib/firmware/edid/gpdwinmax.bin

Note that in this case, your username will be in place of "eric" in this command.

Now we're going to make an addition to the GRUB config files to make sure that the Win Max sees the firmware on boot and also rotates the console output. vim into /etc/default/grub and note that you may need to be sudo Hit enter and insert this line at the end of the GRUB file:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="video=eDP-1:800x1280 drm.edid_firmware=eDP-1:edid/gpdwinmax.bin fbcon=rotate:1"

Make sure to Esc and :wq! or your changes won't be saved, if using vim.

Now that that is out of the way, we can update the GRUB file. Note that Fedora is different than Ubuntu for the below command. Ubuntu uses update-grub while Fedora uses the below command:

sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg

Now when you reboot, everything should be fine....after one last change. When you boot up, you will see your login screen is rotated. That is fine, sign in as you usually would. When you boot to the desktop, hit superalso known as the Windows key, and type Display. When you open your display settings, choose rotate to Portrait Left. If that doesn't work, choose Portrait Right and hit apply.

Now you should be good to go! Feel free to sudo dnf install steam retroarch from the command line if you want to start playing your retro games and PC games! Lutris is a fine option if you want to game using launchers outside of Steam. Here is a guide to running most Steam games on Linux easily.