Panasonic FZ-G1 Linux Mint 22 XFCE setup

This (future self reference) post aims to record the steps taken for setting up the Panasonic FZ-G1 as a working linux tablet using Linux Mint (22) as the distribution and XFCE as the light desktop environment of choice (this is an older tablet).

Note: this post will be a (forever) work in progress as optimization happens over time.

Bios setup

• First make sure you have the latest bios install: do this from windows

• Afterwards, reboot the PC

• Press F2 or the A2 bezel button

• Change the boot order to allow boot from USB

• (not needed, reference only) Optional kit configuration password: toughkit

Install Linux Mint

• Install alongside windows, allocate ~64GB to linux partition (we’ll edit partitions later)

• Plus recommended system updates, then reboot PC

Intel CPU c-states

• Temporarily resolves issue with freezing on idle by reducing deepest cstate processors are allowed to go to, also it’s better to use teo cpuidle governor

• Edit: sudo vim /etc/default/grub

• Add to the end of the line for: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="cpuidle.governor=teo intel_idle.max_cstate=7

• Afterwards: sudo update-grub

• And reboot the PC

Partitions: custom setup Linux + Windows

• Disable windows recovery partition ~0.5GB, from an admin command line on windows: reagentc /disable

• Then back on linux

• Use Gparted to delete it as we are not intending to use it.

• Extend linux ext4 partition to use the freed up ~0.5GB space

• Re-size windows partition down to ~64GB (to be seldom used, but to have handy)

• Create data NTFS partition with free’ed up space ~110GB (to be shared between Windows and Linux)

• Now boot linux from live USB (swap order on BIOS):

• Re-size linux system partition down by 11GB to

• Use free’ed up ~11GB space for swap partition

• Apply and reboot

Use swap partition instead of swap file

• Turn swap off: sudo swapoff /swapfile

• Update fstab file to remove swapfile line: sudo vim /etc/fstab

• Now remove the actual swapfile: sudo rm -f /swapfile

• Re-open fstab file and add: UUID=xyz none swap sw 0 0

• Replacing xyz above for the swap partition UUID

• turn swap on: sudo swapon -a

• check it’s working: swapon

Automount shared data partition

• Edit fstab file and add the shared data partition: sudo vim /etc/fstab

• Add a line of the like: UUID=xyz /media/user/data ntfs-3g users,permissions,exec,noatime 0 0

• Where xyz is the UUID of the shared data partition and user is your username

• Save and close

Enable hibernation

• Make sure secure boot is not enabled: sudo mokutil --sb-state

• Check that swap has been setup and is enabled: sudo swapon

• Edit the grub file: sudo vim /etc/default/grub

• Append to the line: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="resume=/dev/sda6"

• Update grub: sudo update-grub

• Add option to shutdown menu: sudo vim /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/10-enable-hibernate.rules

• Add the following lines

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
    if (action.id == "org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate" ||
        action.id == "org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate-multiple-sessions" ||
        action.id == "org.freedesktop.upower.hibernate" ||
        action.id == "org.freedesktop.login1.handle-hibernate-key" ||
        action.id == "org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate-ignore-inhibit")
    {
        return polkit.Result.YES;
    }
});

Log-in with pin code

• Make sure you have the libraries needed: sudo apt install libpam-pwdfile whois

• Create the pin file: sudo sh -c 'echo "username:$(mkpasswd -5)" > /etc/mypinfile'

• Change the permissions to restrict r only to user: sudo chmod 400 /etc/mypinfile

• Create back-up: sudo cp /etc/pam.d/lightdm /etc/pam.d/lightdm.backup

• Update file: sudo vim /etc/pam.d/lightdm

• Inserting the new line: auth sufficient pam_pwdfile.so pwdfile=/etc/mypinfile

Startup applications

• Disable blueman applet (bluetooth)

• Disable geoclue demo agent

• Disable “Support for NVIDIA…”

• Disable Warpinator

• Disable mintwelcome

• Enable onboard

• Disable print queue applet

Enable touch and pen, and bind to tablet screen: script and panel button

Script below, added to a launcher icon and placed in the panel

#!/bin/bash
# update coordinates to get touch working in landscape mode with dual monitors
xinput map-to-output 'eGalax Inc. eGalaxTouch EXC3102-1099-06.00.02' eDP-1
xinput map-to-output 'Wacom ISD-V4 Pen stylus' eDP-1
xinput map-to-output 'Wacom ISD-V4 Pen eraser' eDP-1

xinput enable 'eGalax Inc. eGalaxTouch EXC3102-1099-06.00.02'
xinput enable 'Wacom ISD-V4 Pen stylus'
xinput enable 'Wacom ISD-V4 Pen eraser'

# start touchegg service -- need to be in sudoers file
sudo systemctl start touchegg

• Added as well to cron to execute at reboot: sudo contrab -e

• Add the following line to the cron file: @reboot sh /media/user/data/path_to_file/bind_touch_pen_edp1.sh

Enable pen / Disable touchscreen: script and panel button

Script below, added to a launcher icon and placed in the panel

#!/bin/bash
xinput disable 'eGalax Inc. eGalaxTouch EXC3102-1099-06.00.02'
xinput enable 'Wacom ISD-V4 Pen stylus'
xinput enable 'Wacom ISD-V4 Pen eraser'

# disable touchegg service -- needs to be in sudoers file
sudo systemctl stop touchegg

Enable touchscreen / Disable pen: script and panel button

Script below, added to a launcher icon and placed in the panel

#!/bin/bash
xinput enable 'eGalax Inc. eGalaxTouch EXC3102-1099-06.00.02'
xinput disable 'Wacom ISD-V4 Pen stylus'
xinput disable 'Wacom ISD-V4 Pen eraser'

# enable gestures -- make sure sudo enabled in sudoers file
sudo systemctl start touchegg

• For the above scripts make sure to add a sudoer file

• Cd to the directory: cd /etc/sudoers.d

• Add the following lines

ALL ALL = NOPASSWD:/bin/systemctl stop touchegg
ALL ALL = NOPASSWD:/bin/systemctl start touchegg

Rotate screen toggle: script and panel button

Script below, added to a launcher icon and placed in the panel

#!/bin/bash
case $(xrandr -q --verbose | grep eDP-1 | sed 's/primary //' | awk '{print $5}') in
    normal) # currently screen is not rotated, next is right
        xrandr --output eDP-1 --rotate right
        ;;
    right) # currently top is rotated right, next is inverted
        xrandr --output eDP-1 --rotate inverted
        ;;
    inverted) # currently top is rotated inverted, next is left
        xrandr --output eDP-1 --rotate left
        ;;
    left) # currently top is rotated left, next is normal
        xrandr --output eDP-1 --rotate normal
        ;;
    esac
# re-bind touch and pen to eDP-1, call script
bash bind_touch_pen_edp1.sh

Power optimizations

• Install tlp for auto-optimizations: sudo apt-get install tlp

• Use powertop to monitor usage: sudo apt-get install powertop

• Inspect all report via powertop, especially regarding c-states

Re-map Bezel hardware buttons

A1

to-do: no scancodes – kernel does not map this buttons

A2

to-do: no scancodes – kernel does not map this buttons

Volume up and down

• We want to re-map these to page up and page down keys

• First find out scancodes of the bezel buttons: sudo evtest

• Choose the number corresponding to “Panasonic Laptop Support”

• Get the modalias (replace x below with number from above as well): cat /sys/class/input/eventx/device/modalias

• Copy down all characters before “-“ (not including -)

• Update the file: sudo vim /etc/udev/hwdb.d/61-keyboard-local.hwdb

• And add the following lines:

evdev:input:{number-above}*
 KEYBOARD_KEY_05=pagedown
 KEYBOARD_KEY_06=pageup

Rotate

• On the bios setup

• Change the mapping of the rotate button to ctrl+alt+del (to allow you to see it once you boot up on linux)

• Then on the 61-keyboard-local.hwdb file, In a different line do

evdev:input:{number-above}*
 KEYBOARD_KEY_38=f8

• Notice the space before the KEYBOARD word

• Then re-generate database and re-load codes

sudo systemd-hwdb update
sudo udevadm trigger

• Then to execute the rotation script upon pressing the rotate button

• Map f8 to the rotation script with the system utility

Windows

• This button is mapped correctly to open app menu

UI and appearance

• appearance –> Settings –> Window Scaling: 2x

• appearance –> custom DPI setting –> 80

• Window manager –> Theme: Default-xhdpi

• Panel preferences –> Items –> Whisker Menu –> Behavior: Uncheck stay visible when focus is lost

• Setup the panel as desired

• Thunar –> Edit -> Preferences -> Behavior -> Navigation -> Single click to activate items: yes

• Mouse and Touchpad –> Theme –> Cursor size: 32

• Login Window” > Settings > HiDPI support : Enable.

• Login Window” > Settings > On-screen keyboard layout : Phone.

• Setup power management settings as desired

Enable scrollbars visibility

vim ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini

[Settings]
gtk-overlay-scrolling = false

• Increase scrollbars size

vim ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css

/* Set thickness of scrollbars */
scrollbar.vertical slider {
    min-width: 15px;
}
scrollbar.horizontal slider {
    min-height: 15px;
}

• On firefox about:config

widget.non-native-theme.scrollbar.size.override 30 widget.non-native-theme.scrollbar.style 4

• On firefox: Settings > General > Browsing > Always show scrollbars

• On .profile file add

export GTK_OVERLAY_SCROLLING=0

• On thunderbid: Settings –> Always show scrollbars

Gestures support

Enable scrolling via touch

• For firefox, type

sudo vim /etc/security/pam_env.conf

• go to the end of the file and add this line:

MOZ_USE_XINPUT2 DEFAULT=0 OVERRIDE=1

Enable long touch = right click

Not working so well, can omit this section

We will be using PeterCxy evdev right click emulation program

• Install dependencies

sudo apt-get install libevdev-dev sudo apt-get install livevdev-tools

• Download zip from Evdev right click emulation

• Fix Makefile for evdev right click emulation

• Extract contents locally and make: make all

• Now update crontab to make sure it’s launched on startup, update data path for your case: sudo crontab -e

• Add the following line: @reboot /home/username/folder_where_the_file_located/evdev-right-click-emulation-master/out/evdev-rce

• Update environment variable to reduce long touch time to right click (todo)

Gestures support with touchegg

• Install Touchegg

• Install helper config GUI app: Touche

• For two finger scrolling, we will also need xdotool

• Define your desired gestures, in my case, after some thought and use:

Gesture/fingers |      1     |        2        |     3       |      4       |      5      |
----------------|------------|-----------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|  
Tap             |Left-click  |Alt. Right-click |Middle-click |Apps Menu     |Full screen  |
----------------|------------|-----------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|
Hold            |Right-click |N/A              |N/A          |N/A           |N/A          |
                |(disabled)  |                 |             |              |             |
----------------|------------|-----------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|
Swipe Up        |Scroll-down |Alt. Sroll-down  |Tile-up      |Prev. Desktop |Screenshot   |
----------------|------------|-----------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|
Swipe Down      |Scroll-up   |Alt. Scroll-up   |Tile-down    |Next Desktop  |Onboard KBD  |
----------------|------------|-----------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|
Swipe Left      |Scroll-right|Alt. Scroll-right|Tile-left    |Prev. Open App|Files Browser|
----------------|------------|-----------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|
Swipe Right     |Scroll-left |Alt. Scroll-left |Tile-right   |Next Open App |Web Browser  |
----------------|------------|-----------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|
Pinch In        |N/A         |Zoom out         |Minimize Win.|Show Desktop  |Close Window |
----------------|------------|-----------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|
Pinch Out       |N/A         |Zoom in          |Maximize Win.|Windows Menu  |Hibernate    |
----------------|------------|-----------------|-------------|--------------|-------------|

• Apply the above gestures table using touche

• Make sure keyboard shortcuts are properly setup on the windows manager

• Or alternatively edit the touchegg config file: vim ~/.config/touchegg/touchegg.conf

• Adding these lines, these also show how the gestures were mapped in more detail

<touchégg>
  <settings>
    <property name="animation_delay">150</property>
    <property name="action_execute_threshold">20</property>
    <property name="color">auto</property>
    <property name="borderColor">auto</property>
  </settings>
  <application name="All">
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="2" direction="DOWN">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <repeat>true</repeat>
        <command>xdotool click 4</command>
        <decreaseCommand>xdotool click 5</decreaseCommand>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="2" direction="UP">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <repeat>true</repeat>
        <command>xdotool click 5</command>
        <decreaseCommand>xdotool click 4</decreaseCommand>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="3" direction="LEFT">
      <action type="TILE_WINDOW">
        <direction>left</direction>
        <animate>true</animate>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="3" direction="RIGHT">
      <action type="TILE_WINDOW">
        <direction>right</direction>
        <animate>true</animate>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="TAP" fingers="2" direction="UNKNOWN">
      <action type="MOUSE_CLICK">
        <button>3</button>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="TAP" fingers="3" direction="UNKNOWN">
      <action type="MOUSE_CLICK">
        <button>2</button>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="PINCH" fingers="2" direction="IN">
      <action type="SEND_KEYS">
        <modifiers>Control_L</modifiers>
        <keys>minus</keys>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="PINCH" fingers="2" direction="OUT">
      <action type="SEND_KEYS">
        <modifiers>Control_L</modifiers>
        <keys>equal</keys>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="PINCH" fingers="3" direction="IN">
      <action type="MINIMIZE_WINDOW"></action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="PINCH" fingers="3" direction="OUT">
      <action type="MAXIMIZE_RESTORE_WINDOW"></action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="3" direction="UP">
      <action type="SEND_KEYS">
        <modifiers>Control_L</modifiers>
        <keys>Super_L+Up</keys>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="3" direction="DOWN">
      <action type="SEND_KEYS">
        <modifiers>Control_L</modifiers>
        <keys>Super_L+Down</keys>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="TAP" fingers="4" direction="UNKNOWN">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <command>xfce4-popup-whiskermenu</command>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="TAP" fingers="5" direction="UNKNOWN">
      <action type="FULLSCREEN_WINDOW"></action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="5" direction="DOWN">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <command>xfce4-screenshooter -r</command>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="5" direction="UP">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <command>onboard</command>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="5" direction="LEFT">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <command>thunar</command>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="5" direction="RIGHT">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <command>firefox</command>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="PINCH" fingers="4" direction="OUT">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <command>xfdesktop --windowlist</command>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="PINCH" fingers="4" direction="IN">
      <action type="SHOW_DESKTOP"></action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="PINCH" fingers="5" direction="IN">
      <action type="CLOSE_WINDOW"></action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="PINCH" fingers="5" direction="OUT">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <command>systemctl hibernate</command>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="2" direction="LEFT">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <command>xdotool click 7</command>
        <repeat>true</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <decreaseCommand>xdotool click 6</decreaseCommand>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="2" direction="RIGHT">
      <action type="RUN_COMMAND">
        <command>xdotool click 6</command>
        <repeat>true</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <decreaseCommand>xdotool click 7</decreaseCommand>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="4" direction="UP">
      <action type="SEND_KEYS">
        <modifiers>Control_L</modifiers>
        <keys>Alt_L+Right</keys>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="4" direction="DOWN">
      <action type="SEND_KEYS">
        <modifiers>Control_L</modifiers>
        <keys>Alt_L+Left</keys>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="4" direction="LEFT">
      <action type="SEND_KEYS">
        <modifiers>Alt_L</modifiers>
        <keys>Tab</keys>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
    <gesture type="SWIPE" fingers="4" direction="RIGHT">
      <action type="SEND_KEYS">
        <modifiers>Alt_L</modifiers>
        <keys>Shift_L+Tab</keys>
        <repeat>false</repeat>
        <animation>NONE</animation>
        <on>begin</on>
      </action>
    </gesture>
  </application>
</touchégg>

Other recommended software apps

Install with your desired preferences

• Cheese (camera: front and back cameras work)
• Redshift
• Unison Sync
• VIM
• Thunderbird

Related sources:

• How to optimize XFCE4 for tablets
• Enable hibernate Linux Mint
• Bios sub-configuration passwords Panasonic toughbook
• Log into linux with pin number
• How Can I Make Mint XFCE More Touch Friendly?
• Evdev right click emulation
• Fix Makefile for evdev right click emulation
• How to get make to find libevdev objects
• Guide enabling right click emulation
• Scrollbar width
• Remap keyboard keys ubuntu
• Touche
• Touchegg
• xdotool

---

Leave your comments below (or comment directly here).

Thank you for your feedback.