[HN Gopher] A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2
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A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2
Author : doener
Score : 184 points
Date : 2022-08-27 14:58 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (forum.odroid.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (forum.odroid.com)
| donkarma wrote:
| The highlight is the fact it sells for $111
| [deleted]
| ngcc_hk wrote:
| Could it be a simple solution for an ipad ssh linux server you
| can bring around?
| LoveMortuus wrote:
| I would love to have an MMORPG with a dedicated handheld console
| that would be only for that MMORPG and you could only play it on
| that handheld.
|
| Ahh... Sweet dreams~
| csdvrx wrote:
| I like everything about it but:
|
| - the weird power cable (did they cheapen out on PD? for just
| 7.5W there's no need to do something like that)
|
| - the lack of exposed GPIO header (no hacking, they could have
| just left in unpopulated)
|
| - the bigger size (the Odroid Go Advance was just the right size)
|
| - the lack of option for a 10000 mAh battery
|
| Hopefully, the framework laptop starts a new trend of devices
| where you can keep the shell and screen (just replacing the
| inside) and new motherboards can be swapped-in, with the old one
| returned and resold or recycled.
|
| A subscription-basis model for motherboard upgrade or damaged
| case replacement could help a big reduce the waste from people
| updating their phone every year.
| ekianjo wrote:
| and no integrated wireless
| reaperducer wrote:
| Less space than a Nomad.
| csdvrx wrote:
| Lame
| riskable wrote:
| > did they cheapen out on PD?
|
| For this question I think I know the answer: USB PD chips are
| hard to obtain right now. So they probably left it out just due
| to a lack of general (reliable) availability.
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| > We will start selling and shipping the ODROID-Go Ultra in early
| October 2022 at a price of $111.
|
| I really hope the production will keep with the sales...
|
| I bought a miyoo mini because I heard from a friend from a
| friend, that it's great before it got popular, and got it for
| cheap... then it became popular, and it's practically impossible
| to get at "normal" prices, only through resellers at 2x the
| price.
| earnesti wrote:
| They should auction the stuff, selling it with a fixed price
| but mostly not selling at all is just incredibly stupid way to
| distribute IMO
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| Or they should just make more, after the first and second
| batches sold out.
| systemvoltage wrote:
| Or they should charge higher to meet demand, and take those
| funds to scale up manufacturing.
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| The main selling point of miyoo mini was the low price.
| For $60 you got s/nes, gb/c/a and sega handhelds plus a
| lot of PS1 games.
|
| If they made the price eg $90, I'd add $10, $20 more, and
| buy a better device (or maybe I wouldn't buy anything at
| all, because it's above the $100 mental barrier, and it's
| not "cheap" anymore).
| nvllsvm wrote:
| From what I've seen, the ODROID handhelds (Advance, Super)
| prices remained relatively constant due to brands like Anbernic
| typically having better build quality.
|
| Personally, I've tried both the ODROID Go Advance and the
| Anbernic equivalent RG351M. The build quality and controls on
| the Anbernic are definitely better. However, I ultimately stuck
| with the ODROID as it was cheap enough not to worry about
| damaging or losing.
| oliwarner wrote:
| _Looks_ cool but be weary of cheap controllers.
|
| There's a reason it costs Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo millions in
| R&D to finalise their controllers: it's hard to get right; and
| terrible if it's even slightly wrong.
|
| This is clearly a budget option but I'd wish budget manufacturers
| tried to key into existing controllers more. Slide in ports for
| Nintendo JoyCons, for example. Or club together to fab a common
| input and ergonomics platform, just leave the computation,
| display and battery capacity variables.
| [deleted]
| teddyh wrote:
| Various controllers have been de-facto standard over multiple
| platforms over the years. DE-9 joysticks1 used to be standard,
| and you could buy your own favorite model to your microcomputer
| or console. Nowadays it seems that the Xbox controller2 has
| occupied this niche.
|
| 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_joystick_port
|
| 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_controller
| Kukumber wrote:
| Sony Dualshock is the standard, the Xbox one is on the same
| category as the Nintendo Switch, poor build quality, and
| prone to drift
| jbluepolarbear wrote:
| Opposite in my experience. Went through multiple ps4
| controllers yet all my Xbox one controllers still work and
| regularly use them to game on my pc.
| bee_rider wrote:
| I had some 360 controllers that lasted ~10 years, which
| seems pretty good for a controller. The rubber on the top
| of the joysticks wore away after maybe 7 or so years, and
| then they eventually became wobbly.
|
| A ~4 year old Xbox one controller just got too much
| drift, surprisingly enough. I was kind of disappointed.
| But with these small sample sizes, could just be a fluke.
| kitsunesoba wrote:
| DS4's have been solid for me, with the biggest issue
| being their rather disappointing battery life. Probably
| depends a lot on the types of games most often played,
| playstyles, etc though.
| Cyberdog wrote:
| I love the use of un-rethemed phpBB as an ersatz CMS. Very web
| 1.0.
|
| Can these things play native games, or are they locked in to
| emulating?
| na85 wrote:
| I think it's just a plain old web forum with a standard
| News/Announcement section.
|
| In the before times (when WordPress was new and shiny, or even
| earlier) this was a run-of-the-mill setup and every community
| had a locked Announcement section where only moderators/admins
| could post.
| oblak wrote:
| Looking at the specs, I am slightly tempted to get this as Pi
| replacement.
|
| Would it work?
| zozbot234 wrote:
| What does the OS situation for these handhelds look like? Could
| they be usable with a pmOS or Mobian install? It might also be
| interesting to look into UX paradigms for a more general purpose
| use of this class of devices, as opposed to just gaming. E.g.
| they might supplement SBC's for some educational uses.
| squarefoot wrote:
| The Odroid N2+ which this device is based upon is well
| supported by Armbian, so chances are that it will only need
| some tweaking.
|
| https://www.armbian.com/odroid-n2/
| hakfoo wrote:
| I have a previous model, the Odroid-go Advance. There are a
| bunch of canned distributions bassed around RetroArch and
| EmulationzStation, but it's just an ARM Linux box underneath,
| which can even be fitted with a USB keyboard.
| zozbot234 wrote:
| From looking at a different forum on the submitted link
| https://forum.odroid.com/viewforum.php?f=194 it seems that
| mainline support for the Go Advance is still a work in
| progress, and quite a bit of stuff is not working properly.
| Once that's addressed however a pmOS build for that could be
| feasible. pmOS has a wiki page on the Odroid N2+ SBC, but
| this handheld comes with changes that might make it harder to
| support.
| kiririn wrote:
| It is the usual Linux ARM trade off of 'just works' vs security
| (old vendor patched kernel vs mainline)
| willcipriano wrote:
| Looks a little faster than the Anbernic Rg351. I'll have to see
| some gameplay footage of the Dreamcast and GameCube emulation to
| see if it's worth the upgrade.
| colordrops wrote:
| Is there a place that collects info on all these sorts of
| projects and allows you to compare specs and software? I bought a
| Retroid 2 on a whim but I'm wondering if it's the best out there.
| suprjami wrote:
| Obscure Handhelds does a good job:
| https://obscurehandhelds.com/
| Hackbraten wrote:
| This is my go-to resource for retro handhelds:
| https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1irg60f9qsZOkhp0cwOU7...
| mikewhy wrote:
| I don't know of a site, but Taki Udon on YouTube follows them
| very closely.
|
| Retro Dodo does as well.
|
| "The best" is very subjective unfortunately. And the answer
| will change based on what you're looking for.
|
| IE I've searched for "the best" and ended up with an android
| phone in a telescopic controller before getting a Steam Deck.
| flatiron wrote:
| For anyone thinking about picking one up explore buying a used
| vita. It can do everything this does (sans GameCube) but it can
| play vita games as well. Sd card adapters are <$10
| goosedragons wrote:
| Worth mentioning Vita is pretty finnicky. SD card adapters use
| the game card slot not the memory card slot and and so aren't
| the simpliest to configure and get going. Official cards that
| use the memory card slot are capped at 64GB and 64GB cards were
| only sold in Asia and have only gotten even more stupid
| expensive over time.
|
| It's a decent handheld but Sony's paranoia really kneecapped
| it. And it doesn't quite have the ease of use as a lot of the
| retro handhelds available today.
| saghul wrote:
| I haven't had any issues with mine (OLED model) FWIW. If you
| have an OLED model I think there is a way to put the card in
| the PSVSD, which might be more reliable.
| goosedragons wrote:
| Only the 3G models support the PSVSD. You do have to fiddle
| with the drive setup, some of the adapters don't work with
| some FW versions, etc. It's just more of a pain IMO than
| dropping ROMs on an SD card like other handhelds.
| ace2358 wrote:
| The sd2vita is pretty easy to setup these days. I find
| that it can all be done with gui apps on the vita itself.
|
| Also I just ftp and drop roms on the sd card too.
| goosedragons wrote:
| Yeah but it's a 30+ step process to even to be able to
| use the sd2vita and emulators. Modern retro handhelds
| have an ease of use convenience factor. Proper SD card
| support, USB C charging, TV out, literally drag and drop
| ROMs, etc.
| flatiron wrote:
| More like 10 steps. But yes it takes a bit of knowledge.
| ace2358 wrote:
| This is very true, modding any console can be quite the
| effort and a huge challenge for non technical people.
|
| To get the mod working I had to compile the software for
| macOS 10.13 as some libusb function wasn't working
| correctly and wouldn't inject the payload to the vita.
| This was well out of my comfort zone.
| SoylentYellow wrote:
| The official flash cards also are very prone to corruption,
| especially the larger sized ones. Getting the SD card adapter
| is practically a requirement.
| ace2358 wrote:
| I also have never had a problem with my oled model. Also hard
| to think other companies can match the vita's build quality.
| Or spare parts supply.
|
| Honestly, vita is life!
| 2Gkashmiri wrote:
| whats the equivalent performance like? i mean if its linux and
| only $111, i will try it but what about availability? would it be
| available in say... india?
|
| i would buy this just to support the linux part of the "whole
| package"...
| Andrex wrote:
| I remember doing some web development work for HardKernel/ODROID
| back in ~2010 and I just did it for free (I loved the idea of an
| "Android Game Boy," plus Chris Pruett at Google recommended it
| for gaming and game development[1]), and they ended up sending me
| an ODROID-S out of the blue. I was totally surprised and felt I
| didn't really deserve it (MSRP was like $200-300 and I was a poor
| college kid), and I'll never forget the gesture.
|
| HK earned a longtime fan with that move for sure, haha. :) This
| new handheld looks great, I hope they have their "mainstream
| moment."
|
| [1] http://replicaisland.blogspot.com/2010/01/fragmentation-
| more...
|
| (I've posted this comment a few times on HardKernel/ODROID
| stories. Just want to pay it forward to these guys.)
| georgewsinger wrote:
| It's amazing how gestures like this can have such positive
| impact people years later.
|
| I know I've had moments where people have made unnaturally kind
| gestures towards me, and I still remember years later.
| jokowueu wrote:
| "The GPU was changed from Mali G31 2xEE to Mali G52 6xEE."
|
| What a shame I really hoped they with opt for the RK3588 instead
| .
|
| I really had fun with their older hand held device but it really
| needed more power
| yomkippur wrote:
| handheld game console aka handheld piracy console
| na85 wrote:
| It might be technically piracy, but who's really losing out on
| lost sales if I buy this and play SNES on it?
| yomkippur wrote:
| theft is still theft
| MerelyMortal wrote:
| copying [?] theft
| jrm4 wrote:
| Neither of which is "copyright infringement," but nice try.
| poolopolopolo wrote:
| except it isnt? in most countries piracy is not the same as
| theft, and in many of those countries you can "pirate"
| things you can no longer buy, that is the main reason for
| archive.org to still being alive.
| na85 wrote:
| Nintendo doesn't sell SNES carts any more. Who is the
| victim?
| itsboring wrote:
| Who cares?
| Bilal_io wrote:
| Desktop running Windows aka Desktop used for piracy..
|
| What's the difference? People can use any of their devices at
| home for piracy.
| yomkippur wrote:
| You can purchase software for Desktop.
|
| Handheld consoles are clearly and intentionally made to
| support emulators and pirated ROMs
| hakfoo wrote:
| TBH, I want legit content for my (previous model). I have a few
| of the new homebrew console titles on it, and stuffed it with a
| few PS1 discs I owned (these can be imaged on a modern PC
| optical drive).
|
| I seriously considered getting a tool to dump the actual legit
| cartridges I own to populate the unit, but they're surprisingly
| pricey (I think like 50USD+ last I checked), and it felt like
| the sort of thing that you'd get a lot of questions about if
| Customs opened the package. So it largely sits in a drawer
| waiting for me to play the FF5 PS1 adaptation.
| 71a54xd wrote:
| This looks like an awesome project, definitely curious to see how
| much actual graphics ability the processor has.
| trynewideas wrote:
| I had an ODROID Advance and the buttons and sticks were so
| miserable that I gave it away and replaced it with a RG351V, on
| the same chipset and 4:3 DMG Game Boy-style layout, and the
| difference in actually USING it was night and day.
|
| I wish ODROID actually just sold these as kits like they used to
| for folks to just install better sticks and buttons on their own
| if they want them, and especially if it retained some
| hackability. Clones offering better gaming experiences - better
| controls, less wonky charging, more solid cases, integrated
| wireless, video output - are only going to come out faster and
| faster.
| rvz wrote:
| This one will likely have two years of support and that's it,
| which is the common nature of these systems, especially made by
| ODROID.
|
| It does not matter about the specs here, it's always about the
| games and all this is useful for is playing pirated games.
|
| Consumers who love the Nintendo Switch are not missing out on
| anything here, given that they know that their Switch will be
| supported for longer than 2 years.
| cosmiccatnap wrote:
| ...it's running Linux. It will be supported until the sun dies.
|
| It's also sad that you think I can't play games I own on this.
| As if I'm going to rip my mint copy of FFVII open when I can
| play it upscaled. It's just a sad backwards way to think about
| it.
| heavyset_go wrote:
| It's an ARM SoC, those can't run vanilla Linux images and
| require someone, usually manufacturers or enthusiasts, to
| maintain SoC-specific Linux builds for the boards.
| heavyset_go wrote:
| I own ODROID hardware that I bought 7 years ago that still has
| official support and maintenance.
| bee_rider wrote:
| Do they make any comparisons to the Switch? It seems like a
| totally different type of device to me, other than the shape.
| alexklarjr wrote:
| S922X is an old soc, but looks like they got new kernel for it.
| Wonder if Amlogic managed to update their proprietary blobs or
| odroid provide no hw acceleration and decoding whatsoever.
| georgewsinger wrote:
| Really love the detailed specs, schematics, and board shots. Open
| hardware projects have an aesthetic all to their own, and
| understanding how hardware is built and works together somehow
| makes these products more enjoyable (at least this is a principle
| we've adhered to while building the Simula One[1]).
|
| [1] https://simulavr.com/
| metadat wrote:
| Sorry for the meta comment, but I find this so gross:
|
| What is with sites copying the aggressive reddit-style "grey out
| everything with an INSTALL OUR APP modal"? Disappointing. Such a
| turnoff and horrible user-experience. In this case, c'mon, it's a
| fricken forum.
|
| Note: Please feel free to respond but don't upvote this comment,
| I don't want to hijack the discussion on this otherwise
| interesting story.
|
| Edit: thanks for downvoting to help protect the conversation :)
| nubb wrote:
| i use ff on mobile and couldn't click out of the gray. very
| annoying.
| [deleted]
| Cyberdog wrote:
| I have no idea what you're talking about, so I guess I must
| once again thank the developers of AdGuard for making the web
| more usable.
| zbird wrote:
| Just install Ublock Origin or Noscript. At least it's not
| Cloudflare.
| jessaustin wrote:
| "Doctor, my head hurts when I hit it with this hammer. What
| can I do?"
| pvg wrote:
| If you want help maintain the quality of the conversation just
| avoid writing cruftcomments like the guidelines ask - there's
| one for every line in your comment.
| kube-system wrote:
| Tapatalk has been doing that longer than Reddit has.
| Koshkin wrote:
| Used the N1 for about a year, and while I enjoyed the experience
| with it as a decent Linux machine, the video acceleration left a
| sour taste, especially the atrociously basic kplayer which is the
| only video player that had it.
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(page generated 2022-08-27 23:00 UTC)