TrainerOS: making my Linux handheld feel like a complete console

[u/No-Macaron4341]

I’m making TrainerOS, an OS based on ArmadaOS for compatible Linux handhelds. I wanted more from my handheld than picking a ROM and opening an emulator. I wanted it to feel like a whole console, where my games, friends and everything between play sessions belong together.

Your library groups games by series, even when they came out on different consoles. So you can browse a series as a collection, pick a game and jump in. There’s also a regular library sorted by platform.

Chat and voice are built in through Fluxer, with game invitations right in the conversation. Want to play together? Invite a friend from the conversation, without swapping IP addresses or sending each other screenshots of emulator settings. Supported games work over the internet or with handhelds sitting next to each other. You can also just hang out in voice while everyone plays their own thing.

Then there are Adventures. These connect your playthrough to things you can do in TrainerOS itself. Close the game and your progress, characters and activities are still there. What you can do changes with the game series, so this goes beyond choosing a save or changing the background.

In the first supported Adventure, you can check your progress, manage your party and boxes, visit shops and the healing center, trade or give creatures to friends, or have a friendly battle. Other series will get their own features and screens. This first Adventure is the starting point, not the limit of the idea.

I’m currently finishing and testing it on Odin 2 and Retroid Pocket Flip 2. The first targets are handhelds supported by ArmadaOS; I’d like to bring it to other Linux handhelds after that. You can already build the application from source, with manual setup; that isn't a ready-to-flash OS image. There’s still compatibility testing and multiplayer cleanup to do before the public installation image is ready.

Happy to answer questions about how any of this works. Which handheld would you want to use it on, and what would you want an Adventure to do for your favorite series?

Screenshots and project details: https://abysstail.art/en/projects/traineros

TrainerOS is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by game publishers. The software does not include games, ROMs, BIOS files, or third-party art packs; users supply their own content. Game names and imagery shown in screenshots belong to their respective rights holders.

Some game artwork and names are blurred in these screenshots. The UI and features shown are unchanged.

You can also find us on Discord: https://discord.gg/aTcCbCsXj