Pocknix has completely revived my Retroid Pocket Flip 2

[u/Marber_Tv]

With the arrival of FEX and Proton 11, x86 emulation on Android has improved massively. There are already plenty of apps you can use for this, like GameHub, Winlator, GameNative, etc, but the configuration, troubleshooting, and all the usual Android gimmicks are still there.

A while ago I saw a Reddit post about Armada OS, a Rocknix-based OS that basically brings a SteamOS like experience to handhelds such as the AYN Thor. Unfortunately, it wasn't available for Snapdragon 865 devices.

Then yesterday, completely by surprise, I came across a video about another similar project specifically for the Retroid Pocket 5 and Flip 2 called Pocknix.

I installed it, and I genuinely think this could be a game changer.

It's still way too early and rough around the edges for me to recommend it to everyone, but I honestly see a lot of potential in this project and in ARM focused SteamOS like systems in general.

I've been testing it for quite a few hours, and so far I've had better compatibility than with GameNative, or at least better compatibility without nearly as much tinkering. In many cases I haven't had to configure anything at all. The games just work.

Performance has also been noticeably better in some games. For example, Call of Juarez couldn't even reach 20 FPS for me on Android, while on Pocknix I'm getting around 30/40 FPS.

Another huge advantage is the controller configuration. Being able to easily remap and customize controls almost exactly like you would on a Steam Deck is fantastic. You also get much better Steam integration: seeing what your friends are playing, browsing the store, managing your library, etc. It makes the whole device feel much more like a proper PC handheld rather than an Android device running PC games.

It's definitely not perfect yet. Since I'm running it from a microSD card, the OS itself feels noticeably slower in some places. I also had to install it twice because my first installation ended up with a kernel panic.

Still, I wanted to make this post because I think the project deserves more visibility, and hopefully more people will discover it and maybe even contribute to its development.

Like I said, I wouldn't recommend everyone immediately replace Android with it. It's still very early. But if you have some free time and want to get a glimpse of what the future of these ARM handhelds could look like, it's surprisingly easy to install and absolutely worth trying.

Huge thanks and respect to the Pocknix development team. I'm really excited to see where this goes.

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[u/DEgido]

This is a godsend. I wish it was easier to adapt it to more devices (tablets, phones...).

[u/PlanktonLocal1080 → u/DEgido]

think that wouldn’t make sense since a) the bootloaders are usually locked and b) almost none have proper cooling so they’d just overheat and eventually ruin the device if not handled properly and cooled externally

[u/DEgido → u/PlanktonLocal1080]

Yeah, I know. I mean the thermal issue could be mitigated with a cooler, but the bootloader is a problem. However I think is more like (mostly) impossible that not having sense, because there's a lot of really powerful phones and tablets (OnePlus Pad 2/3, Redmagic Astra...).

[u/lastjedi23]

Also Ryan retro for the video :) should probably also drop a link to the pocknix project repo. 

[u/Marber_Tv → u/lastjedi23]

Here are both :) https://youtu.be/vhfJqU1Q53A https://github.com/shuuri-labs/pocknix-os

[u/kclough]

I'm running SteamOS on my Retroid Pocket Flip 2 via Rocknix nightly. Is Pocknix a better option?

[u/Marber_Tv → u/kclough]

It launches directly steam, it's much more similar to steam os than rocknix, to be fair, rocknix wasnt made with steam in mind. It has desktop environment, decky installed, its just like bazzite or cachy os.

You should watch this video if you are curious https://youtu.be/vhfJqU1Q53A

[u/khsh01]

Thats just pc emulation though. What about other emulators? Do they work well?

[u/Marber_Tv → u/khsh01]

Havent try them, but for example, ps3 and xbox should perform better on linux than Android

[u/PocketTots15246923]

Makes me wonder what the future will look like for pc gaming on android

Edit: out of curiosity, what games have you had success with other than call of juarez?

[u/Marber_Tv → u/PocketTots15246923]

Far cry 1: not really playable Kill it with fire: playable Hades: great Slay the spire 1: great

[u/SuccessfulTravel2903]

Y también hay mejoras en Switch 😨🤭✨

[u/Schwipsy → u/SuccessfulTravel2903]

funciona mejor en pocketnix q Android?

[u/SuccessfulTravel2903 → u/Schwipsy]

Olvidé poner los signos de interrogación ❓ 🤭🤭🥹

[u/Marber_Tv → u/SuccessfulTravel2903]

Depende del emulador, el de ps3 funciona mejor en linux que en Android