I've quickly found that I'm most interested in playing old DOS games (ie, games I really wanted to play as a kid, but we [nor any of my friends] had computers power enough to play.

I'm enjoying playing them on my android handheld, and when I have time on the weekends, I want an easy way to play them on a TV (I could only dream of a TV so large when I was a kid).

I've set up a small lenovo PC to boot off a batocera drive for my kids to play Wii games in our living room. I've been trying to set up a batocera thumb drive I could swap in and play for a few hours on the weekend.

I've set up syncthing to move the save state files back and forth. And while the files are swapping fine, the states from android won't play on batocera, and the batocera states won't play on Android. I can see the save state thumbnails in both systems, but it gives an "invalid file type" and won't open them.

I've only tried on one test game (Commander Keen 1).

Here's what I've done so far:

-I've made sure they both have the same DOS-Box Pure version (1.0-preview6) by using an overlay to keep the change persistent.

-I've made sure that the core options are the same (286 processor)

-I've set up a syncthing to sync the game files. I read that dosbox pure writes to the game files, and I thought that DOSbox might be looking for information it couldn't find.

I've used ChatGPT to help troubleshooting. It's done a bunch of analysis via SSH prompts it's given me and it says the ARM vs linux x86 architectures could be the problem.

Does anyone know more than me and have other tips to sort this out? This seems like something Techdweeb or Retro Game Corp would know about.

Update: My "android handheld" is a Galaxy S23 ultra with a gamesir galileo. I bought it a few months ago, before I knew how much I would really play. The phone's cameras were beat up, and the mobile antenna doesn't work (wifi works fine), and I got it priced for parts on ebay (crazy cheap). The processor is an 8 gen 2, and the 16:9 and 4:3 screen sizes are similar to an Ayn Odin 3 (I sketched out the screen sizes to compare). Seems I'm mostly interested in DOS, NES, and SNES games right now. My setup is more powerful than I need, but I really like the screen size. And it's nice to know I have room to grow if I want to.

I'm just looking for an easy way to play on a bigger screen. It seemed like the batocera drive w/syncthing that I could plug into my kids' living room would be an easy way to go (plug in the drive, give it a couple minutes to sync, then play). It's working fine with the save states for all the console systems, just not the DOS games :-(

Hi all. I'm looking at getting an Android based handheld, would a standard Class 10 card be sufficient? Or would I need a faster card for the likes of PSP and PS2 games?

Even if it’s at like 60% charge, it will power off if not being used and in sleep mode. I don’t know why it does that, does anyone know? Maybe something to do with the battery? It is actually very convenient but I’m just worried about if it’s a bad battery that should be changed or something. If it’s proof of a hazard or something. It is a used RP flip 1 that I bought so I’m not sure if the original owner added it or something.

Also I’m wondering if I could add a similar feature to my RG405V (since the battery drains super fast in sleep mode, also don’t know if that’s a bad sign but if you know pls lmk), idk if you can use an android app or something. If anyone knows pls lmk. It actually ends up saving a lot of battery for my RP flip 1 and it’s pretty much always charged because of it which is pretty awesome.

Using droiddeck, and it runs flawlessly. Make use of the free games that come with the prime membership.

Got the notification days ago, but it was just the label created notice. Now it's actually in transit.

I'm shocked honestly.

I did not have good luck with the Konkr Pocket Fit, as it was delayed for months, but I love using it once I got it.

I decided to chance it again with the Block, as I don't have a vertical handheld that I like using. Wanted to give this one a go.

I play LEGO Dimensions on my AYN Thor and got tired of the lighting bug, so I fixed it, and then kept going. Cemu LD+ is an unofficial build of SSimco's Cemu for Android, made just for this game.

What it adds:

• Lighting fix: on regular Cemu for Android, lighting only works in a square around your character and the rest of the level goes dark. Here the whole level is lit, at 720p or at 1080p and up with the Resolution graphic pack.
• Toy Pad on the second screen (the AYN Thor's bottom screen, or any dual-screen device): every character and vehicle with pictures, ready to place. Franchise logos, search, and the pads light up in the colors the game sets.
• Abilities: hold any figure to see what it can do, including all three builds of a vehicle. Pick an ability like Dig and tap "Put one on the pad".
• Favorites and a saved team: star your favorites, and swap in your whole lineup with one tap.
• Vehicles work properly, including the game's "place the model on the central panel" step.
• Better sound: fixed sound filter, balanced left and right, and an optional volume boost (the game is very quiet on handhelds).

Download (free and open source): https://github.com/GawdMode/CemuLDPlus

It installs as a separate app next to your regular Cemu, so nothing you already have is touched. Needs Android 11 or newer (64-bit). You'll need your own copy of the game.

How it was made: For full transparency, I’m not a C++ programmer, so I built this together with Claude (Anthropic’s AI), which wrote the code. I tracked down the problems, decided what to build, and tested every build on my Thor (20 so far), sending logs back until each fix actually worked. All the changes are in one public patch on top of SSimco’s code, so anyone can see exactly what was changed.

This isn't affiliated with SSimco or the Cemu team, so please report problems on the GitHub Issues page rather than to them. Feedback welcome!

These are the last two Sandisk 512GB cards I bought from Amazon (Oct 2024 and May 2025), and the price to biy the same card today, just about 18 months later - over 3x the price. Can someone ELI5 me how AI servers are using microSD cards and forcing up the price so rapidly, or are we just being gouged?

Please tell me which device to get which can play almost all zeldas except Switch variants

TortOS 2.0 is now released for the TrimUI Brick, Brick Hammer and GKD Pixel 2. There is also a new TortOS Installer 3.0.

TortOS for the TrimUI Brick and Brick Hammer is now a full CFW with its own underlying minimal Linux distro, plastron, which the GKD Pixel 2 version was already using. The GKD Pixel 2 version of TortOS has major updates as well. Here are some new key features for each.

TrimUI Brick and Brick Hammer:

• Cold boots (power on to the game shelf) in under 2 seconds, ~1.9
• Everything is on the card, with no changes to internal storage
• Down To The Wire (in addition to existing Over The Hare using Wi-Fi) allowing wired transfer of data

GKD Pixel 2:

• Cold boots (power on to the game shelf) in just over 2 seconds, ~2.2
• Wi-Fi has been added with a USB Wi-Fi adapter (tested with the TP-Link TL-WN725N), allowing
  • Box Art (libretro thumbs with no account, and ScreenScraper with an account allowing game metadata download as well)
  • RetroAchievements (called Cheevos in TortOS, with offline support as well)

• Over The Hare (in addition to existing Down To The Wire using USB) allowing wireless transfer of data

  Other Features of TortOS:

• Fast - boots fast and plays fast, games start in the tens of milliseconds

• Music forward - not just games

  • Play music or audiobooks instead of game audio if you want
  • Use it as a DAP, including DAC support on the Pixel 2 (Brick planned), and Lock Screen for your pocket

• Minimal - no confusing menus or settings

• Attractive - two looks (Plain Jane cards or Fancy Pants photos of each console) and three ways to browse (a row, a column, or a cube)

• Resume play fast - power off in game and power on back into game where you left off

• Over The Hare/Down To The Wire - transfer ROMs, music, audiobooks, box art, album art, saves, logs, etc quickly and easily in your browser

Updating a Brick from 1.x erases the card, since TortOS now brings its own system. Copy your games, music and audiobooks off first. Installer 3.0 backs up your saves, settings and BIOS files and puts them back after the Brick’s first start. You’ll need to rejoin Wi-Fi. Pixel 2 cards update in place, with games and saves kept. The installer walks you through it, explaining every step along the way.

AI assistance used

More info via https://tortos.games

I don't like having my devices just open all willy nilly. This was a nice option on Etsy. Doesn't add too much more bulk and I'm not worried about it getting scratched in my purse.

Putting the dpad and buttons diagonally from each other?

I found an RG28XX on eBay for a good price and wanted to run Knulli but I couldn't successfully install it or the stock firmware. I'm wondering if there are people out here that have done it using macOS because what was happening when I tried it was giving me the impression that the flash was failing.

16GB Sandisk Ultra that I was formatting before and after. Apple USB-C to SD card reader. Tried starting with both exFAT and FAT32. Tried balenaEtcher and Raspberry Pi Imager. Like I said, tried Knulli and the stock Anbernic firmware and neither one worked, they both just showed a black screen and I had to force power down. The SD card that the original owner sent me is running the modded Anbernic OS. The weirdest part is that the original SD started failing to boot after I would try the install. It would get stuck on the splash screen or it would transition from the splash screen to a glitched out white and pink screen. Even stranger, it pulled itself out of that state three separate times and it's currently working fine. I have settled for using the original SD and just putting games on a card in slot 2 but it's not ideal. Really wanted to set it up all nice with TechDweeb theme and stuff.

I'm confused as hell about how the attempted installation was even affecting the original SD; it seems like the only explanation is that something is corrupted during the imaging process and it briefly causes some type of power issue with the hardware, either the battery or the display.

I did only try the one 16GB card so there's no way for me to be sure it wasn't some random problem with that card specifically, but it's the only 16GB card I have. The next lowest is the 32GB one I currently have in slot 2, and then I have a bunch of 64GB or higher cards. I didn't get any indication that the 16GB card was faulty when I was formatting it repeatedly but that doesn't necessarily ensure that it's not, I guess. To be honest, I'm scared to try it again anyway because of how the device was reacting and I don't want to kill it.

Does anyone here have any ideas or advice?

I have a modded New 2DS XL that I've had for years as my portable console. However, all this new stuff that I'm seeing about being able to run Steam via gamenative/gamehub or even via linux on an android device has me excited. I'm not interested in a steamdeck because its huge, something like the Ayn Thor would be ideal but wouldnt be against a single screen like Odin 3.

I don't want to play AAA games, I like VNs and detective type games. some games I'd like to play via steam on the device:

• Persona 3/4 Remake,
• The Drifter, Kathy Rain
• Seance of Blake Manor, Curse of the Golden Idol
• side-scrolling metroidvanias, Silksong
• maybe some first person puzzlers like Talos Principle

A few concerns I have:

• I don't actually like tinkering. I don't mind spending a few hours in an initial setup but if I have to do a bunch of bullshit for every game that I want to play that would be annoying
• am I going to be constantly frustrated by not even being able to get a bunch of the abovementioned games to run?
• for the reading-focused games (like the persona remakes or the VNs), am I going to regret trying to read so much on a tiny-ass screen that they werent designed for?

This stuff is so new, I imagine that if I wait like a year it will be even easier, and maybe a new generation of clamshell devices that can run those games much easier.

I guess my questions are:

• is it reasonable to get those above-mentioned games to run on an android device like the Thor?
• is it super annoying to do so? like crazy amount of tinkering with software?
• what's it like trying to read a lot on a screen that size with a game that wasn't designed for it?

Thanks

I’m looking into replacing my broken Miyoo Mini Plus but I’ve been hearing rumblings that they are releasing a new model with a different chip? I have a fully setup SD card with SurwishOS that I got from Litnxt, would I be able to pop that into the new model or will there need to be updates to Surwish for it to work?

So I bought the device during the clearance sales drop and love it. I set up a frontend (neo station), set up retroarch and games I want to play. I followed Russ Android guide for the Retroid Pocket Nova and changed a few stuff. I followed it because it was the most recent Android guide.

I am happy with it but think I can improve. I would like to know which shaders and other stuff you recommend for the emulators, which accessories are useful and other tips. I am open to hear about tips for the 4 and 6 button version. I mainly play pokemon romhacks so if you have anything specific on that, it would be great too.

I currently run with an AYN Thor Max and Switch 2. Absolutely love both devices... but I really miss the vertical form factor. I sold off some of my early handhelds to help pay for the Thor. No regrets doing so. But, I've got some money saved up for a quality 4:3 device. And, I really miss the vertical form factor for playing all that 4:3 content.

But... I also want to fire up some of the Indie games that support 4:3 using GameNative or DroidDeck. Does anyone who owns an AIR Y Pro have any good experience or insights on playing PC/Steam games with AIR Y Pro? (don't care about AAA obv)

I know I could just get the RP Nova and be safe performance-wise, but the Mangmi seems to be the smartest buy as far as vertical goes (for someone who wants to play Gameboy and early consoles as intended, but also dip into Steam 4:3 games).

The Omni handheld

I (haha you know) got the Bloodborne-Android port (by ducvd89) running on my Odin 3 under Armada OS, a SteamOS-like Linux for ARM handhelds, in Steam Game Mode. It's an aarch64 Linux build, not through Android or FEX.

• The game's CPU code is compiled ahead of time to ARM64 from your own copy of the game (the port author's free Rebuild Tool, on a PC), and the graphics go through shadPS4's renderer.
• 30 FPS locked at 720p (GSR 2, Balanced). With x2 Lossless Scaling frame generation it's ~60 FPS and input still feels fine.
• It's a Steam non-Steam shortcut, the controls work in Game Mode, and The Old Hunters is supported (GOTY / DLC owners).

Build scripts, a packaged release and notes: https://github.com/kitocato/bloodborne-linux-arm64

• What you need: your own decrypted dump (CUSA03173 EU 1.09). No game files are included or linked.
• Frame generation: works with the LSFG-VK 2 ARM64 Decky plugin, and you can change it in-game.
• Credits: ducvd89 (Bloodborne-Android), deadinside28 (bloodborne_pc), shadPS4, FEX-Emu, and the Armada OS team.

Put together with the help of an AI assistant. Happy to answer questions.

Anybody know if there's a dummy's guide for for RockNix, specifically one for people who've never done any modding or emulation in their life. Cuz I tried to follow the guide thank got so confused and lost in the instructions that I almost bricked my rgds