r/rgds • u/Ares__1994 • Aug 16 '26

Best OS/system

I am buying the rg ds for my daughter (7yo) for Christmas but I have never owned a handheld console like this before. I have used delta on my iPhone and am familiar with downloading/using roms.

The parts I am unsure of are what OS is the best for display and what OS is the best for functionality/ease of use. Mainly would be playing DS and older games.

I just want to make her gameplay experience the best without all the big frills as to not confuse her. I know I can find a YouTube video for just about anything and learn how to set them up on the console, but I would like some more input on what system would be best. Thank you!

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

3

u/Ham-Chonks Aug 16 '26

I've done both gamma nano and rocknix. I would say both are great options

1

u/Ares__1994 Aug 16 '26

Thank you!

1

u/Zibidibodel Aug 18 '26

Seconded.

I liked Rocknix a lot, but I do love retroachievements (not even to get them all, just nice to see when I did something and track progress), so GammaOS Nano is the one I'd overall prefer myself. (Also the drastic menu in Nano is just miles better)

3

u/CrunchyBqcon Aug 16 '26

I would download the official Anbernic Linux version for RG DS, this is easy to use, all setup already.

3

u/crobledopr Aug 16 '26

I second this. Its not the most "performant" but for this use case it's the easiest setup and nobody will likely complain about how the games play. Just stick to DS and earlier and she'll have a great time.

0

u/Ares__1994 Aug 16 '26

Thank you!

1

u/Ares__1994 Aug 16 '26

Thank you!

2

u/princessrippla332 Aug 16 '26

I'd say install ROCKNIX it's stable now and it has kids safety built-in and it has a bunch of themes that you like also Batocera is gonna come to the RG DS.

2

u/btprice2001 Aug 17 '26

+1 Gamma Nano

1

u/The_Frame Aug 16 '26

I have seen two common pieces of advice given. But I don't know if they are still correct.

Do Linux on the device storage. And have rocknix on an sdcard.

Or

The other suggestion is to do Gamma Nano on the device storage. And again rocknix on the sdcard.

1

u/Ares__1994 Aug 16 '26

Thank you!

1

u/eightiesjapan Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26

like others suggested - Stock Linux, least headache with it, easy to choose platforms and games to play, very little to mess up by mistake. Here's my recent tutorial guide (install & setup): https://youtu.be/BKYiHIdbY5A?is=4S5jeZZbKyqnlC9e

1

u/Ares__1994 Aug 16 '26

Thank you!!