Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2

forum.odroid.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 109 posts

Re: A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2

#91

Post by nmfisher »

ace2358 wrote: post #54
goosedragons wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

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!

I recently breathed new life into my Vita with Adrenaline and a whole bunch of old PSX games. It really is a fantastic device, great build quality is exceptional and perfect handheld hardware for anything below 2012-era AAA games.

It really was let down by the business folks at Sony. I guess the upside is that it paved the way for the Switch and Nintendo really learned from Sony's mistakes (but even then, my Vita sees a lot more usage than my Switch).

Re: A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2

#92

Post by aidenn0 »

teddyh wrote: post #12
oliwarner wrote: post #8

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 ergon…

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

My CH mach III just died. It's about 30 years old, and one of the potentiometers finally gave out. I can't find anything comparable outside of industrial controls...

Re: A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2

#93

Post by zozbot234 »

MartijnBraam wrote: post #81
zozbot234 wrote: post #61

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.

I got an odroid go super for porting postmarketOS but got stuck at not finding an actual kernel for the thing to build.

Do you still have the device? https://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=194&t=40455 reports some success at booting a mainline kernel on the Go Super. Wiki page https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid_go_super/start has some info on the downstream kernel.

Re: A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2

#94

Post by justaj »

kiririn wrote: post #68
zozbot234 wrote: post #61

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.

It is the usual Linux ARM trade off of ‘just works’ vs security (old vendor patched kernel vs mainline)

So this means that a vanilla upstream kernel will not work on this hardware?

Re: A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2

#95

Post by fisian »

oblak wrote: post #51

Looking at the specs, I am slightly tempted to get this as Pi replacement. Would it work?

It is based on the Odroid N2+, which can definitely replace a Pi.

I used some in the past and they are powerful alternatives.

The only downside is worse software support (the official images have only older linux versions), but there are alternative images. I had good experience using Armbian images instead of the official ones.

Re: A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2

#98

Post by nfriedly »

Cyberdog wrote: post #16

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?

Yes, they can play native games. The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game has a Linux/arm build that works on previous generations of this device, Beats of Rage works, there are native builds of Super Mario 64, Another Metroid 2 Remake (AM2R), Half Life, etc.

They are targeted at emulation, but it's just a small ARM computer running Linux, so you can really do anything you want (within the limits of what the hardware can run, of course.)

Re: A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2

#99

Post by nfriedly »

I really love HardKernel's openness, but there are a few things I'd really like to see them work on:

* Build quality. I'd prefer a slightly higher BOM of it led to a significantly better experience. Everyone complains about the controls on Odroid Go devices, meanwhile the Chinese clones come and improve this and get a ton of sales that could have gone to HK. The 3-headed charging cable that comes with this device is another example. That thing is an abomination and likely a fire hazard too. They don't have to go full USB-PD, it could just follow the much simpler and cheaper-to-implement BC 1.2 standard. But instead they do their own wired thing, presumably for some minor cost savings.

* Their shipping / checkout process. First, you have to sign up for an account. Then it estimates some ridiculous amount for shipping (e.g. $60 shipping for a 10-oz $80 item.) Then the address form is in a different language (Korean?) despite the rest of the site being in English. It switches to English after you find the right control, but it's just confusing and the whole process almost certainly costs them some sales.

* Their forum members can be oddly aggressive sometimes, e.g. defending that crazy charging cable. One of the arguments boiled down to "it's safe to use if you're an electrical engineer". They also attack any mention of a competitors product. And the moderators support this behavior.

All of this combines to keep me from buying an Odroid so far, despite it being the kind of thing I'd really like to support.

Re: A new Linux handheld game console based on ODROID-N2

#100

Post by nfriedly »

csdvrx wrote: post #2

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 ke…

Agree woth you on the power cable.

It does have exposed GPIO, though! You can see the connector above the CPU and other microchips in the first motherboard picture. This is in keeping with the Odroid Go Super design, which also had exposed GPIO in that location.

The bigger size allows for a much better screen. But I agree that you loose something in pocketability.

I suppose technically you could upgrade the battery yourself. Although a larger battery is at ods with that size constraint.

Eyeballing it, I would guess that you can swap the motherboard out from the previous generation Odroid Go Super, so that may actually be an option.

I don't think I'd want a subscription, but sure some people might go for that.

Post reply on HN