2020-09-28, 14:56
Has anyone tried porting Kodi for Linux with its game input and RetroPlayer gaming capabilities based on game add-ons (libretro game cores) to any of the latest ARM-based portable handhelds game consoles?
With prices at around $60-120 or sometimes even less for many of these ARM-based handheld game consoles, the hardware cost for these is so relatively low that they are almost in the impulse buying price range!
FYI; Three popular Linux distributions in this niche market have been built to replace the stock OS that ship with these handheld game consoles and those Linux distros are either directly or indirectly based on LibreELEC (which already supported many of the ARM SoCs used in newer ARM-based handhelds or at least those that uses SoC chips from RockChip and Amlogic). Those purposely built Linux distributions are; Lakka, (which is Libretro Team's default Linux distribution that is optimized to run the RetroArch front-end + libretro cores for games emulation) and the other is EmuELEC (which is the Linux distribution that ships with default on ODROID-GO Advance and ODROID-Go Super) that is based on CoreELEC, and CoreELEC is in turn based on LibreELEC too), and then AmberELEC (formerly know as 351ELEC) which is a fork of EmuELEC.
As I understand it, the main difference between upstream LibreELEC and those three Linux distros that are purposely built for game emulation on ARM-based handheld game consoles is that Lakka uses RetroArch as its primarly front-end user-interface while EmuELEC and AmberELEC uses EmulationStation as its primary front-end user-interface instead of using Kodi as a front-end user-interface for games browsing/launching and input controllers interface, as well as those other distros and front-end applications already having being optimized for running efficiently on battery-powered ARM-based handhelds (again commonly using a RockChip RK3326 SoC) as well having support for their different display-resolutions/aspect-rations and fully pre-configured analog joystick inputs / controller button mappings out-of-the-box.
Update! As LibreELEC primary purpose is to run Kodi smoothly on any platform it supports then perhaps it would not be a huge effort to support Kodi gaming with RetroPlayer under Linux on newer types of ARM-based handheld game consoles, like Hardkernel's ODROID-Go Super (OGS) which uses RockChip RK3326 SoC chipset and ODROID-Go Ultra (OGU) which uses an Amlogic S922X SoC chipset, as LibreELEC already supports several ARM-based single-board computers including SoCs chipsets in the same series from RockChip and Amlogic?
https://libreelec.tv/downloads/rockchip/
https://libreelec.tv/downloads/amlogic/
https://libreelec.tv/downloads/allwinner/
That is, add the missing built-in support in Kodi for those different display-resolutions/aspect-rations and analog joystick inputs / controller button mappings so users can use these handheld game consoles directly?
More information about ARM based handhelds below:
Maybe a few of you retro game console emulator fans from this community already know that a flood of inexpensive ARM-based portable retro game video console running Linux distributions and open-source software has become available from Asia in the last couple of years.
Many people are today referring to the ARM based handhelds from China as "OGA clones" since the ODROID-GO Advance (a.k.a. OGA) by HardKernel was the first to pioneer the RK3326 ARM SoC in their handheld game console kit.
https://www.hardkernel.com/?s=ODROID-GO+...ct&lang=en
From what I read, the original OGA (ODROID-GO Advance) hardware quality is not great and is only available as a kit, while some Chinese "clones" innovated have improved designs, enhanced hardware parts, and better build quality.
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/02/the...ney-ahead/
The back-story; During the recent few years, you might have noticed have a multitude of cheap but well-made handheld game consoles running open-source software made for retro game emulation has been pouring out from China.
Re-releases of retro-style video game consoles designed for televisions have already become a big thing globally but this year it looks to be the portable retro gaming market and subculture turn to blow up!
https://obscurehandhelds.com/a-roundup-o...handhelds/
But until very recently, all of those handhelds have been based on MIPS architecture which is one of the few platforms that Kodi does not run on (those are off-topic here for this discussion but there is more on that in a other thread).
Now several relatively inexpensive ARM-based handheld game console devices have been released, almost all of which so far that are not Android-based appear to based on Rockchip RK3326 with Quad-Core ARM64 and Mali-G31 MP2 GPU.
It should be noted that Rockchip RK3326 is otherwise just your standard ARM Cortex-A35 SOC so it should not be long before newer handheld game consoles from China will use other ARM SoCs from other ARM SoC manufacturers.
Though from the looks of it, the year 2020 will be the year of the OGA clones!
GameForce Chi (a.k.a. GameForce RK3326) is a new which has a 4:3 aspect radio 640×480 IPS display (while all the other mentioned RK3326 game console handhelds have a 3:2 480×320 LCD display), and such a 4:3 aspect-radio screen is wanted by many retro gaming enthusiasts.
https://retrogamecorps.com/2021/06/06/ga...chi-guide/
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2021/05/the...available/
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/10/the...escendant/
ANBERNIC who is known for high-quality hardware in this market has released a series of ARM-based handheld game consoles, most of them run a port of the same OpenDingux Linux that they ran on its MIPS handhelds and Android OS in a dual-boot setup.
Anbernic RG351V ("RG351 Vertical") and Anbernic RG353V/RG353VS ("RG353 Vertical") are portrait mode models that have a 3.5 OCA display with 640x480 pixel resolution, other specifications may very on different models.
https://retrododo.com/rg351v/
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2021/03/the...on-monday/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdPS4O7YzAo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ivh9attH_Q
Anbernic RG351M ("RG351 Metal"), Anbernic RG351P ("RG351 Plastic"), and Anbernic RG351MP ("RG351 Metal and Plastic") all has a 3.5 OCA display with 480x320 pixel resolution.
https://anbernic.com/collections/handheld-game-console
https://retrododo.com/rg351m/
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/09/the...oga-clone/
https://retrogamecorps.com/2020/09/02/fi...ook-rg351/
https://preview.redd.it/j17g5zfcg2b51.pn...5dde65c7eb
Retroid Pocket 2 and Retroid Pocket 2+ from MooreChip Technologies are based on MediaTek MT6580 SoC or Unisoc Quad-core Tiger T310 respectively and ship pre-configured with Android 8/9 and a Linux OS in a dual-boot setup. The company so far has gained a very good reputation for taking feedback and offering better support than others.
https://retrododo.com/retroid-pocket-2/
PowKiddy RGB10 is another "OGA clone" that is also just now available.
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/07/the...oga-clone/
ZPG Pro (Z-Pocket Game Pro) is another one, it ships with an aluminium metal case so aim at a premium market, though from the reviews so far that aluminium metal which is the only thing "Pro" about it.
https://retroconsoletalk.com/zpg-pro-review/
RK2020 was otherwise first to market with an "OGA clone", and it was really the only real "clone" of OGA in the meaning as it basically a copy without innovation, in that it not only looks extremely similar but initially also shipped with a straight 1-to1 copy of HardKernel's firmware and OS image for the ODROID-GO Advance. Today the RK2020 ships controversially ships with EmuELEC as its operating-system instead, which a fork of CoreELEC, which in turn is a fork of LibreELEC (which as we all know was originally a fork of OpenELEC), yet I read claims that EmuELEC has relicensed their project and say that no one can use it commercially unless they get their approval which if true is not either in the spirit of open-source.
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/05/the...nce-clone/
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/06/the-rk2020-review/
https://retrododo.com/rk2020/
No idea what Linux distros most of those "OGA/OGS clones" ships with but guessing; EmuElec, Batocera Linux (batocera.linux), Recalbox, or Retro Arena OS, a.k.a. RetroArena, (e.g. distros similar to RetroPie and Lakka which most casual retro gamers run on Raspberry Pi), however, note that most of those use either EmulationStation or RetroArch as their frontend graphical interface for game browsing and joystick/gamepad input configuration (and might not even come with Kodi).
With prices at around $60-120 or sometimes even less for many of these ARM-based handheld game consoles, the hardware cost for these is so relatively low that they are almost in the impulse buying price range!
FYI; Three popular Linux distributions in this niche market have been built to replace the stock OS that ship with these handheld game consoles and those Linux distros are either directly or indirectly based on LibreELEC (which already supported many of the ARM SoCs used in newer ARM-based handhelds or at least those that uses SoC chips from RockChip and Amlogic). Those purposely built Linux distributions are; Lakka, (which is Libretro Team's default Linux distribution that is optimized to run the RetroArch front-end + libretro cores for games emulation) and the other is EmuELEC (which is the Linux distribution that ships with default on ODROID-GO Advance and ODROID-Go Super) that is based on CoreELEC, and CoreELEC is in turn based on LibreELEC too), and then AmberELEC (formerly know as 351ELEC) which is a fork of EmuELEC.
As I understand it, the main difference between upstream LibreELEC and those three Linux distros that are purposely built for game emulation on ARM-based handheld game consoles is that Lakka uses RetroArch as its primarly front-end user-interface while EmuELEC and AmberELEC uses EmulationStation as its primary front-end user-interface instead of using Kodi as a front-end user-interface for games browsing/launching and input controllers interface, as well as those other distros and front-end applications already having being optimized for running efficiently on battery-powered ARM-based handhelds (again commonly using a RockChip RK3326 SoC) as well having support for their different display-resolutions/aspect-rations and fully pre-configured analog joystick inputs / controller button mappings out-of-the-box.
Update! As LibreELEC primary purpose is to run Kodi smoothly on any platform it supports then perhaps it would not be a huge effort to support Kodi gaming with RetroPlayer under Linux on newer types of ARM-based handheld game consoles, like Hardkernel's ODROID-Go Super (OGS) which uses RockChip RK3326 SoC chipset and ODROID-Go Ultra (OGU) which uses an Amlogic S922X SoC chipset, as LibreELEC already supports several ARM-based single-board computers including SoCs chipsets in the same series from RockChip and Amlogic?
https://libreelec.tv/downloads/rockchip/
https://libreelec.tv/downloads/amlogic/
https://libreelec.tv/downloads/allwinner/
That is, add the missing built-in support in Kodi for those different display-resolutions/aspect-rations and analog joystick inputs / controller button mappings so users can use these handheld game consoles directly?
More information about ARM based handhelds below:
Maybe a few of you retro game console emulator fans from this community already know that a flood of inexpensive ARM-based portable retro game video console running Linux distributions and open-source software has become available from Asia in the last couple of years.
Many people are today referring to the ARM based handhelds from China as "OGA clones" since the ODROID-GO Advance (a.k.a. OGA) by HardKernel was the first to pioneer the RK3326 ARM SoC in their handheld game console kit.
https://www.hardkernel.com/?s=ODROID-GO+...ct&lang=en
From what I read, the original OGA (ODROID-GO Advance) hardware quality is not great and is only available as a kit, while some Chinese "clones" innovated have improved designs, enhanced hardware parts, and better build quality.
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/02/the...ney-ahead/
The back-story; During the recent few years, you might have noticed have a multitude of cheap but well-made handheld game consoles running open-source software made for retro game emulation has been pouring out from China.
Re-releases of retro-style video game consoles designed for televisions have already become a big thing globally but this year it looks to be the portable retro gaming market and subculture turn to blow up!
https://obscurehandhelds.com/a-roundup-o...handhelds/
But until very recently, all of those handhelds have been based on MIPS architecture which is one of the few platforms that Kodi does not run on (those are off-topic here for this discussion but there is more on that in a other thread).
Now several relatively inexpensive ARM-based handheld game console devices have been released, almost all of which so far that are not Android-based appear to based on Rockchip RK3326 with Quad-Core ARM64 and Mali-G31 MP2 GPU.
It should be noted that Rockchip RK3326 is otherwise just your standard ARM Cortex-A35 SOC so it should not be long before newer handheld game consoles from China will use other ARM SoCs from other ARM SoC manufacturers.
Though from the looks of it, the year 2020 will be the year of the OGA clones!
GameForce Chi (a.k.a. GameForce RK3326) is a new which has a 4:3 aspect radio 640×480 IPS display (while all the other mentioned RK3326 game console handhelds have a 3:2 480×320 LCD display), and such a 4:3 aspect-radio screen is wanted by many retro gaming enthusiasts.
https://retrogamecorps.com/2021/06/06/ga...chi-guide/
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2021/05/the...available/
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/10/the...escendant/
ANBERNIC who is known for high-quality hardware in this market has released a series of ARM-based handheld game consoles, most of them run a port of the same OpenDingux Linux that they ran on its MIPS handhelds and Android OS in a dual-boot setup.
Anbernic RG351V ("RG351 Vertical") and Anbernic RG353V/RG353VS ("RG353 Vertical") are portrait mode models that have a 3.5 OCA display with 640x480 pixel resolution, other specifications may very on different models.
https://retrododo.com/rg351v/
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2021/03/the...on-monday/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdPS4O7YzAo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ivh9attH_Q
Anbernic RG351M ("RG351 Metal"), Anbernic RG351P ("RG351 Plastic"), and Anbernic RG351MP ("RG351 Metal and Plastic") all has a 3.5 OCA display with 480x320 pixel resolution.
https://anbernic.com/collections/handheld-game-console
https://retrododo.com/rg351m/
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/09/the...oga-clone/
https://retrogamecorps.com/2020/09/02/fi...ook-rg351/
https://preview.redd.it/j17g5zfcg2b51.pn...5dde65c7eb
Retroid Pocket 2 and Retroid Pocket 2+ from MooreChip Technologies are based on MediaTek MT6580 SoC or Unisoc Quad-core Tiger T310 respectively and ship pre-configured with Android 8/9 and a Linux OS in a dual-boot setup. The company so far has gained a very good reputation for taking feedback and offering better support than others.
https://retrododo.com/retroid-pocket-2/
PowKiddy RGB10 is another "OGA clone" that is also just now available.
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/07/the...oga-clone/
ZPG Pro (Z-Pocket Game Pro) is another one, it ships with an aluminium metal case so aim at a premium market, though from the reviews so far that aluminium metal which is the only thing "Pro" about it.
https://retroconsoletalk.com/zpg-pro-review/
RK2020 was otherwise first to market with an "OGA clone", and it was really the only real "clone" of OGA in the meaning as it basically a copy without innovation, in that it not only looks extremely similar but initially also shipped with a straight 1-to1 copy of HardKernel's firmware and OS image for the ODROID-GO Advance. Today the RK2020 ships controversially ships with EmuELEC as its operating-system instead, which a fork of CoreELEC, which in turn is a fork of LibreELEC (which as we all know was originally a fork of OpenELEC), yet I read claims that EmuELEC has relicensed their project and say that no one can use it commercially unless they get their approval which if true is not either in the spirit of open-source.
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/05/the...nce-clone/
https://obscurehandhelds.com/2020/06/the-rk2020-review/
https://retrododo.com/rk2020/
No idea what Linux distros most of those "OGA/OGS clones" ships with but guessing; EmuElec, Batocera Linux (batocera.linux), Recalbox, or Retro Arena OS, a.k.a. RetroArena, (e.g. distros similar to RetroPie and Lakka which most casual retro gamers run on Raspberry Pi), however, note that most of those use either EmulationStation or RetroArch as their frontend graphical interface for game browsing and joystick/gamepad input configuration (and might not even come with Kodi).
