Customize a retro handheld gaming console with Onion OS
Gaming Upgrade
© Lead Image © file404, 123RF.com
Adding custom firmware to a handheld gaming device enhances your gaming experience and lets you write custom apps. We show you how with Onion OS on a Miyoo Mini Plus.
The Miyoo Mini Plus [1] and Anbernic [2] family of handheld gaming consoles offer a wide range of retro gaming options. These consoles start around $50, and they have emulators for all the major old-school gaming platforms. The handheld hardware comes in several different form factors, but they all run Linux under the hood (Figure 1).
While the firmware that ships with these consoles locks you into a fairly limited interface, you can find custom firmware that offers some enhanced functions and usability features. For the RG35XX/RG40XX hardware, some of the custom firmware choices include Knulli [3] and muOS [4], with GarlicOS [5] being extremely popular on RG35XX units. For the Miyoo handhelds, Onion OS [6] is the most commonly used custom firmware.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora 45 Now Available
The latest iteration of Fedora has arrived with Gnome 51 and KDE Plasma 6.8.
-
Linux 7.4 is "Much Healthier" Thanks to AI
At nearly 42 million lines, Linux 7.4 is the largest merge in the kernel’s history.
-
Working Exploit for a Linux Kernel Flaw Made Public
Even before a bug received its CVE identifier or an upstream fix, the local privilege escalation vulnerability exploit found its way into the wild.
-
r/opensource Bans AI-Assisted and AI-Related Projects
The de facto subreddit for all things open source has not only banned AI-related projects but also users who "don't speak English."
-
Bottlenecks Discovered by Meta Engineers Lead to Scalability Improvements
Thanks to a small group of engineers at Meta, the Linux kernel module kernfs has been improved, which has led to some serious gains.
-
PwnEscape Poses VM Vulnerability
A guest-to-host escape flaw in Linux KVM, named PwnEscape, might be yet another means of attacking Linux.
-
Linux Mint 27 Set for a Christmas Release
The developers behind Linux Mint have announced a Christmas release, and it looks like Santa's sack will be brimming with features.
-
Is Linus Torvalds Vibe Coding?
The creator of Linux has added AI into his process for Linux kernel development, and it's more than just for debugging.
-
openKylin 3.0 Released with Expanded AI Integration
The latest release features a pre-installed AI agent to help perform tasks.
-
DigitalOcean Ends Open Source Credits Program
In a change that has surprised many open source developers, DigitalOcean has decided to sunset its Open Source Credits Program.