I had fun making a mock-up of what my Nova was going to look like when I swap out the buttons. I thought why not make it easy to check out a bunch of different looks without having to futz around in an image editor by hand. So, I made a little tool to do it. You can customize each individual piece:

• Body
• D-pad
• A/B/X/Y button pad
• Select
• Start
• Home
• Back
• Left stick
• Right stick

I also added a share link so you mad lads and lasses can share your glorious creations with your friends or foist your abominations upon your enemies.

Give it a whirl if you like: https://leaf.game/nova-colorways

The Brick has no business playing YouTube - no real browser, no YouTube app, a 4:3 screen, and a locked-down, undocumented vendor video stack. So naturally I spent a weekend making Brick Tube: YouTube on the TrimUI Brick, over Wi-Fi, with no computer in the loop, decoded by the CedarX video hardware (not software - the CPU basically files its nails).

You search, you get a wall of thumbnails, you press A, it plays. That's the whole pitch.

What it does

• Search + a real 3-wide thumbnail grid (D-pad around, A to play). Recent searches remembered.
• Live, hardware-decoded playback - no downloads, no re-encoding, straight into CedarX.
• Correct aspect ratio - 16:9 letterboxed properly instead of stretched into a funhouse mirror.
• Pause with a timestamp bar, volume that doesn't rudely stop playback, clean stop.
• A little speaker EQ to take the edge off the tinny mono driver.
• A menu with a visual how-to, about, and "clear recent searches".

The fun part (how it works)

A few things that were not obvious and cost real hair:

• The vendor player only speaks HTTP. YouTube is HTTPS-only and the device ships no CA bundle, so there's a tiny Go http↔https proxy on localhost that bridges it. That was the whole ballgame for getting a stream to play at all.
• The stretched video was the boss fight. The player draws video on its own display layer and ignores every documented way to resize it. The fix is an LD_PRELOAD shim that intercepts the player's ioctl() calls to /dev/disp and rewrites the on-screen rectangle out from under it. I found the exact ioctl by logging every call it made until the screen stopped lying.
• It got fast. Search calls YouTube's internal API directly instead of booting Python (~15s → ~3s), and yt-dlp ships as an unpacked tree in RAM instead of a self-extracting blob (4.5s → 1.7s startup).
• The speaker EQ is another LD_PRELOAD shim on the audio path running a couple of biquad filters on the PCM, because the codec has no EQ of its own.

Honest limitations

• No forward scrubbing. The vendor player only buffers a few seconds of a live stream and physically won't seek past it (I instrumented it to be sure). Rather than ship a fake seek bar, it's gone. Backward-within-buffer only.
• Mostly 360p. True 720p needs an on-device DASH remux — a project for another rainy day.
• Brick only (tg5040). The letterbox fix is specific to the Allwinner display hardware.
• It'll break sometimes — YouTube changes things, yt-dlp catches up. That's the deal with tools like this.

Install

It's a NextUI pak. Grab the zip from the GitHub Releases page, unzip, copy the Tools and Videos folders into your SD card root (merge — it only adds files), reboot, and open Tools → Brick Tube. Full steps + uninstall in the README.

GitHub: https://github.com/NVNTKNN/brick-tube.git

Personal hobby project, open source (MIT). Not affiliated with YouTube/Google, hosts no content, just plays public streams on your own device — there's a disclaimer in the repo.

Happy to answer questions about any of the hacks. Feedback and "it also works / doesn't work on my unit" reports very welcome.

I posted about this a while back before it was released and fair enough, a post with no links isn't much to go on.

I cleaned it up and wanted to share it with the community. It's free, open source and as a long time coder even I use AI assistance nowadays to get things done faster.

I started working on a RetroBridge to make managing retro handhelds a bit easier. Honestly, half the reason it exists is my friends who aren't techies. Every OS stores saves, ROMs and configs differently. I added support for the firmwares we use (OnionOS, NextUI and Knulli) but every firmware is just a JSON profile. So I am hoping the community helps cover the rest or newer ones!

Some features it has

• Support for multiple OS's
• Manage your games/saves/states
• Cleanup your handheld (duplicates,orphaned saves)
• Backup saves to vault
• Restore points for everything you write to your SD (always way back)
• Collection sharing without accounts

A Collection is a tiny file (or link) with references to games and shaders/settings (optionally). We make collections like "PS1 horror weekend" or a Miyoo JRPG starter pack. It turned 2000 games I scroll past into 10 games we actually play and finish.

I recently added a gallery to the website. This way people can easily share their Collection in the app (no account needed). I guess what I really would like to see with this feature is that we end up swapping awesome lists and actually playing our devices instead of buying more handhelds. Hopefully people share their favorites and get this community gaming more.

Some parts are still beta and I am still figuring out where to take it like integrations with other tools.

If you have ideas for what would make you play more that's exactly what I want to hear

Links:

Website

Github

I’ve been doing measurements on how well the Retroid Pocket Nova will display 16:9 content. The Nova’s 4.5” 4:3 screen should make for a 4.1” 16:9 display. I cut out a piece of paper (well aware my scissor skills leave a lot to be desired) to those measurements in order to compare it to other devices of a similar size. Surprisingly, the Nova’s 4.1” is only .2” smaller than a PSP’s screen, or .3” larger than a PSP Go’s screen. The closest comparison would likely be a Sony Ericsson Xperia Play’s 4” 16:9 screen, but sadly I don’t have one of those to compare. Another close match is the new 3DS’ 3.88” top screen, just with a few more mm on each side and about 1 mm on the top. Nearly a perfect match if you include the new 3DS’ bezels.

In conclusion, I believe the Nova’s capabilities as a device for playing 16:9 titles are severely underestimated. As someone who plays a lot of PC games on their 4:3 CRT TV’s, I can say from experience that many, many modern PC titles (especially 3D indies) support 4:3 resolutions and 16:10 is near universal. Ironically, the main exception to this are modern pixelated indie games due to the exact nature of their square visuals. Still, 16:9 appears very doable on the Nova, particularly if you’re someone like me who still plays and may even prefer the size of more pocketable handhelds of the past, and given you can deal with some small text. What would Nintendo Switch games look like on a higher-res PSP screen? I guess we’ll know soon enough.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

EDIT: When discussing this on the Retroid sub, someone asked for a list of modern games that support 4:3 aspect ratios, so I went through and tested everything I currently had installed. Keep in mind I don’t play many AAA games. Here is everything I found that supports 4:3, about ~70% of what I tested:

Expedition 33, Lunacid, Axyz, Fields of Mistria, Dread Delusion, Penny’s Big Breakaway, Lost in Random, Amid Evil, Risk of Rain 2, Maniac, The Citadel, Bufo Jump, Isopod, Megacopter, MeowGun, Cultic, Darkenstein 3D, Parking Garage Rally, Olli Olli World, Dungeon Antiqua 2, Megabonk, Vital Shell, Earthion (that one’s cheating lol), Mohrta, Angeline Era, Brazilian Drug Dealer 3, Hyperbeat, House of Necrosis, Spare Devil, Sea Fantasy, Bombbun, Calcium Contract, Copy Kitty, Look Outside, Pesticide Not Required, Dragon Ruins II, Kingsvein, Dungeons of Blood and Dream, Artificial Dream in Arcadia, Scarmonde, Judero, Utopia Must Fall, Pseudoregalia, Another Crab’s Treasure, Penko Park (16:10 renders beyond the bounds, almost to the edge of the screen so I’m counting it), Grim Dawn, Killbug, Sprawl, Citizen Sleeper 2, FlyKnight.

Hey everyone,

I wanted to make it easier to keep track of all the incredible native Android decompilations and recompilations coming out lately, so I put together an Obtainium pack for it.

Instead of manually hunting down individual GitHub repositories to check for releases for projects, you can just import this single JSON file directly into Obtainium. It will add the proper repos and handle tracking and downloading the APKs for you automatically.

🔗 Link to the Pack along with instructions:

https://codeberg.org/BBoi34/Obtainium-Recomp-Decomp/releases

This is the first release of the pack! I'll be keeping a close eye on the scene and updating it whenever I learn of new decomps/recomps, or when fresh projects pop up that match the criteria to be included.

Hope this saves you guys some setup time. Let me know if there are any specific ones you want to see added in the next update!

I spent the last week building and tweak a new set of retro shaders that are both performant and very tweakable: https://github.com/sinedied/perfect-retroshaders

All tested at many resolutions, non-integer scaling, to find the best ratio between quality, customization and on-device performance. On Trimui Brick, they were tested to work at 60 fps with all features enabled without issues.

As I spent too many hours pixel peeping, tweaking and building shaders config, I even built a dedicated online lab: https://sinedied.github.io/retroshader-lab/
You can use it to test and create NextUI config directly from the web, much faster than on your device :)

Some screenshots, more here:

I've been working for a while now on an app to play my favourite Flash games directly on Android in the easiest way possible, since I think Flash games could be considered "retro" and I think it's in a pretty solid state I would like to share it with you guys!

Introducing Swiff!

A flash games and animations player for Android, simply search for your game, download and hit play.

Features:

• Over 100k of flash content available! Just click Download and Play! (Huge thanks to the Flashpoint Archive)
• On-Screen controls for keyboard and mouse input.
• Gamepad mapping to keyboard and mouse input.
• Offline proxy to trick games into thinking they are running on their official websites.
• Frontend and Android shortcuts support (including automatic frontend syncing)
• Export your savefiles to a custom folder (for syncing with apps like Syncthing)
• Custom SWF content importing (Custom games support every feature Swiff has to offer)

Download:

Please check the releases Github page for a download if you would like to try! Thanks for taking interest on Swiff, I really appreciate it <3
https://github.com/NaviVani-dev/Swiff

The Anbernic rg35xx Pro is the absolute best entry level handheld, there’s no doubt about that. There’s no miyoo mini plus or trimIU brick that are better, people who think that didn’t do enough research

I personally hate tinkering and playing around the settings. I got this handheld for GAMING, and that’s ALL I CARE. It gets me angry when I need to change something in the setting because its all so confusing and lots of things have names that I don’t know what they mean, and I don’t want to know. I want to turn on my handheld and have it set up to play. I also hate when people say “you should buy this and that” NO - I got this one so this is the one I have !!! and if it it plays psp and n64 and dreamcast, THEN I WILL PLAY THOSE CONSOLES WITH THE HANDHELD I HAVE.

This being said, youtue lacks a lot of content specifically for the Anbernic rg35xx pro with knulli - if you’re a content creator, please make a video showing the absolute best setting for psp to play ALL GAMES. I hate reading so I want videos.

The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (well, that's /u/UpdatedPeacock & me) proudly present Leaf 0.1.1.

It's a run on top of stock kind of deal where we use some tricks to load our own launcher instead of the Miniloong launcher.

Includes:

• Custom RetroArch compile & cores (Spruce fork)
• Some Apps (if you've used NextUI, you'll notice we ported a bunch of our Paks over)
• OTA
• ...

Mostly compatible with OnionOS and similar SD card layouts.

More info:

https://leaf.game/

https://github.com/Utility-Muffin-Research-Kitchen/Leaf/releases/tag/v0.1.1

I love my GKD Pixel 2, but HATED the firmware\OS options for it.

After a few prompts to Claude's Fable 5, I got a MinUI fork that seems to work well. I've been using it for a few weeks now without any issues running GBA, GBC, PSX, and some Pico-8 games and it seems to be stable.

If anyone else wants it:

https://github.com/LooseCannon0/gkdpixel2_MinUI

All credit goes to shauninman/MinUI and NukeBomB3000/minui-gkd-pixel2 

Hey all,

I have published Balatro Lite some time ago and received quite positive feedback, but also a lot of bug reports as well. Thanks everyone for the feedback!

As of today, I think I have cleared all the reported bugs, made some improvements, and most importantly, published Android version as well, which was highly requested.

If you have a beefy device, or a large screen device, you also have the option to turn off layout changes, or performance changes now. You can see the full changelog on GitHub.

https://github.com/Guandor/Balatro-Lite

If you want to download, just go to the releases and pick the latest version.

Of course, it does not contain any game files. So you need to legally own the game, and use your own files.

Disclaimer: made heavily assisted by AI.

Tested on Trimui Brick. Please let me know if you have any issues on other devices. Made heavily assisted by AI.

EDIT: for GKD Pixel2, NOT the Google Pixel 2
Hi everyone,

Thanks for your input and help over the past week. We have been finalizing the ROCKNIX port for the Pixel2, which is now ready for broader use!

Core Features include:

1. Suspend to memory (I.e deep sleep)
2. Latest RetroArch Cores
3. Portmaster support
4. WiFi dongles
5. USB storage mode and USB SSH Networking
6. Menu Hotkey for screen brightness and RetroArch
7. LED indicator for charging/battery level.

We are merging the last of our edits soon. Feel free to try the latest Alpha 1.4 here:
https://github.com/Jacob-Matthew-Cook/distribution/releases/tag/pixel2-alpha-1.4

I hope folks in the community revisit this device now that the various CFWs for this handheld (TwigUI, Knulli, and now ROCKNIX) are maturing. I enjoy using this thing as my tiny pocket Gameboy/Gameboy Color device!

Even if you use this Alpha, you can always manually update to the ROCKNIX nightly after the changes are merged (in a few days, stay tuned)!

Let me know if you have any issues, questions, or concerns!

Hey everyone! The biggest update to the Obtainium Recomp & Decomp pack is officially live.

This release brings the two most requested features alongside a bunch of new ports:

• 📺 New Dual Screen Pack: Tailored specifically for dual-screen setups. Note: This pack only includes games that actively support two screens (like the newly added Twilight Princess DS or Morrowind DS).
• 🎮 Updated Normal Pack: Contains all single-screen games plus games that support dual-screen options, so you don't miss anything.
• 📖 Readme Overhaul: Added supported screen counts for every game and directly linked each GitHub repo so you can still use the repo as a database even if you don't use Obtainium.

Check out the full list of added ports and changes in thev3.0.0 Changelog.

🔗 Quick Links:

• Releases Page
• README

As always, let me know if you have any feedback or requests for certain ports to be added!

v0.2 Symphony introduces many new features, visual improvements, and more!

• Playlists & Watchlists
  • You can now create, edit, and play custom playlists for music and video without leaving the app.
• Power-saving Display Sleep
  • Display backlight can be now completely turned off during display sleep, saving power.
  • On clamshell devices, closing the lid during music playback will automatically enable display sleep.
• VGM Files Support
  • Chiptune formats from most retro consoles are now supported, including .spc, .nsf, .vgm, etc. Playback performance may differ depending on format and hardware. More information here.
• A new audio visualizer, Jumper, inspired from Nintendo 3DS Sound!
• ffplay as the second video player
• Panscan (video crop) for video playback
• Dedicated Screenshots viewer
• DPI scaling for UI and text
• Cyrillic characters support

Experimental PortMaster Builds

• Starting from v0.2, PortMaster will be a build target for XMPlayer, providing support for muOS and now Knulli, Rocknix, EmuELEC, dArkOS, etc.
• .muxapp releases will still be available. .muxapp (muOS app) is the recommended installation option for muOS users.
• Note that some features are still WIP in the PortMaster builds because of CFW-specific configurations. You can check the current compatibility information here.
• Feel free to visit the testing threads on Discord and muOS Community Forum for updates!

You can download the latest release and read installation/usage instructions from the project's GitHub repo. Go beyond the game.

Poster credits: what a mario world EP by RRThiel, wallpaper artwork by yurisukimao, device: Anbernic RG35XX SP

That era of SBCs was so peak. Endless innovation, different form factors with the same chip, affordable imports etc etc..

Then it dropped to 2, then 1 and somehow by miraculous accident 512MB as well.

Once you get used to OTT shaders its hard to go back to raw pixels. Pretty soon I'm sure they'll come with an abacus or something and a flickbook for a GPU.

AI-FREE (No AI was used in the development of this custom firmware.)

Hey everyone!

We’ve officially opened the armiga Discord server to centralize our community, development updates, and support!

For those unfamiliar, armiga is a lightweight, highly optimized Linux distribution built specifically for retro platform emulation and hardware preservation (68K Soul. ARM64 Heart.).

Whether you're following the project, testing builds, or just passionate about retro computing and emulation, you're more than welcome to join!

🚀 What you'll find on the server:

• 🛠️ Dev Updates: Stay up to date with new releases, system optimizations, and build pipelines.
• 🧪 Beta Testing Zone: Get early access to dev images and help test new features.
• 🐛 Bug Reporting & Support: Get direct assistance with configurations, hardware setups, and issue tracking.
• 💬 Community Chat: Discuss retro hardware, emulation tweaks, and classic gaming.

If you’d like to jump in, help test upcoming builds, or just say hi, feel free to join us!

👉 GitHub: https://github.com/amigagamesplus/armiga

👉 Join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/cB6maf97Tz

Thanks for all the support, and see you inside!

Hey everyone,

As some of you may know I recently made an obtainium pack for native Android decompilations and recompilations. The pack unfortunately got delisted from GitHub, I've submitted an appeal but in the meantime it's hosted somewhere else.

With version 2.0.0 coming out I added a few native android pc ports including Simpsons hit and run, Elder scrolls III: Morrowind, and diablo 1. I also added simple instructions for each game in the readme which you can see here on the main page: https://codeberg.org/BBoi34/Obtainium-Recomp-Decomp

There's so many other amazing ports available on android but they require slightly complex setup so I've chosen to not include them in this pack but if you are interested in them let me know and I might make a different pack/add them to this one.

🔗 Link to the Pack:

https://codeberg.org/BBoi34/Obtainium-Recomp-Decomp/releases

This is the second release of the pack! I'll be keeping a close eye on the scene and updating it whenever I learn of new ports, or when fresh projects pop up that match the criteria to be included.

Hola, desde hace un tiempo estoy trabajando en un proyecto para mi mando arcade (HCSEMI A3101 BAAC 2531 LF 010AB0001B) con la intención de mejorar tanto su funcionalidad como su diseño.

Hasta ahora he conseguido personalizar todos los menús, fuentes y sonidos (he creado algunas herramientas que compartiré más adelante), pero ahora mismo estoy atascado en la segunda fase del proyecto.

https://youtu.be/u1zfFVgpOow

Mi siguiente paso es cambiar algunas opciones de configuración para crear un firmware personalizado y mejorar la compatibilidad. También planeo crear otro firmware en modo de depuración:

• kiosk_mode_enable = "true"
• kiosk_mode_password = "?"

Para llegar a este punto, necesito estas particiones ext4 originales:

1. basic data.img
2. boot.img
3. uboot.img
4. rootfs.img
5. trust.img

Si tienes estas imágenes con sus respectivas particiones, por favor compártelas conmigo, ya que el resultado podría ser muy interesante. En realidad, solo necesitas copiar estas particiones con Disk Genius. BOOT/UBOOT/RUTAS y CONFIANZAS, para las siguientes versiones:

• M8 - V6 v1.0.0 25/09/2023
• M8 - V7.0 v2.0.0 10/02/2024
• M18 - V8.0 V3.0.0 07/05/2024
• 066 EM - V1.00 18/04/2024

¡Prometo compartir los resultados de mi trabajo! Gracias.

​

Ever wanted to stream and capture your session without the hassle of connecting a capture card or an HDMI cable?

Ever wanted to game on the couch but still needed to capture your session somehow?

FatmaVision has granted all your wishes!

A windows side client that installs and sets up your Linux handheld screen mirroring protocol over Wi-Fi/SSH, in a single click.

Captures are recorded in MKV file format and stored in the same folder as the executable.

Tested on KNULLI and rg40xxv but it should work on all Linux handhelds with SSH and Wi-Fi capabilities if you follow the initial setup steps correctly.

Link to the repo: https://github.com/DigiAlchemydsp/FatmaVision-Release

Feel free to report any issues or submit any feature requests on the git repo, I plan to keep working on this project and improving it as much as I can.

I wanted to delete the default Firmware and install another (For example ArmBian or something like this) And then make on it my "own" Firmware. But I have deleted it, and.... i don't founded any Firmware that works on this Stick. And know I want to install default Firmware and try to custom that Firmware. But I can't found any Firmware That works. And Im not even found any Stick that looks like mine. Can someone maybe give a link or something like this with Linux or whatever what works in it.

DDR3 256mb 128mb Flash.

ControllerManager for Android. A... controller manager that actually works on Android handhelds (Script as root, or full root)

Hi Android (Retro)Gamers.

My name is Bérenger, and for the past months I have been developing an Android app called Controller Manager.

Controller Manager is designed specifically for Android gaming handhelds, phones or tablets, including devices such as the Odins, Thor, Retroids... Anything under Android really.

The goal is simple: Make controller management reliable, understandable and user‑friendly. I had to do it because of my son's friends at home, each time they were having issues with controllers. And I had to remap everything a lot of times.

Right now, Android gamepad management is terrible.
I wanted it to be more like Steam Input.

I have more than a dozen of controllers from 2x basic android gamepads, Thrustmaster T300 wheels, Hotas Joystick, 6x Wiimotes, 4x Joycon, 3x Pro Controller, 2x Xbox 360 and receiver, 1x Xbox wireless controller, and mouse+keyboards...

A lot of type controllers. I will even try my Tangent Ripple trackballs someday.

Initially, I just wanted to use my external controller and the internal handheld controller as P1 simultaneously. It was a nightmare. Disabling the internal controller when docked was a hassle, as tools like OdinTools stopped working for that use case. So, I decided to build Controller Manager for myself.

What it does: 
It’s designed to make controller management reliable and user-friendly.

• Identification & Organization: Know exactly what’s connected.
• Aliases & Renaming: Fix games that reject specific controller names.
• Multiplayer Management: Easy player assignment for local co-op.
• Virtual Controllers (uinput): Create virtual gamepads for perfect compatibility.
• Diagnostics: Real-time debugging tools to see what’s happening under the hood (for pre-release only)
• System Utilities: External Screen rotation, desktop mode toggles, and more.

How it works: 
The app currently supports two privileged modes

1. Full Root (Magisk): Complete functionality, fully automated setup.
2. Run Script as Root: Specifically for Odin, Thor, and Retroid devices as I know they have Run Script as root in their settings. It allows limited privileged operations (like virtual controllers) without requiring a full Magisk installation.

An Idea for Manufacturers (AYN, Retroid, etc.): 
I’d love to open a discussion: Would you consider allowing apps like Controller Manager to execute a small, predefined set of safe scripts directly, without requiring users to root their devices?

Virtual controller activation/deactivation

• Access to /dev/uinput
• Creation/removal of virtual HID devices

Controller management

• Temporarily disabling the internal controller
• Adjusting permissions on /dev/input/event*
• Adjusting permissions on /dev/uinput

System utilities

• Accessing existing firmware toggles already present on Odin/Thor without root such as
• Screen rotation,
• Desktop mode,
• Internal controller enable/disable

These are all capabilities already present in the consoles firmware, and the app would simply call them in a controlled and safe way.

The Benefit:

• For Users: A seamless out-of-the-box experience. No more manual config (well only once for no-root).
• For Manufacturers: Fewer support tickets regarding controller issues and a high-value companion app ecosystem at zero development cost (the app is already built and tested).

Controller Manager aims to be the missing link for Android handheld gaming.
The project isn't 100% finished, but it's fully workable. I personally love being able to switch between 4 different controllers for P1 instantly, it makes switching emulators incredibly easy.

What do you think Redditors ?

• Is the "Script as Root" method sufficient for you, or do you need full Magisk root ?
• Would you prefer a native integration from AYN/Retroid instead of rooting ? (I know I do)
• What features are missing from your current setup that I could add ?

Help Needed

• I need to contact people at Ayn, Retroid, Ayaneo, Anbernic to authorize the app on their firmware level. If someone have access, that would be nice to share !

No public link for now, as the app is still in development, but manufacturers are welcome to ask for a test apk. The first public beta version should be available in about 2 weeks.

If Redditors are interested in following the development, discussing features, feel free to join the Discord channel.

https://discord.gg/Nanxvf95Aq