The Ducky Obrien Show – Details, episodes & analysis

Retro Handheld News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

Today's episode covers how to use collections on the Trimui Smart Pro.

This method works both on Stock OS and CrossMix.

We'll be using the CollaGen app developed by rkr87. Thanks to a recent update the app works on Stock OS now.

You can find CollaGen here: https://github.com/rkr87/CollaGen/releases

After using CollaGen to create a collection, you can manually add an icon and background image. You can edit the config.json file in your collection folder to reflect the new images you added.

For Stock OS, you need to make 2 edits in the launch.sh file inside your collection folder.

You'll want to delete this line: Launcher=$(jq -r '.launch' "/mnt/SDCARD/Emus/$RomDir/config.json")

And then change this line to: LaunchPath="/mnt/SDCARD/Emus/$RomDir/launch.sh"

After saving the changes, collections created by CollaGen should work on Stock OS.

Thank you for listening!

Video guide: https://youtu.be/RT24dealNOg

Written guide: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/09/29/how-to-use-collections-for-trimui-smart-pro-stock-crossmix/

Retro Handheld News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

In today's SBC gaming news, the Miyoo A30 has a huge comeback and is surging in popularity.

Meanwhile, Anbernic releases another handheld, the RG40XXH. It's honestly a decent choice if you want a larger screen for 4:3 home consoles. Less pocketable, but easier on the eyes.

Time will tell who will win between Miyoo's strategy of taking time to make few handhelds compared to Anbernic's strategy of releasing a new handheld every month.

And more!

Thanks for listening!

News Sources: https://pastebin.com/B9T3A4su

Blog: https://duckyobrien.com/

Video Podcast: https://youtu.be/5U_MA4FF48E

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

Today's episode covers how to play RPG Maker 2000 and 2003 games on the Miyoo Mini and Miyoo Mini Plus. We'll be using the EasyRPG core for RetroArch. Theoretically speaking any handheld running RetroArch should be able to do this as long as the EasyRPG core is compiled for that operating system.

Zipping the games into .zip files provide for a much more convenient launching experience so I'd recommend using a program like 7-Zip to repackage them.

Not all games will run well. For example, Theia the Crimson Eclipse will lag pretty hard during battle sequences.

MOTHER: Cognitive Dissonance (a fan Earthbound game) seemed to provide a much smoother experience.

If you want to try the games out yourself:

►Theia – The Crimson Eclipse: https://gamejolt.com/games/theia/426665 ►MOTHER: Cognitive Dissonance: http://cogdis.tazmily.com/

Thank you for listening!

Video guide: https://youtu.be/3EIboIHoBlU

Written guide: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/05/19/how-to-play-rpg-maker-games-on-the-miyoo-mini-plus/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

In today's SBC gaming news, we have a slew of new handheld rumors, announcements, and releases!

To start with, the Miyoo A30 receives some fixes. SNES performance was poor due to the normal2x filter being turned on my default. Turn the filter off to bring performance back to a stable level. Also, the most recent firmware update should increase the brightness levels.

The RG28XX receives support from Knulli and MinUI. The custom firmware options are catching up!

If you were on the fence for the A30 or the 28XX, MagicX is releasing the XU Mini M running the RK3562 SoC. Should be an interesting competitor if the price can be kept around $60 or lower.

And finally we have news about the RG35XXSP and the Cube. Russ from Retro Game Corps already has a video out about it and it looks fantastic! The device has a working sleep mode when you close the clamshell but the battery will probably not last long in this mode. Also the buttons require a lot of force to push down so that may turn some people off.

The Cube came out of nowhere as well and even more surprising is the SoC, it will run the T820 which is what the RG556 runs. This is a pretty powerful chipset capable of playing some PS2 games. If it's priced around $150 this will be a pretty decent handheld! Anbernic has been on a roll lately.

And more!

Thanks for listening!

Blog: https://duckyobrien.com/

Video Podcast: https://youtu.be/FAatqvbXo6w

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

Today's episode covers how to trade Pokemon wirelessly for the Game Boy Advance Pokemon games like Fire Red and Leaf Green.

Theoretically this is possible for any device running RetroArch 1.18 and the latest gpSP core. Developer David Guillen Fandos has added emulation for the GBA wireless adapter and this will let us trade and battle other people using WiFi.

For the Miyoo Mini Plus, Koriki has RetroArch 1.18 and the latest gpSP core. For the RG35XXH, muOS has RetroArch 1.18 as well.

Koriki (MMP): https://github.com/Rparadise-Team/Koriki muOS (RG335XX PlusH): https://muos.dev/release/plush

You'll need to format the microSD card to FAT32 for the MMP using guiformat and then download, extract, and copy the files over.

For the RG35XX Plus/H, you'll need to download the image and write it using a program like rufus. You can also use Balena Etcher but it did create issues for some people.

guiformat (for formatting large SD cards to FAT32): http://ridgecrop.co.uk/guiformat.htm rufus (for writing images to SD cards): https://rufus.ie/

If you wanted to keep Onion OS, version 4.4 will update RetroArch but it's not out yet.

After installing these operating systems, you just need to configure core options to use the GBA wireless adapter for netplay and then have one handheld be the host and have the other device connect to it.

It works pretty well but the wireless connection is finicky, especially on the Miyoo Mini Plus. I've managed to trade Pokemon between my Miyoo Mini Plus, my laptop, and my RG35XXH.

Thank you for listening!

Video guide: https://youtu.be/ih0cbeg4mfY

Written guide: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/04/26/how-to-trade-pokemon-wirelessly-for-game-boy-advance-on-the-miyoo-mini-plus/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

In today's SBC gaming news, we have a bunch of handheld PC news!

The Legion Go finally has customizable control bindings and battery bypass at 80%. The battery bypass may not work after updating until you uninstall and reinstall Legion Space.

The ROG Ally gets AFMF. AMD Fluid Motion Frames basically creates additional frames in between existing frames. It's basically virtually increasing the frame rate for smoother performance. How well it works depends on the game and how many frames per second you are working with, higher is better.

There's a slew of bugs and problems related to AFMF so make sure to read the documentation and follow instructions! Most problems can be fixed by updating software through the Microsoft Store, and then disabling/enabling features. And finally, a mad lad adds 30ish TB to his Steam Deck. Why? Getting ready for the apocalypse I suppose.

The takeaway, no console is perfect. Even these expensive handheld PCs come with their own quirks and problems.

And more!

Thanks for listening!

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/Y7HQ1eN4Fdg

Blog: https://duckyobrien.com/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

Today's episode covers how to port over Sonic Mania for the Miyoo Mini and Miyoo Mini Plus.

It's actually pretty easy to do since very smart and talented people already did the hard work for you!

All you need to do is install the Ports shortcut on Onion OS using the Package Manager and then download the necessary ports file from the Onion OS Ports github located here: https://github.com/OnionUI/Ports-Collection.

You will need the data.rsdk file from a Sonic Mania installation. I used the one from my Epic Game Store installation since I got it for free there some time ago.

The game runs at a widescreen resolution so there will be black bars on the top and bottom. If you want a 4:3 aspect ratio, you can crop the game by adjusting the width. You do lose some details on the sides but it's mostly playable.

To do this make the following edits to the settings.ini file in SD:\Roms\PORTS\Games\Sonic Mania

winWidth=352 maxPixWidth=352 pixWidth=352

It runs pretty well! It does drain the battery much faster than normal however.

Thank you for listening!

Video guide: https://youtu.be/MhB_WV-dgew

Written guide: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/04/10/sonic-mania-on-the-miyoo-mini-plus/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

In today's SBC gaming news, we have new updates for the Miyoo A30 and the Anbernic RG28XX.

The A30 seems to have a USB C port that can transfer data and audio. It won't have an audio port but will come with a dongle.

The RG28XX seems to have a HDMI out as well as an audio port so it seems to have more functionality. It seems to lack Bluetooth however.

Both devices seem pretty decent in terms of processing power.

The A30 has a quad core CPU, a GPU, and 512MB of ram compared to the dual core CPU, no GPU, and only 128MB of ram of the Miyoo Mini Plus. It should be able to handle higher end systems like the Dreamcast and we already have video footage of the device running Crazy Taxi, albeit not optimally.

The RG28XX has the same SoC as the RG35XXH, Plus, and the 2024 version as well as the same stock operating system so we pretty much know how games will run on that device.

The one benefit of the RG28XX is that it should have Batocera and MuOS/Stock Mod available as custom operating systems at launch where as the A30 will probably require time for a feature rich custom OS/firmware to be available.

And more!

Thanks for listening!

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/aShoXqGRdDo

Blog: https://duckyobrien.com/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

Today's episode covers how to get the best graphics possible out of your PS1 games for your Miyoo Mini and Miyoo Mini Plus.

We'll do this by using Onion OS and the PCSX ReARMed emulator with the enhanced resolution setting turned on along with the enhanced resolution speed hack.

This will cause the game to slow down on the RetroArch core so overclocking will be necessary by adding a text file named cpuclock.txt with the number 1600 (for the OG Miyoo Mini) or 1800 (for the Miyoo Mini Plus) in the text file.

Create this file in this directory on your microSD card: SD:\Saves\CurrentProfile\config\PCSX-ReARMed

Even with overclocking, you may run into slowdowns. Using the standalone PCSX ReARMed app will produce much better results.

You still need to overclock it and we'll do this by adding one line that says "cpuclock 1600" or "cpuclock 1800" in the launch.sh file for the emulator right above the cpufreq.sh call.

If you need more details, I will provide links to both the video and written guide below.

Thank you for listening!

Video guide: https://youtu.be/57zGG7HpF_A

Written guide: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/04/17/how-to-make-your-ps1-games-look-better-on-the-miyoo-mini-plus/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

In today's SBC gaming news, we have so many micro handhelds announced. The SIPEED, the Miyoo A30, and now the Anbernic RG28XX.

These handhelds have a screen size of 2" to 2.8" and are roughly the same size as a Game Boy Micro.

The SIPEED uses an FPGA that handled up to the SNES (last time I checked), while the A30 and RG28XX should be able to handle up to PS1 and a bit more.

Honestly speaking, the RG28XX looks more ergonomic to me with the lack of an analog stick and the slanted speaker grill but we shall see once the systems come out (rumored release date is mid April).

A console war is brewing between Miyoo and Abnernic with interesting results!

And more!

Thanks for listening!

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/S2RI9tXiRdQ

Blog: https://duckyobrien.com/