ROCKNIX is an immutable Linux distribution for handheld gaming devices

16 points by gnafuthegreat

maduggan

These are great for getting more lifespan out of these portable devices. I still use my Miyoo Mini in large part because of all the awesome features added by the Onion OS people: https://onionui.github.io/. These Linux distributions are also nicer for less technical people when you give one of these handhelds as a gift, as the manufacturers software often runs like crap and they need to be comfortable flashing SD cards to get updates.

icefox

Agreed, I should try this out sometime. Big props to AmberELEC for doing the same thing for my Anbernic handheld.

gnafuthegreat

There are a few distributions like this, but I settled on ROCKNIX when I got an ODROID Go Ultra and I’ve been very happy with it. I particularly like its integration of Syncthing so you can have your game saves and states automatically backed up and your game library synced over Wi-Fi.

kolja

Thanks for that Syncthing tip! Not backing up saves has been bothering me.

With OnionOS, muOS, ROCKNIX, Batocera, RecalBox (and that’s just the variants I know of) being mostly nice bundles of device drivers with emulator frontends, small differences like that can tip the scales.

pmarreck

so basically Nix for retro gaming?

Because this is an idea I’ve had for a while!

alicebob

no not at all, it’s basically a normal distribution, just on a RO disk. I run it on a Ayn Odin 2 Mini.
pbsds

Their distro doesn’t seem to use nix at all. The name is likely a play on unix/*nix.
- enobayram
  
  Oh :( and here I am suddenly dreaming of { hardware.wifi.pins = { rx = ...
- pmarreck
  
  ah, then my idea is still valid
jmtd

Nice. I wonder if the name is inspired by rock box.
- ClashTheBunny
  
  I bet it’s because they’re mostly rockchip CPUs.