Linux on the Retroid Pocket Mini (Batocera & ROCKNIX)

[@JgHaverty]

Lol, I know its a "Failure" but that orange and gray looks pretty cool haha

[@thecryingsoul]

Rare missprint lol

[@jamesdavies686]

Was is not supposed to be gray? out of the loop.

[@JgHaverty]

@@jamesdavies686 white lol

[@JgHaverty]

@@jamesdavies686 only reason I know is a bunch of crybabies talking about how "retroid fails another launch"; which is... a silly take really haha.

[@moomah5929]

Yeah, the contrast between orange and white might be too much for me. But I ordered the black version anyway, which should arrive in the next few days as it cleared customs already.

[@JoeyJoJoJr17]

Keep the gray and orange. It essentially means you have a limited edition "misprint" console.

[@modestyblaise4167]

Damn ugly though, isn’t it.

[@skewyangel]

@@modestyblaise4167 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To me, it gives off industrial/steampunk vibes, which I quite like.

[@Nikketsinne]

I love it grey. And here I am, with a goddamn black edition one. Kidding, they all rock 🫰

[@modestyblaise4167]

@@skewyangel Indeed it is. Personally, I just find grey and orange don’t compliment each other that well. My choice is the SFC colour, but others may find it their least favourite, so I get your point.

[@ThootenTootinTabootin]

Can it play f-zero gx? ​@@Nikketsinne

[@giannibtt]

this is maybe the most underrated feature about RP mini and RP 5.

[@CasepbX]

Waiting patiently for the Pocket 5 preview!

[@ZanderLexx]

Patiently ? I'm boiling myself thank you 😂. My money is at half for the Pocket 5 right now. I'll put in the order for me probably on 7th November. Up until then it'll be my most test of patience. I live in Romania and mine will probably arrive on the first week of December. I like all the colors, but I don't know which one to order to be sure it'll not be out of stock or wait for it longer.

[@JamesStevensonPhoto]

Likewise - trying to decide between an Odin 2, wait for info on Odin 2 portal or retroid pocket 5… all look great in their own way! As we learn more here the decision will be easier! Look forward to those reviews.

[@chimrichalds81]

​@@ZanderLexx Russ said that if he would have thought about the bezels, seamless front, and oled blacks, he would have ordered the black one (rpmini). The fact that it makes every bezel disappear makes it a must! I'll be ordering a black one soon, going halves with my kid👌🏽

[@prezlamen7906]

Anyone has something like RP 4 pro etc? How is it with switch and some harder emulations like PS2? I made my daily driver s23 ultra into gaming phone and its hardware is overkill but its a phone. Not meant for this and no fans for cooling. So im thinking of maybe going for some handheld.

[@Ap616]

@prezlamen7906 If looking for Android & not Windows OS: RP4 Pro - some light to moderate Switch RP5 - some more moderate Switch Odin 2 or Odin 2 Portal(or Odin 2 Mini) - moderate to potentially heavier Switch Software & development just hold back the hardware mainly. All should do pretty well with PS2, except RP4 Pro notably will lag behind the others with some specific harder to run PS2 games. Also, has the smallest screen of all these(from 4.7" to 7" for 16:9)

[@alejandrochristin6225]

Retroid Pocket Mini "Half-Life Edition"? That's a keeper for me!

[@SoundToxin]

This is exactly what I like to see. Very exciting device. I missed the initial review of this, but I think I learned most of what I wanted to from this video. Very cool that it has a touchscreen and it works on ROCKNIX.

[@HPPrintervx4p5q]

That gray and orange is really eye-catching

[@CasepbX]

It's some ugly, but interesting looking at the same time 😂 Black and orange would have looked awesome.

[@pavichokche]

​@@CasepbXyeah it's a color combo only a mother could love

[@GabrielFreirev]

Got that Half-Life color scheme

[@Omar_Little]

They're giving 15$ refund to everyone that ordered one because it was supposed to be black. Wish I got one!

[@clankfish]

@@Omar_Little you mean white?

[@tappersreviews4677]

Usually I’d jump at Linux, but Android input lag on the Mini is really good (basically not noticeable) and Android also has benefits. Someone at Retroid discord did some testing and found the Mini has the lowest Android input lag of all Android devices they tested including Odin 2, Odin 2 Mini and RP4P, and also better than current Linux handhelds, and on par with Steam Deck OLED. So, I think I’ll stick with Android on the Mini.

[@LumiousSage]

I think this may be the best handheld for me to get cant wait to see the normal pocket 5 version of this

[@Pridetoons]

I've been waiting for this! Having Multi-Arch on the Snapdragon 865 is going to give us the ability to boot both 32 and 64 bit applications! We'll be gaming like kings!!!

[@xkxxxx]

Excited to try this on my RP5!

[@overoula]

now this changes everything.... batocera is amazing to have on a handheld...wish we had it on odin 2 also...

[@SadeyJade70]

Me too!

[@Golden_Deus]

The chip is still too new and plus Qualcomm has to allow it themselves and as it stands now, they're not gonna do that vs an older chip like the 865

[@CellPhish]

You can run Linux in the Odin 2 so Batocera is only a matter of time

[@pholly]

This is great to see since this has the same chip as the RP5 these will hopefully be further along by the time I get my RP5.

[@vhsretrogamer1664]

Thanks, Russ. You're the best. Looking forward to order my rp mini soon. Can't decide the color yet. A little tip on dreamcast emulation coming from my experience. I found that Xtreme Sports is basically unplayable on any emulator on any system. Also some WinCE games are truly hard to emulate like 4x4 evolution (ps2 version is better anyway). These are those 1% of games that are hard to emulate properly and rarely anyone cares, but you can check these games sometimes in your reviews just to set the bar 🤘🏻

[@chimrichalds81]

I would say get the black one if you ever want to play retro games without gnarly bezels

[@vhsretrogamer1664]

@@chimrichalds81 that's the one I am leaning towards the most. It's not oled though, so black borders will be backlit anyway. I just think I like the black more

[@chimrichalds81]

@@vhsretrogamer1664 what? I thought the mini/ rp5 was Led!

[@vhsretrogamer1664]

@@chimrichalds81 oh sorry, I just left a similar comment about rgCubeXX 😅 Yes, RP has oled. Too many handhelds

[@chimrichalds81]

@@vhsretrogamer1664 ah I got you. I thought I had a brain worm for a second😬

[@ryanbartlett672]

Thanks. What a great channel. Gray looks great. I like the ootion of Batocera as I see myself standardizing my sd card like I believe you and Mr. Dweeb both do

[@turtlehat6994]

I'm so excited to see Linux on these. I'm over Android handhelds. Thanks for the overview.

[@shipiboconibo]

Three important rules for breaking up with Android: Don't put off breaking up when you know you want to Prolonging the situation only makes it worse Tell Android honestly, simply, kindly, but firmly

[@maxiynacho]

Grey looks awesome! Mine should be arriving tomorrow!

[@palody_en-ja]

I'm not a fan of the gray and orange, but there seems to be plenty of fans. That white Saturn colorway however is downright beautiful!

[@piplup10203854]

Being able to put Batocera on more devices is fantastic! I might have to get one, I like the more pocket friendly devices.

[@AlexT0210]

Retro Game Corps uploaded a new video. Play now? Me: "Yeah man, I wanna do it."

[@NickelKang]

This may be obvious to some, but not all. Make sure you change your default Windows file share password(SMB) as well as SSH on the handheld. The Batocera wiki tells you how to do this. On Rocknix, you can change SSH pass in the menus. Especially if you plan on hooking these devices on public wifi in future. From someone who has worked in IT and Cyber for 20 years... Just something to keep in mind. I am excited to see some non android options coming to these devices. Thanks Russ!

[@mula125]

Waiting for my Retroid Pocket Mini, i order it 3 weeks ago.🥰 Thanks for the Video.🤌

[@JamesPound]

PortMaster deserves a deeper look, it actually has some heavy games in there too, like Descent 1-3, Doom 3, GTA 3 and Vice City, Half Life 1, Jedi Outcast and Academy, and Quake 1-3.

[@sarahdaviscc]

The orange and grey looks good and, as an added bonus, it's rare. I say keep it!

[@tybera1114]

I had to build Rocknix myself from the Dev branch to put it on my Mini, it's not bad, it's actually a fork of Jelos, which is one of my favorite custom OSs on my Anbernic devices!

[@retrogamingnmore2513]

I skipped batocera and went straight to Rocknix I'm no a fan of Batocera

[@5temba]

So happy this is possible. Great video.

[@TheInsomnatech]

Keep the gray and orange 💯

[@themidwestwhale]

Russ, if I were you I'd hold on to the Orange version you have. I would have picked that over the other lighter tones that were available!

[@se7enBC1]

The Grey color combo looked good

[@Swaytekk]

I can’t get over how much I love the mini. I have an Ayn Odin 2 mini and I really really like it, but it’s something about the mini that just makes it’s so very very convenient. It’s not without its caveats; the clicky YXBA buttons drive my wife insane, I would have preferred less travel on the buttons

[@imas234]

Thank you russ! Been waiting for this!!!!

[@imas234]

Would love some more followups of this over the next few months. Specifically on portmaster.

[@steveb5370]

Great review. I like the grey and thx for showing NCAA 09.

[@rawdiggitydog]

Love the video! Thanks for including NCAA Football!!! By the way, KEEP THE COLOR!!

[@Jaweatherford86]

I ordered the Orange after the pre-order period, but before Retroid announced the mistake. It's almost made it to me and I'm eagerly waiting to see if I have the Orange/Grey version. I actually kinda like it.

[@chilly6470]

You could've requested it. I asked them if it would be possible to get this colour and they said yes.

[@Jaweatherford86]

@@chilly6470 I ordered it before the announcement came out about the manufacturing error. But I'll be happy with whichever one I get.

[@Space_Ducck]

Seeing the potential of duel booting on the new Retro pocket mini is definitely making me interested on buy one.

[@JizzyNinja]

I don’t have this, may or may not buy it, but hot damn your videos are so helpful and enjoyable, thank you!

[@ridge_r4cer]

makes me super excited for the RP5. Rocknix looks to have great Saturn support so i'll lean towards that distro.

[@ASeriesOfAttempts]

Limited edition orange and gray with a 15 coupon doesn't sound so bad. Also seeing you test with Mega Man Zero put a smile on my face

[@nellib7003]

That grey and orange looks hella nice. Hopefully they make it an additional color later. I bought the saturn one and it was shipped two days ago.

[@ernestweiss9438]

I love that Grey and orange look

[@Maeiourk]

Get out of my head Russ. My RPMini was delivered last night (still in the mailbox) and had wondered if you were going to make a Linux guide for it. This timing is impeccable.

[@KingSpectre844]

Lucky lucky, mine is still in transit. What color did you order?

[@Maeiourk]

@@KingSpectre844 Ordered it in black!

[@ryecatcher25]

Wow.....would really love a powerful linux option. This is more exciting than the inital hardware launch imho.

[@shaneb1982]

One of the best tips for MicroSD cards, its to re-partition the card to only use ~90% of the space, as the card can use that unpartitioned space for a variety of things but most importantly, most sdcards get a little weird after 90% full, like missing files, corruption, overwriting due to bad sectors etc. Have never had any sdcard problems since ive been doing this and have quite a few 1TB cards that have lasted years now. My first few i didnt do this with and always had problems when near capacity.

[@L319HV]

Oh boy if this is what the mini is capable of already I can't wait to see what the pocket 5 can do

[@phildefreitas5669]

Definitely keep the gray, it's a collector's item now!

[@spooner8267]

The grey and orange is awesome😊

[@problem305]

My next upgrade once i finish the classics on my miyoo mini!

[@ben-tendo]

I would love the "Retroid not Ayn honest" company do something similar with the Odin 2 Portal so that we work out a Linux build for the Odin 2 family... then we'll see some exciting developments...

[@Kiahona]

While I agree, there's no chance. This exists for the SD 865 because it's such a well documented and known platform that everyone kinda has access to. 8 gen2 is too new

[@ben-tendo]

@@Kiahona there's a team at Ayn working on it with a progress sheet over on Reddit that's maybe 80% complete?

[@samh5886]

​​​ that's not by AYN or anything official, just a community effort. People are really underestimating both the hard and soft requirements and effort required for such stuff. I have seen people talking about it like making a decision. to install Linux or windows on a x86. If it's that simple, we would have Linux available on every snapdragon phone released in the past 5 years.

[@NickBaysingar]

Definitely keep the grey and orange console. I honestly think they should make it an official colorway.

[@zyxyuv1650]

Gray looks better, especially exotic shades of gray with unique hue degree angles. That's what you'll see on a Porsche.

[@SpaceSkeletonDragon]

I first came for the retro and now I eagerly await each video to see what punk/ska/alt band t-shirt you're wearing next. Nada Surf, good shit.

[@Wol333]

Grey Orange looks better every time I see it.

[@numberoneappgames]

I can't wait to see the RP5 and Odin 2. :D

[@sjzafrani]

Would love to buy your grey orange unit instead of you returning it. I quite like it and probably would’ve gone for it if it were the presented option. Thanks for your commitment to the community!

[@chilly6470]

You can email retroid customer service and they'll sell this grey and orange to you.

[@sjzafrani]

@@chilly6470 nice! Thanks

[@chilly6470]

@@sjzafrani You're welcome.

[@2Mourty]

Keep the grey! Looks much better in my opinion!

[@VascovanZeller]

6 HOURS? I have a suggestion for you. Take a PC, install linux mint on it (or just make a live USB stick like you would batocera). Then boot into linux and use that to explore linux formatted operating systems. That way you could connect the SD card with Rocknix or Batocera on it and place the ROMs directly on the SD card without waiting 6 whole hours!!

[@majinba]

Keep the orange, Russ, it´s amazing

[@jalipeno97]

that orange and grey looks so much nicer wow, reminds me of playing on devtextured source engine maps as a kid. i wish they kept this one going lol its gorgeous if it was still for sale i would get it

[@AB_223]

That’s a really cool value add. Definitely makes selling off my Anbernic collection a lot easier. I could possibly see myself booting Linux for older systems and using Android only for the higher end ones. Cool video 👍

[@MarkDell]

I’m so excited by Batocera on this! Is this the most powerful Linux ARM handheld now?

[@CellPhish]

You can run Linux on the Odin 2

[@prezlamen7906]

​@@CellPhishThat means i can run linux on S23 ultra?

[@buenogoodlive]

​@@CellPhish Why you just out here lying? Lol

[@geoffhall3012]

How can we run batocera on the Odin 2 ​@@CellPhish

[@homebrewGT2]

​@@CellPhishwhat I didn't know.

[@rbatesmotel]

Orange looks sweet with the Grey. What a happy mistake!

[@LordNuttington]

Playing Dead or Alive at slow speeds might be a positive for some players 👀😂

[@SHANKS-leROUX]

Gray / orange looks sick

[@zeframmann1641]

Damn I really like the orange and grey Retroid, like make that an official color.

[@PuddleBurger]

Yes, definitely keep the grey, limited edition grey and orange retroid

[@Avrenac]

Keep the grey one, it looks cool and might be a collector item one day.

[@ZainAjam]

Thank you for sharing PlayStation 2 on Linux on arm. I didn't know there was an arm version of aethersx2. Hoping for PCSX2 to make its way to Linux arm in the future

[@Kevin-Schmevin]

Thanks for making this, Linux for the win!

[@Dilemina]

That Gray and Orange handheld looks like it would confortable at a Road Construction site.

[@BasicObject]

grey and orange looks good to me. better than orange and white imo. do the ABXY buttons still scrape? Also do you have to do that button combo on every boot to rocknix/batocera? Or will it be kept in a low power mode most of the time so you just hit the power button to turn it on? Thanks for these videos, they are very informational.

[@leasonv_5972]

The gray definitely looks better imo 😂

[@rigues]

I have a Nintendo 2DS, Switch Lite, Retroid Pocket 3+ and a Steamdeck, so I have ZERO need for another handheld. THAT SAID, these new Retroid devices are looking VERY appealing, especially the "Saturn" model.

[@Mhun2013]

Running to grab a snack and drink 🏃‍♂️ I literally just bought the discounted combo for the Retroid Pocket Mini in black and the Pocket 5 GC style so this couldn't be better timing 🤓 been binge watching all of the Retroid Pocket Mini videos out there and BAM; "another one" 😎 Keep it up good sir!! 👏 You're my inspiration when it comes to diving deeper into handheld gaming 🎮 your videos are the peak of excellence ✨️

[@WannaKnowMyName]

Are you sure you didn't figuratively bought the combo?

[@Mhun2013]

Well, if my DHL delivery email is to believed, I'll have my new Pocket Mini at my front doorstep Thursday morning 🙌🥳 hopefully my Pocket 5 ships within the next 1 - 2 weeks after 😇🙏

[@Ruckus790]

That's interesting. I do like the grey look better. I would keep it.

[@kururhai4531]

was waiting for this yay

[@DelianSK131]

I actually think I like it better with the grey.

[@burton240sx]

I would pay for the grey/orange if it was a option. Looks great.

[@zeeejay]

Love linux OS, so much more lightweight!

[@JaizuGz]

I'm pretty sure Linux will improve over time for this device, the device is powerful and has a well know chip. I personally like Android more, but it will be nice for people that prefer something else :)

[@kebabmurmagamedov]

This is the quality content we like from russ

[@neilbasuracing]

i wish this came out for the 4 pro as well, it would be so nice to not have to deal with the shortcomings of android

[@maanga888]

Looking forwards to more rocknix updates. Theyre doing good work

[@atom_zero5413]

Just when I thought i couldn't simp more for this console

[@DonaldWyman]

I think the grey looks better than the white face it was supposed to have.

[@edgeXmanify]

Gray and orange is pretty cool.

[@ArtistCameron]

Rocknix is great. I have it on the arc s.

[@NomdePlume337]

Seeing Halo on a handheld is making me drool, I want it so bad!

[@jesselegood7454]

This is news!! Thank to the developers and to you for the video Russ. Doing the good work as always. I hope that this can expand to other platforms eventually. Like AYN Odin 2 and it's kin. What do you think the probability of that is? Android is nice but I long for an overpriced RG35xxH.

[@wozzinator]

Russ! This is quite a conundrum when I think about purchasing the RP5 (I realize that this video is for the RP Mini) even though I have an RP4 Pro! I don’t really like the Android-based emulation experience and much prefer Linux-based emulation like onionOS and arkOS. That being said, it seems like the RP5 is going to be larger in terms of width and depth (and maybe weight?). I’m waiting on bated breath for your RP5 review to hopefully see an in-depth use case comparison between the RP4 Pro vs RP5. If only there could be a way to get Linux-based emulation on the RP4 Pro 😔

[@DjFIL007]

Decided was going to go towards the cheaper handhelds, based on how much I use them, and being perfectly fine with sticking to PS1 and lower systems (and extras like Pico8 and Portmaster)... but man, this video does make it very tempting, will keep following the linux updates as they come.

[@morid0]

I don't like android for emulation, that's why I totally dismissed this device but if it's gonna be able to run batocera I'm seriously considering buying it

[@michaelk7007]

Please don't exchange that for the white and orange one. I love that color combination. In fact if you do want to exchange it please let me take it off your hands instead and I'll get you a white one.

[@mtterzoli]

The grey/orange really pops.

[@digitalpotato4867]

I hope they can finish the build and they can make Vulkan and Mesa Drivers to work to be as good as the Trimui Smart Pro

[@Lmk2332]

Originally i was gonna get a 4 pro as a christmas gift to myself but after they announced linux on the 5 i had to wait, personally its been the divice ive been waiting for, dual boot, high preformance, just waiting on the 5 reveiw to see wich i end up going with

[@jesselegood7454]

Also for what it's worth, my opinion on keeping the grey and orange unit is thus: you now have a limited edition handheld. I would keep it for that reason only plus $15usd isn't bad as a compromise. Plus you can say it is the Halflife edition.

[@mattm7220]

Never thought that I'd regret getting my Odin 2 Mini *but* having the devs of both Rocknix and Batocera ignore such a powerful handheld make me wish I'd bought a less powerful one (which sounds stupid to say). Xbox emulation on the go with ARM battery life would be incredible

[@jimmerseiber]

This makes me want one now. I didn't get it cause its android but if I can do linux..I'm down!

[@ryecatcher25]

Same.

[@keshavmurali98]

I'm unable to make a post linking to the microsoft documentation, but WSL2 can let you mount ext4 partitions and make them show up in explorer. You can try that out and if it's simple enough, put that into the written guide as an alternative for network transfers.

[@MigueldeMatos]

Batocera also supports other file systems, so formatting the share partition to ntfs will also work and allow you to copy inside windows natively