The SMACH Z gaming handheld has switched to AMD Ryzen & Vega, pre-orders start soon

This will fail twice price too high and League of legends, gta5 and many others only works under windows not linux.
Also there are much more better devices for mobile pc.

This is a form that Valve should work on. I think the problem is, and probably always will be is the hardware that can be small enough to be capable enough of what we want it to do (max settings, high frame rates) for modern PC games. I mean we can't even get the console versions of PC games to have the same level of detail at the same frame rates. But then again most gaming PCs are like 3-4 times the price of a console.

This will fail twice price too high and League of legends, gta5 and many others only works under windows not linux.
Also there are much more better devices for mobile pc.

The Smachz can run Windows too. And LoL works quite well under wine, if you want to stay on Linux.
Gta5 can run on Wine too, but the performance is far from acceptable, sadly.

Anyway, you said there are better devices... For example?


Last edited by Iperpido on 6 Mar 2018 at 3:07 am UTC

This will fail twice price too high and League of legends, gta5 and many others only works under windows not linux.

Wine.

Whether it runs on Linux or not, who wants to play LoL on a handheld device?
Even Dota 2 that runs very well on Linux, I'll still play it on my main desktop.

As for GTA 5, well if most of the games you want to play are AAA games, then maybe it would be better to install Windows on this device, don't you think?

I guess you'll choose your OS depending on your profile. If you don't know Linux and/or want mainly to play AAA games, then it is probably better to go with Windows. On the other hand, if you like indie, "AA" games and are not afraid to tinker a little with your device, then Linux is probably the right choice for you.

As for GTA 5, well if most of the games you want to play are AAA games, then maybe it would be better to install Windows on this device, don't you think?

Why would you? The whole point is to have a Linux handheld computer. What it can run is already secondary ;)

Why would you? The whole point is to have a Linux handheld computer. What it can run is already secondary ;)

This doesn't strike me as something where Linux is the core part of the thing. For me, it sounds like they just mention Linux because its a kinda popular thing for people to give money in advance.

Being able to play good 'ol SNES games on that could be very fun!

EDIT: Also, there is a display port, so maybe the possibility to plug it to the TV?

You can play SNES games and other retro games on pretty much any Android device. Just get yourself a bluetooth gamepad. Most smartphones can be connected to TVs also. No need for 900 bucks for doing that.

One thing that I just thought of that would be very interesting is your machine, the SmachZ, and the Steam Cloud!
So you can play a game on your PC, quit it, take your SmachZ and continue playing with the same saved state.

Must admit that it's pretty cool! ;)

I'm gonna be that guy who's gonna say that you can already have a "Linux" handheld if you mount a controller on an Android smartphone. There's actually quite a few good games (in a sea of otherwise terrible and insulting ones) like Crashlands, Don't Starve, GTAs, Meltdown, many others.

Well, show me a device that can run proper Wayland compositor without libhybris hacks, and I'd agree. So far Librem 5 didn't come out.

This doesn't strike me as something where Linux is the core part of the thing. For me, it sounds like they just mention Linux because its a kinda popular thing for people to give money in advance.

OS should not be core part of the hardware. But as long as hardware has open drivers - Linux would run there. AMD APU is already a plus there (Mesa and all). What about controller drivers? Will they be open?

One thing that I just thought of that would be very interesting is your machine, the SmachZ, and the Steam Cloud!
So you can play a game on your PC, quit it, take your SmachZ and continue playing with the same saved state.

Must admit that it's pretty cool! ;)

Have been doing that with my GPD-Win for some time now :p

Well, show me a device that can run proper Wayland compositor without libhybris hacks, and I'd agree. So far Librem 5 didn't come out.

Why do you need Wayland for playing games on an Android mobile device? Or have you accidentally quoted the wrong person?

OS should not be core part of the hardware. But as long as hardware has open drivers - Linux would run there. AMD APU is already a plus there (Mesa and all). What about controller drivers? Will they be open?

That's not quite what I meant. Of course is software not part of the hardware. Hm. Why do you suggest that Linux would only run if all drivers are open? Linux runs just fine with closed source drivers. I mean, it's cool if the drivers are open, but I don't see why running Linux would require that?

Why do you need Wayland for playing games on an Android mobile device?

Because I don't want Android, I want proper Linux and that means Wayland today.

Why do you suggest that Linux would only run if all drivers are open?

Let's rephrase it - run sustainably. Closed blobs create a problem for the hardware because they depend on vendors support. As soon as vendors stop updating them - that hardware is stuck with outdated and dead version. Upstreamed drivers on the other hand tend to stick around for a very long time. So if you want a long term hardware - ensure it has open drivers first.

Paying huge amount of money for a device that will be stuck with an ancient kernel because there are no updates to the controller driver sounds like a very bad choice.


Last edited by Shmerl on 6 Mar 2018 at 8:46 pm UTC

As for GTA 5, well if most of the games you want to play are AAA games, then maybe it would be better to install Windows on this device, don't you think?

Why would you? The whole point is to have a Linux handheld computer. What it can run is already secondary ;)

I'm gonna be that guy who's gonna say that you can already have a "Linux" handheld if you mount a controller on an Android smartphone. There's actually quite a few good games (in a sea of otherwise terrible and insulting ones) like Crashlands, Don't Starve, GTAs, Meltdown, many others.

(since this morning I've already had various discussions on how crappy some things are, so I may as well throw one in here..)

This is the equivalent of wading through a pool filled with diarrhea in an attempt to find a few solid pieces of turd. Most of the controllers that hold your phone are pretty terrible, and a huge majority of android games don't even have proper controller support. I use my cell phone mostly for calls, email and web browsing. Anytime I start gaming on it, I get bored real quick or frustrated due to my fingers being in the way of the screen, and who's going to carry around a controller just for whipping out at random times to play on a smart phone?

Okay, I'll end my rant. :P

who's going to carry around a controller just for whipping out at random times to play on a smart phone?

If you don't intend to carry something around in order to whip it out and play on it, you wouldn't be interested in this product at all - or any other mobile gaming product.

Nvidia Shield is much more than this device. Even if we think linux and nvidia experience compability in the future
i can stream a game from my pc to my shield device and play.

Shield is ARM though, so good luck finding any ARM Linux games. You may be can run ScummVM and DosBox and some other emulators. Plus of course FOSS engine based games that can be built for ARM. Smach Z is x86_64, so there are tons of games already plus all the above. Plus Wine performance on ARM would be abysmal since it requires emulating the CPU (through Qemu). Which is not a problem on x86_64.


Last edited by Shmerl on 6 Mar 2018 at 10:17 pm UTC

Have been doing that with my GPD-Win for some time now :p

So if you have no problems with the GPD-Win, can you tell me which kernel and config you are using?
I only use the hansdegoede tree from github as that fixed a few things, but the microsd controller is such a pain... Missing hardware interrupts continuosly, stalling access to the microsd on a regular interval. It might be even bugs in the bios, or just bios settings.

The microsd card itself is fine, as it works without problems in an odroid xu4. But then again, ARM platforms usually don't need to do all kinds of weird ACPI and bios stuff... Everything is in the dtb (which BTW is part of the openboot "standard" used for Suns).

who's going to carry around a controller just for whipping out at random times to play on a smart phone?

If you don't intend to carry something around in order to whip it out and play on it, you wouldn't be interested in this product at all - or any other mobile gaming product.

Not really, I guess he pointed out the controller as an extra device to carry in order to play. There are people who go beyond that, carrying external battery packs and etc. IMO nothing is really worth it if using more than one pocket...

I can't call the SMACH Z portable at all. It's big, seems heavy, uncomfortable, barely "handheld". Can't really imagine myself using one unless I'm at home, maybe even lying in bed (for like 1 hour max).

I also remember ppl complaining about Wii U and Switch controllers weight if compared to previous handhelds (and then smartphones). It took me a while to realize that this really is an important factor, a factor that weighs heavily if I'm allowed to pun...

who's going to carry around a controller just for whipping out at random times to play on a smart phone?

If you don't intend to carry something around in order to whip it out and play on it, you wouldn't be interested in this product at all - or any other mobile gaming product.

Not really, I guess he pointed out the controller as an extra device to carry in order to play.

I guess you'd carry a phone either way, so it's either two devices(1) or... two(2).

(1) Smach and phone
(2) controller and phone