Do you love retro gaming? How about pocket sized devices, powered by Linux that you can take anywhere? The FunKey S looks like a really sweet bit of kit. Small enough to keep with your keys, powerful enough to play tons of retro games.
Funded on Kickstarter back in July 2020 which we completely missed, the FunKey team managed to raise €165,760 and they've been taking pre-orders that have proven to be popular so it went out of stock. Powered by Linux and open source, the FunKey S doesn't use a traditional Linux distribution but instead they built it themselves with Buildroot.
They're continuing to expand the selection of systems it supports currently mentioning 10 including: Playstation 1, GameGear, NES, SuperNES, Gameboy (classic, Color and Advance), Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Atari, Neo Geo Pocket, Wonderswan.
Small but looks like it's designed quite well:
- Large directional arrows and buttons A|B|X|Y|START
- Generous L1/R1 back shoulder buttons
- Additional buttons for ergonomic: POWER|Fn
- 1.54" 240x240 IPS LCD color screen for high contrasts and viewing angle, 50Hz refresh rate
- Built-in 0.5W speaker for heady retro-sounds
- Single Micro USB connector for Power + Data Drag & Drop as a standard USB memory stick
- Low battery / charge indicator
- Strong metallic strap attachment needle
It includes a number of useful enhancements too, considering it's designed for a little gaming on the go. It wakes when it opens to be ready for you, it will automatically save when you close it up before turning off and it can resume when you open it back up. They're claiming around 5 seconds to boot and be ready to game too.
Since it's open source everything about it sounds easy too. Upgrades are dragging and dropping files while hooked up over USB, developers can add whatever they like to it since it's all open.
Specifications:
- Dimensions: 42.5 x 44.5 x 13.8 mm
- Processor: ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1.2 GHz
- RAM: 64 MB DDR2
- Storage: SD card up to 128GB
- Display: LCD IPS screen, 1.52”, 240x240 px
- Audio: ∅10 mm mono speaker, 500 mW
- Battery: 410 mAh Li-ion battery
- LED charging indicator
- Micro USB Port: charge battery, load games
See more on the FunKey website where it will be available from €65. You can find hardware details on Hackaday, plus all the code is up on GitHub.
I must admit I'm tempted by this, what a lovely little device.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
slaapliedje Mar 16, 2021
Quoting: EhvisWait, no funky puns in this article? You seriously need some time off Liam!Coincidentally I was looking through the GURPS update pdf for 3rd to 4th edition, and found the 'Punning' skill.
Still find it amazing how detailed one can make their character in the game. Granted someone was arguing that it shouldn't take as much points to learn Weaving as it does to learn Sword, etc. But the game system takes care of that as it doesn't really take the same amount of points to be as good at one over the other. Though to be fair, I tend to think being able to weave would require more knowledge than being able to pick up a metal stick and swing it through the air.
- squint screen
- square resolution that is too small for a number of systems mentioned
- how bright is the display (outdoor ready?)
- crampy small grip
- just a mono speaker, no headphone jack, no hardware volume control
- no word about battery life (or just very well hidden?)
Also: how long will this thing survive being kept in your pocket? Presumably with keys?
Para-Gliding 
Mar 17, 2021
Mine is always ready when I travel ...
It's strange that RG351M is better that RG350M in everything except for its screen. If they release a version with 640×480, I might buy it.
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