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Shown off during the recent FOSDEM 2024 event, it seems the Manjaro Linux team have buddied up with hardware vendor Orange Pi for the Orange Pi Neo gaming handheld.

The system has not been fully announced by Orange Pi directly as of yet, but the Manjaro Linux team put various (1) posts (2) on X (formerly Twitter) and they have a dedicated page on their website for the Orange Pi Neo that goes over the specifications.

We haven't seen many jump into Linux for handhelds like this yet aside from the Steam Deck. We would've had the AYANEO Next Lite, which was announced with HoloISO, but they reversed course back to Windows. So it's good to see another that will be coming to market to further push Linux in the gaming space!

Specifications:

CPU AMD Ryzen™ 7 7840U
Screen 7-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200, WUXGA) 16:10, 500nits Brightness, 120Hz Refresh Rate
Ram 16GB/32GB LPDDR5 (7500MHz dual channel)
Storage 512GB-2TB PCIe® 4.0 NVMe™ M.2 SSD (2280)
Dimensions 259mm*107mm*19.9mm
Battery 50WHrs, 3S1P, 3-cell Li-polymer battery
I/O Ports 2x USB 4.0 Type-C, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack, 1x TF card slot
Audio 2x 1W dual panoramic speakers
Cooling Turbo Large Fan, Dual Copper Pipes + Aluminium Alloy Cooling Fans, extra large air vents + customised cooling system and air ducts with a subtle design
Bluetooth BT5.3
Input Dual 6-axis gyroscopes
Dual trackpads
Dual thumbsticks with RGB

The decision to go with Manjaro isn't that unexpected either, considering it's the Linux distribution Valve still suggest right now for developing specifically for the Steam Deck without having one (as SteamOS and Manjaro are both Arch Linux based).

Seems like it could be quite an interesting device, definitely worth keeping an eye on! Curious to see more on it, especially since it's an all-in-one device with Orange Pi usually being known for their small boards.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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40 comments
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this is good news. on another note i've been eyeing off the Orange Pi 5 plus - such a little beast.
doragasu Feb 5
Interesting. Their SBC boards are some of the few decent alternatives to Raspberry Pi, including some variants with long term support (like the Orange Pi 3 LTS I am using in some projects).

Since the AyaNeo Next Lite fell off the list, this is currently the only Steam Deck alternative I will have on my radar.
g000h Feb 5
A bit disappointed that this isn't an ultra-cheap Raspberry Pi clone handheld that'd be ideal for emulation.
pete910 Feb 5
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Quoteit seems the Manjaro Linux team have buddied up with hardware vendor Orange Pi for the Orange Pi Neo gaming handheld.

This looks familiar...

Ah, yes. Until they decide to go windows....
Julius Feb 5
Odd screen resolution choice. Probably not the best for overall performance.

But still... depending on the price this might be an interesting Steam Deck competitor.
RTheren Feb 5
Goddammit Orange Pi! I already have a Deck, I don't need another one....don't need.....need....NEEEEEEEEEEED!

Edit: If it's gonna cost less than 400 euros, I will have difficulties NOT obtaining one.


Last edited by RTheren on 5 February 2024 at 1:02 pm UTC
Pengling Feb 5
Handheld Addicts Anonymous told me that I'm not allowed to be in this thread.

Anyway, nice to see that this one has the twin trackpads and all that. Hopefully they won't turn tail and go with Windows before launch.

Quoting: JuliusOdd screen resolution choice. Probably not the best for overall performance.
People keep asking for it, and won't learn until they see for themselves that you'll barely see a difference in fidelity at that size, but will lose out in performance due to the higher resolution.
Quoting: pete910
Quoteit seems the Manjaro Linux team have buddied up with hardware vendor Orange Pi for the Orange Pi Neo gaming handheld.

This looks familiar...

Ah, yes. Until they decide to go windows....

A large difference between Orange Pi and AYANEO is that Orange Pi has actual experience in the Linux devices market and has thus access to the required talent to make them.
What they don't have and why the device will ultimately fail is the talent to advertise in the Linux gaming space.
The device will be sold with Linux, but it will be too expensive and have a worse launcher than the steamdeck.
Also its advertisement campaign will lay too much focus on hackability, maintainability and customizability.


Last edited by LoudTechie on 5 February 2024 at 1:16 pm UTC
Eri Feb 5
Actually it sounds quite good, we'll see the pricing, but that spec sheet... even has trackpads and gyro, a must for me.
Woot.
My prediction:
The device will come and contain a manjaro distro.
It will have a worse launcher and be incompatible with some steam api's.
It will be more expensive than the steamdeck.
It will have coreboot.
It will sell much worse than the steamdeck.
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