After being revealed early in February, the upcoming Orange Pi Neo that will come with Manjaro Linux now has a price, and there will be multiple versions of it although we still don't exactly have a clear release date.
The Manjaro Linux account on X posted that it was "launched" in Shenzhen, China. The device will be split across a Ryzen 7840U model at $499 USD and a Ryzen 8840U at $599 USD. It will join the Steam Deck in being powered by Linux, although not SteamOS, it will use a special immutable Manjaro Gaming Edition. Although if you don't get on with Manjaro, there's other options like ChimeraOS and Bazzite that will no doubt get drivers sorted for it.
A reminder on the specifications to expect from it:
| Screen | 7-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200, WUXGA) 16:10, 500nits Brightness, 120Hz Refresh Rate |
| RAM | 16GB/32GB LPDDR5 (6400MHz dual channel) |
| Dimensions | 259mm*107mm*19.9mm |
| Triggers | Linear Hall Trigger |
| Ports | 2x USB 4.0 Type-C, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack, 1x TF card slot |
| BT / WiFI | BT5.3, Wifi 6E |
| 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 |
| Colour | White/Black |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 7840U |
| Storage | 512GB-2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD (2280) |
| Battery | 50WHrs, 3S1P, 3-cell Li-polymer battery |
| Joysticks | Hall Sensing Joystick with RGB Lighting |
| Gyro | Dual 6-axis gyroscopes |
| Audio | 2x 1W dual panoramic speakers |
The starter $499 price actually seems quite reasonable don't you think?
I'm definitely excited to see more proper Linux handhelds coming to market, and unlike the recent Playtron announcement this is an actual product releasing soon.
More info on the Neo website.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: Marlockcan any of the xbox players around here exolain the appeal of the left analogue being so far up, arguably less comfortable to use than the d-pad?
From what I can remember back in the Xbox 360 days, the position on the left analog sticks made it easier to play first person shooters than the Dualshock 3.
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Quoting: Marlockcan any of the xbox players around here exolain the appeal of the left analogue being so far up, arguably less comfortable to use than the d-pad?
as a playstation player i always use the left analogue stick to move the player character around and i don't really see how the xbox layout can be better for anyone
I think it depends on how you hold a controller. The way I do, with my hands pointed mostly forward and with the grips filling my palms, my thumbs naturally land on the upper controls at rest. The only way I can get the lower controls to feel like the primary positions is if I mainly hold the body with my finger tips and knuckles, with my hands pointed more inward toward each other. I feel like I have more control the first way, but like my wrists are maybe at a more natural angle the second way.
The GameCube controller was very clearly designed for the former style. The PS1 and 2 controllers seem like they're maybe designed for the latter (I could never find a comfortable way to hold them). The 360 controller feels like it can accommodate either style reasonably well, and other modern controllers look like they follow a similarly less prescriptive trend.
2 Likes, Who?
Quoting: Marlockcan any of the xbox players around here exolain the appeal of the left analogue being so far up, arguably less comfortable to use than the d-pad?
Not an Xbox player (and I don't like the controller either) but it's because it started as a Dreamcast controller (Microsoft and Sega had worked together to put WinCE on the Dreamcast).
Similarly the PlayStation controller was a SNES controller (PlayStation was initially a joint Sony/Nintendo project) with handles.
They've each then evolved from those starting points.
5 Likes, Who?
Quoting: Marlockcan any of the xbox players around here exolain the appeal of the left analogue being so far up, arguably less comfortable to use than the d-pad?
as a playstation player i always use the left analogue stick to move the player character around and i don't really see how the xbox layout can be better for anyone
For me it's more that the right is lower if that makes sense. The stick position on the Deck is actually my biggest complaint about it; I can do a Playstation controller just fine, I prefer the offset Xbox-like layout as my hands/thumbs seem to naturally rest more in that position, but where they are on the Deck just feels too high and awkward to me for precision.
Then again I am maybe the only person who still thinks the original fat Xbox controller was the most comfortable one ever made.
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Quoting: RaabenThen again I am maybe the only person who still thinks the original fat Xbox controller was the most comfortable one ever made.
(Had to look it up...)
This... THING?
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Quoting: EikeQuoting: RaabenThen again I am maybe the only person who still thinks the original fat Xbox controller was the most comfortable one ever made.
(Had to look it up...)
This... THING?
Yep, somehow that was a near perfect fit for me. I'm not even sure how or why, and everyone probably rightfully thinks I am crazy.
1 Likes, Who?
I love that this will actually exist for a reasonable price but I am still very sceptical about the layout. I can't imagine that using those touchpads for game input can be comfortable. On the wider Steam Deck they have a much better reachable placement.
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PoliticsOfStarving Mar 30
Quoting: RaabenQuoting: EikeQuoting: RaabenThen again I am maybe the only person who still thinks the original fat Xbox controller was the most comfortable one ever made.
(Had to look it up...)
This... THING?
Yep, somehow that was a near perfect fit for me. I'm not even sure how or why, and everyone probably rightfully thinks I am crazy.
Never, I only have small hands and I still think this is the most comfortable controller ever.
I have the Hyperkin version that they remade for PCs in 2019 (I think).
But in Linux it keeps switching off and back on every 30 settings unless steam is running. Apparently whatever driver in the kernel runs gamepads has never been fixed and requires the application to poll the controller twice a minute, which steam does..
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