A new Linux handheld game console based on powerful ODROID-N2+

[mctom]

In 2018, we announced the ODROID-Go to celebrate our 10th birthday. We later announced the ODROID-Go Advance (OGA) in 2019 followed by the ODROID-Go Super (OGS) in 2020.
Almost two years have passed, and we are excited to announce a new gaming focused development platform: ODROID-Go Ultra (OGU).

OGU's exterior and LCD size are the same as OGS, but the internal core components have been completely redesigned.
The overall system design was based on our powerful ODROID-N2+.

Let’s look into the system block diagram.
The CPU was changed from RK3326 with 1.3Ghz Quad-core ARM Cortex-A35 to S922X with 2.2Ghz Hexa-core ARM Cortex-A73/53.
The DRAM was changed from 1GB DDR3 1536Mbps to 2GB LPDDR4x 3216Mbps.
The GPU was changed from Mali G31 2xEE to Mali G52 6xEE.
Therefore, the overall actual perceived performance improvement is more than doubled.
Note that LPDDR4x memory bandwidth is almost 1.2 times faster than the ODROID-N2+ DDR4 memory bandwidth providing better 2D/3D rendering performance.
Thanks to the onboard(soldered) 16GB eMMC storage, the booting time is much faster, and the root file system is more robust than a microSD card.

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Specification

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The OGU PCB shape is identical to the OGS, but it has a totally different circuit design and requires a heatsink to cool down its more powerful CPU.

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Due to the dual PMIC architecture, the charging time is very slow when the battery is fully discharged. Therefore, a specially designed USB charging cable is provided with the device for faster charging. Connecting both the type-C plug and Type-A plug to the OGU ports maximizes the charging rate.

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At this moment, the reference Ubuntu 20.04.4 BSP image supports the following systems(cores).
* atari2600
* atari5200
* atari7800
* atarilynx
* gamegear
* gb
* gba
* gbc
* mastersystem
* megadrive
* nes
* pcengine
* pcenginecd
* psx
* segacd
* snes
* psp
* mame2003
* n64
* dreamcast
* gamecube


We will start selling and shipping the ODROID-Go Ultra in early October 2022 at a price of $111.
We will also ship several free pre-production samples to community OS or system software developers in addition to the reference OS image testers early next week.
The reference OS image testers will be expected to provide feedback of pros and cons on our forum for a few months at least to improve the image.

There are two color options Dim Grey and Clear White as the previous model.

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GoUltraClearA.jpg (82.36 KiB) Viewed 138315 times

We will open new WiKi pages to share more information about the kernel, uboot, and reference OS image followed by some how-to instructions when we ship the samples.
We wish you happy gaming and enjoyable development.

[rooted]

This is awesome! Having the power of the N2+ in a portable form factor is going to make for a much smoother emulation experience for the harder to run stuff. Nicely exceeding the competition in price and performance.

It looks to be using PS Vita style analog sticks this iteration?

I guess this is the reason crashoverride has been hit and run lately, working on the OS.

[mctom]

Holy smokes, it feels like the final destination in portable gaming. Who could possibly need more than a handheld N2+, ever!

Not much of a gamer myself, but I do appreciate good engineering when I see it.

[moon.linux]

Cool excited to see a new product line being launched

[jutleys]

Looks amazing been waiting for this one we'll done.

[istanbulls]

If I hadn't been an Odroid follower and had heard this news from another source, I would have thought it was a Troll.

Are retro game lovers ready for a journey to nirvana?

[KiddlestoneNotThere]

They missed the trick of designing the board so as to be able to be a handheld or Laptop.

[Nexus360]

it arrives very late, at least for me that I already have an Ayn Odin.
...and on top of that with the same bad controls and that screen with so many frames.

[jutleys]

I have been a odroid believer for many years well from day one

[kn234234]

Wow. This is awesome. Cant wait for the release

[macromorgan]

Any place I can sign up as a community developer?

Pros: I'll get mainline Linux (and if there's time U-Boot, and A-TF, and Optee) running on it.
Cons: It will probably take a while since I do it as a hobby. As in, 3-6 months before all the work is done, if not longer since I have no familiarity with the S922x.

Question: I see Rockchip PMICs. Do you know if it's the rk817 or a different one (I think the rk809 and rk818 also have the audio codec, and I wrote the mainline driver for the rk817 and the battery driver is almost mainlined)?

[sydarn2]

Any chance we might see a 4GB model?

I kind of want it for building and testing stuff in a convenient and seamless way.

[Andyyy]

I'm living in Korea and I'd happily test a device and provide feedback. I have two OGA-BEs and an OGS that I use regularly.

If you need a tester please let me know!

[notime2d8]

I would be happy if I could purchase a dev bundle with a presoldered UART port and USB TTL.

Also are the usb 3.0 lanes not being used?

And no spi flash?

[mad_ady]

I'm glad to see Hardkernel continuing in the handheld sector! I'm not a gamer, but I see there is a passionate community.

Some questions about the design:
- how hot does it get? The N2+ was cool, but it had a huge hitsink. I wonder if/when we'll see CNC milled cases for it
- I understand the need for an emmc, but why is it soldered in? I'm sure some people would have liked the 128G version.
- could you upgrade an OGS to OGU just by swapping PCBs? If yes, will you sell just the PCB as upgrade?
- seeing the video output is MIPI-DSI, what would prevent a rogue actor (I have @mctom in mind) to use the PCB as a laptop base, swapping the screen for a larger one (e.g. vu8c) and adding a keyboard, etc? I'm sure @hominid is working on a 3d printed laptop shell

[rooted]

- I understand the need for an emmc, but why is it soldered in? I'm sure some people would have liked the 128G version.
- could you upgrade an OGS to OGU just by swapping PCBs? If yes, will you sell just the PCB as upgrade?

I can imagine the eMMC being knocked loose and causing people to think the device is broken, I've had this happen a couple times.

I wondered the same about the potential for upgrading the OGS.

[macc24]

Any place I can sign up as a community developer?

Pros: I'll get mainline Linux (and if there's time U-Boot, and A-TF, and Optee) running on it.
Cons: It will probably take a while since I do it as a hobby. As in, 3-6 months before all the work is done, if not longer since I have no familiarity with the S922x.

Question: I see Rockchip PMICs. Do you know if it's the rk817 or a different one (I think the rk809 and rk818 also have the audio codec, and I wrote the mainline driver for the rk817 and the battery driver is almost mainlined)?

Hey i wanna poke at it too, if we work together we can probably get it done faster, maybe even couple weeks until a fork of mainline kernel is fully working. My personal best is two weeks on RK3399 device, without sound and touchscreen working xD

[mctom]

- seeing the video output is MIPI-DSI, what would prevent a rogue actor (I have @mctom in mind) to use the PCB as a laptop base, swapping the screen for a larger one (e.g. vu8c) and adding a keyboard, etc? I'm sure @hominid is working on a 3d printed laptop shell

Well, a few reasons pop into my mind.. MIPI-DSI is a tablet/phone oriented interface, and laptops use eDP more often, a DisplayPort variant. So that rules out any laptop-sized displays.
Also, no internal USB port for keyboard, touchpad, camera and whatnot. And no ethernet jack!

[mad_ady]

Also, no internal USB port for keyboard, touchpad, camera and whatnot. And no ethernet jack!

Who knows, maybe the usb3 bus is accessible through various test pads on the board. But making a coherent signal out of variable length wires might be challenging...

[kelbot]

Looks pretty slick! So...when is the announcement for the new ESP32-S3 powered Odroid Go 2 coming?

[notime2d8]

Also, no internal USB port for keyboard, touchpad, camera and whatnot. And no ethernet jack!

Who knows, maybe the usb3 bus is accessible through various test pads on the board. But making a coherent signal out of variable length wires might be challenging...

Oh, I wonder about the header panel too. Hopefully we can do a gpio triggered fan mod.

[nfriedly]

That charging cable looks like a fire hazard!

I get that USB PD is difficult and expensive to implement, but I feel like there's gotta be a better solution than that abomination.

[CountBuggula]

I'm really excited about the huge leap in performance (especially at the price) but am bummed about lack of touch screen and built-in wifi/bt. At this price I'm definitely gonna get one anyways but having to plug in a USB wifi dongle was one of my biggest gripes about the Super.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[rooted]

That charging cable looks like a fire hazard!

I get that USB PD is difficult and expensive to implement, but I feel like there's gotta be a better solution than that abomination.

I don't see how it could be a fire hazard, unless you need faster charging it isn't necessary.

PD would have been nice but with the chip shortage I can imagine sourcing affordable components being an issue.

[nfriedly]

I don't see how it could be a fire hazard, unless you need faster charging it isn't necessary.

It's a fire hazard because it uses standard connectors in a very non-standard way. It's (presumably) safe when used correctly with the OGU, but it becomes a problem when it gets used incorrectly or with some other device. I have kids - if the connector fits, they'll connect it.

Imagine if someone plugged both Type-A ends of that cable into some cheep USB power brick (or perhaps two different bricks) and connected the Type-C end to the OGU. Is that going to start a fire? Who knows! It probably depends on the quality of the power bricks.

Or imagine someone connects this "correctly" but then unplugs the OGU and tries to charge a laptop with both plugs. Maybe nothing bad happens, or maybe it kills their laptop's USB-A port, or maybe it burns their house down.

It's a bad design, that cable just plain shouldn't exist.

Properly implemented USB-C is intelligent about this: it uses resistors to signal which end provides power and which end needs power, and only enables the main power pins after both ends agree. If you connect one USB-C power supply to another USB-C power supply, nothing bad happens - neither side outputs any significant amount of power. (That's the simple version, USB-PD adds complexity, but it keeps the basic safety features.)

[crashoverride]

Imagine if someone plugged both Type-A ends of that cable into some cheep USB power brick (or perhaps two different bricks) and connected the Type-C end to the OGU. Is that going to start a fire?

Cheap USB power bricks are already a fire hazard. This is the case even when used as intended.

When both end of the type-A connector are attached to a power source, it forms a parallel circuit (as opposed to series). This type of circuit is routinely found in battery power banks which contain multiple batteries all connected in parallel. There is nothing intrinsically unsafe or 'hazardous' about it. When the type-C is then connected to OGU, it will draw a maximum of 5V@1.5A (7.5 watts) with each power source contributing to that sum.

Who knows!

Any electrical engineer can attest to the above.

[nzone]

I love my N2+ .... now it's portable. Sadly, no hdmi out
Could run XServer over wifi but it would be laggy....... so close, yet so far.

Looking at this, my first linux phone will happen .... but when????

Anyways, congrats Hardkernel, looks like a great hand held gaming unit.

[hominoid]

I'm sure @hominid is working on a 3d printed laptop shell

Oh my...if it only had a unpopulated gpio header somewhere...it would be a frick-in awesome gaming console and maker board. Dare I say the market for such a beast could be significantly larger then just gaming. I know I could make many fun and useful things with such a combo board and hey, if they didn’t work out, I could drown my sorrows by playing video games.

Nice upgrade HK team!

[AreaScout]

Not long ago that I was talking how good a new Go Super would be and there it is

[jdalmanza]

when can we pre-order?

[rooted]

Hardkernel doesn't generally do pre-orders.

[JohnnyonFlame]

I am incredibly happy to see Hardkernel is still coming up with handhelds, N2 is an insanely fun SBC and $111 for what's basically a portable N2 is just crazy.

[IgaBiva]

Well, this is a very nice surprise and there is no doubt that I will buy it as soon as it comes to Europe.

But please, please deliver it with better controls (sticks and buttons). I am sure that you know that this is main pain point of OGS (and OGA too) and that this was main concern in about every review that I have found on the Internet.

For a 111$, this is a bargain but for maybe few dollars more for a better controls, it could be even better product.

[Jfucyfyr]

Any chance we might see a 4GB model?

I kind of want it for building and testing stuff in a convenient and seamless way.

Agreed! Especially with the OS it's running.

[Kirizame]

Any chance of a version with stacked shoulder buttons? Never been overly fond of the in-line, especially if we're getting into being able to do basic Gamecube as well as ports that make use of both shoulders.

[rooted]

Any chance of a version with stacked shoulder buttons? Never been overly fond of the in-line, especially if we're getting into being able to do basic Gamecube as well as ports that make use of both shoulders.

What do you mean stacked?

[Kirizame]

What do you mean stacked?

Similarly to most modern controllers and a few of the SBC consoles - the L2 and R2 are directly behind the L1 and R1 buttons. Of course, it's a personal thing but quite a few people prefer it as it tends to be more comfortable to use than in-line shoulder buttons.

[Squink]

Very excited for this but very sad to see there is still only mono sound!

[mad_ady]

I think you can get stereo from the headphone jack

[Squink]

Yea but I'm not really a headphones guy (hate having sound that close to my ears, just a personal thing), and running a cable to my speaker system would just move the audio further away from the source.

[mad_ady]

Well, it may be possible to solder two speakers internally to the headphone jack (or some test pads) and force audio through the headphone jack via software...

[mctom]

I was thinking Boom Bonnet mod
https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/i2s-2wa ... onnet-kit/
But honestly I never saw any point of stereo speakers in laptops, not to mention anything smaller than that.
BUT I see it as a feasible project, to make a matching enclosure for a bonnet, that would snap into GPIO on top (and maybe the 3,5mm jack if there's no way to get sound from GPIO).

Well, it may be possible to solder two speakers internally to the headphone jack (or some test pads) and force audio through the headphone jack via software...

That audio amp would be very sad.
Although I do remember my sister owning a pair of Walkman-compatible passive speakers in the 90s, so who knows.

[mad_ady]

Although I do remember my sister owning a pair of Walkman-compatible passive speakers in the 90s, so who knows.

I love my passive speakers! No need for the whole room to hear what you're doing!

[tmihai20]

I read about it on CNX Software a few days ago. Maybe I will pick up an oDroid Go this time around.

[Roymustang16]

Glad to see a new handheld from Hardkernel !
I'm wondering about performance. Will it be able to emulate N64/Dreamcast and Saturn at fullspeed ?

[crashoverride]

Will it be able to emulate N64/Dreamcast and Saturn at fullspeed ?

The simple answer is that N64 and Dreamcast are expected to be "playable". Saturn is still being tested. More information will be available when testers receive hardware.

[retcoc]

I already have the Odroid-GO and I consider it a good opportunity for those who don't want to do much and also don't want to pay too much. I did a review of the Odroid-GO Ultra on my blog https://tecrama.com.br/portatil/odroido ... p-anlogic/. When it's available I want to buy one for more tests? I find the Android System interesting for those like me, looking for a laptop for cloud games and not so expensive.

[JohnnyonFlame]

Is there any place to discuss development of the low level graphics stack here? I've managed to get a foothold on libmali's internal pixmap structures and initialize eglCreatePixmapSurface after messing around with ghidra, backed it with an Ion surface and dumped a few 20 frames to a file successfully, but I'm not 100% sure how to link that with GE2D and keep them both in sync.

EDIT::

I managed to get it working, but GE2D seems to be outputting at 20fps.

[crashoverride]

I managed to get it working, but GE2D seems to be outputting at 20fps.

A GE2D test program is available here. It was tested on N2, but may or may not require modifications for GOU.
https://github.com/OtherCrashOverride/ge2d-test

[Fab2Ris]

We will also ship several free pre-production samples to community OS or system software developers in addition to the reference OS image testers early next week.
The reference OS image testers will be expected to provide feedback of pros and cons on our forum for a few months at least to improve the image.

Great news !
Congratulations on your work.

Of course, Recalbox, the Retrogaming OS dev team is very interrested!
How can we get in touch?
Feel free to contact me by private message or by email
(fabrice at recalbox dot com)