Linux 6.8 To Add Support For Several Cheap ARM-Powered Handheld Game Consoles
A few weeks back I wrote about mainline kernel support being worked on for a $100~200 ARM handheld gaming console. That work has come to pass and is now queued up for the upcoming Linux 6.8 merge window opening in January. The handheld game console in question is the Powkiddy X55 as a device starting out at $89~109 USD (depending on sales) but with added storage and expansion card can end up closer to $200. The Powkiddy X55 features a 5.5-inch 1280 x 720 IPS display and makes use of a Rockchip RK3566 SoC. This handheld game console is marketed for retro games and game emulators given that it's ARM-based where many open-source emulators can be natively built for and with the specs being on the low-end aren't able to handle modern AAA game titles.
The Rockchip RK355 is configured with four Arm Cortex-A55 cores and Mali G52-2EE graphics. There is just 2GB of LPDDR4X system memory that helps to make for a low price tag albeit rather low for today's standards. The X55 packs in a 4000 mAh battery for a rated four hour battery life. The Powkiddy X55 runs a customized Linux distribution while now beginning with Linux 6.8 will be the necessary DeviceTree support for opening this Powkiddy handheld game console to run easily on more ARM Linux distributions.
The Powkiddy X55 support was queued today into soc/soc.git's for-next branch ahead of the Linux 6.8 merge window opening in early January. Those interested in the Powkiddy X55 can find them sold at Amazon.com (affiliate link).
Also added for Linux 6.8 is the Powkiddy RK2023 handheld console. The RK2023 has a 3.5-inch 640 x 480 display, RK3566 SoC, 1GB of RAm, and external storage. Pricing on this ARM handheld gaming console starts out at around $85 USD.
Today's update also lands support for the Anbernic RG351V as a Chinese handheld powered by a Rockchip RK3326 SoC and can run Nintendo and PlayStation emulators. This device with a 3.5-inch 640 x 480 display, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of built-in storage starts out at around $75 USD (or $90 USD direct from Amazon).
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