Proper Multi-User Steam Support
One of the biggest hurdles Duo has faced repeatedly is dealing with globally exclusive applications like Steam.
Until now, we had been using a known hidden Steam command-line parameter to work around this issue. However, a recent Steam client update broke this option, which forced us to develop our own multi-user solution for Steam.
Now, all multi-...
2025-03-14 20:46:35 +0000 UTC
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Consider this a late New-Year's Eve update
I originally hoped to have all of this ready for New Year’s Eve, but debugging took way longer than expected.
A lot of this post will focus on this update's new and improved sandbox support, but you'll find that this is just as much a bug-fix update as it is a feature update.
And yes, I've been hammering away at this, on and off, since October 16th...
It really shows you how much work goes into these passion projects.
<...
2025-01-21 16:10:19 +0000 UTC
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Why I won't be doing ETAs anymore
As I'm writing this newsletter I feel horrible.
I wanted to bring you all exciting news, I hoped I'd be way further than I currently am, but there really isn't much I can say at this point other than I'm horribly late and sorry for all the ETAs I've set and missed, over and over again.
At times I feel like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, always late, always out of time, rushing to get to where I need to be, but lets rewind and r...
2024-12-22 01:48:45 +0000 UTC
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Taking a deep breath
Whether I want to admit it or not, I haven't been the same since my bout with pneumonia at the end of last year.
While I have improved, I still experience frequent lung-related issues that require medical attention, and my calendar is filling up with more doctor appointments than I'd like to admit.
Three weeks ago, I faced another setback when breathing became difficult again. I ended up seeing local specialists, only to discover that my lungs had suff...
2024-10-05 17:35:35 +0000 UTC
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Chasing the GarlicOS bottleneck
In the last newsletter, I gave you all a small peek behind the curtain as to why hardware acceleration in GarlicOS will be landing later than expected.
Since then, I've spent a lot of time chasing red herrings, hoping to get a little closer to figuring out what is causing the subpar performance in RetroArch.
So far, I have been able to confirm the following:
The newsletters are back!
Those who have been with me for a while know that I'm the kind of person who prefers to work in silence, come out of hiding every once in a while to drop a release, and then go straight back to working in silence some more.
I guess you could say I've never been much for idle talk.
This approach allows me to focus on the work, get things done, and be as efficient as a one-man army can be, but it also causes rather long periods of radio silence that...
2024-06-29 11:17:19 +0000 UTC
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Introduction
I've finally been able to get my hands on one of these, and I am happy to confirm that the existing RG35XX+ bootloader works just fine on the newly released RG35XXSP.
This doesn't come as a huge surprise, given the almost identical hardware.
And, unlike the recently released RG28XX, it doesn't need in-software rotation for its screen to function correctly.
2024-05-25 14:57:06 +0000 UTC
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Introduction
It's been a while since the last public update of GarlicOS, and I want to use this chance to say thank you for your continued support and patience.
The reason for the delay is simple: I'm a single man, working on many projects, with only 24 hours in a day to get them done. With other projects like Duo needing my attention, I was limited in how much time I could put into GarlicOS.
For those who keep track of my other projects, either here on Pa...
2024-05-04 14:11:30 +0000 UTC
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This last year was an eventful one.
- We finished the GarlicOS 2.0 Alpha rewrite, got the porter templates out, and got it ported to the first 4 devices.
- We also built an easy-to-use multi-seating suite for Moonlight streaming, giving any and all handheld owners, who happen to also own a regular PC, an easy way to turn their device into a Windows gaming handheld of sorts without having to occupy their physical PC in the process.
Both of these projects were time-...
2023-12-24 11:15:13 +0000 UTC
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Introduction
Last year, I released GarlicOS 1.0 as an early Christmas present to express my gratitude for all the support people have shown me over the years.
A lot has happened since then, but the core message stays the same:
Thank you all for enabling me to build amazing things like these!
What is GarlicOS?
GarlicOS is a game-first, config-second, retro-game emulation system with a focus on cross-platform support.
What are the diffe...
2023-11-14 17:57:43 +0000 UTC
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What is Duo?
Duo is an HDR-compatible, headless, bare-metal, multi-seat streaming server based around TermWrap, Sunshine, Moonlight and a variety of custom drivers & libraries.
2023-10-03 09:44:44 +0000 UTC
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So what's been going on over the last few months?
Those that follow my Twitter are already well aware that I am trying to bring GarlicOS to a variety of devices both new and old.
This newsletter will try to give you a closer in-depth look at the current state of things, hurdles that had to be conquered to get here and some that I'm still trying to conquer.
What is GarlicOS?
GarlicOS is a game-first / tinker-later operating system for what the community dubs retro-h...
2023-08-04 13:43:50 +0000 UTC
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This application will build the base for most, if not all, future RG405M distributions.
By installing this APK on your RG405M and running it, your device will gain the ability to boot from MicroSD cards by executing a button sequence on cold-boot.
To boot from MicroSD card:
- Make sure your device is turned off
- Hold down the Power button
- Wait 1½ seconds, then hold down the Home/Back combo button as well
- Let go of both buttons when the Anbern...
2023-04-13 22:29:51 +0000 UTC
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This package allows you to unbrick your RG405M after a failed flash / bad tinker.
If this happened to you, or you just want to reset your unit to a guaranteed fresh installation of Anbernic's stock V1.15 software (after installing a custom firmware or bootloader for example), then this package is for you.
And yes, the RG405M will get the custom firmware treatment. ;)
How to use: Download and install 2023-04-12 20:37:45 +0000 UTC
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Say hello to GarlicOS for RG35XX!
It's a fast & easy to understand operating system that should make Miyoo Mini / OnionOS users feel right at home with its similar look & feel!
Think of it as the natural evolution of my previous RetroArch port for RG35XX, with fully working sleep mode, improved button mappings, a whole new user interface and several under-the-hood bugfixes.
How to install: Download and install 2022-12-30 20:39:54 +0000 UTC
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This bundle brings RetroArch to the Anbernic RG35XX, replacing the rather limited stock OS.
Don't get me wrong, this build is rough around all edges, far from perfect in fact, but it runs laps around what shipped stock, so do yourself a favor and jump at it!
Furthermore: In celebration of the season and all of you, the community that enabled me to work on projects like these in the first place, I've decided to make this project available to absolutely everyone regardless ...
2022-12-18 05:14:38 +0000 UTC
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Here's an early Christmas present for all those Anbernic RG353P, RG353V and RG353M users out there!
This brings Android 12 to the RK356X SoC along with the usual goodies all of you have come to expect from my builds by now.
For a detailed list of everything please check the changelog below!
How to install: Download and install 7zip on your system, downl...
2022-12-06 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Playing Windows games on a portable device has always been something people wanted. Up until now you only had two options:
- Fork over big cash to get yourself a dedicated Windows handheld
- Or stream your games from your gaming PC and / or Notebook, rendering it inaccessible for regular use while your game of choice is running
Castor intends to offer you a better way to stream your games.
One that doesn't render your regular PC inaccessible, allows multiple...
2022-09-21 15:00:08 +0000 UTC
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It's been a good while since I last wrote one of these, damn, it's been nearly a year in fact.
I told myself I'd be writing more of these newsletters, but somehow I always find myself too busy to really sit down and do it.
The market has been more or less flooded with devices, leaving me with more work than I could have ever imagined, and I must admit that I tend to allocate my time in favor of these projects rather than spending it writing newsletters. (Forgive me!)
It's no...
2022-08-30 20:25:43 +0000 UTC
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This took longer than expected (life has been busy), but here it is: Android 12 for the PowKiddy X18S!
This build should take care of most of the issues that plagued the X18S crowd like Magisk soft-bricks, R3/L3 mapping, shoulder button ergonomics and other small issues.
The APT-X codec support from my RG552 releases also trickled into this one, bringing lower-latency Bluetooth audio to those that own APT-X adaptive headphones.
The full changelog can be found below.
2022-07-23 17:55:08 +0000 UTC
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It took a bit of work, but we now have a working Widevine L3 HAL for Android 11 and performance parity with Android 9!
This means all pending overclocking-related tweaks have been ported over from Android 9 in full (including little-cluster, GPU & RAM overclocking) and DRM-protected media should now play properly!
How to install: Download and install 7zip...
2022-06-05 01:58:26 +0000 UTC
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A lot of you wanted Android 11 on RG552, but ended up preferring Android 9 in the end for one reason or another. (Hey, its your choice, all the power to you!)
Due to technical limitations (bootloader requirements, etc) it is necessary to re-partition the RG552 emmc as part of the flashing process whenever the Android 9 / 11 boundary gets crossed. This is because the newer Android 11 bootloader uses dynamic partitions rather than static ones (as was the case with the bootloader ...
2022-05-27 20:11:30 +0000 UTC
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This update hopes to address all of the reported issues from the previous build, as well as streamline the update process a bit more.
Streaming service & dual-boot users should be the happiest bunch here with the EXFAT & EXT4 MicroSD card fixes and XBOX gamepad mode updates!
How to install: Download and install 7zip on your system, download all attach...
2022-05-21 20:04:03 +0000 UTC
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No use over-explaining things here: This build provides pretty much all the features the previous builds had on offer, but runs on top of Android 11 with Google Play support built-in.
It also adds a bunch of new drivers for USB WiFi & BT dongle users as well as a new alternative first-time installation method for all those users that previously struggled with the MaskROM method!
For more details please check the full changelog below!
How to install
2022-05-13 18:09:07 +0000 UTC
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This time around I bring you several bugfixes, a handful of performance improvements, proper 16:9 HDMI output without black bars, dismiss-able MicroSD card notifications and a new toggle to force portrait-only apps into landscape mode.
How to install: Download and install 7zip on your system, download all attached files (SDFlash if you have a >= 4GB MicroSD card...
2022-03-27 01:15:40 +0000 UTC
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Turns out that some applications don't set the proper color profile when initializing the hardware decoder (Parsec & XBOX game pass are two offenders).
This causes freezes, or in the case of Parsec, crashes.
The OMX libraries have been updated to deal with this and now properly set the YUV420Planar color profile.
The previously removed navigation shortcuts are now also back, nicely hidden away behind a new quick-tile, allowing every user to make their own choice of wheth...
2022-03-20 01:57:18 +0000 UTC
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The (now-redundant) L1+R1+Y/X/A navigation shortcuts got removed as they interfered with games like Loco Roco.
And we fixed a XBOX game pass issue that caused a black bar on the right-hand side of the screen to pop up during game streams.
This issue was related to a special case handler inside the PhoneWindowManager framework class who's job it is to reduce the visible width of app fragments while the navigation bar is on-screen.
Sadly, XBOX game pass does not re-calculate t...
2022-03-19 17:00:37 +0000 UTC
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Sleep mode finally works the way it should, gamepad buttons no longer wake the device from sleep, RTC alarms have been disabled (saving a ton of battery) and the audio regulator is now disabled in sleep mode (saving some more battery).
Oh, and we now support the APT-X & APT-X HD Bluetooth audio codecs now, allowing for lag-free Bluetooth audio (if your headset supports it)!
And the default launcher has been replaced with a more modern version of itself as well!
(Yes, the...
2022-03-15 21:28:56 +0000 UTC
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This updates fixes a variety of reported issues.
Please take a look at the changelog below for a full list of changes!
How to install: Unpack the attached files using 7zip and follow the included instructions found inside README.txt.
Things to note when updating from a previous build: If you previously had Google Apps ...
2022-03-12 12:55:46 +0000 UTC
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I didn't expect to see so many people show interest in the WiFi 5GHz & BT upgrade... just an hour after releasing the last build brookystech got in touch with me concerning a seemingly bad WiFi module.
Turns out some of the OEM re-brands of RTL8821CU dongles boot up in the wrong mode... and as such I had to add usb_modeswitch support into the operating system.
Long story short, more WiFi / BT dongles work now!
I also noticed that a new Magisk update has landed, so this o...
2022-03-11 03:09:20 +0000 UTC
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