The development team behind ROCKNIX has seemingly confirmed that the firmware is coming to the Odin 2 family of devices.

Over the past year, the Odin has been a standout from the rest of the retro handheld pack mostly due to its size and power relative to its counterparts.

Devices like the Retroid Pocket 5 rival the Odin 2 Mini in size, but in power, the Odin 2 Mini easily trumps it. The Odin 2 Portal has the same processing power as the rest of the family but has an OLED screen and a design reminiscent of the RP5.

In Comes ROCKNIX

Soon, we may see the Linux-based distro come to the Odin 2.

Over on the AYN Discord, r3claimer, one of the developers behind ROCKNIX offered a brief look into what we can expect when the firmware releases for the Odin 2.

The build is not yet publicly available, but from the sounds of it, the development of it is proceeding as expected. ROCKNIX offers a slightly more direct retro and emulation-based firmware option that uses fewer resources than those in demand on Android in the background. It also enables gamers to explore recently released, experimental new emulators.

For example, recently RCPS3 was released for arm64 devices with a native Linux build. With the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 being utilized in the Odin 2 family, this is a perfect way to take advantage of the new release. Alongside this, xemu, an original Xbox emulator, now supports Vulkan, so devices like the Odin 2 Portal, Mini, and Standard may be the best way to emulate the console while maintaining portability.

Android vs Linux

Outside of this, ROCKNIX offers an experience that differs heavily from how Android would be used on any of these devices. Android, as an open-source operating system meant for phones, has years’ worth of apps, games, and development ready to use and explore, but has to use some of the device’s power to run various resources in the background for general system maintenance.

The typical Linux distros for retro handhelds prioritize simply presenting the list of consoles it can emulate, and streamlining any additional features within like multiplayer, achievements, and any needed touch-based controls.

Seeing other firmware options come to stronger handhelds can help show the raw power of the device while also offering gamers more options when it comes to how they want to have their games presented. We don’t know exactly when we can expect ROCKNIX to drop the Odin 2 build, but seeing as it’s being talked about openly, it may be sooner rather than later.

It also appears as though ROCKNIX might not be the only Linux build to be made available on the Odin 2 series of devices. If everything goes according to plan, AYN could be sending an Odin 2 to the Batocera team to port the popular Linux distro to the trio of handhelds.

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