The team over at Spruce is continuing to cook as always. Whether its been new handhelds, new updates, new tools or more. It seems like there’s always something in the works when it comes to Spruce. Well that holds true still as, version 4.5.4 dropped today, and there’s plenty under the hood, including some new devices in development.
If you’re looking to learn more or support the team or learn more about the operating system as a whole, there’s a few different ways you can do that. Whether that’s on their Github to learn more about the release, their Wiki for installation support or their Discord if you’d like to take some time to chat with their community. There’s always ways to support the team, and those are just a few options.
As for the latest changelog, you can catch the biggest new features and improvements below, but if you’d like to learn more about bug fixes you can always check out their Github for more.
New Features
- MagicX Zero 28, Zero 40 and XU20 (in development, testers wanted!) (@CatalyticArkun)
- GameTank: standalone GameTankEmulator is now the default on every device except the Miyoo Minis (@Sundownersport)
- USB audio: headsets and DACs on the Flip, TrimUI A133P devices and Anbernic XX models whose kernel supports it (@WildEmu)
- Screensaver: analog clock style, and the clock follows the 12/24 hour setting (@Sundownersport)
- RetroAchievements offline: cached games, pending awards, keep the library or a system offline, and recently played games are cached (@Sundownersport)
- RetroAchievements settings: Web API Key field for the Cheevos app (@Sundownersport)
- New Cheevos app for viewing and managing your RetroAchievements on device (@abalakh)
- Perfect RetroShaders added to RetroArch shader list (@ryanmsartor)
- RGB30: LED mode setting, and the LED blinks where other devices would vibrate (@ryanmsartor)
- MagicX: LEDs are controlled from the spruce settings (@ryanmsartor)
- Zero 28: LED flashes where other devices would vibrate (@ryanmsartor)
Improvements
- Game Nursery: new games and apps; shorter first-run slideshow (@ryanmsartor)
- Box art: B aborts optimization after scraping, and it no longer slows down (@luigismith)
- Box art: the screensaver and idle shutdown stay off while optimizing or downloading (@luigismith, @BackwardsCire)
- Optimize Boxart prompt points at Settings > Tasks (@BackwardsCire)
- Settings > Tasks: emulator reset tasks are grouped in a subgroup, and Miyoo Minis no longer show resets for emulators they don’t have (@ryanmsartor)
- Game switcher can close apps as well as games (@ryanmsartor)
- Battery level and LED mode are checked more often (@ryanmsartor)
- Time sync is more reliable (@Sundownersport)
- TrimUI A133P: the SD card is mounted async at boot, so card access is much faster on the Brick and Brick Pro (@BackwardsCire)
- Smart Pro S: GPU capped at 600 MHz in every CPU mode and the firmware 1.0.2 fan cap is lifted (@CatalyticArkun)
- Brick Pro: larger UI in Flycast standalone (@ryanmsartor)
- DSperate updated to v3.0.3 (@beebono, @ryanmsartor)
- Miyoo Mini: PyUI menu sounds, and RetroArch and GVU sound through Onion’s audio library (@Sundownersport)
- Miyoo Mini Flip: on-screen volume bar follows volume keys (@Sundownersport)
- RetroArch: shaders are off by default until you pick one (@ryanmsartor)
As always it’s awesome to see the continued progress on these apps and tools, especially with the Spruce team here. They’ve been cooking during the last few months and I can only assume it’ll keep on coming. I just look forward to seeing what’s next.
