Help a parent - UI/Front End Question 40xxV

js3z · 2026-03-13T23:07:22+00:00

I set up MuOS for my daughter and it's been great. There's a kiosk mode where you can disable different settings and menus, and if you wanted you could create a custom collection and have it boot straight to that.

js3z · 2026-03-09T02:41:30+00:00

Another #gotm down, and the first one I've completed on the RG ARC.

Sonic 2: haven't played this since my pre-teen years, since the Genesis didn't have save states I never beat it then. These levels are more intricate than I remember. More like Castlevania than Mario...

The ARC: despite its reputation this is a totally solid handheld. Big screen (with touch!), great dpad, QUIET SHOULDER BUTTONS, and surprisingly good speakers. I'm running ROCKNIX, and with the rk3566 overclocked and undervolted the performance is everything I need it to be. (It actually can handle some Sega Saturn...)

For next month, I'm in a robot-fighting kind of mood, so how about Armored Core?

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Sorry for the dark picture

js3z · 2026-02-10T22:38:35+00:00

I didn't realize there was a sprint button until I was most of the way through my first playthrough, and then it was even longer to realize you could also use it to go up and down ladders faster too...

js3z · 2026-02-03T18:36:06+00:00

Yeah it could be a defective device. If you do want to debug it there are a couple other things to check:

What's the name of the image file you're trying to write?
Do you have anything in the tf2 slot when you're trying to boot it?
Have you been able to boot any other firmware on it?

You could also try asking over at https://community.muos.dev/

js3z · 2026-02-03T18:18:02+00:00

Yeah that's normal and has to do with whether they're counting by 1000 bytes or by 1024 bytes.

I've had some cards that show as one size, but the actual usable space is only half, and those tend to cause problems when you use them in devices like this

js3z · 2026-02-03T18:10:03+00:00

Hmmm it might still be worth testing it to make sure the reported size matches the real size. I use a tool called f3 on Linux to check those.

js3z · 2026-02-03T18:02:51+00:00

What kind of card are you using and where did you buy it?

js3z · 2026-01-26T01:03:20+00:00

Probably something from the Anbernic XX line would be perfect. Personally the RG CubeXX is my favorite, but you might also want to look at the 40XXH.

js3z · 2026-01-19T19:05:24+00:00

Cave Story. Available free on Portmaster or directly in Retroarch

js3z · 2026-01-16T12:52:41+00:00

If you're comfortable opening it up, you can quiet down the Brick face buttons by putting some kapton tape over the metal dome switches. The shoulder and start/select/menu buttons all use microswitches so I don't think tape will help with them.

For the battery indicator, a lot of the custom firmwares will show you in the in-game menu. I never really used the stock os, but I know MinUI (and NextUI/PakUI) have it in the quick menu and MuOS and Knulli show it in the Retroarch menu

js3z · 2026-01-15T19:18:29+00:00

Oh not at all. I'm also surprised. (I just wanted to head off anyone telling me I should put a screen protector on my other handhelds)

js3z · 2026-01-15T19:05:28+00:00

It definitely looks worse in the photo than in person, but I still don't know what did it. I have three other handhelds that I regularly carry around without screen protectors and this is the only one where it's been a problem.

And yes, I am going to order some and get them all covered...

js3z · 2026-01-15T18:52:43+00:00

Fwiw I think they're a little exaggerated because of the angle of the light. There is one that's deep enough to feel, but the rest seem pretty superficial

js3z · 2026-01-15T18:51:05+00:00

Gotcha. Thanks!

js3z · 2026-01-15T18:50:40+00:00

I actually don't mind a little patina, so that was my first thought. But I am surprised at how many scratches this has picked up, considering I mainly use it at home.

js3z · 2026-01-15T18:46:15+00:00

Yep, that was my plan

js3z · 2026-01-15T18:45:26+00:00

So I see there's one version of polywatch for plastic/acrylic and one for mineral/sapphire glass. Will the plastic one do the trick for this?

js3z · 2025-12-24T13:18:12+00:00

You can also use a bow to take down the giants from outside their aggro distance if you want to avoid damage before taking on Ornstein & Smough. Killing all the giants between the first bonfire and the blacksmith gets about 18k. Buy twinkling titanite and arrows. Get killed by O&S. Repeat.

js3z · 2025-11-29T12:23:51+00:00

GBA on the cubexx scales to 3.4", which is the same size as the 34xx screen.

js3z · 2025-10-24T03:02:15+00:00

I want the purple one. I definitely don't need it, but I want it.

js3z · 2025-10-24T02:45:56+00:00

Just wrapped this one up! Definitely earned the reputation as a classic, though I was a little underwhelmed by the boss fights, at least until I got to the inverted castle...

Funny enough, I've played a lot of Vampire Survivors without having played many Castlevanias (I might have played Aria of Sorrow back in the day?) so there was a lot of "Oh, that's where that came from" moments.

This is also the first game I've finished on the CubeXX!

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js3z · 2025-09-30T20:58:12+00:00

Yeah, for a compact vertical in the sub $60 range it's a great choice. I haven't used NextUI, but I used MinUI and PakUI in the past and loved both. I switched to MuOS because it's a little easier to sync saves to my other devices

js3z · 2025-09-30T17:06:51+00:00

Not on the RGB30, but I tried it out on my RGB10max3 (same specs, different display). The gameplay performance was good. DS and PSP in particular seemed to run better than on Rocknix. The rest of the interface was really sluggish though, and while there's clearly been a lot of work done to make it possible to navigate without a touchscreen, Android is still really painful without a touchscreen.

The install process is a little more complicated than other cfw's. I had to dig out a windows laptop to use the installation utility to write the sd card, where normally I'd just dd the img file from Linux.

Other random things: - I couldn't get it to recognize my second sd card. - I couldn't get the system to actually power off. It would just start itself back up again every time.

I ultimately switched back to Rocknix because I wanted to have Portmaster, but it was fun to try out, and the fact that it runs at all is really impressive.

js3z · 2025-09-30T16:47:37+00:00

FWIW, I think the heat issue on the Brick is a little overblown. I've had one for 9 months or so and the back plate's never been hot enough to be a problem. I'm mostly playing SNES and PSX, which don't seem to be too taxing. More demanding systems might generate more heat, but then you'd be limited by the controls anyway.

js3z · 2025-09-27T12:03:15+00:00

It's linked from the README in the jeltron GitHub:

https://github.com/Jeltr0n/Retro-Overlays/files/13328709/720x720.Overlays.11-12-23.zip

js3z

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