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EmuDeck coder pivots to hardware with Linux-based “EmuDeck Machines”

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/08/emudeck-machines-pack-popular-emulation-suite-in-linux-powered-plug-and-play-pc/

Project lead says its "mostly for fun" but "my heart is poured in this thing."

EmuDeck coder pivots to hardware with Linux-based “EmuDeck Machines”

While I think something like this makes sense, the pricing seems off. For $600 you can build a PC with a desktop GPU. If you want to make it easy to set up, you could just use an off the shelf mini-PC and preinstall everything so a non-technical user can get started without any hassle. I really hope we'll see more Steam machine like devices in the future.

14 comments

savvywolf

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Tbh I'm kind of worried seeing a software group get into hardware. There are a lot of hidden costs and production issues which provide difficult challenges. I hope they succeed, but I worry this will just flop and cost them a lot of money.

Diplomjodler3

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That's a very distinct possibility. Which is another argument for using as little bespoke hardware as possible for a project like this.

just_another_person

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I'm super confused here...

EmuDeck is basically a collection of installer scripts that installs EmulationStation and Retroarch. It doesn't really do much else, and it's really not a good piece of software at that.

Why is this person trying to make standalone hardware?

solsangraal

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i read that as EmoDuck, so that's what i'm calling it

Mesophar

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That kind of seems like that is exactly what these are. The specs are still sort of terrible, though, but pricing isn't too far off for what is advertised in them.

Diplomjodler3

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The more expensive one uses a mobile GPU. Using a desktop GPU would make for a much more powerful machine. And as far as the cheaper model is concerned, you could get a much more powerful off the shelf device for that money. So you're basically just paying for the snazzy case. Which is fine of course, but I think they could have done better.

ag10n

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8600G is a very capable desktop processor

https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/desktops/ryzen/8000-series/amd-ryzen-5-8600g.html

MajorHavoc

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So you're basically just paying for the snazzy case. Which is fine of course, but I think they could have done better.

Yeah.

I want to buy this sort of thing to support the overall vibe and product line, but $600.00 goes a really long way on Etsy or EBay for custom cases.

Edit: I am in the market for a desktop running something as close as possible to SteamOS, so I do love where this is heading. I'll keep an eye on it!

ampersandrew

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Based on their web page, I think what you're paying for is not having to learn how to configure this stuff.

f4f4f4f4f4f4f4f4

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EmuDeck uses EmulationStation, in which I've seen a lot of controller-related problems. Controllers working in the menu but not in the emulators. Controllers working in the emulators but not in the menus.

For a dedicated emulation machine, I'll once again shill for Lakka, that boots LibreELEC directly into RetroArch without EmulationStation, and has bootable installers for multiple configurations of x86_64 machines and images for loads of single-board computers.

ampersandrew

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I haven't had any problems here. From what I can tell, it just hands all the input and display off to your configured emulator of choice once you make the selection, so once you boot the game, it's however you've got that emulator configured.

f4f4f4f4f4f4f4f4

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Maybe they've finally fixed those problems. In Lakka, I set my controller up once (for each unique controller) in RetroArch frontend, and then it works in any emulator core. I don't think it's normal to have to set up the controller in each core (but you can, if you want or need to!)

drspod

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You can see the planned specs for the two different models on their indiegogo page: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/emudeck-machines-retro-emulation-console-pc#/

I'm guessing they have a pre-selected all-in-one board (designed for mobile devices) and they're just designing a chassis around it. There's still a lot that could go wrong, but it's a bit more achievable than actually designing, testing and assembling your own board.

Lomkey

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Just comes to support and hands off to do anything then be worth it for the cost.