Anbernic RG Nano

[mrjpaxton]

So I've been a Sansa Clip Zip user for a long time, about 10 years ago. Long story short, I lost it mysteriously when it was clipped to my belt loop. Then I realized they dropped the ball when the Clip Sport was released, and used much different hardware than before, meaning Rockbox support was practically out of the reasonable range.

However, over the years, mobile and portable hardware has gotten so much better, although we still use the terms novelty and niche to describe PMPs in 2024... this still has a tinier resolution as well.

This thing has a 1-and-a-half inch IPS display and runs full Linux. It has a 1050mAh battery. Compared to the miniscule 290mAh found in the Sansa Clip Zip, that is almost 3 times larger. Granted, the CPU and GPU are more demanding.

Now I know there's things like the Funkey S and the Miyoo Mini v4. But I think what makes this a really good middle ground between those two is the fact that the Funkey S has much less practical use cases IMO, and the Miyoo Mini v4 is already great because of OnionUI and the underlying firmware is good enough, and can run at least 6 hours or more on its 2000 mAh replaceable battery. No real reason to replace the firmware on that, I think.

The biggest downside is that there is no headphone jack. A USB-C converter must be used. I think this is where the Miyoo Mini V4 has a bigger advantage overall, because it does have one.

But the RG Nano could be a really great port if the ARM Cortex-A7 is a decent choice for Rockbox. The firmware could improve battery life, have gapless audio playback and all those very nice options that Rockbox provides, and the Rockbox games and software could work fine on there as long as the buttons can be mapped well enough.

What do you all think? Is this device still too powerful for Rockbox, or is it just the right fit for it? I'd like to know some teardown of the audio chip (DAC/DSP) specs and ratings, just to know if it's good enough for the chance of being a dedicated music player, that happens to have gamepad-style controls.

- Company Product Webpage - https://anbernic.com/products/rg-nano

Some videos and reviews:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVQpDR8s6oc (General review)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WCnHODmWKc (Audio and sound quality review)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y54-Vqjw14c (Preview using external speakers)

[saratoga]

It's an ARMv7 CPU running (I think?) linux, so it's a reasonable device to port to. If there is only digital output for audio then probably want to do a hosted/app port rather than full firmware unless you're also going to write all the drivers and USB stack needed for digital output.

[speachy]

Wouldn't be hard to do a hosted port, though it's not clear if there's any way to easily do this officially, or if it would have to be based on a 3rd party firmware replacement (eg https://github.com/DrUm78/FunKey-OS/releases ) 

The Allwinner V3s these devices are built on is a really nice SoC and would be one of the best choices out there for a dedicated DAP.

[speachy]

If there is only digital output for audio then probably want to do a hosted/app port rather than full firmware unless you're also going to write all the drivers and USB stack needed for digital output.

USB 3.1 includes a standard way to pump analog audio out over the USB-C connector using a purely passive adapter.

The audio signals are muxed out over pins that are normally used for data, so this would preclude advanced stuff like using the device as a DAC/ADC (or anything that involves USB data transfer). 

You'd still be able to charge/power the device through USB while in this analog audio mode though.

[Oktan]

I was just thinking about these handhelds, and I think porting to them could be a great idea since they've been getting really popular.

I was looking at the GKD Pixel, it does have a 3.5mm port, has a metal case, has 128MB of RAM, and the resolution is 320x240 which is the same as the iPod Video and Aigo Eros Q. It uses the Ingenic x1830 though, which isn't used by any already supported device.

[speachy]

I was just thinking about these handhelds, and I think porting to them could be a great idea since they've been getting really popular.

I was looking at the GKD Pixel, it does have a 3.5mm port, has a metal case, has 128MB of RAM, and the resolution is 320x240 which is the same as the iPod Video and Aigo Eros Q. It uses the Ingenic x1830 though, which isn't used by any already supported device.

The X1830 appears to essentially be a X1000 with more RAM and a higher clock speed; that's not likely to be much of an impediment.

However, the "identify what components are on the PCB and how they're wired up" problems still apply for a native port.  And integrating with the Stock OS may have its own headaches for a hosted port.

And then there's the minor detail that the GKD Pixel appears to be completely out of stock. 

[Oktan]

I was just thinking about these handhelds, and I think porting to them could be a great idea since they've been getting really popular.

I was looking at the GKD Pixel, it does have a 3.5mm port, has a metal case, has 128MB of RAM, and the resolution is 320x240 which is the same as the iPod Video and Aigo Eros Q. It uses the Ingenic x1830 though, which isn't used by any already supported device.

The X1830 appears to essentially be a X1000 with more RAM and a higher clock speed; that's not likely to be much of an impediment.

However, the "identify what components are on the PCB and how they're wired up" problems still apply for a native port.  And integrating with the Stock OS may have its own headaches for a hosted port.

And then there's the minor detail that the GKD Pixel appears to be completely out of stock. 

It's available on AliExpress from what I can see, and I was just giving an example of a really tiny device that had a 3.5mm port.
Well, in either case I'm suddenly feeling really enthusiastic about these devices. I hadn't cared much about them but then I realized that they likely have similar specs to some of the more recent Rockbox devices. I really want to get into embedded development now, but I need to deal with my other courses at the moment.
And hey, wouldn't a hosted port be great as well? We could really use more supported hardware that's currently being made.

[bahus]

Yeah Gkd Pixel looks quite cool:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006525207383.html

Strange pricing policy though. One option costs  $133.24 and other $390.96 and it seems the only difference is color