Author Topic: Coolbaby RS-69 - F1C100s (Read 5570 times)

quadjfet · « **on:** August 10, 2019, 12:58:54 am »

This thread is for information and general discussion of the "Coolbaby RS-69", a new F1C100S handheld from Shenzhen Yangliming Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33050411168.html

Looks like YLM's answer to the Bittboy ; )

The desk is all messy with G100/RS-12 LCD stuff, so you'll have to make do with a bed-teardown for now.

quadjfet · « **Reply #1 on:** August 10, 2019, 01:01:14 am »

reserved

quadjfet · « **Reply #2 on:** August 10, 2019, 01:01:42 am »

reserved

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Feel free to make general discussion below this post

v47 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 10, 2019, 10:56:54 pm »

Are savestates and button remapping supported?

quadjfet · « **Reply #4 on:** August 11, 2019, 01:08:59 am »

Savestates seem to work (though the in-game menu is in Chinese, even after switching to English. Needs trial and error...)
I can't seem to find a button remapping option anywhere though.

Closed-source stock firmware is never too interesting for me. I'm mostly interested to see if the bittboy software could be ported over, since this uses the same CPU. LCD is different (same old story), so it would need to be modified first. A glance at the test pads near the LCD connector suggests they might have enough pins for RGBHVP, which could be nice. I haven't confirmed though, since I'm currently busy with other stuff.

Qinti · « **Reply #5 on:** August 12, 2019, 03:37:35 pm »

Does it suffer from screen tearing? Would it be possible to add L and R buttons? Other than save states, does it support saves on games that support saves (for example, Final Fantasy, Zelda, etc)?

v47 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 12, 2019, 04:19:15 pm »

Ok, my RS-69 is here as well - the screen wasn't fixed properly, so I had to disassemble the unit and add a bit of sticky foam to remedy that (very easy to do so, 6 external screws and 3 internal).

-Unit is larger than the PokeGear, 7.8mm*11.5mm.
-The shell isn't as nasty, but not liking the bumpy finish too much.
-The screen isn't great, bad viewing angle especially when looking from left.
-Was extremely lucky to somehow change the language to EN by accident. After managing to do that, everything seems to be in EN, thankfully.
-No way of remapping the controls as far as I can tell. So unless they are already mapped in a way that makes the game playable, you are out of luck.
-One savestate per ROM, it seems, and no support for internal saves. This means you are one bad select away from destroying your progress.
-Comes loaded with some 3k+ ROMs (for all supported systems) of various quality and languages on a 8GB microSD card. The operating system is on the unit's internal memory. With no SD card, you are allowed to boot and change the settings.
-Seems way slower than the PokeGear, Doom2 runs at 0.5FPS (was perfectly fine on the PokeGear).
-There definitely is some screen tearing, and some ROMs don't work (WarioLand4, Wolf3D, Sonic1 and 2, despite coming loaded on the SD card).

Conclusion - nope. Get the $10 hdmi clone of the AtGames clone, it has a smaller screen, but it does more and is better at everything.

quadjfet · « **Reply #7 on:** August 12, 2019, 07:29:38 pm »

To clarify - I do not recommend purchasing the RS-69 for anyone other than developers right now.

Yes, the shell is cheap feeling and the screen is a sideways TN panel, so each eye gets a different gamma. The closed-source software it ships with is awful and frustrating to use, as all closed-source software is. The ray of light is that the RS-69 is ~$23 USD shipped, includes the same CPU as the bittboy (which already has liberated software), and has ~20 test pads near the LCD panel routing. There is potential for this to be the new cheapest cfw device, if some skilled developers devote time to it and don't encounter any roadblocks.

Quote from: v47 on August 12, 2019, 04:19:15 pm

Get the $10 hdmi clone of the AtGames clone.

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️ ͜ʖ

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v47 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 12, 2019, 08:02:45 pm »

Right.

Also, I had to insert a toothpick into the triple prong battery connector to make sure there's contact at all times, I kid you not. And no indication the unit is charging when turned off (most handhelds have a red light glowing that will turn off once the unit is fully charged).

v47 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 14, 2019, 09:30:05 am »

Seems like the red charging led is physically present, so there's a good chance mine just doesn't work - can you check whether it does on your unit?

Also, if adding sticky foam to hold your screen, make sure to add it as close to the edge of the screen as possible, to avoid seeing pressure artifacts when using the dpad.

v47 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 22, 2019, 01:46:01 pm »

Can someone confirm whether the charging led works on their unit?

Qinti · « **Reply #11 on:** August 25, 2019, 01:18:24 am »

The LED does not turn on when charging on mine.

v47 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 25, 2019, 07:20:01 am »

I guess it's a feature then. //nope, the red led is supposed to turn on when charging, and turn off once done charging - if not, request a partial refund for unit not working fully.

And the last nail to the coffin - Goomba converted ROMs don't work, so no GB/GBC.

Qinti · « **Reply #13 on:** August 27, 2019, 01:31:09 pm »

I have relegated this one to a portable NES machine since it shares shells with the bigger NES portable clones (but had save states). Some SNES and Genesis games plus some arcade games are playable, albeit sound laggy and a little choppy, and the one I really want to play (Tactics Ogre) does not recognize the controls at all. I do notice it uses the same OS as those cheap PSP clones, so in theory you could probably add L and R buttons and make GBA games pseudo playable, but I don't have one of those machines to compare the pinout out cabling, and I definitely won't spend 30ish dollars just to find out.

v47 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 27, 2019, 04:56:04 pm »

At this point, I'd say the PokeGear is actually better - while its ROM loading and progress saving mechanisms are utterly moronic, in the end, it will allow you to play the games, unlike the RS-69, which just resets itself half of the time.

Qinti · « **Reply #15 on:** August 29, 2019, 05:05:19 am »

Well, I think your machine came in faulty, my RS-69 has none of the problems yours had (loose screen, bad battery connection). Then again my Pokegear died three days after I got it, so I think our luck was reversed. I'll take the Bittboy over these any day, totally worth the extra 8-10 dollars.

v47 · « **Reply #16 on:** September 03, 2019, 06:41:26 pm »

Well, I'm also off the PokeGear club - sold it with an one buck profit, so no bad luck as far as I'm concerned. Will keep the RS-69 for a while, maybe I'll find some use for it.

Qinti · « **Reply #17 on:** September 17, 2019, 01:01:59 am »

Well, on a whim, I placed my Pocketgo SD card on the RS-69, and its seemed to try to boot it (it stayed on black screen), so it does seem to support booting from SD card. I am going to try and burn in several Bittboy OS and see if it boots, has anyone tried this as well?

quadjfet · « **Reply #18 on:** September 17, 2019, 09:24:02 pm »

I think the screen is different, (likely RGBHVP interface vs MIPI DBI) so I wouldn't expect any of the Bittboy cfw packages to show an image on screen. If you're lucky you'll get sound, so you could try to navigate blind to a game and see if you get sound to play. You could also look for UART traffic if you have some basic EE test gear.

The "lichee pi nano" from Sipeed includes the same CPU as the Bittboy and RS-69, and has an onboard connector for what seems like an RGBHVP lcd. You could maybe play around with some of those images/ reference material:
https://wiki.sipeed.com/en/lichee/nano.html

Qinti · « **Reply #19 on:** September 23, 2019, 03:55:59 pm »

It's all in Chinese (the documentation) so I won't even try to sort that out. I will try some fws I found of similar machines and see what happens.

Author Topic: Coolbaby RS-69 - F1C100s (Read 5570 times)

quadjfet (OP)

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