Author Topic: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale  (Read 41632 times)

lemmywinks (OP)

  • Posts: 2885
New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« on: December 19, 2018, 07:55:11 pm »
This one actually looks great from initial reviews and is pretty cheap ($39.99 or 31 UK pounds), does NES, GB and GBC which is almost perfect for me. Hopefully they add SMS at some point.
https://www.bittboy.com/collections/bittboy2/products/new-bittboy
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230204021317/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5JMjsZR-WY" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5JMjsZR-WY</a>
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230204021317/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCyCMpg7FOw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCyCMpg7FOw</a>

Seems to be a massive improvement over the first one with a Micro SD slot, IPS screen, emulator options etc and retains the tiny size so is a nice alternative to the RS-90. I have one on order, apparently the normal price will be $59.99 so I grabbed one.

EDIT: Apparently it has no illegal roms and has a setting for the proper GB aspect ratio. Also original GB case colours!

Incidentally Banggood have some cheap 32gb Micro SD cards if anyone needs them for these little systems, don't think the new Bittboy works without one inserted:
https://www.banggood.com/Mixza-Year-of-the-Dog-Limited-Edition-U1-32GB-TF-Memory-Card-p-1295486.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN
https://www.banggood.com/SASTFUE-C10-32GB-TF-Memory-Card-p-1377059.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN
« Last Edit: December 19, 2018, 08:03:58 pm by lemmywinks »
Handhelds:
GPD Win, GPD XD 64gb, PlayGo, RS-90, 3DS XL, DSi XL, GBA SP, GBBC Clone, Gameboy Pocket c/w screen mod, PSP Go
PC:
ASUS TUF, Medion Erazer, Toshiba Z20t, Dell Mini 9, Psion 5MX, Toshiba 3480ct
Tons of other old laptops and tablets.....

retrodoodoo

  • Posts: 691
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #1 on: December 20, 2018, 09:37:59 am »
Anybody can make customize firmware for it? DM me :)


lemmywinks (OP)

  • Posts: 2885
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #3 on: December 20, 2018, 04:53:41 pm »
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/5981212479

Thanks, for those of us who can't read that (almost all of us!) what is it? Stock firmware image?

Seems like a better option than both the RS-90 and the Odroid Go, although I was playing my RS-90 a lot at work today!
Handhelds:
GPD Win, GPD XD 64gb, PlayGo, RS-90, 3DS XL, DSi XL, GBA SP, GBBC Clone, Gameboy Pocket c/w screen mod, PSP Go
PC:
ASUS TUF, Medion Erazer, Toshiba Z20t, Dell Mini 9, Psion 5MX, Toshiba 3480ct
Tons of other old laptops and tablets.....

lemmywinks (OP)

  • Posts: 2885
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #4 on: December 20, 2018, 05:45:50 pm »
Handhelds:
GPD Win, GPD XD 64gb, PlayGo, RS-90, 3DS XL, DSi XL, GBA SP, GBBC Clone, Gameboy Pocket c/w screen mod, PSP Go
PC:
ASUS TUF, Medion Erazer, Toshiba Z20t, Dell Mini 9, Psion 5MX, Toshiba 3480ct
Tons of other old laptops and tablets.....

Surkow

  • * Administrator
  • Posts: 699
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #5 on: December 20, 2018, 06:31:59 pm »
Seems to be using this CPU if it's of use to anybody:
http://infocenter.arm.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.arm.doc.ddi0198e/Cacheeja.html
Very generic, I wouldn't expect much of a development scene for ARM based consoles. Apparently there's 200-900MHz variations floating around of the CPU included in the device.

retrodoodoo

  • Posts: 691
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2018, 02:28:14 am »
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/5981212479

Thanks, for those of us who can't read that (almost all of us!) what is it? Stock firmware image?

Seems like a better option than both the RS-90 and the Odroid Go, although I was playing my RS-90 a lot at work today!

It is like Lichee Nano coming for the kernel. Possibly it will be another open source handheld. Existing?

lemmywinks (OP)

  • Posts: 2885
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #7 on: December 21, 2018, 12:11:14 pm »
Very generic, I wouldn't expect much of a development scene for ARM based consoles. Apparently there's 200-900MHz variations floating around of the CPU included in the device.

Just to be clear I don't think it needs a development scene, as long as it does what it claims (play 8bit Nintendo games), is a good price and is readily available then it can stand on it's own two feet. The screen looks great and it seems like a bit of thought has been put into the menus and options. Hopefully they update it with SMS emulation then it owuld be complete for me.

I was just curious about what was in it and thought I might as well link to it to save other people the trouble.
Handhelds:
GPD Win, GPD XD 64gb, PlayGo, RS-90, 3DS XL, DSi XL, GBA SP, GBBC Clone, Gameboy Pocket c/w screen mod, PSP Go
PC:
ASUS TUF, Medion Erazer, Toshiba Z20t, Dell Mini 9, Psion 5MX, Toshiba 3480ct
Tons of other old laptops and tablets.....

Surkow

  • * Administrator
  • Posts: 699
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2018, 12:56:42 pm »
Very generic, I wouldn't expect much of a development scene for ARM based consoles. Apparently there's 200-900MHz variations floating around of the CPU included in the device.

Just to be clear I don't think it needs a development scene, as long as it does what it claims (play 8bit Nintendo games), is a good price and is readily available then it can stand on it's own two feet. The screen looks great and it seems like a bit of thought has been put into the menus and options. Hopefully they update it with SMS emulation then it owuld be complete for me.

I was just curious about what was in it and thought I might as well link to it to save other people the trouble.
To me the most interesting thing about this piece of hardware is the graphical interface. Pretty cool design.

A development scene doesn't just include people who repackage and recompile existing Dingoo A320 and GP2x emulators. It also includes people who crack open the device, document it, fix bugs in existing open source emulators and write dynarecs from scratch to target low power hardware. A process which could take multiple man years.

Existing MIPS hardware appears "easy to mod" because it's well documented and has tonnes of development resources. You think the RS-97 would be easy to modify if not for a decade old scene which already did all of the work? Without existing development resources being available this device would even have issues with adding SMS emulation.

lemmywinks (OP)

  • Posts: 2885
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2018, 05:15:40 pm »
I'm not saying community development doesn't matter, just that for the period of time this device is available (lets face it a better alternative will be available in a year or so) it will probably function perfectly fine without anybody directly working on it. It aims pretty low and seems to work as advertised. Obviously the RS-97/PAP K3P absolutely needed somebody to port the old Dingux/GP2X stuff over as they were broken devices on release, much worse than the A320 from memory.

The UI is one of the first things I liked about the new Bittboy, it seems like some genuine thought and design has been put into it rather than being thrown together which is what we're used to. The mini GB form factor is neat too, this is kinda what I wished the RS-90 had been.

Handhelds:
GPD Win, GPD XD 64gb, PlayGo, RS-90, 3DS XL, DSi XL, GBA SP, GBBC Clone, Gameboy Pocket c/w screen mod, PSP Go
PC:
ASUS TUF, Medion Erazer, Toshiba Z20t, Dell Mini 9, Psion 5MX, Toshiba 3480ct
Tons of other old laptops and tablets.....

lazanti

  • Posts: 88
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2018, 01:19:57 pm »
And it has been hacked :)


Steward_Fu

  • Posts: 48
    • Steward Website
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #11 on: December 23, 2018, 08:54:44 am »
The above image is made by PhotoShop from our QQ(OpenSource Handheld) group.

But the following image is what I am porting into this tiny device:
« Last Edit: December 23, 2018, 09:00:14 am by Steward_Fu »

Jutleys

  • Posts: 1797
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #12 on: December 23, 2018, 05:32:01 pm »
Good work Steward keep it up we should have this device soon we will support you.

Jutleys

  • Posts: 1797
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #13 on: January 02, 2019, 03:00:38 pm »
Find my new website for bittboy here https://jutleys.wixsite.com/bittboynew4u

And join my new bittboy discord server here https://discord.gg/9qvpCqy
« Last Edit: January 02, 2019, 04:06:12 pm by jutley »

lemmywinks (OP)

  • Posts: 2885
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #14 on: January 02, 2019, 07:53:05 pm »
Mine arrived today, seems like a nice little machine for the money. Screen is very nice, plastics are cheap but fine and the battery is a 700mah GBA SP compatible. It looks absolutely fantastic and is tiny, definitely shows what a well designed aesthetic can do when applied to a cheapo device!

Slight issue with it as it will crash on the save state menu every now and then, don't know if anyone else has experienced this but I've messaged Bittboy about it. Emulation is decent but not perfect - screen tearing particularly noticeable on GB and it does drop the odd frame. Audio seems a little shrill but this may be the speaker rather than the sound emulation. You can drop roms in folders or straight onto the root of the SD. Another drawback which can be solved with a software update is the lack of space for text on the rom selection screen which doesn't fit the whole title in and is slow to start scrolling. This means if you have a few Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros etc. games you have to rename them or wait several seconds to see what they are.

Compatibility is pretty good, tried to run my normal problem game which is Race Drivin' on the GB, on the Bittboy it hangs at the same spot it does on the RS-97 and other similar consoles. Everything else I've tried so far runs ok though, even Zas and Sagaia which can display sprite issues on other emulators.
Handhelds:
GPD Win, GPD XD 64gb, PlayGo, RS-90, 3DS XL, DSi XL, GBA SP, GBBC Clone, Gameboy Pocket c/w screen mod, PSP Go
PC:
ASUS TUF, Medion Erazer, Toshiba Z20t, Dell Mini 9, Psion 5MX, Toshiba 3480ct
Tons of other old laptops and tablets.....

lemmywinks (OP)

  • Posts: 2885
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #15 on: January 02, 2019, 08:15:54 pm »
Oh btw here are the in game controls:
Volume - Hold Select and press A/B
Brightness - Hold Select and press Turbo A/B
Exit game - long press the R button.
Handhelds:
GPD Win, GPD XD 64gb, PlayGo, RS-90, 3DS XL, DSi XL, GBA SP, GBBC Clone, Gameboy Pocket c/w screen mod, PSP Go
PC:
ASUS TUF, Medion Erazer, Toshiba Z20t, Dell Mini 9, Psion 5MX, Toshiba 3480ct
Tons of other old laptops and tablets.....

lemmywinks (OP)

  • Posts: 2885
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #16 on: January 03, 2019, 03:28:34 pm »
Been playing it quite a lot in my downtime today, the weird save issue seems to only happen on NES roms. I put all my roms onto a different Micro SD card and it now happens very rarely, also doesn't seem to happen on every game. Kid Kool seems to be a problem rom, saving frequently causes issues and reloading a state freezes the emulator.

Got a couple of pics to show the build quality, feels more like the original Bittboy instead of the RS-90 which is a shame, the dpad and buttons feel nice though.



Can see how sharp the screen is with decent viewing angles, NES roms look great.

Gameboy roms have a strange scaling issue which looks a bit jagged, the guy in the Retro Future review stated GB was looked perfect but I don't think he knows all that much.


Light shining through the side of the case from the battery/charge LED.

Another bit of light bleed, no idea where this comes from as there is no other indicator LED on the handheld! Must be a rogue one on the board.


Although the buttons, paint and lettering look cheap the controls actually feel very nice, shame the dpad and buttons aren't textured like the GB/GBP or RS-90.
Handhelds:
GPD Win, GPD XD 64gb, PlayGo, RS-90, 3DS XL, DSi XL, GBA SP, GBBC Clone, Gameboy Pocket c/w screen mod, PSP Go
PC:
ASUS TUF, Medion Erazer, Toshiba Z20t, Dell Mini 9, Psion 5MX, Toshiba 3480ct
Tons of other old laptops and tablets.....

lemmywinks (OP)

  • Posts: 2885
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #17 on: January 03, 2019, 03:31:30 pm »
Also anybody looking for cheap but nice cases for this the Lowepro Portofino 20 fits pretty well and is ?2.99:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Real-Leather-Lowepro-Portofino-20-Compact-camera-case-BLACK/401108183672?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

The Palm Pilot case I use for my RS-90 is available again at a bargain price (?1.79 delivered UK) so I bought another for the Bittboy:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Digital-Camera-Carry-Case-Pouch-With-Velcro-Fastening-110mm-x70mm-x-20mm/282694248039?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
Handhelds:
GPD Win, GPD XD 64gb, PlayGo, RS-90, 3DS XL, DSi XL, GBA SP, GBBC Clone, Gameboy Pocket c/w screen mod, PSP Go
PC:
ASUS TUF, Medion Erazer, Toshiba Z20t, Dell Mini 9, Psion 5MX, Toshiba 3480ct
Tons of other old laptops and tablets.....

Surkow

  • * Administrator
  • Posts: 699
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #18 on: January 03, 2019, 03:51:55 pm »
Been playing it quite a lot in my downtime today, the weird save issue seems to only happen on NES roms. I put all my roms onto a different Micro SD card and it now happens very rarely, also doesn't seem to happen on every game. Kid Kool seems to be a problem rom, saving frequently causes issues and reloading a state freezes the emulator.

Got a couple of pics to show the build quality, feels more like the original Bittboy instead of the RS-90 which is a shame, the dpad and buttons feel nice though.

[...]
Thanks for the in-depth explanations and extensive photos. 40 dollars is kinda steep for the quality of the device, though!

lemmywinks (OP)

  • Posts: 2885
Re: New (much) improved Bittboy on Presale
« Reply #19 on: January 03, 2019, 06:14:04 pm »
The quality is ok, I think I'm being hyper critical because a few YouTubers seemed to be going overboard on it. It plays games well and the screen really pops, everything looks colourful vibrant. It's definitely a cool device to leave in your workbag or whatever, the neat UI means you can get into playing roms quickly.

Some systems are just fun little consoles and this definitely falls into that category, I'm enjoying it so far. Was my first day back at work today and I got all my new year prep done early so I shut my office door and spent a couple hours on it playing SMB 3, Sagaia and Castlevania II. Water/cloud transparency trickery on Trip World also works on this which can be an issue with some GB emulators.
Handhelds:
GPD Win, GPD XD 64gb, PlayGo, RS-90, 3DS XL, DSi XL, GBA SP, GBBC Clone, Gameboy Pocket c/w screen mod, PSP Go
PC:
ASUS TUF, Medion Erazer, Toshiba Z20t, Dell Mini 9, Psion 5MX, Toshiba 3480ct
Tons of other old laptops and tablets.....