From 08ccd4088856b3f936d423ddeaf5b00621df434e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Xe Iaso Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2022 19:23:28 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] yeet Signed-off-by: Xe Iaso --- ...anbernic-win600-first-impressions.markdown | 175 ++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 175 insertions(+) create mode 100644 blog/anbernic-win600-first-impressions.markdown diff --git a/blog/anbernic-win600-first-impressions.markdown b/blog/anbernic-win600-first-impressions.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3cec266 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/anbernic-win600-first-impressions.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,175 @@ +--- +title: "Anbernic Win600 First Impressions" +date: 2022-07-14 +series: reviews +--- + +Right now PC gaming is largely a monopoly centered around Microsoft Windows. +Many PC games only support Windows and a large fraction of them use technical +means to prevent gamers on other platforms from playing those games. In 2021, +Valve introduced the [Steam Deck](https://www.steamdeck.com/en/) as an +alternative to that monopoly. There's always been a small, underground market +for handheld gaming PCs that let you play PC games on the go, but it's always +been a very niche market dominated by a few big players that charge a lot of +money relative to the game experience they deliver. The Steam Deck radically +changed this equation and it's still on backorder to this day. This has made +other manufacturers take notice and one of them was Anbernic. + +[Anbernic](https://anbernic.com/) is a company that specializes in making retro +emulation handheld gaming consoles. Recently they released their +[Win600](https://anbernic.com/products/new-anbernic-win600) handheld. It has a +Radeon Silver 3020e or a Radeon Silver 3050e and today I am going to give you my +first impressions of it. I have the 3050e version. + +A review of the Steam Deck is coming up +soon! + +One of the real standout features of this device is that Anbernic has been +working with Valve to allow people to run SteamOS on it! This makes us all one +step closer to having a viable competitor to Windows for gaming. SteamOS is +fantastic and has revolutionized gaming on Linux. It's good to see it coming to +more devices. + +## Out of the box + +I ordered my Win600 about 3 hours after sales opened. It arrived in a week and +came in one of those china-spec packages made out of insulation. If you've ever +ordered things from AliExpress you know what I'm talking about. It's just a +solid mass of insulation. + +[![The console siting on my desk with its charging brick and included cable](https://cdn.xeiaso.net/file/christine-static/img/FXozAEjUsAQEg9d-smol.jpeg)](https://cdn.xeiaso.net/file/christine-static/img/FXozAEjUsAQEg9d.jpeg) + +The unboxing experience was pretty great. The console came with: + +* The console +* A box containing the charger and cable +* A slip of paper telling you how to set up windows without a wifi connection +* A screen protector and cleaning cloth (my screen protector was broken in the + box, so much for all that insulation lol) +* A user manual that points out obvious things about your device + +One of the weirder things about this device is the mouse/gamepad slider on the +side. It changes the USB devices on the system and makes the gamepad either act +like an xinput joypad or a mouse and keyboard. The mouse and keyboard controls +are strange. Here are the controls I have discovered so far: + +* R1 is right click +* L1 is left click +* A is enter +* The right stick very slowly skitters the mouse around the screen +* The left stick is a super aggressive scroll wheel + +Figuring out these controls on the fly without any help from the manual meant +that I had taken long enough in the setup screen that [Cortana started to pipe +up](https://youtu.be/yn6bSm9HXFg) and guided me through the setup process. This +was not fun. I had to connect an external keyboard to finish setup. + +This is probably not Anbernic's fault. +Windows is NOT made for smaller devices like this and oh god it +shows. + +## Windows 10 "fun" + +There is also a keyboard button on the side. When you are using windows this +button summons a soft keyboard. Not the nice to use modern soft keyboard though, +the legacy terrible soft keyboard that Microsoft has had for forever and never +really updated. Using it is grating, like rubbing sandpaper all over your hands. +This made entering in my Wi-Fi password an adventure. It took my husband and I +15 minutes to get the device to connect to Wi-Fi. 15 minutes to connect to +Wi-Fi. + +Once it was connected to Wi-Fi, I tried to update the system to the latest +version of windows. The settings update crashed. Windows Update's service also +crashed. Windows Update also randomly got stuck trying to start the installation +process for updates. Once updates worked and finished installing, I rebooted. + +I tried to clean up the taskbar by disabling all of the random icons that +product managers at Microsoft want you to see. The Cortana button was stuck on +and I was unable to disable it. Trying to hide the Windows meet icon crashed +explorer.exe. I don't know what part of this is Windows going out of its way to +mess with me (I'm cursed) and what part of it is Windows really not being +optimized for this hardware in any sense of the way. + +Windows is really painful on this device. It's obvious that Windows was not made +with this device in mind. There are buttons to hack around this (but not as far +as the task manager button I've seen on other handhelds), but overall trying to +use Windows with a game console is like trying to saw a log with a pencil +sharpener. It's just the wrong tool for the job. Sure you _can_ do it, but _can_ +and _should_ are different words in English. + +Another weird thing about Windows on this device is that the screen only reports +a single display mode: 1280x720. It has no support for lower resolutions to run +older games that only work on those lower resolutions. In most cases this will +be not an issue, but if you want to lower the resolution of a game to squeeze +more performance out then you may have issues. + +## Steam + +In a moment of weakness, I decided to start up Steam. Steam defaulted to Big +Picture mode and its first-time-user-experience made me set up Wi-Fi again. +There was no way to bypass it. I got out my moonlander again and typed in my +Wi-Fi password again, and then I downloaded Sonic Adventure 2 as a test for how +games feel on it. Sonic Adventure 2 is a very lightweight game (you can play it +for like 6.5 hours on a full charge of the Steam Deck) and I've played it to +_death_ over the years. I know how the game _should_ feel. + +[![The starting screen of City Escape in Sonic Adventure 2, with the console propped up with a Steam Controller](https://cdn.xeiaso.net/file/christine-static/img/FXpIjhwUIAUEujg-smol.jpeg)](https://cdn.xeiaso.net/file/christine-static/img/FXpIjhwUIAUEujg.jpeg) + +City Escape ran at a perfect 60 FPS at the device's native resolution. The main +thing I noticed though was the position of the analog sticks. Based on the +design of the device, I'm pretty sure they were going for something with a +PlayStation DualShock 4 layout with the action buttons on the top and the sticks +on the bottom. The sticks are too far down on the device. Playing Sonic +Adventure 2 was kind of painful. + +## SteamOS + +So I installed SteamOS on the device. Besides a weird issue with 5 GHZ Wi-Fi not +working and updates requiring me to reboot the device IMMEDIATELY after +connecting to Wi-Fi, it works great. I can install games and they run. The DPI +for SteamOS is quite wrong though. All the UI elements are painfully small. For +comparison, I put my Steam Deck on the same screen as I had on the Win600. The +Steam Deck is on top and the Win600 is on the bottom. + +[![The game overview for Sonic Adventure 2 on both the Steam Deck and Anbernic Win600](https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/christine-static/img/FXqSz_tVsAAU0wf-smol.jpeg)](https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/christine-static/img/FXqSz_tVsAAU0wf.jpeg) + +Yeah. It leaves things to be desired. + +When I had SteamOS set up, I did find something that makes the Win600 slightly +better than the Steam Deck. When you are adding games to Steam with Emulation +Station you need to close the Steam client to edit the leveldb files that Steam +uses to track what games you can launch. On the Steam Deck, the Steam client +also enables the built-in controllers to act as a keyboard and mouse. This means +that you need to poke around and pray with the touchscreen to get EmuDeck games +up and running. The mouse/controller switch on the Win600 makes this slightly +more convenient because the controllers can always poorly act as a mouse and +keyboard. + +When you are in KDE on the Win600, you don't get a soft keyboard at all. This is +mildly inconvenient, but can be fixed with the moonlander yet again. Here's a +screenshot of what my KDE desktop on the Win600 looks like: + +[![My SteamOS desktop on the Win600, showing Crossette from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 center frame](https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/christine-static/img/Screenshot_20220714_144655-smol.jpg)](https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/christine-static/img/Screenshot_20220714_144655.png) + +Overall, SteamOS is a lot more ergonomic in my opinion and will let you play +games to your heart's content. + +The D-pad feels really good. I love how it responds. When I did a little bit of +Sonic Mania I never felt like I was inaccurate. There were some weird audio +hitches on Sonic Mania though where the music would cut out randomly. Not sure +what's going on with that. I could play through entire Pokemon games with that +D-pad. + +## Conclusions for now + +Overall I'm getting the feeling that this device is _okay_. It's not great, it's +not terrible, but it's okay. I need to get some more experience with it, but so +far it seems that this device really does have a weight class and oh god if you +play a game outside its weight class your UX goes to shit instantly. The battery +life leaves _a lot_ to be desired so far. However it does work. It's hard to not +compare this to the Steam Deck, but it's so much less in comparison to the Steam +Deck. + +I don't know how I feel about this device. I'm not sure it's worth the money. I +need to get more experience with it. I'll have a better sense of all this when I +write my full review. Stay tuned for that!