Armada, ein Linux-basiertes Betriebssystem für ARM Gaming-Handhelds, wurde in der Vorschau-Version 20261109 veröffentlicht.

Armada ist ein an SteamOS angelehntes Betriebssystem, das speziell für Handheld-Geräte wie Retroid Pocket und AYN Thor entwickelt wird und Steams Game-Mode-Oberfläche samt Emulator- und Streaming-Unterstützung mitbringt. Es folgt gut vier Wochen auf die Vorschau-Version 20261010.

Neu sind die Unterstützung für den AYN Odin 3 Portal und den Retroid Pocket Duo, Gyro-Steuerung auf vielen Geräten, deutlich längere Standby-Zeiten (bis zu 8 Tage), ein Akku-Ladelimit sowie Steam Remote Play mit Hardware-Decoding und niedriger Latenz.

AYN Odin 3 Portal support:

• Display: HDR up to 750 nits, 60 and 120 Hz with refresh rate calibration, a brightness curve tuned to the panel, and touch
• Sound, controls (incl. gyro, rumble, RGB), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD, USB-C and DisplayPort
• Power: over 6 days in standby on a charge, Steam’s battery charge limit, and fan control

Retroid Pocket Duo support:

• Dual screens fully supported. Its Adreno 722 gets a tuned Mesa driver that lets 3DS games run at 4x resolution and fixes texture flickering in other emulators
• Steam runs up top while a full Plasma Mobile session keeps your browser, guides, or chat below. Azahar (3DS) and melonDS (DS) from the Armada Store use both screens

Gyro:

• Gyro now works, calibrates itself to stay free of drift, and shows up in Steam as a Steam Deck gyro
• Gyro orientation is configurable in Armada Control
• Supported devices: AYN Odin 2, Odin 2 Portal, Odin 3, Odin 3 Portal, and Thor; Retroid Pocket 6 and Nova; KONKR Pocket FIT; AYANEO Pocket DS

Days of standby:

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 devices now reach full power collapse in sleep for the first time, cutting battery drain by 25%
• Battery drain is also down about 40% on Snapdragon 8 Elite and about 22% on Snapdragon 865 devices since the last release
• On a full charge, the AYN Odin 2 Portal lasts about 8 days in standby and the Odin 3 about 6 days

Battery charge limit:

• Set the highest level your battery charges to with Steam’s own charge limit setting
• Supported devices: AYN Odin 3 and Odin 3 Portal; AYANEO Pocket S2; KONKR Pocket FIT and Pocket FIT Elite

Low-latency Steam Remote Play:

• Hardware decoding on every supported device, in low-latency mode: on the AYN Odin 3, decoding a frame dropped from 4.6 ms to 1.5 ms on average

Devices and controllers:

• Fixed headphone jack detection on the Retroid Pocket 6 and Nova and AYANEO Pocket S2
• Fixed weak, rattly rumble on the Retroid Pocket 6 and Nova
• Fixed the white flash when the Retroid Pocket Nova wakes
• Fixed volume up sometimes not working on the Retroid Pocket Nova
• Enabled the AYN Odin 3 microphones and fixed headphone clipping
• Restored KONKR Pocket FIT speakers
• Fixed the KONKR Pocket FIT’s Menu, K, Equals, and back buttons on some units, added stick light control, and fixed its Xbox mode
• Fixed the KONKR Pocket FIT Elite not finding 5 GHz networks after boot
• Added AYANEO Pocket S2 RGB support
• MANGMI Air Y Pro: mapped the QAM button, defaulted to Steam Deck mode, and added its logo to RGB lighting

Sleep and power:

• Lower battery drain in sleep on every supported chip, with full power collapse on SM8550
• AYANEO and KONKR built-in controllers now power off in sleep
• Added Steam’s battery charge limit on SM8650 and SM8750 devices
• Added the Steam Deck’s low power download mode, on by default while charging, with a toggle for battery in Armada Control
• On dual screen devices, the bottom screen now sleeps and wakes with the top screen
• The power button is ignored while the lid is closed
• The AYN Odin 3 charging LED now shows charging state
• Fixed the hardware clock and wake alarm on AYANEO and KONKR SM8650 devices

Graphics and performance:

• Reworked the performance sliders to show MHz, tune each CPU cluster, and add an SM8250 underclock preset
• Smoother frame times on the Eco and Balanced profiles
• Improved Gamescope frame pacing
• Flatpak and Android apps now use Armada’s graphics drivers, and Flatpak apps get the per-game driver choices from Armada Control
• Added HDR on the Retroid Pocket Nova
• Added a refresh rate calibration tool (Armada Control, Settings > System) that tunes the panel to its exact refresh rate
• Steam’s refresh rate slider can now select 60 Hz on 60/120 Hz panels

Game compatibility:

• x86 Linux games now use Armada’s native OpenGL and Vulkan drivers through FEX’s thunks, so games that fell back to software rendering get hardware OpenGL and Counter-Strike 2 renders correctly
• Fixed Enshrouded and Onimusha: Way of the Sword crashing at startup

Streaming:

• Fixed Steam Remote Play getting stuck on a green screen
• Fixed Steam Remote Play decode errors and frozen starts on SM8250 devices

Armada Control and Store:

• Added Simplified Chinese translations
• Quick Access Menu controls and dialogs now match Decky’s layout
• Fixed missing game profiles for non-Steam games
• Fixed non-Steam games with a compatibility tool sharing one set of settings
• Added Quiver Launcher
• Updated Azahar defaults to avoid flicker and rendering issues

System:

• New installs default to the stable Steam client
• Decky now runs natively on arm64 instead of under FEX
• Android apps: added split APK installs, and fixed swapped X and Y buttons and mapped the triggers on Retroid controllers
• The bottom screen stays off until Steam is started and unlocked
• Added armada-run-bottom --defaults, which sets up a basic environment for single apps on the bottom screen
• Fixed the screen reader breaking hotkeys
• Fixed KDE cache rebuilds freezing games when the bottom screen is on
• Added USB tethering for phones
• Added iptables NAT support
• Added SDL2 addon libraries for apps like Grout
• Updated Armada logos and branding

Boot and updates:

• Replaced ROCKNIX ABL with OpenABL, which boots Armada from standard BLS boot entries

Updated Mesa to 26.2.6, Gamescope to 3.17.0-ogc1, InputPlumber to 0.83.0, Plasma to 6.8.2, NetworkManager to 1.58.1, and OpenABL to 1.2

Quelle: GitHub