Open Console
{ Open consoles are how I got into [1]suckless programming, they taught me
about the low-level, optimizations and how to actually program efficiently
on very limited hardware. I recommend you grab one of these. ~drummyfish }
Open consoles (also indie handhelds etc.) are tiny [2]GameBoy-like
[3]gaming consoles mostly powered by [4]free software and [5]free
hardware, which have relatively recently (some time after 2015) seen a
small boom. Examples include [6]Arduboy, [7]Pokitto or [8]Gamebuino. These
are NOT to be confused with the [9]Raspberry Pi (and similar) handhelds
that run GameBoy/PS1/DOS [10]emulators (though some open consoles may use
e.g. the RP2040 Raspberry pi processor) but rather custom, mostly [11]FOSS
platforms running mostly their own community made [12]homebrew games. Open
consoles are also similar to the old consoles/computers such as [13]NES,
[14]GameBoy etc., however again there is a difference in being more indie,
released more recently and being "open", directly made for tinkering, so
it's e.g. much easier to program them (old consoles/computers very often
require some unofficial hacks, obscure libraries, gcc patches etc. to just
get your code working).
In summary, open consoles are:
* GameBoy-like gaming consoles (but also allow and encourage non-gaming
uses).
* Powered by [15]free hardware and [16]free software (usually
[17]Arduino plus a custom library, although mostly advertised as
[18]open source and not so strict about freedom). Schematics are a lot
of times available.
* Retro.
* Indie (sometimes developed by a single guy), often [19]crowd-funded.
* Educational.
* [20]DIY, sometimes leaving assembly of the kit to the customer
(assembled kits can usually be ordered for extra price).
* Very cheap (compared to proprietary mainstream consoles).
* [21]Hacking friendly.
* Typically [22]embedded [23]ARM.
* [24]Bare metal (no operating system).
* Pretty low spec hardware ([25]RAM amount in kilobytes, CPU frequency
in MHz).
* Relying on user created games which are many times also free-licensed.
Recommended consoles for starters are [26]Arduboy and [27]Pokitto which
are not only very well designed, but most importantly have actual friendly
active communities.
These nice little toys are great because they are anti-[28]modern,
[29]simple, out of the toxic mainstream, like the oldschool bullshit-free
computers. This supports (and by the low specs kind of "forces")
[30]suckless programming and brings the programmer the joy of programming
(no headaches of resizable windows, multithreading etc., just plain
programming of simple things with direct access to hardware). They offer
an alternative [31]ISA, a non-x86 platform without botnet and [32]bloat
usable for any purpose, not just games. Besides that, this hobby teaches
low level, efficiency-focused programming skills.
Watch out (2024 update): having been successful on the market, the world
of open consoles is now flooded by corporations and [33]SJWs bringing in
the [34]toxicity, they are going to go to shit very soon, get the old ones
while you still can. New consoles already try to employ web-only IDEs in
micropython, they're websites are full of suicide inducing diversity
propaganda and unusable on computers with less than 1 TB of RAM.
Programming
Open consoles can typically be programmed without proprietary software
(though officially they may promote something involving proprietary
software), GNU/[35]Linux mostly works just fine (sometimes it requires a
bit of extra work but not much). Most of the consoles are
[36]Arduino-based so the Arduino IDE is the official development tool with
[37]C++ as a language ([38]C being thankfully an option as well). The IDE
is "open-source" but also [39]bloat; thankfully [40]CLI development
workflow can be set up without greater issues (Arduino comes with CLI
tools and for other platforms [41]gcc cross-compiler can be used) so comfy
programming with [42]vim is nicely possible.
If normies can do it, you can do it too.
Some consoles (e.g. Arduboy, Pokitto and Gamebuino META) have their own
[43]emulators which make the development much easier... or rather
bearable. Without an emulator you're forced to constantly reupload the
program to the real hardware which is a pain, so you want to either use a
nice [44]LRS library such as [45]SAF or write your game to be
platform-independent and just make it run on your development PC as well
as on the console (just abstract the I/O and use SDL for the PC and the
console's library for the console -- see how [46]Anarch does it).
Open Console List
Some notable open consoles (which fit the definition at least loosely) are
listed here. Symbol meaning:
* A = Arduino
* C = great active community
* * = recommended
* + = many games/programs
* - = discontinued
name CPU RAM ROM (K) display year notes
(K)
[47]Arduboy 8b 16 2.5 32 64x32 1b 2015 * A C +, tiny
MHz
[48]Gamebuino 8b 16 2 32 84x48 1b 2014 + A -, SD
MHz
[49]Pokitto 32b 48 36 256 220x176 2018 * C +, ext. hats,
MHz SD
[50]ESPboy 32b 160 80 4000 128x128 2019 A
MHz
[51]GB META 32b 48 32 256 168x120 2018 A + -, SD
MHz
[52]Nibble 32b 160 80 4000 128x128 2021 A, AAA bat.
MHz
[53]UzeBox 8b 28 4 64 360x240 2008 C, +
MHz
[54]Tiny Arcade 32b A
32b 133 RPI (RP2040),
[55]Thumby MHz 264 2000 72x40 1b 2022 mainly web editor
:(
[56]Pocket Arcade
Ringo/[57]MakerPhone 32b 160 520 4000 160x128 2018 A -, phone, SD
MHz
[58]Agon 8b 18 512 640x480
MHz
TODO: BBC micro:bit, Vircon32 (fantasy console implementable in HW, not
sure about license), Retro Game Tiny, Adafruit PyGamer, ... see also
https://github.com/ESPboy-edu/awesome-indie-handhelds
See Also
* programmable [59]calculator
* [60]fantasy console
Links:
1. suckless.md
2. gameboy.md
3. game.md
4. free_software.md
5. free_hardware.md
6. arduboy.md
7. pokitto.md
8. gamebuino.md
9. rpi.md
10. emulator.md
11. foss.md
12. homebrew.md
13. nes.md
14. gameboy.md
15. free_hardware.md
16. free_software.md
17. arduino.md
18. open_source.md
19. crowd_funding.md
20. dyi.md
21. hacking.md
22. embedded.md
23. arm.md
24. bare_metal.md
25. ram.md
26. arduboy.md
27. pokitto.md
28. modern.md
29. minimalism.md
30. suckless.md
31. isa.md
32. bloat.md
33. sjw.md
34. toxic.md
35. linux.md
36. arduino.md
37. cpp.md
38. c.md
39. bloat.md
40. cli.md
41. gcc.md
42. vim.md
43. emulator.md
44. lrs.md
45. saf.md
46. anarch.md
47. arduboy.md
48. gamebuino.md
49. pokitto.md
50. espboy.md
51. gamebuino.md
52. nibble.md
53. uzebox.md
54. tiny_arcade.md
55. thumby.md
56. pocket_arcase.md
57. makerphone.md
58. agon.md
59. calculator.md
60. fantasy_console.md