The video and podcast above goes into detail about every single change listed on the release notes for Onion OS 4.3.0. I will only cover things of note down below for the sake of reducing redundancy from the official release notes but most things added work well and are incredibly useful.
Official release notes: https://onionui.github.io/blog/release-notes/4.3.0
- Features and Apps
- Emulators and Cores
Features and Apps
I will make note of features and apps that I thought were especially notable. There are so many nice quality of life features that work well but I don’t need to cover them because they are self explanatory and work as intended.
Miyoo Mini V4 Screen Support (tGecko)
This is a very nice update. The Miyoo Mini V4 has an awkward screen resolution of 750×560 instead of the standard 640×480. Games looked blurry before the update but now Onion OS properly supports the screen resolution and games look absolutely fantastic.
If you were hesitating about picking one up because of the screen, it looks absolutely fine now. The Miyoo Mini V4 does not have WiFi by the way.
PWM Adjustment (tGecko)
I actually had someone ask about this feature recently. If you boost the audio on the Miyoo Mini OG/Plus, you can hear a high pitched whine that is induced by the PWM from the display panel’s backlight. You can lower the frequency to decrease the high pitched whine but it does come at the cost of causing the panel to flicker more visibly which may cause nausea.
To adjust the PWM, navigate to Apps -> Tweaks -> Advanced -> PWM frequency (800 Hz default).
Lower it until the sound is at a desirable level and the screen does not bother you.
Disabling Automatic Time Restore (tGecko)
If you install the Clock app and set the time, the clock stops once you turn off the device. When you turn it on, the clock starts again. If you want to stop this behavior, place an empty file named .noTimeRestore in SD/.tmp_update/config/.
Now why would someone want this feature? You can actually enable RTC on the Miyoo Mini if you are comfortable with advanced soldering techniques. The SoC actually has a RTC but the board only supplies power to the pin when it’s on. You can remove the trace and solder a wire to a trace that is constantly active, ensuring the RTC is always on.
This reddit post from user riskylisky details the process shown by YouTube channel TakiaGecko.
Reddit post (riskylisky): https://www.reddit.com/r/MiyooMini/comments/1b6pyn4/today_i_added_rtc/
YouTube Tutorial (TakiaGecko): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeSDyQ2cRbY
I would advice against most people trying this. You need to be really good at soldering to pull this off. If you did manage to make this mod, you would need to disable the automatic time restore feature for the RTC to work properly.
Small note here, the default behavior may be to advance the clock by 4 hours every time you turn it on. If you want to lower the time skip or turn it off altogether, navigate to Apps -> Tweaks -> System -> Date and time... -> Emulated time skip.
Guest Profile Has It’s Own Favorites/Recents/Themes (Sichroteph)
This one is huge if you have children or are sharing the Miyoo Mini. The guest profile already has its own saves and save states but now it can have its own favorites, recents list, and themes applied.
If you want to turn on the guest profile, navigate to Apps -> Package Manager -> Apps -> Guest Mode.
After installing you will find Guest Mode in the Apps section.
Startup & Shutdown Scripts (dragoonDorise)
The release notes don’t cover this but you can place bash files into these two directories to automatically run scripts during startup or shutdown:
SD/.tmp_update/startupSD/.tmp_update/checkoff
The files must end in .sh.
I am not familiar with Linux nor what can run on the Miyoo Mini so I’m experimenting to see what is possible. You may be able to pull off some neat custom changes to the behavior of the device if you are familiar with using a terminal.
Emulators and Cores
Drastic [Nintendo DS] (Steward-Fu, Sichroteph, schmurtzm)
One of the biggest and most notable changes to Onion 4.3 is native support of the Drastic emulator which provides emulation of the Nintendo DS. Performance is actually pretty decent, although the small screen of the Miyoo Mini and Miyoo Mini Plus does not lend itself to a dual screen layout. I have an article going over the emulator in detail here: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/02/15/playing-nintendo-ds-games-on-the-miyoo-mini-plus/
To install navigate to Apps -> Package Manger -> Verified -> Nintendo - DS (Drastic).
Place the roms into SD/Roms/NDS.
ScummVM Standalone (XK9274, schmurtzm)
The updated standalone ScummVM emulator has much better performance than the RetroArch core. I tested out Grim Fandango and it ran pretty well. The RetroArch core had very spotty performance and it was constantly stuttering.
Escape from Monkey Island ran on the standalone emulator but performance was spotty. It would not even load on the RetroArch core.
If you enjoy the old LucasArts adventure games, then I’d highly recommend checking out the standalone emulator.
To install, navigate to Apps -> Package Manager -> Expert -> SCUMM (ScummVM standalone).
Place games into SD/Roms/SCUMMVM.
You need to use the import games option once you start the emulator for it to recognize the games.
You can access the standalone emulator from RetroArch or through the Expert App. The Expert App is merely a collection of shortcuts and needs to be installed using the Package Manager.
GnGeo [Neo Geo] (bankbank, schmurtzm)
The GnGeo emulator provides very fast boot times but it does require you to use .gno files. We are talking about boot times in the span of 10 seconds or less compared to 30-40 seconds on the RetroArch core.
If you are looking for the .gno files, Steward-Fu has converted them to that file format already. It’ll be very easy to find them online and once you do, place the .gno files into SD/Roms/GNGEO not SD/Roms/NEOGEO.
If you are converting the rom files yourself, please do keep in mind that Neo Geo is very picky about the versions of roms you use. The recommended version is FBA Arcade Set v0.2.97.29.
To install, navigate to Apps -> Package Manager -> Expert -> SNK - Neo Geo (GnGeo).
Place roms in SD/Roms/GNGEO.
You can access the emulator from RetroArch or through the Expert App. The Expert App is merely a collection of shortcuts and needs to be installed using the Package Manager.
PICO-8 Wrapper [PICO-8] (XK9274)
Onion OS now has support for the PICO-8 app. This is not emulation but the actual app itself. It should provide much higher compatibility with PICO-8 games compared to the RetroArch core. There is a trade off of not having the features of RetroArch however, such as save states and etc.
You do have to purchase PICO-8 in order to use the wrapper however. Copy the pico8_dyn and pico8.dat files into /RApp/PICO-8/bin.
You can purchase PICO-8 from lexaloffle on their website: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php?#getpico8.
To install, navigate to Apps -> Package Manager -> Expert -> PICO-8 (PICO-8 standalone).
Place roms in SD/Roms/PICO.
You can access the emulator from RetroArch or through the Expert App. The Expert App is merely a collection of shortcuts and needs to be installed using the Package Manager.
Other Cores
If the new cores worked or were on par with existing RetroArch cores I didn’t cover it. If I had difficulty with a core I noted them below.
km_duckSwanStation Xtreme Amped [PlayStation 1] (schmurtzm)
It’s much slower than PCSX ReARMed but the main advantage is being able to play home brew games like fromage. I tested it out myself and the new core does indeed load formage while PCSX does not.
I also tried running PS1 games on this core and it ran much worse. Most people will probably be better off using the standard PCSX ReARMed core.
Making a note here, it may be worth experimenting with overclocking the Miyoo Mini Plus and tweaking the emulator for more stable performance. I didn’t do enough testing because I saw very little advantages over using PCSX in terms of just emulating the existing PlayStation library for the average user.
You can use the core through RetroArch.
km_Super Bros War [Super Bros War] (schmurtzm)
Super Bros War is a multiplayer version of Super Mario Bros. I could not get it to run following the documentation.
Frodo [Commodore 64] (schmurtzm)
I could not get Frodo to work reliably but it’s mostly due to my inexperience with the Commodore 64. The vice x64 core was much easier to use and is compatible with .crt files while Frodo cannot use .crt files.
To install, navigate to Apps -> Package Manager -> Expert -> Commodore - C64 (Frodo).
Place roms in SD/Roms/COMMODORE.
You can access the emulator from RetroArch or through the Expert App. The Expert App is merely a collection of shortcuts and needs to be installed using the Package Manager.
Beetle PCE [TurboGrafx-16] (schmurtzm)
This is the slower and more accurate version of the Beetle PCE FAST core. In my experience it has problems loading games on the Miyoo Mini Plus or having them work properly compared to the fast core. It may not be worth using for the average user since it requires much more tweaking.
To install, navigate to Apps -> Package Manager -> Expert -> NEC - TurboGrafx-16 (Beetle PCE).
Place roms in SD/Roms/PCE.
You can access the emulator from RetroArch or through the Expert App. The Expert App is merely a collection of shortcuts and needs to be installed using the Package Manager.
Ducky Obrien 