{"id":33532,"date":"2023-06-16T13:08:45","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T12:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/droix.net\/knowledge-base\/article\/custom-firmware-for-retro-handhelds\/"},"modified":"2023-12-07T17:07:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T17:07:14","slug":"custom-firmware-for-retro-handhelds","status":"publish","type":"kb","link":"https:\/\/droix.net\/knowledge-base\/en-gb\/article\/custom-firmware-for-retro-handhelds\/","title":{"rendered":"Custom Firmware for Retro Handhelds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Installing custom firmware is one of the best things you can do for your retro console. These community developed and maintained additions often offer better support for games, consoles and services that will take your retro gaming experience to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world of custom firmware and OSs can be a daunting one to step into, especially for the first time. In this guide we’re going to take you through some of the best options to upgrade your retro handheld. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Useful Software<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We’ll need a couple different pieces of software in this so here you can find the links to download them. Don’t worry the links will also be in the tutorial itself, this is just to keep them all collated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Software Name<\/strong><\/td>Download Link<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
7Zip<\/td>Download (7-zip.org)<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Skraper<\/td>Skraper<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Balena Etcher<\/td>balenaEtcher – Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
MiniTool Partition Wizard<\/td>https:\/\/cdn2.minitool.com\/?p=pw&e=pw-free<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
USB Image Tool<\/td>https:\/\/www.alexpage.de\/usb-image-tool\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Win32DiskImager<\/td>https:\/\/win32diskimager.org\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Custom Firmware for Retro Handhelds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We’re going to take a look at a couple different kinds of devices. In the world of retro handhelds, your big players are Miyoo, Anbernic and Retroid. This guide will focus primarily on Miyoo and Anbernic along with the custom firmware available for each. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miyoo<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This section of the guide will focus on the custom firmware options for the Miyoo Mini and the Miyoo Mini Plus+. These two handhelds come with stock Miyoo firmware, that you can learn to reinstall here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will cover three custom options for firmware. Firstly the popular OnionOS<\/a>, which we have covered in another guide here<\/a>, but we’ll briefly go over it again. Secondly we’ll look at Koriki <\/a>which, according to their GitHub page, is a fork of the SimpleMenu frontend. Koriki runs atop RetroArch and is adapted to the Miyoo Mini. Finally we will take a look at MiniUI<\/a>. MiniUI is an incredibly simple, even to a fault, custom launcher and integrated in-game menu for the Miyoo Mini and Miyoo Mini Plus+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before starting to install your custom firmware ensure that your stock firmware is up to date. You can download the latest firmware from here<\/a> for the Miyoo Mini and here <\/a>for the Miyoo Mini Plus+ and can install it by flashing the .img file within using Balena Etcher<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OnionOS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"GitHub<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Compatible Devices<\/strong><\/td>Download Link<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Miyoo Mini<\/td>Release Onion V4.1.4 \u00b7 OnionUI\/Onion \u00b7 GitHub<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Miyoo Mini Plus+<\/td>Release Onion V4.2.0.1-beta \u00b7 OnionUI\/Onion \u00b7 GitHub<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In-depth instructions for installing OnionOS can be found here<\/a>, however we will go over an abridged version. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


To install Onion OS on your Miyoo Retro Handheld, follow these steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prepare the MicroSD Card:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n