The first piece of custom firmware for Anbernic’s ARC-D handheld has arrived, and it’s surprisingly simple to install.
What Is GammaOS?
One of the many things I love about retro consoles is just how customizable they are. Don’t like the stock operating system? Chances are if it’s an Anbernic console, you can replace it with something more stylish.
GammaOS is a version of Android that strips out the main frontend and replaces it with the custom ROM launcher Daijisho. I know a few people who prefer Daijisho as a launcher and it’s something I actually installed on the stock version of Android on my ARC-D.
What’s cool about GammaOS is as well as custom ROM launchers, you’ve also got access to any installed apps and you can still access any Android settings. You can also switch performance modes by holding L1, R1, and the d-pad in, which is great if you want to save some battery power when playing lower-spec games.
As I noted in my review of the ARC-D, I wasn’t able to get the Google Play Store installed. Thankfully, The Gamma Squeeze, the creator of GammaOS, is much smarter than me and was able to get it running with minimal effort. Just install GammaOS and Google Play will be there waiting for you. Nice!
How to Install GammaOS.
The video above shows the steps in-depth, but honestly, it’s really easy to get GammaOS installed on the ARC-D. Just keep in mind, you’ll lose your stock Android operating system and the memory card you use during this process will need to be formatted.
If you do decide you prefer the Anbernic Linux or Android setup, head over to the Anbernic website where you can download the respective operating systems to reinstall them in a similar fashion to GammaOS.
- Download the ARC-D GammaOS image from the GitHub here.
- Extract the newly downloaded file to its own folder.
- Insert your microSD into your Windows computer.
- Open the extracted SDDiskTool_v1.69 folder, and inside run SD_Firmware_Tool.exe.
- When the Rockchip program opens, make sure “Upgrade Firmware” is ticked then click on “Firmware”.
- Navigate to the extracted folder and select the GammaOS ‘img’ file for the ARC-D.
- Click on “Create” then “Yes” to let it write to and format the SD card.
- When that’s complete, close the window and safely eject the SD card.
- Plug the SD card into the TFT Slot 1 on the ARC-D (that’s the left slot) and turn the device on.
- The firmware will now install.
The installation part takes a long time. It was well over 10 minutes for me. The screen may also go black and it may need rebooting occasionally. I only needed to do that once, but each handheld is unique, so don’t be surprised if yours is slightly different from mine.
Is it Worth It?
The upshot of GammaOS is it replaces Anbernic’s generic Android game launcher with the more stylish Daijisho. It even configures some of the emulators for you without needing to as well.
But in terms of performance, GammaOS doesn’t offer anything different from the current stock Android yet. That may change in the future, but right now, the performance is identical from my own tests.
Of course, if you’d prefer to have a nicer look and access to Google Play, this one comes easy to recommend. For me personally, though, I’m switching back until something with a greater performance boost comes along.
