Hey everyone! Wanted to take a moment and share something I'm pretty excited about 
I've been a retro-gamer for a long time now and proudly still own all my own childhood original systems from Atari2600 through N64. But when my brother gifted me an old Raspberry Pi a few years ago, it opened a door to an ENTIRELY new world for me haha
In my career I've done software development for a long time, and when the existing retro-gaming options on the pi didn't do what I wanted, I started looking into different available software and hardware options. That obviously then led me to Pine64!
Over the last few years I've contributed to the development on a lot of different emulators and systems, and have had some great conversations with TL and Lukasz. With their blessings I was able to concentrate on making a brand new custom distribution dedicated to optimizing performance and support for Rockchip chipsets and the Pine64 products that use them.
Some of you may remember seeing something about "Retro-Cone" awhile back, and the store for Retro-Cone just went live:
The Retro Center.
To get us started, Retro Center's only console option is the RockBox, which is a Pine64 set-top-box with roughly the same specs as the Rock64. It also has the Roshambo Gamepad in-stock. More options and additional stock will continue to be added over time.
The RockBox (and all future console options in the store) will ship with this new distribution pre-installed and ready to game!
You can read all about the new software option, R-CADE on Retro Center's website, but the big things to highlight are probably these:
If you're considering buying a RockBox or Gamepad, be sure to join the Retro Center discord channel so you can grab those early-adopter discount codes!
If you already own a Rock64 or RockBox, I'll be adding releases for both on Retro Center's GitHub page later this week.
ALL FUN - NO WORK
GAME ON!!
I've been a retro-gamer for a long time now and proudly still own all my own childhood original systems from Atari2600 through N64. But when my brother gifted me an old Raspberry Pi a few years ago, it opened a door to an ENTIRELY new world for me haha
In my career I've done software development for a long time, and when the existing retro-gaming options on the pi didn't do what I wanted, I started looking into different available software and hardware options. That obviously then led me to Pine64!
Over the last few years I've contributed to the development on a lot of different emulators and systems, and have had some great conversations with TL and Lukasz. With their blessings I was able to concentrate on making a brand new custom distribution dedicated to optimizing performance and support for Rockchip chipsets and the Pine64 products that use them.
Some of you may remember seeing something about "Retro-Cone" awhile back, and the store for Retro-Cone just went live:
The Retro Center.
To get us started, Retro Center's only console option is the RockBox, which is a Pine64 set-top-box with roughly the same specs as the Rock64. It also has the Roshambo Gamepad in-stock. More options and additional stock will continue to be added over time.
The RockBox (and all future console options in the store) will ship with this new distribution pre-installed and ready to game!
You can read all about the new software option, R-CADE on Retro Center's website, but the big things to highlight are probably these:
- 100+ Emulators
- 4K UHD Media Playback at 60fps in Kodi
- Lightweight Web Browser
If you're considering buying a RockBox or Gamepad, be sure to join the Retro Center discord channel so you can grab those early-adopter discount codes!
If you already own a Rock64 or RockBox, I'll be adding releases for both on Retro Center's GitHub page later this week.
ALL FUN - NO WORK
GAME ON!!
