BananaOS 0.2.0 (pre-alpha)

BananaOS 0.2.0 (pre-alpha) for the Anbernic RG DS and RG DS Plus. A faster, calmer menu, Settings in groups, a new keyboard, RetroAchievements in BananaDS, notifications in ROCKNIXDS's look, and fixes for the RG DS Plus's volume, frame rate and charging light.

RG DS (non-Plus): its files are still building and will be added to this release shortly. The RG DS Plus files are here now.

Install or update

• New card: write banana-rgds.img.gz (RG DS) or banana-rgds-plus.img.gz (RG DS Plus) to a microSD card with balenaEtcher. The first boot makes the data partition from the rest of the card.
• From 0.1.0: put banana-<handheld>-0.2.0.update.tar in banana/updates on the card (file sharing, or the card in a computer), then Settings > System > Update. It is written to the card's other system slot and runs from the next restart; 0.1.0 stays one restart away (Previous version). Your games, saves and settings stay.

The menu

• Settings in groups: Start opens six tiles in the in-game menu's look (Display & sound, Sleep & power, Nintendo DS, Other systems, Network, System). A opens a group, B goes back, L and R go to the next group.
• A new keyboard for Wi-Fi passwords and accounts: what you type sits right above the keys, the selected key is yellow, the keys are bigger, and the buttons are labelled at the bottom (B delete, X capitals, L symbols, Y space, START done).
• Faster and lighter: the menu redraws only what changed. Idle on the home screen it uses about 0.4% of a CPU core (0.1.0: about 11%). The icon and covers no longer bob.
• Volume and brightness show on screen: a pill at the top of the top screen in ROCKNIXDS's look (speaker or sun, 10-segment bar, percent), in the menu and during DS games.
• The RetroAchievements account is checked in the setup: right after the password, a pop-up says "Logged in as … · points", or that the name or password is wrong, or that there is no connection.
• ScreenScraper is shown in the setup but greyed out: no scraper uses it yet.

Nintendo DS (BananaDS)

• RetroAchievements (softcore), with the setup's account: a "logged in" card, the game's card with its progress, and unlock pop-ups with badges, sliding in along the top as in ROCKNIXDS. The in-game menu (L3) shows the progress and the latest unlocks.
• 60 frames a second with a shader on the RG DS Plus (it showed about 40 with Dot (MiZai, RG DS+)): each frame is now shaded ahead of the panels' flip.
• SuperDrastic: a TERM stops DraStic cleanly when SuperDrastic can't take the display.

RG DS Plus

• Volume works: the volume keys and Settings > Volume now change both speaker amplifiers (they did nothing in 0.1.0).
• The charging light stays on for as long as the charger is plugged in, also with the lid closed: while charging, closing the lid turns the screens off and pauses the game but keeps the handheld awake (sleep would put the light out). Unplugged with the lid shut, it sleeps as before. The menu doesn't auto-sleep while charging.

Known issues

• The menu is drawn by the CPU; scrolling fast through a long list still keeps one core busy.
• No box-art scraper yet (planned: libretro thumbnails, no account needed).
• No Bluetooth. Each handheld has its own image.

Tested on an RG DS Plus as test builds before release. The RG DS ran the build just before these changes; this release is not yet tested on one.