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southoz edited this page Jan 5, 2026 · 58 revisions

Welcome to the ArkOS-G80CA-MB wiki!

Firmware

  • Based on the ArkOS K36 Firmware with a modified Panel 8 and Panel 9 DTB file for the function button and 1512Mhz max speed.

Firmware Enhancements

  • Focus on speed.
  • Cleanup of unused emulators, cores, scripts, logs, etc
  • Added the function button to enable emulator menu access and emulationstation brightness control.

Firmware Installation

  • Follow the guide here

Firmware Upgrade

  • Follow the guide here

Firmware Led Behaviour

The LED on this device is very basic and is mainly controlled by hardware and the RK817 power management chip — not by a percentage like on some phones. The Battery Service, batt_led.servic, from ArkOS has now been disabled as it was calling battery_warning.py that was operating on GPIO 77 instead of the GPIO pins in the G80CA-MB.

How the LED works:

  • Blue = normal operation (device is on and battery is not critically low)
  • Red / Pink = charging (when plugged in)
  • Red = low battery warning (appears when the battery reaches ~10% or critically low voltage)

There is no smooth colour change (no yellow/orange), no percentage-based warning before ~10%, and no blinking in everyday use.
The LED only turns red quite late — when the battery is already very low.
Most users rely on the on-screen percentage (Settings → Show Battery → Icon + Text) and charge the device when it shows ~20–30% to have a safe margin.

G80CA-MB Limitations

  • Wireless is restricted by the limitations of output current on the OTG port. I have tried multiple adapters, but they keep disconnecting in the dmesg outputs
  • RTL8188EU drivers are included within the kernel
  • Volume is low, needs to be above 50%.
  • Battery charge indicators on the LED are hit and miss; the device will charge to 100% when running off the kernel

Helpful hints

  • Black Screen! - Hold the power button for 10 seconds, release, then push for 2 seconds.
  • I used the wrong DTB, and now my screen has fuzzy lines around the border! - Power off, remove the battery, wait 10 minutes, then try with the correct DTB.
  • I don't like the grey overlay or shaders used on handhelds! - See the guide here

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The guides below are for ArkOS-G80CA; once they are above this marker, they are relevant.

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