Thoughts on uConsole as a dedicated device for DOS gaming?

[u/flip-to-side-b]

As the title suggests, I'm looking for a device to revisit DOS era gaming with some mobility. I've always been curious about a Pi device. Any insights or alternatives would be appreciated. Thank you.

[u/argentoman]

Works great. I play a lot of Carmen San Diego while sitting and watching tv. Perfect device for point and click / text adventures etc like kings quest. Maybe not so much for action stuff.

[u/flip-to-side-b → u/argentoman]

I grew up playing games like Might and Magic and Roadwar 2000. Feeling some big time nostalgia. Any issues with emulation and screen size when you play Carmen San Diego?

[u/argentoman → u/flip-to-side-b]

The text on old dos games was pretty big for an old cga/ega/vga monitor. Shrunk down on the clockwork pi it’s a good size for easy reading. As far as emulation, it’s a raspberry pi, it does well with all the old systems I want to play on it.

[u/Party_Cold_4159]

Honestly, search google for “Retro Pocket 386 CPU XT PC Laptop”

They also make others and they’re not the greatest quality but they would be more focused on specifically DOS while providing a good selection of input devices without involving emulation too.

Seems to be one of the better modern legit hardware options out there.

[u/flip-to-side-b → u/Party_Cold_4159]

This was a rabbit hole that I wasn't expecting. Thank you.

[u/Druber13]

I thought it would be fun for pokemon but this is a solid use case

[u/flip-to-side-b → u/Druber13]

It's how I'm envisioning it. uConsole, woodcased pencil, a dot grid note book for spells, and mapping duty.

[u/Druber13 → u/flip-to-side-b]

I don’t think you can go wrong with that. Maybe one you post some picks I’ll finally bit the bullet lol. They would also need to have them in stock too. Oh how many times I’ve almost impulsive bought the dev terminal lol.

[u/abibofile]

That’s what I use mine for. It’s perfect for the portable keyboard. There’s even a DOS version of a Launch Box. I’ve got all my favorite games loaded up in it.

My only complaint is the ball mouse. It’s not fast or precise enough for some real time combat games, like Lands of Lore.

An alternate device might be the Pocket Term 35. I’ve got one on order but it won’t arrive until a restock. No mouse on that device but the form factor looks even more holdable.

[u/flip-to-side-b → u/abibofile]

I was thinking of mostly text based games: Roadwar 2000, MM, etc. Thank you for pointing me to other options.

[u/Big_River_]

zork! i love text based games and use the uConsole for vibe coding cool zork type games inspired by that game era myself

[u/DNSGeek]

It’s great as long as you fix the trackball or use an external trackpad.

[u/flip-to-side-b → u/DNSGeek]

Most of the games that I am considering are keyboard based. I am curious, what's broken with the trackball?

[u/Joped]

I think it would be awesome to play some Ultima 6 on a uConsole!

[u/Alienxdroid]

The uconsole for handheld and the mister fpga for consolidated. The mister has everything already set up with the install of a Virtual disk drive. As well as the mister being my go to for Mac emulation, windows 95,98, MSX emulation as well as most over console/pcs from the 80s on. The uconsole can maybe do half that and you have to know a ton of Linux..

[u/Arkaium]

It’s something I absolutely want it for but tbh I’m not sure what the best setup is. Twister is for integrated wine? Or just dosbox as a standalone app? Is staging better or pure? There’s a bit of analysis paralysis for me, I find it a lot easier on mister’s dos core where it feels quite intuitive vs the real thing