Homebrew Retroarch developer Natinusala have released LT4 Lakka with audio and Vulkan support! What is Lakka? Well if you haven’t been following the Homebrew scene that much, Lakka is a lightweight Linux distribution that transforms a small computer into a full-blown retro gaming console.
To be able to use Lakka you will have to use a separate SD card formatted to fat32, then you will have to inject Hekate in order to run it. Now, this may seem like a tedious trade off but the rewards are astounding! In this mode, you will be able to achieve fullspeed in n64, (GameCube –partially full speed) Dreamcast and Sega Saturn !! which wasn’t possible in Retroarch via Horizon mode. With audio support now available through our headphones and the switch front speakers, we are no longer limited to Bluetooth headphones.
It’s also worth mentioning that Rayman runs full speed on Dolphin core😉. If you interested in giving this a try then proceed to the download link and the documentation on how to install. For more news on Homebrew make sure to follow us @hackinformer.com
Changelog and features:
General system updates
- New Linux kernel and underlying operating system, based on Linux4Tegra and Jetson Nano drivers
- the mainline kernel has been deprecated
- system features should now be on par with the L4T Ubuntu distribution, except for dock support
- Bluetooth was lost in the battle and needs some rest to come back stronger
- aarch64 is now the default and mainly supported architecture
- arm has been deprecated since L4T doesn’t support it
- The new logo made with the help of jaames and the R:S community
New features and improvements
- Audio now works through the internal speakers and headphones
- The new GPU driver supports both Vulkan and OpenGL
- RAM is now locked at full speed (1600Mhz), was 800MHz before
- The system is now way more stable and should boot for everyone with a decent SD card (no more black screen of death)
- RetroArch has been updated to add menu widgets (fancy onscreen notifications)
- Overclock profiles have been updated :
- Renamed all profiles
- Added more overclock profiles
- Added underclock profiles
New cores
- mupen64plus-next (N64 emulator)
- The core is full speed, even on aarch64 thanks to the new dynarec
- Includes the updated version of the GlideN renderer
- picodrive (various Sega consoles)
- The core replaces Genesis Plus GX (Game Gear support has been dropped)
- Beetle PSX HW (PSX emulator with OpenGL and Vulkan renderer)
- The core performs worse than PCSX ReARMed for now, even with Vulkan
- reicast (Dreamcast emulator)
- The core is full speed on all commercial games, no visual glitches
- The OIT renderer works (better accuracy), speed is still good on 1x resolution
- The core needs the Dreamcast BIOS files to be placed in /lakka/storage/system/DC
- WinCE games are currently not supported – there is a WinCE version of the reicast core in the works but the aarch64 dynarec is too slow for the games to be playable (for now)
- Yaba Sanshiro (Saturn emulator)
- The core is full speed on all commercial games
- Yabause and Kronos were also added but both perform worse than Yaba Sanshiro
- theodore (Thomson MO/TO emulator)
Updated cores
- Dolphin : Vulkan support
- With Vulkan, Dolphin runs decently – some games are playable, some are full speed… see for yourself, try it and experiment with different games and settings!
- PCSX ReARMed : Switch optimizations and CHD support
- PPSSPP : doesn’t crash anymore when closing content
Removed cores
- mupen64plus
- parallel-n64
- Genesis Plus GX
- Ishiiruka
- It might come back once the core is updated with the (beta) Vulkan renderer
Credits
- Kernel and drivers work: NVIDIA, switchroot team (especially ByLaws and langerhans)
- Lakka Switch work: natinusala and plaidman
- RetroArch, original Lakka distribution: libretro team
- mupen64plus-next: Gillou and m4xw
- PCSX ReARMed: Switch optimizations by m4xw, CHD support by aliaspider
- Dolphin core: aliaspider
reicast core: flyinghead
DOWNLOAD LINK AND DOCUMENTATION