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Welcome to The FunKey Wiki, the host of information, tutorials, and user-generated content for the FunKey S!



NEWS

What's up, FunKey? Episode 16


Hello Kickstarter! As FunKey S fulfillment has gotten closer these posts have gotten shorter due to us having fewer updates to share, however, we still have several topics to discuss today. Production is up first!

Production
Everything is going well, with the shipment process still on track to begin in mid-December. Since last week's update the team at the production facility has been working very hard to finish assembling your FunKey S units! We've arranged with the shipping company to send backers their shipment tracking information when the shipping process begins, so keep an eye on your email inbox!

Development
Do you guys know about Gmenu2X? It's a popular launcher in the retro gaming community that is commonly used on emulation devices, including the RG350 and PocketGo systems. With the FunKey S we instead created FunKey-OS using RetroFE as a launcher, allowing us to optimize the user interface and themes for the device's small screen. As Gmenu2X is a feature-rich alternative that provides developers and tinkerers easy access to the system to create custom software, we have decided to add support for it in an upcoming update to FunKey-OS. A lightweight alternative to the current launcher, it will be another tool that developers can use to create and share additional apps and emulators for the FunKey S! 😊

On the subject of developers, some are already hard at work! The well-known emulation scene developer gameblabla received a prototype several days ago and has already ported several emulators and apps to the FunKey S. This includes VBA-next, a Game Boy Advance emulator that will have a better compatability rate and won't require a copy of the GBA BIOS to function. This shows the true power of open source projects!

Community
The FunKey Wiki created by CoolieCoolster continues to be improved, with a Polish translation of it currently in the works by ZnowuCośZepsułem (Witajcie polscy przyjaciele! 👋). As always, we thank them and and the rest of our supporters for their continued enthusiasm and support! Whether it's here on Kickstarter, Instagram, Twitter, or the community Discord server, while we might not answer all comments, be assured that we read all of them and deeply appreciate the heartwarming support.

We'll end this episode here with a new picture of our dear Retro Grey FunKey S. We hope you like it! See you next Friday for what might be the final update!

-The FunKey Team

This post has been copyedited and reformatted from the original version on Kickstarter

View past news in

FAQ

What is the purpose of this wiki?
The purpose of this wiki is to serve as a database of information related to the FunKey S. This includes information about the FunKey S hardware, firmware, compatible homebrew games, and third-party software released for the device. After the FunKey S is released, more pages will be created to host tutorials, user-generated content, and other resources to assist people who have or are interested in getting a FunKey S. As the FunKey Wiki is run by the community independently of the FunKey Team, there may at times be erroneous or inconsistent information listed. If there is a piece of information that you are unsure or have further questions about, you are encouraged to [mailto:support@funkey-project.com contact] the FunKey Team directly. If you see information that you know is incorrect, you may leave a message on the talk page of the wiki admin, who will fix the error as soon as possible.



What is the FunKey S?
The FunKey S is a foldable portable emulation device that is designed to fit onto a keychain. Through emulators on its FunKey-OS operating system, the FunKey S can emulate a wide variety of systems, including the NES, PS1, and GBA. Greatly resembling the larger Game Boy Advance SP, the FunKey S is currently sold in three colors, Original Purple, Retro Grey, and Atomic Purple. The system comes with a 32GB MicroSD card to store the system's firmware and any software the user wishes to install onto the device and can be replaced by the user with higher capacity MicroSD cards. While the FunKey S has only been tested and verified to work with MicroSD cards with capacities up to 128GB, MicroSD cards with capacities up to the 2TB maximum of the MicroSDXC standard should also be compatible. To facilitate attaching the device to a keychain, the FunKey S has a metallic needle built into the bottom left corner of the device around which a keychain lanyard can be tied.

What is included with the FunKey S?
Included with the FunKey S is a 32GB MicroSD card to store the device's firmware and added software, a Micro-USB cable to charge the device, update its firmare, and add games, a keychain lanyard to attach the device to a keychain, a user manual, and four replacement button sets (red, blue, yellow, and green) that can be used to change the colors of the system's buttons.

What buttons does the FunKey S have?
The system has thirteen buttons built into it: four directional buttons, four action buttons, two trigger buttons, a START button, and two system buttons. The top-right system button is the Menu button, while the one to the left of the START button is the Fn button. The Menu button has two purposes: a short press activates the system menu, allowing the user to modify settings or return to the main menu, while a long press turns the system on or off. The Fn (Function) button is used to activate alternative inputs on various buttons of the FunKey S. In terms of buttons used for gameplay, pressing the Fn button prior to START, L, or R will activate SELECT, L2, and R2, respectively. The other uses of the Fn button are shortcuts to modify several system settings without needing to go to the system's settings menu. The settings that can be modified with the use of the Fn button are brightness (X and B), volume (Y and A), zoom (RIGHT and LEFT), and aspect ratio (DOWN). While FunKey S systems come by default with either white or grey buttons (depending on which system color is ordered), aside from the L and R buttons these can be swapped out individually with the included green, blue, red, and yellow extra button sets.

Which systems can the FunKey S emulate?
The currently supported systems are the NES, Master System, Sega Genesis (Sega Mega Drive), Game Boy, TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine), Atari Lynx, Game Gear, SNES, PlayStation, Game Boy Color, Neo Geo Pocket, WonderSwan, and Game Boy Advance. Support for emulating other systems is planned for future updates to FunKey OS.

What software is pre-installed onto the FunKey S?
The FunKey S runs FunKey-OS, a custom Linux-based operating system. The system comes with several emulators and games out of the box, with future updates to the operating system adding support for more emulators. Users can add their own games to the device by connecting it to a computer and placing ROM files in the game folders of the corresponding emulators. The files used to build the FunKey-OS firmware are open source and available on the FunKey Team's GitHub page.

Why are there no commercial games included with the FunKey S?
As the unlicensed distribution of video game properties on an emulation system such as the FunKey S would constitute illegal piracy, only freely distributable homebrew games are included on the system. This means that users seeking to play games originally released commercially on emulated systems must extract ROM backups from their own copies of such games for use on their own systems. Alternatively, a number of games originally licensed for emulated systems are now available digitally on platforms such as Steam, with the ROMs of those games often extractable for personal use in external emulators such as the FunKey S. A list of such games is available on this page of the FunKey Wiki.

Where can I find additional software for the FunKey S?
While users can put ROM backups of physical and digital commercial games that they own onto the FunKey S, there are also many freeware options that can be legally downloaded and used on the system. Since the FunKey S operating system, FunKey-OS, is open source, developers are able to develop and share their own apps and games for the platform. Additionally, hundreds of freely available homebrew games have been released for various systems over the past three decades, many of which being available for download on homebrew lists across the Internet. The FunKey Wiki maintains lists of emulatable software, including freeware games, commercial games, and utilities.

Is multiplayer possible on the FunKey S?
As the FunKey S has neither system link cable support nor the ability to connect additional controllers, multiplayer modes that require these features are not useable on the device. However, multiplayer modes that are implemented in a hotseat manner (one controller with one system) are useable on the FunKey S. While the majority of games that implement this mode do so using a "pass-and-play" method where players take turns (usually turn-based sports, strategy, and tabletop games), several instead have two players use the same controller simultaneously. Users interested in seeing which games emulatable on the FunKey S use hotseat multiplayer may view the wiki's comprehensive list of such games.

Where can I find game box art?
Users searching for game box art are recommended to visit Libretro's GitHub page of thumbnail repositories. Due to several of these lists being truncated or having sub-par box art scans, however, it is also suggested that users visit the subsequently linked-to repositories for NES, TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine, Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES, GBA, and PS1 game box art. Since the image representing a game on the FunKey S is the image in the file directory that shares a name with that game, users may also use custom box art or other images to represent their games on the FunKey S. Since large image files take longer to load in on the main menu of the FunKey S, for an optimal scrolling experience it is recommended that users downscale their thumbnails to at or below 240x240, the maximum resolution of the FunKey S.

What are the technical specifications of the FunKey S?
  Dimensions (folded)

  Dimensions (unfolded)

  Display (240x240 LCD IPS)

  Weight

  Operating system

  Processor

  RAM

  Refresh rate

  Storage

  Audio

  Battery

  Ports

 Dimensions (folded)

 Dimensions (unfolded)

 Display (240x240 LCD IPS)

 Weight

 Operating system

 Processor

 RAM

 Refresh rate

 Storage

 Audio

 Battery

 Ports

Where can I find FunKey S device schematics and 3D files?
The FunKey Team has FunKey S schematics, STL files, and a project STEP file for the device's shell components available on Grabcad. Schematics for the device's electrical components are available on the FunKey Team's GitHub page. As the device's hardware is open source, users are free to download, modify, and redistribute the listed files.

How long does the FunKey S battery last?
On a sixty minute full charge, the FunKey S has a median battery life of an hour and forty-five minutes. While the FunKey S charge time was originally listed as twenty minutes prior to mass production, further testing showed that implementation of the longer sixty minute charge time was necessary to protect the long-term health of the system's battery. Since the device's battery life is impacted by CPU usage and brightness and audio levels, there can be significant deviation from the median by roughly thirty minutes in either direction. In practice, this means that low-intensity emulation such as that of the Game Boy will result in above-average battery life, while high-intensity emulation such as that of the PlayStation will result in below-average battery life. Additionally, the device has a blue LED light that indicates when it is charging, with a battery symbol in the top right corner of the main menu indicating the current charge level. When the FunKey S begins to run low on charge, a charging notification appears on screen.

Does the FunKey S support RTC (real-time clock) functionality?
The FunKey S supports the RTC functionalities used by Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games, such as Harvest Moon GBC, Pokemon Crystal, and Pokemon Emerald. It does this by siphoning an extremely small amount of charge from the FunKey S battery, allowing games that employ the feature to keep track of time. RTC functionality is still preserved even if the FunKey S is turned off or runs out of charge, as there is a buffer of charge persevered for such an instance.

Why does the FunKey S need emulated system BIOS files?
Emulators function using either low-level emulation (LLE) or high-level emulation (HLE), with the former directly emulating the processes of the original system and the latter merely simulating them. While both methods are commonly used and have distinct benefits, the truer 'emulation' of LLE means emulators that use this method require the system ROM of the original hardware to function. This ROM, known as the BIOS, performs system-critical tasks for many systems, with neither the original hardware nor an LLE emulator of that hardware being functional without the associated BIOS file. In the case of the FunKey S, while the majority of its emulated systems do not require BIOS files, there are two that do: the PlayStation and Game Boy Advance. As with video game ROMs, BIOS ROMs are protected by copyright restrictions and thus also cannot be legally distributed with the FunKey S. Users may extract BIOS ROM files from PlayStation and Game Boy Advance units that they own and add them to the FunKey S emulators for those systems to render them functional. Once a tutorial for adding BIOS files to emulators is written, it will be linked to here.

Why doesn't the FunKey S have more than 64 MB of RAM?
While several handheld emulation systems with similar capabilities to the FunKey S include several times more RAM than it, the lightweight Linux distribution used by the FunKey S, in addition to its carefully chosen and optimized collection of emulators, allows it to emulate games at relatively high levels of accuracy while using comparatively little RAM. The inclusion of additional RAM in the FunKey S, while possible, would not result in improved performance or additional emulation capabilities.

Why doesn't the FunKey S have a 60 FPS refresh rate?
The display of the FunKey S refreshes at a maximum rate of 50 FPS due to that being the maximum writing speed of data being sent from the processor to the internal graphics memory of the display, which, if not limited by the processor, would have a maximum refresh rate of 120 FPS. Since NTSC games are still emulated accurately, however, games with framerates higher than that of the FunKey S function normally, only missing ten frames each second while experiencing no screen tearing between the remaining frames.

Why doesn't the FunKey S have USB-C and auxiliary (headphone jack) ports?
The small form factor of the FunKey S made the use of Micro-USB instead of USB-C necessary and left no room for an auxiliary port for headphones or external speakers. While the Micro-USB standard supports the output of video and audio data signals by a host device, the limited space inside the device also made adding this functionality to the FunKey S not possible. Despite this, the FunKey Wiki lists such hardware suggestions at the wiki's Suggestion Center, as there is a chance that they could be implemented in future devices released by the FunKey Team.

Are there any games that aren't emulated properly on the FunKey S?
While the average emulation quality of the FunKey S emulators is relatively high, the device does have several games that are not able to be emulated properly on it for a variety of reasons. These include incompatible controls, unemulated specialty hardware, and emulation imperfections, among others. The current list of games that are believed to be incompatible with the FunKey S is listed here.

Where can I buy a FunKey S?
The FunKey S is currently available on BackerKit for €65 (~US$78.75) plus shipping costs. While applicable taxes may vary depending on region, VAT (value added tax) is generally included in the price of the FunKey S. The initial batch of devices will be shipped from mid to late December 2020 to those who completed their FunKey S fulfillment surveys prior to the mid-October 2020 cutoff date. The devices of those who missed or submitted orders after the survey cutoff date will be fulfilled at a later date, likely at least one month after.

Where can I get accessories for the FunKey S?
Although the FunKey Team is not currently selling any accessories for the FunKey S aside from what is included with it, the editors of this wiki have compiled a list of products that can be used in conjunction with the FunKey S, including adapters, power banks, cables, pouches, and keychain decorations. To match the FunKey S keychain aesthetic, all accessories listed have been checked to not exceed size or weight levels that would make putting them on a keychain difficult and/or inconvenient. Additionally, all items on the list have been checked (to the best ability of the editors) for description accuracy, payment security, and product reliability. Despite this, prior to buying any accessory please be sure to verify that it meets your requirements, as neither the FunKey Wiki editors nor the FunKey Team is responsible for the reliability of third-party products.

Can I develop software for the FunKey S?
As both the hardware specifications and operating system of the FunKey S will be made open-source, users will be able and encouraged to create their own software for the device and share it with others. After the FunKey OS has been made open-source, the wiki's Developer Center will be updated with relevant information to assist users in making their own software for the device. The FunKey Wiki will also maintain a database of all publicly available software developed for the FunKey S, so developers who wish to create an article for their software or add it to one of the lists can either edit the wiki themselves or ask a wiki editor to do so for them.

Who is the FunKey Team?
Based in the city of Bordeaux in southwestern France, the FunKey Team is comprised of four people: Vincent, Michel, David, and Killian. Having originated from the Keymu system designed by Vincent and Michel in 2017, the group expanded and developed the FunKey S based on positive viewer and media reactions to their initial Keymu prototype.

How can I contact the FunKey Team?
While the FunKey Team's numerous social media pages are represented with the icons at the top of this page, they can be contacted directly via the contact page on their website. If you wish to email them, questions regarding the FunKey S can be sent to their [mailto:support@funkey-project.com support] email address, while other inquiries can be sent to their [mailto:contact@funkey-project.com contact] email address.

Where can I find FunKey S news updates?
In addition to the email newsletter on their website, the FunKey Team posts regular updates about the FunKey S on Kickstarter. Recent news updates are regularly reformatted and posted on the main page of The FunKey Wiki, with summaries of past news updates available at the The FunKey Times.

Who edits The FunKey Wiki?
The FunKey Wiki is a community-managed database of FunKey S information, operated and edited independently of the FunKey Team. Currently, the Administrator of and primary contributor to The FunKey Wiki is CoolieCoolster, but anyone is free to contribute to the improvement of the wiki!

How can I edit The FunKey Wiki?
Since The FunKey Wiki uses the MediaWiki wiki engine, the same markdown format that is used to edit other MediaWiki wikis such as Wikipedia is also used here. If you wish to learn the MediaWiki markdown format, MediaWiki has several tutorials on their website in addition to a Discord server where users can ask questions, but if you have any specific questions about editing or templates used on The FunKey Wiki, you may also ask the FunKey Wiki admin.

How can I translate The FunKey Wiki?
Users who are fluent in a language other than English are encouraged to translate one or more of the wiki's pages into that language to improve the helpfulness of the wiki. To translate any page marked for translation, select the "Translate" text above the list of the available languages at the top of that page. If a page has already been translated into a language that you speak fluently, you are free to analyze and improve the translation. If you have translated a page but are unsure on how to implement the translation, feel free to ask the FunKey Wiki admin for assistance. For more information about translating on the FunKey Wiki, visit the Translation Center.

What platform does The FunKey Wiki run on?
The FunKey Wiki is powered by MediaWiki, an open-source wiki engine that is used by many wikis, including Wikipedia. The FunKey Wiki is hosted by Miraheze, a non-profit wiki farm that hosts thousands of wikis ad-free at no charge. If you wish to support the hosting of The FunKey Wiki or create a wiki of your own, visit their website!