The first console with AMD Ryzen Z1 APU released ASUS ROG Ally features Zen4 and RDNA3 architectures. The day has come, says AMD. ASUS has finally launched its ROG Ally gaming console based on AMD hardware. This is the first handheld console developed by ASUS and the first console to ever feature the AMD Ryzen […]
only 2 back triggers to learn to avoid and/or deal with
minus:
single usb-c
it’s on the top
no nifty touchpads
cloud restore only works if your warranty is active apparently which i promise will be annoying
nightmare:
the windows 11 and asus trashware startup experience; i mean my god, i had to do the cloud reinstall to even login to the thing reliably
on first boot OOBE i tried to just login with my existing personal ms account which i guess was my first mistake, but it worked fine. i added a fingerprint and it also worked fine. i then added a PIN and it also worked fine. windows downloaded updates and demanded a reboot which is fine. it rebooted and i logged in with a thumbprint just fine. then armoury crate said HEY FIRMWARE UPDATE DEMANDS REBOOT so ok fine reboot and down the spiral we go. fingerprint doesn’t work. PIN fails, “something went wrong” with a side of 0xd0000225 over and over. check bios, v317. event viewer says something about some exe with “biometric” in its title failing repeatedly. looks like i have to update through armory crate again? oh, the asus app? does that require me to sign up? it sure looks like it does… ok no, just dark patterns. more updates. more failed login attempts and the most alerts from MS authenticator i’ve ever had in one afternoon. bios v319, windows and my asus and armoire box all claim everything’s as up to date as one can get, but you’re sure gonna have to get a notification and cancel a request to reset your PIN on each login
i genuinely thought it might be headed for a refund, but shift+f10 and OOBE\BYPASSNRO after cloud restore let me make a local account and it’s been smooth since, but i’ve barely installed we <3 katamari reroll on it
This is the main reason I won’t be getting rid of my Steam Deck for the Ally. Setup was super smooth, and for the most part everything just works. Barring a few issues with proton here and there, but I haven’t had many with the games I play. Windows on a handheld sounds like a craptastic idea to me.
Especially if you don’t want to log in with Microsoft’s spyware account. You need a keyboard to hit a cryptic keybind to get to a console to enter some stupid command to bypass the hard requirement of having Internet to set up the device, which purely exists to force you through the Microsoft account login process. It’s absolute bullshit. Windows 11 is a disaster. I plan to ditch Windows entirely on my Ally but need it just long enough to finish reverse engineering the RGB control.
It’s complicated. I work for a FOSS company and I like what the WINE team and Valve have accomplished with proton. However, a lot of games struggle with cut scenes even with GE proton. A couple examples are Call of Juarez Gunslinger (the cut scene audio is crackly) and Persona 5 strikers (the cutscenes are missing the dialog). Games that will not enable the anticheat are also, obviously, a no go. Not the fault of Linux or Valve, but still a consideration.
One other feature that Windows offers is cloud syncing for games that store their saves in the user’s Documents folder if they enable onedrive. For games without Steam cloud saves, it’s simpler than setting up syncthing or copying the saves manually.
I picked up a ROG Ally yesterday and I also own a Steamdeck. The Ally definitely has rougher edges in software. I’m still debating if I am going to keep it, but some of the Windows pros are a strong consideration. I think what is unsung is how flawless the Switch is with it’s docking and undocking experience. IMO neither the Deck or the Ally come close in that regard.
I want to install ChimeraOS on my Ally eventually. I have two Steam Decks and I love Linux gaming, but the Ally is very compelling as a hardware platform. Windows on a handheld is an atrocious experience, especially if you don’t want to submit to Microsoft’s garbage spyware account BS and create a local account. Had to plug in a dock and keyboard just to get through the damn setup. I’m only tolerating Windows long enough to reverse engineer the RGB control. I tried to install ChimeraOS to a microSD card which worked, but the BIOS does not appear to be able to boot from SD. I tweeted at ROG Ally about this and they responded so maybe they’ll ask their BIOS vendor to do something about this in a future update. I was able to boot the ChimeraOS card when in an external reader, but the built in WiFi wasn’t detected so I couldn’t do too much. It got to a GNOME desktop, which admittedly ran quite smoothly. I need to experiment again with having Ethernet connected.
How did you manage to launch CMD from the Ally? Is it possible using the built-in touch keyboard during setup? I don’t have a USB-C keyboard to connect, unfortunately.
plus:
minus:
nightmare:
on first boot OOBE i tried to just login with my existing personal ms account which i guess was my first mistake, but it worked fine. i added a fingerprint and it also worked fine. i then added a PIN and it also worked fine. windows downloaded updates and demanded a reboot which is fine. it rebooted and i logged in with a thumbprint just fine. then armoury crate said HEY FIRMWARE UPDATE DEMANDS REBOOT so ok fine reboot and down the spiral we go. fingerprint doesn’t work. PIN fails, “something went wrong” with a side of 0xd0000225 over and over. check bios, v317. event viewer says something about some exe with “biometric” in its title failing repeatedly. looks like i have to update through armory crate again? oh, the asus app? does that require me to sign up? it sure looks like it does… ok no, just dark patterns. more updates. more failed login attempts and the most alerts from MS authenticator i’ve ever had in one afternoon. bios v319, windows and my asus and armoire box all claim everything’s as up to date as one can get, but you’re sure gonna have to get a notification and cancel a request to reset your PIN on each login
i genuinely thought it might be headed for a refund, but shift+f10 and
OOBE\BYPASSNROafter cloud restore let me make a local account and it’s been smooth since, but i’ve barely installed we <3 katamari reroll on itThe more I hear about Windows these last few years, the more it feels like I got out just in time.
Gaming on Linux just keeps getting better, and doing anything on Windows just keeps getting worse.
the steam deck OOBE was genuinely fifty times smoother than this :|
This is the main reason I won’t be getting rid of my Steam Deck for the Ally. Setup was super smooth, and for the most part everything just works. Barring a few issues with proton here and there, but I haven’t had many with the games I play. Windows on a handheld sounds like a craptastic idea to me.
Especially if you don’t want to log in with Microsoft’s spyware account. You need a keyboard to hit a cryptic keybind to get to a console to enter some stupid command to bypass the hard requirement of having Internet to set up the device, which purely exists to force you through the Microsoft account login process. It’s absolute bullshit. Windows 11 is a disaster. I plan to ditch Windows entirely on my Ally but need it just long enough to finish reverse engineering the RGB control.
It’s complicated. I work for a FOSS company and I like what the WINE team and Valve have accomplished with proton. However, a lot of games struggle with cut scenes even with GE proton. A couple examples are Call of Juarez Gunslinger (the cut scene audio is crackly) and Persona 5 strikers (the cutscenes are missing the dialog). Games that will not enable the anticheat are also, obviously, a no go. Not the fault of Linux or Valve, but still a consideration.
One other feature that Windows offers is cloud syncing for games that store their saves in the user’s Documents folder if they enable onedrive. For games without Steam cloud saves, it’s simpler than setting up syncthing or copying the saves manually.
I picked up a ROG Ally yesterday and I also own a Steamdeck. The Ally definitely has rougher edges in software. I’m still debating if I am going to keep it, but some of the Windows pros are a strong consideration. I think what is unsung is how flawless the Switch is with it’s docking and undocking experience. IMO neither the Deck or the Ally come close in that regard.
I want to install ChimeraOS on my Ally eventually. I have two Steam Decks and I love Linux gaming, but the Ally is very compelling as a hardware platform. Windows on a handheld is an atrocious experience, especially if you don’t want to submit to Microsoft’s garbage spyware account BS and create a local account. Had to plug in a dock and keyboard just to get through the damn setup. I’m only tolerating Windows long enough to reverse engineer the RGB control. I tried to install ChimeraOS to a microSD card which worked, but the BIOS does not appear to be able to boot from SD. I tweeted at ROG Ally about this and they responded so maybe they’ll ask their BIOS vendor to do something about this in a future update. I was able to boot the ChimeraOS card when in an external reader, but the built in WiFi wasn’t detected so I couldn’t do too much. It got to a GNOME desktop, which admittedly ran quite smoothly. I need to experiment again with having Ethernet connected.
How did you manage to launch CMD from the Ally? Is it possible using the built-in touch keyboard during setup? I don’t have a USB-C keyboard to connect, unfortunately.