FOSSPicks
SameBoy
It's hard to believe that Nintendo's Game Boy is now over 30 years old. Like the Sony Walkman, it was a device that defined a generation, letting them play Tetris, Super Mario Land, and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening wherever they wanted. It also paved the way for modern hand-held gaming, from PokÈmon on a smartphone to the success of the Nintendo Switch and even Valve's hugely hyped Linux handheld, the Steam Deck. What's even more remarkable is that the CPU in the Game Boy was based on the humble Z80, with only 8KiB of internal memory expanded by the ROM cartridges and a screen resolution of 160x144 pixels. Despite this, the playability of many of its games still stands up, all these years later, which is of course why we have emulation.
SameBoy is a Game Boy emulator that's easy to use and presents all the options you'll ever need. It's also authentic, sticking with the super low resolution of the original display, which can look comically pixelated on today's screens. However, SameBoy can also emulate the later Game Boy Color console, which modernizes things a little and requires very few resources from a modern system. It's also easy to use. You simply drag and drop the game you want to play into the main window and SameBoy will react just like the original console. You can change the graphical scaling algorithms, the keyboard and joystick input assignments, and the audio quality. There's even an option to mix background interference into the audio, just like on the original, and the entire experience feels very accurate. If you've not played with a Game Boy for a couple of decades, SameBoy is the perfect excuse to give it another try.
Project Website
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
NVIDIA Released Driver for Upcoming NVIDIA 560 GPU for Linux
Not only has NVIDIA released the driver for its upcoming CPU series, it's the first release that defaults to using open-source GPU kernel modules.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 24.07 Released
If you’re into rolling release Linux distributions, OpenMandriva ROME has a new snapshot with a new kernel.
-
Kernel 6.10 Available for General Usage
Linus Torvalds has released the 6.10 kernel and it includes significant performance increases for Intel Core hybrid systems and more.
-
TUXEDO Computers Releases InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 Laptop
Sporting either AMD or Intel CPUs, the TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 is an extremely compact, lightweight, sturdy powerhouse.
-
Google Extends Support for Linux Kernels Used for Android
Because the LTS Linux kernel releases are so important to Android, Google has decided to extend the support period beyond that offered by the kernel development team.
-
Linux Mint 22 Stable Delayed
If you're anxious about getting your hands on the stable release of Linux Mint 22, it looks as if you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
-
Nitrux 3.5.1 Available for Install
The latest version of the immutable, systemd-free distribution includes an updated kernel and NVIDIA driver.
-
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.