The People Who Put Emulators on Your Steam Deck Now Want to Sell You a Linux Console

Before we get into the console, we must know some background information.

EmuDeck is an installation script that simplifies setting up emulators on the Steam Deck and other SteamOS devices. It handles emulator configuration, hotkeys, and most of the tedious setup work that retro gaming on Linux would otherwise involve.

Back in 2024, the project lead, Dragoon Dorise, launched an IndieGoGo campaign for EmuDeck Machines, a pair of Linux mini PCs built for couch gaming in a Dreamcast-inspired 3D-printed case. The idea was to make hardware as approachable as EmuDeck had made software.

But it never shipped. Funding fell short of what manufacturing required, and the project quietly died. Now, EmuDeck is rejoining the gaming hardware space with a Linux-powered gaming console that looks a lot like an Xbox Series S.

Playnix Console: For Linux Gamers

The Playnix Console is powered by a six-core AMD Ryzen 5 5500, which is running at 3.6 GHz and has a 65W TDP. Graphics duties are handled by an AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT. It is an RDNA4 card with 32 compute units, 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM, and a 150W TDP.

For the memory, 16GB of DDR4-3200 in dual-channel configuration is on offer, and given how absurd RAM prices have been lately, this seems like a sensible call over packing in more at added cost.

Cooling is handled by Noctua and Thermalright fans, with claims that the console stays around 65 °C during 4K gaming while maintaining quiet operation.

What makes it a Linux gaming console is that it ships with PlaynixOS, a custom Arch Linux-based distro developed by Playnix that boots straight into Steam's gaming mode, with updates being handled in the background.

Of course, if that doesn't suit your gaming needs, you can swap it out for other Linux-powered or proprietary OSes like Bazzite, Nobara Linux, SteamOS, and Windows.

As for what kind of games you can play on it, the official text points out that 4K 60 FPS at High settings using FSR or XeSS presets is possible in a resource-heavy title like CyberPunk 2077.

The Playnix team has also created Playnix KB, a portal that lets the community share game settings and tweaks for maximizing performance across different titles. It's already populated with many popular games, and updated information should come in as more people get their hands on the console.

The rest of the specifications include:

• Storage: 1x 512 GB NVMe and 1x empty NVMe slot.
• Ports: 2x USB 3.0 + 4x USB 2.0 + 1x USB C 3.1 + 1x Gigabit Ethernet + 1x HDMI 2.1 (HDR 4K 120hz and 8K 60hz support), 1x DisplayPort 2.1 (with HDR 4K 120hz and 8K 60hz support).
• Connectivity: WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.
• Power: Unnamed Flex ATX 600W PSU.

All of the above is enclosed in a 3D-printed case that encourages user repairability, as much of the internal components like the CPU, GPU, RAM, etc. can be repaired or upgraded, provided they fit inside the case.

Its measurements are 320 x 247 x 64 mm / 12.6 x 9.7 x 2.5 inches.

Want Yours?

Batch #1 and #2 are already sold out, and at the time of writing, #3 was up for order with a $1,179 price tag, which doesn't include shipping. These devices come with a 2-year warranty that covers repairs and replacement.

You can get yours by visiting the official store.

Playnix Console

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