RetroN 77

[MrBeefy]

Someone should be collecting a consulting fee at this point....

 

This is really a shame, and I have trouble supporting a product that only semi working out of the box when a little more time and care may have required less out of the user to get it working. Okay... most of us can can install that image that takes care of some of the problems, but i am sure that there will be some buyers that don't even know about these forums...

 

I think I'll just pass.... one less thing to waste money on.

Yeah I could flash one. But then I think about how I can buy a $35 Raspberry Pi and do the same thing and have better compatibility.

[Andromeda Stardust]

There are some games that are programmed to read 7800 and Genesis sticks for 2600. Would it possible to program the UI to recognize other controllers with more buttons like a SEGA 6 button and map the reset button to the SEGA start button and save states and select and the other ATARI toggles to the face buttons?

Two things:

 

Genesis controllers don't work on the retron because it pulls the paddle inputs high. This confuses the controller into thinking paddles are attached, so the controller diverts to paddle mode and cannot read the joystick inputs.

 

Second, the Hyperkin joystick has two buttons to support right and left handed play. They are wired in parallel and do not function independently like 7800 controllers. Even if they did (or someone modded the r77 stick to function as 780) the Retron77, like all 2600 hardware, will only detect 7800 controllers as a single button anyway.

[MrBeefy]

Never understood the need for lefty. I am left handed and think the joysticks are fine. Only time I think otherwise is when i get a cramp going and need to switch.

[Andromeda Stardust]

People need more dexterity for the action button arrays. Since most are right handed, the action buttons are universally placed on the right, starting in the mid 80s going forward. Nintendo was forward thinking by starting this trend.

 

Games with two or more action buttons, I need to control the buttons in the right hand. Single button (donkey kong, Galaga) and no button games (pacman, frogger), i am literally ambidextrous. In fact i frequently switch hands with my ambidextrous atari joysticks.

 

Typing is very much an ambidextrous activity, and people just learn the home keys and start from there. Fight sticks and modern game controllers are the same way. Right or left handed, people learn on whatever configuration that is placed before them. Modern controllers are mostly symmetric but the functions of each side are vastly different.

 

Retraining your brain is not impossible. Also arcade sticks use wrist and forefingers, gamepads use the thumb. Different muscle groups, same end result. You are feeding impulses as binary logic instructions to a cpu which correlates movement in the controller with movement onscreen.

[Austin]

I ended up picking up one of these from a member here. As to not have to sift through 93 pages of text, can someone briefly summarize what the issues were/are with this thing out of the box, and what issues still persist after it being updated to a newer version of Stella?

[Keatah]

Yeah I could flash one. But then I think about how I can buy a $35 Raspberry Pi and do the same thing and have better compatibility.

 

Yes much more can be done with something set up as a general-purpose computer. And you can run other emulators too. But I think to get a good all around experience from a Pi, it's going to cost a little more than $35. Along with some tech knowledge. I'd place it in the $100 - $150 range when all is said and done.

 

But yes I get the gist of your post.

 

I wanted (and planned) to give some of these away as prizes at our party coming up in a coupla two/three months. But with all the little issues going on.. the various proposals to fix them.. the uncertainty.. All of it tells me it's unfinished and we're not quite there yet.

 

In the future if they ever fix them all I would certainly add it to the list of trinkets and stuff. The age and demographics and history of everyone that attends points to the VCS as being a favorite. One time I bought 5 consoles from ebay, but ended up spending hours upon hours making them mint. So we decided to go with modern-day representations/repros/clones of the legend.

 

And of course there's Emulator Stella. Of which I am more than happy to give away a JumpDrive stuffed with it. I keep a small bowel (the one I ate cereal out of when I was a kid) with them for the taking. If anything just to distro-up the latest version. Emu Stella has quite the following in our area.

Edited August 1, 2018 by Keatah

[phoenixdownita]

 

Yes much more can be done with something set up as a general-purpose computer. And you can run other emulators too. But I think to get a good all around experience from a Pi, it's going to cost a little more than $35. Along with some tech knowledge. I'd place it in the $100 - $150 range when all is said and done.

Funny thing is that it seems the Retron77 is a cut down version of an OrangePi Lite (it has less memory ... because they are that cheap) which clocks in at 15US$ ... so ... whatev...

[Keatah]

And?

[gorfcadet]

I ended up picking up one of these from a member here. As to not have to sift through 93 pages of text, can someone briefly summarize what the issues were/are with this thing out of the box, and what issues still persist after it being updated to a newer version of Stella?

 

After updating to Stella 3.9.3:

- some games do not work - notably some early text label games (some boards are not read by the system because it looks for outer pinouts on the pcb to make an internal connection), homebrews like Draconian, Stella's Stocking, Chetiry; some may work as roms like Pitfall II, Scramble, and Dungeon.

- some controller types do not work - Indy 500 driving controller, Star Raiders controller, Basic Programming pads, etc.

- the Hyperkin controller is very flimsy. I use my 7800 NES pad or a Genesis controller via 7800 adapter. SEGA pads will not work without 7800 adapter.

- Any problems with Stella being at 3.9.3 other than 5.x

 

I made a video on my channel going through most of it. It does well for capture, but flicker effects will do some annoying things to your video. Pac Man ghosts will not all show up in your videos, Donkey Kong VCS won't look quite right, etc. Not the fault of the system; just modern vid caps are built for the Atari's flickering.

 

I enjoy mine a lot to be honest.

[mr_me]

Never understood the need for lefty. I am left handed and think the joysticks are fine. Only time I think otherwise is when i get a cramp going and need to switch.

The extra button isn't for leftys, it's for the younger generations that expects left handed controllers.

 

People need more dexterity for the action button arrays. Since most are right handed, the action buttons are universally placed on the right, starting in the mid 80s going forward. Nintendo was forward thinking by starting this trend.

...

I heard that nintendo engineers just took the famicom controller from the game&watch donkey kong so they wouldn't have to think about the controller at all. Edited August 1, 2018 by mr_me

[+remowilliams]

Thanks to the very generously donated time and effort of folks here is a look at what the new Retron 77 Community Build UI looks like...

 

 

[ColecoJoe]

Thanks to the very generously donated time and effort of folks here is a look at what the new Retron 77 Community Build UI looks like...

 

 

 

This will do fine sir! I haven't installed it yet but thanks for all the work you put in and everybody else thanks AGAIN!!!

[Flojomojo]

That's cool. Is this how it appears onscreen from the Retron77? Navigable with nothing but a joystick and button?

 

Stella is the best!

[+remowilliams]

That's cool. Is this how it appears onscreen from the Retron77? Navigable with nothing but a joystick and button?

 

Stella is the best!

 

That is a screen capture directly from the Reton 77, and yes.

 

And yes Stella is the best

[Shawn]

Never understood the need for lefty. I am left handed and think the joysticks are fine. Only time I think otherwise is when i get a cramp going and need to switch.

 

While I'm mostly ambidextrous I would still say that I'm more so left handed. I've never had an issue with the world providing mainly "right handed" control schemes. Like you, I've always made out just fine.

[Austin]

 

After updating to Stella 3.9.3:

- some games do not work - notably some early text label games (some boards are not read by the system because it looks for outer pinouts on the pcb to make an internal connection), homebrews like Draconian, Stella's Stocking, Chetiry; some may work as roms like Pitfall II, Scramble, and Dungeon.

- some controller types do not work - Indy 500 driving controller, Star Raiders controller, Basic Programming pads, etc.

- the Hyperkin controller is very flimsy. I use my 7800 NES pad or a Genesis controller via 7800 adapter. SEGA pads will not work without 7800 adapter.

- Any problems with Stella being at 3.9.3 other than 5.x

 

I made a video on my channel going through most of it. It does well for capture, but flicker effects will do some annoying things to your video. Pac Man ghosts will not all show up in your videos, Donkey Kong VCS won't look quite right, etc. Not the fault of the system; just modern vid caps are built for the Atari's flickering.

 

I enjoy mine a lot to be honest.

 

Thanks for the details! The idea was to use it for capturing primarily so I think it will work out for me. What sold me on it was a video a friend made capturing his unit and the picture quality looked great (a big step up from my composite-modded system). Assuming it works fine with normal CX40 joysticks then I'll be OK with it, although that is a shame about the driving controller issue.

 

As far as it not capturing flickering objects properly, unless this is some sort of odd, special case scenario, what you are talking about is something that's usually the result of capturing at 30fps instead of 60. You should see the objects flicker properly if you capture at 60fps.

[gorfcadet]

Thanks to the very generously donated time and effort of folks here is a look at what the new Retron 77 Community Build UI looks like...

 

 

 

 

Do we have a link? Thanks for doing this! Massive improvement!

[phoenixdownita]

And?

And it saves you 20US$ on an RPi3 emu build hence you may be able to roll your own for even cheaper. One has to wonder if the same SD used for the Retron77 would work as is on the OrangePiLite

(obviously the buttons in the front and the cart slot are amiss but I bet they are likely connected to the 40pin header ... not that I would try my own build).

[Zaltran]

Thanks to the very generously donated time and effort of folks here is a look at what the new Retron 77 Community Build UI looks like...

 

 

 

Where is the download for this image, I would like to try it out........

[Atari Pixel]

I am trying to implement a 3 second hold on the reset button (to get back to Stella launcher) but I am getting nowhere with it. I was thinking of using SDL_KEYUP and SDL_KEYDOWN events in Event::Poll() but they are grouped together for the same switch case structure. So If I change the following (original) Stella code:

SDL_Event event;
  while(SDL_PollEvent(&event))
  {
    switch(event.type)
    {
      // keyboard events
      case SDL_KEYUP:
      case SDL_KEYDOWN: 
      {
        StellaKey key  = (StellaKey)event.key.keysym.sym;
        StellaMod mod  = event.key.keysym.mod;
        bool state = event.key.type == SDL_KEYDOWN;
        bool handled = true;

To this:

SDL_Event event;
  while(SDL_PollEvent(&event))
  {
    switch(event.type)
    {
      // keyboard events
      case SDL_KEYUP:
      {
            // I am leaving this empty for clarity
            // but this is all I need to reproduce behavior.
      }
      break;
      case SDL_KEYDOWN: 
      {
        StellaKey key  = (StellaKey)event.key.keysym.sym;
        StellaMod mod  = event.key.keysym.mod;
        bool state = event.key.type == SDL_KEYDOWN;
        bool handled = true;

Then Stella can no longer tell when the joystick has been depressed. It sticks in one direction until I press another one. Is there a way to make keyup and keydown events go back to being mutually exclusive?

Edited August 1, 2018 by Atari Pixel

[+remowilliams]

Where is the download for this image, I would like to try it out........

 

I'll be starting a new topic and releasing the public image there

[Andromeda Stardust]

Thanks to the very generously donated time and effort of folks here is a look at what the new Retron 77 Community Build UI looks like...

 

 

 

ah, shucks. Now i cant enjoy my custom space invader icons anymore...

[gorfcadet]

Update in action video. Should be live in about 20 minutes. I'd wait to post, but I have to start dinner for the kids.

20 minutes from this post it should work. Thanks for letting me test this!

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

After updating to Stella 3.9.3:

- some games do not work - notably some early text label games (some boards are not read by the system because it looks for outer pinouts on the pcb to make an internal connection), homebrews like Draconian, Stella's Stocking, Chetiry; some may work as roms like Pitfall II, Scramble, and Dungeon.

- some controller types do not work - Indy 500 driving controller, Star Raiders controller, Basic Programming pads, etc.

- the Hyperkin controller is very flimsy. I use my 7800 NES pad or a Genesis controller via 7800 adapter. SEGA pads will not work without 7800 adapter.

- Any problems with Stella being at 3.9.3 other than 5.x

 

I made a video on my channel going through most of it. It does well for capture, but flicker effects will do some annoying things to your video. Pac Man ghosts will not all show up in your videos, Donkey Kong VCS won't look quite right, etc. Not the fault of the system; just modern vid caps are built for the Atari's flickering.

 

I enjoy mine a lot to be honest.

 

you need to capture at 60hz and blend the frames to downsample to 30hz prior to upload so flicker sprites arent deleted.

[gorfcadet]

 

 

you need to capture at 60hz and blend the frames to downsample to 30hz prior to upload so flicker sprites arent deleted.

 

I know, my Mac fights me on frame rate.