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The Raspberry Pi and Retropie discussion thread


toptenmaterial

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  • 4 weeks later...

I finally updated my barcade Retropie.. was on 4.1 for a couple of years. Now I'm checking out that Skyscraper.. seems to work well. :) Although it's a debate whether to download videos or just box/screenshots. For stuff like FBA I stuck with screenshots but with 32x, I went with vids.

 

<edit> first hiccup, after letting it run all night on Mame4all, I guess that's not the Mame I use since it didn't update crap. :lol:

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I like the Retroflag NESPi case. It comes with heatsinks and a small fan (which is not needed unless you plan to overclock) and working power and reset buttons. Cost is $25-$28 depending on your source. I bought mine from Amazon thru GeekPi, bundled with 2 SNES style USB gamepads for $37.99.

Edited by Forrest
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Thinking of setting up a Rasp Pi for a friend.

 

Anybody have input on the best one to get right now? Or should I consider an alternate micro PC in that regard?

 

As long as it did up to N64/PS1, it would probably be more than enough <_<

 

I recommend the model 3B+ at present, for maximum compatibility. Going with one of the other similar single board computers can introduce a bit of a learning curve getting things to work. If your goal is to run Raspbian linux or other software written specifically for a raspberry pi, start out with a genuine device. You can add a fan+heatsinks to the 3B+ to overclock when necessary.

 

I agree that the Retroflag cases are great. I have the NESPi version. There are some other brands of layered and clear plexi enclosures, also nice.

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I would echo that 3B+ recommendation. This is a well priced kit that would get you running out of the box.

 

If I were going to build one this week I would go with:
Raspberry Pi 3B+ $38.00

Generic Case $6.00

2 wired USB controllers $11.00

5V/3A Power Supply $6.00

Sandisk Ultra Micro SD card 128GB $20.00

HDMI Cable $1.50

 

For $82.50 with free shipping you can build your own kit MUCH better than the $79.99 "pre-built" kits offered there. More storage, better controllers and better power supply.

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FYI if you use a Micro SD card larger than 32 GB, you'll have to go thru a few extra steps to install the OS according to https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/sdxc_formatting.md

 

I use the inexpensive and highly rated Microcenter 32 GB Micro SD card. Two for $9.99 at https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Center-Class-Memory-Adapter/dp/B07K81Z6DF/ref=sr_1_17?keywords=32+GB+sd+card&qid=1553871149&s=gateway&sr=8-17

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I wrote my old 64 gig image to a new 128gig SD card and I was bewildered when I was trying to scrape videos and it told me I was out of space. Turns out there's a friggin command you have to run so that the Raspberry Pi recognizes the extra space. i.e. sudo raspi-config, then in the GUI choose the "expand filesystem" option (it's in there somewhere).

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I would echo that 3B+ recommendation. This is a well priced kit that would get you running out of the box.

 

If I were going to build one this week I would go with:

Raspberry Pi 3B+ $38.00

Generic Case $6.00

2 wired USB controllers $11.00

5V/3A Power Supply $6.00

Sandisk Ultra Micro SD card 128GB $20.00

HDMI Cable $1.50

 

For $82.50 with free shipping you can build your own kit MUCH better than the $79.99 "pre-built" kits offered there. More storage, better controllers and better power supply.

 

Thanks for all the links! I figure to make it for a friend, so I'll make slight revisions~

Mostly don't need quite that much space, and I'd prefer a PlayStation style controller if possible. Granted it'll be a gift, so they can always upgrade some of this themselves. LOL

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I also use 8bitdo controllers but if Im building for someone else or a gift for someone those parts are what I would use.

 

My Pi setup cost a lot because of all the things I wanted. Like the controllers, Super Kuma 9000 case, better power supply. All that adds up.

 

Get them running and if they like it they can upgrade. :)

 

@KeeperofLindblum - https://www.amazon.com/Poulep-Controller-Vibration-Compatible-Computer/dp/B07KPD342J/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?hvadid=78134112557722&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=m&hvqmt=b&keywords=playstation+usb+controller&qid=1553895320&s=gateway&sr=8-4

 

heres a set with decent reviews. I didnt think of analogs but I might change my build to these also. (If I were doing one of course)

Edited by ClassicGMR
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I thought I would chime in since I bought a RPI 3B+ a week ago.

 

I knew there would be a learning curve (Linux), however, I got the hang of getting everything going correctly.

 

It emulates everything I care about and the best part is, with the console emulators, you don't have to remap the controls because they are mapped already.

 

Another bonus is that in the mame emulators the SFII and other SF games and some MK games already have the buttons set up :-).

 

It runs Gameboy Advance and Playstation 1 games very well.

 

It works great for me in that its teeny tiny, and runs 12 or so systems out of the box.

 

I only paid 65 for the canakit, because I already had a flash drive to use and a HDMI cable.

 

Plus, the next time I go back home to visit my family and friends in NY, I can bring it with me. :-)

 

I get a kick out of seeing Gameboy color and Atari Lynx blow up to mega pixels, :P

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  • 2 weeks later...

Had a weird issue with Skyscraper with mame4all videos scraped from screenscraper.fr. I've had zero issues with other romsets, but with mame4all, it'd REFUSE to download any videos past roms starting with "N" (i.e. all N-Z)

 

It'd download videos for A-N just fine but then refuse to download anything else after that. It was the strangest thing. I must have repeated this several times (a full download would last several hours overnight).. purged/vaccumed the cache, and then tried again... and it would always stop downloading videos past "N". It would scrape all other data like screenshots, text, etc. fine for all mame roms though, but just not the videos for some reason!

 

I finally figured out a workaround.. I simply duplicated the N-Z roms to mame-advmame\roms folder (which is the Mame I don't use).. then scraped for THAT. Well, in that case skyscraper downloaded the videos for them just fine! :lol: Go figure. Then it was simply a matter of generating the Advmame game list (which creates the correctly named videos and places them in the media folder for Advmame). THEN I simply moved them to the appropriate ~/.skyscraper/import/ folder.. THEN used that as the source for a Mame4all Scrape (then generated the game list afterward obviously).

 

Well that finally added the "N-Z" videos to my Mame4all media.. but man, what a process. :lol: Figured I'd mention this in case anyone else encountered it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
17 hours ago, ClassicGMR said:

Glad I held off. 

 

I used an RPi 3 as an actual computer that my work owns to set up a media player for my department's "80's Day" party. It worked rather well and I liked the "feel" of a minimalist computer. Reminded me of using Windows 95 and not having a ton of stuff running as...you didn't (and the computer) didn't need a ton of stuff running!

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  • 2 weeks later...

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