GPI Case Build Woes

[+dhe]

I was trying to build a GPI Case 4A Game Console and ran in to problems with the disk image I picked up from: ti99iuc.it

 

Here is my tale of woe, in case it helps someone, or you have successfully used the image in question.

 

I used this raspberry pi Zero:

https://www.amazon.com/GeeekPi-Retroflag-Raspberry-Heatsink-Carrying/dp/B07X53S356/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=gpi+case&qid=1605891581&s=electronics&sr=1-2

 

The first mistake I made was putting it all together, because I turned it on, got a power light and a black screen. Pretty disconcerting.

 

Also the video I watched on youtube of the assembly had stand off screws, the GPI Case I received, the pi Zero slides down four small Chicago screw like posts.

 

Ok… Step 2, which should have been step 1. Let’s test everything first. Disassemble everything, and bring the pi Zero to a vga monitor and usb keyboard. Pull out your everything else needed to hook a pi Zero up to the keyboard and monitor and provide power.

 

    Plug power in to the outside usb connection.

    Plug keyboard connection in to the middle usb port - it angles at 90 degree and if plugged in to the outside port won’t let another connector be used.

    Plug mini-hdmi to vga converter into the remaining port. Plug in the vga adapter voltage booster into a usb slot.

    Plug in MicroSD card - the side with writing goes up, in the same direction as the component side of pi.

 

    Without a bootable USB drive, a pi Zero, will sit at a black screen.

 

            Now that we are all wired up, let see if it’s an os thing…. 

        https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/ - Install the installer, 

                        Run installer, it will grab the os for you and put it on the micro sd card.

 

             And it works, keyboard works, video works….

 

             Let’s go back to team Italy:

                 https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php%3Fpageid%3Dhomepage%26artid%3D203&prev=search&pto=aue

 

              Download ZIP from:

http://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php?pagina=articoli&artid=203#.X7f9auWSnRY

 

               Conveniently, when you double click on the zip in windows, Raspberry PI Imager (v1.4) will notice, it’s an OS for PI and ask you if you want to install it on a SD! I did and tried to boot. Same black screen….

 

                Pulled the SD card again, went back to Raspberry Pi Imager, this time choose Retropie 4.7.1 - Wrote to card and boot! 

 

So my suspicion is: TI994a_Sim_Pack_for_RetroPie_ReadMe_V1.0.0.zip; is that this zip file is bad.

 

            I'm hoping someone else has used this, and they can tell me the one thing I need to do, to make this work!

 

 

[ti99iuc]

the expert for this system is @tmop69 that also wrote the article on ti99iuc.it, probably he will know-how to help you

[tmop69]

9 hours ago, dhe said:

I was trying to build a GPI Case 4A Game Console and ran in to problems with the disk image I picked up from: ti99iuc.it

 

Here is my tale of woe, in case it helps someone, or you have successfully used the image in question.

 

I used this raspberry pi Zero:

https://www.amazon.com/GeeekPi-Retroflag-Raspberry-Heatsink-Carrying/dp/B07X53S356/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=gpi+case&qid=1605891581&s=electronics&sr=1-2

 

The first mistake I made was putting it all together, because I turned it on, got a power light and a black screen. Pretty disconcerting.

 

Also the video I watched on youtube of the assembly had stand off screws, the GPI Case I received, the pi Zero slides down four small Chicago screw like posts.

 

Ok… Step 2, which should have been step 1. Let’s test everything first. Disassemble everything, and bring the pi Zero to a vga monitor and usb keyboard. Pull out your everything else needed to hook a pi Zero up to the keyboard and monitor and provide power.

 

    Plug power in to the outside usb connection.

    Plug keyboard connection in to the middle usb port - it angles at 90 degree and if plugged in to the outside port won’t let another connector be used.

    Plug mini-hdmi to vga converter into the remaining port. Plug in the vga adapter voltage booster into a usb slot.

    Plug in MicroSD card - the side with writing goes up, in the same direction as the component side of pi.

 

    Without a bootable USB drive, a pi Zero, will sit at a black screen.

 

            Now that we are all wired up, let see if it’s an os thing…. 

        https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/ - Install the installer, 

                        Run installer, it will grab the os for you and put it on the micro sd card.

 

             And it works, keyboard works, video works….

 

             Let’s go back to team Italy:

                 https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php%3Fpageid%3Dhomepage%26artid%3D203&prev=search&pto=aue

 

              Download ZIP from:

http://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php?pagina=articoli&artid=203#.X7f9auWSnRY

 

               Conveniently, when you double click on the zip in windows, Raspberry PI Imager (v1.4) will notice, it’s an OS for PI and ask you if you want to install it on a SD! I did and tried to boot. Same black screen….

 

                Pulled the SD card again, went back to Raspberry Pi Imager, this time choose Retropie 4.7.1 - Wrote to card and boot! 

 

So my suspicion is: TI994a_Sim_Pack_for_RetroPie_ReadMe_V1.0.0.zip; is that this zip file is bad.

 

            I'm hoping someone else has used this, and they can tell me the one thing I need to do, to make this work!

 

 

 

To have the GPi Case working you neeed to:

 

- install the Retropie image on a MicroSD card using your PC/MAC, connect to an HDMI monitor to complete the setup (Wifi, etc.). Instructions on Retropie site;
- install the two scripts needed for correctly setting up the GPi display and to enable the shutdown button. Instructions on GPi Case site.

 

Now, you can insert the MicroSD on the GPi case. Turn on and wait until you get the Emulationstation screen (you should be asked to setup the D-Pad buttons).

 

Now you have a working Retropie. It's time to move to the TI99 setup.

 

The TI994a_Sim_Pack_for_RetroPie_ReadMe_V1.0.0.zip pack has all the BIOS/Carts needed for the TI99Sim. It's not an image file to use with the Raspberry PI Imager! You need an already installed system to use it.   Open the .zip file with Winzip instead! There is a readme.txt file with the steps needed:

 

   - copy BIOS files in the "bios" folfer on RetroPie installation;
   - copy ROMS files in the "roms/ti99" folfer on RetroPie installation. All the games were tested and are working correctly;
   - copy also the CONFIG files in the appropriate directory for the game images and descriptions.

 

You need to restart Emulationstation to see the TI99 icon in the emulators list. You can now run it, however it requires a keyboard (connected using Bluetooth) to pass the initial screen.

I've patched the TI99sim to be able to run games using only the GPi Case buttons. You can find it here:

 

 

 

 

 

Have fun! ?

 

 

[+dhe]

Thanks I'll give those things a try!