New to Pi, Retropi, all of it

A Former User

https://www.amazon.com/Vilros-Raspberry-RetroPie-Classic-Gamepads/dp/B01J4HTOS8/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511821539&sr=1-2&keywords=retropie

Assuming this is the listing in question.

"Ready to play--Includes a Class 10 Micro SD Card (32GB)--Preloaded with NOOBS & RetroPie"

@BuZz @herb_fargus

mitu

@livefastcyyoung Could be. It seems it no longer includes RetroPie:

Its possible that back in 2016 retropie was already "installed" on the Vilros Raspberry Pi, but if you buy this unit today, retropie is NOT "installed". You get an install file for NOOBS which basically installs Raspian OS when you plug it in and this takes some time, but even Raspian is not already "installed".

EctoOne

@mitu said in New to Pi, Retropi, all of it:

@livefastcyyoung Could be. It seems it no longer includes RetroPie:

Its possible that back in 2016 retropie was already "installed" on the Vilros Raspberry Pi, but if you buy this unit today, retropie is NOT "installed". You get an install file for NOOBS which basically installs Raspian OS when you plug it in and this takes some time, but even Raspian is not already "installed".

That is from June 27, 2017, but there is a review from November 27, 2017 that sounds like it still is:

The memory card comes preloaded with Rasberian and Retropie, so you just choose which one you want to install.

caver01

@ectoone but doesn’t “choose which one you want to install” imply that it is not already installed? I mean, if you are choosing, and then it does something, is it just downloading and running the install script— possibly meaning that the commenter simply doesn’t know the difference?

EctoOne

@caver01 Nope, it sounds like they are using a NOOBS version of retropie.

Insert memory card into pi and attach to power and tv via hdmi

Select retropie OS and select install

And i believe the license still is valid even if it's not the official image.

BTW: I wish there was an official NOOBS build, because the guide to make one is confusing and because of that i had to use an unofficial build myself to have the option to get a dual boot system.

palee72

Just to clarify.. After getting things assembled, I booted up to NOOBS, there were 2 options:
Install Raspian (recommended)
Install RetroPie

I installed Raspian first, then installed RetroPie. These were both included on the 32Gb Micro SD card.

EctoOne

@palee72 Do you have to use NOOBS to switch between them or can you start Retropie from Rasbian and vise versa?
If it's the later case, they probably got their files from multibootpi

felleg

It's a shame sellers profit from this free software, but still welcome @palee72! Hope you will enjoy your pi :)

BobHarris

@felleg I don't think you can stop this. There is a demand for Pi's bundled with preinstalled software, so there will always be people selling it.
@palee72 Welcome! Also it's better to ignore whatever is on the micro sd and just start out with a fresh install, downloaded from this site.

Clyde

@palee72 Welcome to this new world. :) I, too, bought my Raspi only weeks ago, and I explore it and Retropie ever since. I'm a Linux user for over ten years, though, so this part of it isn't new to me. Have fun!

Ruperto

@BobHarris Actually for Amazon it's simple to stop. Retropie can report these easily using this form:

https://www.amazon.com/report/infringement

I have also confirmed the image is loaded right on the card and it is not downloaded.

@BuZz @herb_fargus have you tried submitting these?

BuZz

@ruperto I have in the past. We successfully took down one seller, then Amazon refused to action on further reports. I don't have the free time or motivation to constantly fight against the sellers.

EctoOne

@buzz that reminds me of something I found yesterday and wanted to ask about. What do you think about PINN? It's a fork of NOOBS that can download and install Retropie. But the files are maintained by the devs of PINN, so at least (compared to other pre made multi boot packages) it sounds like the Retropie files are unaltered.
But my guess is that you wouldn't be very supportive if someone has trouble with that or if sellers would put that on cards right now get?

Feel free to delete/edit this post if you don't want to draw to much attention to that method.

palee72

By the time I parted everything out, I actually saved a few bucks buying the whole thing together.. for someone who has never played with Linux, Pi, or anything else, it made it not so scary. Until this, I had zero exposure to any of this technology. I first bought an Arduino a few years ago, cheap on Amazon. It was a Chinese knock off, but again, having never used it before, no programing background, and not sure I was going to stick with it, it was a great way to get started.. Now that I have some experience under my belt, my next purchase will most likely be just the Pi for my next project.. whatever that may be..