Curious about release cycles and dates for Retropie

wolfgangrumpf

Looking back at the past few Retropie major releases, it looks like there's an update every 4-6 months? Is this standard, or is it more depending on the dev team's free time etc? I was just curious - I'm hoping that the next release (4.4) includes the libretro Atari800 emulator...and I wasn't able to find any release notes/plans for future builds...

herb_fargus

@wolfgangrumpf said in Curious about release cycles and dates for Retropie:

is it more depending on the dev team's free time

^^^^ that's the one ;)

Though you can always have the latest retropie by updating through the setup script. Obviously there are some modifications with the next release as it will be built on stretch instead of Jessie.

BuZz

@herb_fargus it 'might be'. Depending on results from testing etc.

herb_fargus

@buzz said in Curious about release cycles and dates for Retropie:

@herb_fargus it 'might be'. Depending on results from testing etc.

What he said :p

wolfgangrumpf

I hear that. So - is there any way I can help in testing? Atari 5200/800 games are one of the last things I really want to make work on my system......I've down software testing before, I'm decent with linux.....let me know if I can help!

40wattrange

@wolfgangrumpf i thought they were supported?

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Atari-800-and-5200/

wolfgangrumpf

@herb_fargus So I went ahead and updated my RetroPie install and put the libretto-atari800 on. I'm going to post my initial testing results here, but if there's a better place for me to play beta-tester please let me know!

I placed appropriate 5200 roms in my /roms/atari5200 folder and on reboot they were visible in the Atari 5200 section of the UI. I had also placed an 800 rom (that works on kat5200 on my Mac) in the atari800 folder and the Atari 800 system did not show up. Not sure what that means.
Launched a 5200 game. Went to a black screen, where pressing any button (e.g. A or B) took me to Atari Memo Pad. Discovered through trial and error (denial and error) that using the D-pad instead took me to the cartridge select screen - so that's not too bad!
Managed to launch Miner2049er with the XEGS switchable rom setting. Game launched. No other games were able to launch with any of the settings I tried, but I didn't do a 100% exhaustive test.
Video on Miner2049er was washed out. Background was gray. Not sure what that means.
On relaunching Miner2049er I had to again select the cartridge mode - it did not default back to the previously selected cartridge choice, which is probably a good thing (so that if you pick the wrong one you can try a different one), but I can't imagine picking the cartridge type all the time - seems like there should be a setting for saying "this type, don't ask me again".

More than happy to test more stuff out if you need the feedback. Also happy to stay out of your hair. :) Just tell me what I can do.

wolfgangrumpf

@40wattrange They are supported but many (including myself) have experienced configuration difficulties. There is an lr-atari800 that is apparently a contender for possible inclusion in a future release, and there is also kat5200 which is an experimental install. I would strongly recommend not playing with experimental or partially implemented stuff unless you are totally okay borking your system and having to start again. Not saying it will happen, but you never know what can happen with non-release stuff. So far, the RetroPie team has done a smashing job of making things work and work well and easily, but once you venture into experimental/optional stuff, I tend to tread lightly. :D

HurricaneFan

@BuZz What will Stretch support bring to RetroPie?

BuZz

@hurricanefan just newer base packages. Nothing new in RetroPie apart from a slightly updated Kodi.

HurricaneFan

@buzz Thanks for the quick reply!

BuZz

@hurricanefan and probably new bugs :-)

herb_fargus

@buzz and ffmpeg for recording videos with retroarch ;) ... Eventually

HurricaneFan

@buzz Well thats a given when moving to any new set of packages. :)