Timeline for Retropie on Raspberry 4

chubsta

My question is 'why is it taking so long'?

And I don't mean that in any sort of bad way, as in people should hurry up and get it fixed, I am interested in what is so very different about the Pi 4 as against the Pi3B? I thought the 4 was merely an incremental update, a faster processor etc, and kind of presumed that retropie would need merely a few bits and pieces changing and it would all work fine. I used to do iOS stuff as a hobby and each new iteration of the iPhone/ipad didn't really require much work, so what is causing the issues here? I don't understand emulation at all so forgive me if the answer is obvious...

mitu

@chubsta The PI4 is not an incremental upgrade - the CPU and especially the GPU are totally different and most of the standalone emulators and infrastructure are not 100% compatible.
The 3B+ was an incremental upgrade and that was handled with just an OS upgrade, everything else was just the same.

As for the 'merely a few bits and pieces'... that's just a simple view of how software works. You have to know which ones need changing and how to change them.

I used to do iOS stuff as a hobby and each new iteration of the iPhone/ipad didn't really require much work, so what is causing the issues here?

The change of the GPU video APIs for the Pi4, which are no longer using the Broadcom legacy drivers, but the open source Mesa drivers.

herb_fargus

@mitu plus an OS update to buster as well ;)

chubsta

Thanks for the clarification, I’m merely a user in all this and can’t even get my head around modifying themes so the logistics of updating RetroPie are well beyond me!

Clyde

For anyone who stumbles upon this thread: Here's an unsupported (!) way to install an early version of Retropie-Setup for the RPi 4.

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/post/200661

(Thanks to @Darksavior for posting it and to @psyke83 for mentioning it in another thread.)

sirhenrythe5th

@Clyde just to get sure: this way (and all the other "unofficial" releases from 3rd partys) kind of "force" exisiting cores and emus for the Pi3B / Stretch to run on PI4 / Buster?
As i understand it the only advantage is given by faster CPU, you wont have any benefits from the new GPU / OpenGL3.x, or am i wrong?
So it is like driving a car with pulled handbrake? :)

mitu

@sirhenrythe5th said in Timeline for Retropie on Raspberry 4:

@Clyde just to get sure: this way (and all the other "unofficial" releases from 3rd partys) kind of "force" exisiting cores and emus for the Pi3B / Stretch to run on PI4 / Buster?

No, the fkms_rpi4 branch is not 'forcing' or 'faking' anything, it's geared towards RPI4/Buster support and at the same time keeping compatibility with existing RPI models.

As i understand it the only advantage is given by faster CPU, you wont have any benefits from the new GPU / OpenGL3.x, or am i wrong?

If you use that branch on a Pi4, you'll be using the new Mesa drivers with OpenGL ES 3.0/Open GL 2.1 support.

sirhenrythe5th

@mitu thank you Mitu for this clarification.
As a non-pro i would suggest: ok, the main Job is done, now it is all about the several details i guess 😉

saccublenda

@mitu
Will it be possible to update a fkms_rpi4 branch installation to a stable Pi4 release when it will become available?

mitu

@saccublenda Probably yes, though I'd still recommend using a fresh start when the Pi4 image becomes available.

Swampy

One question about the apple2 emulator:
Is it in principle possible to compile the apple2 emulator with rpi4 as platform? Someone tried it out yet?
Or is there more work to do, to make it compatible?

Thank you for your great advances in the pi4 compatibility. Most works already great.

roslof

@Swampy,

As of today, the Apple II emulator (linapple) compiles without issue. It does run in a 1:1 pixel ratio in the upper-left of an HD screen. You'll likely want to edit the configuration file (linapple.conf) and tweak the "Screen factor" setting in order to make the window large enough to be enjoyable. I'm currently using a value of 2.5 and it looks just fine.

Mosaad-20

are there any updates for supporting raspberry pi 4 and what is the the supported emulators?
because I am planning to buy raspberry pi 4 but I am waiting for the image to release.

ferhound

It will never be released ok? stop asking.

mitu

@Mosaad-20 You can try the manual installation method - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Manual-Installation/ - on a Pi4 mode. Work on the PI4 support is still ongoing, but most things should work.

mth75

@tobias-haecker said in Timeline for Retropie on Raspberry 4:

Hello everybody,
is there an estimated timeline for the release of an Retropie version for Raspberry 4?
Thank you very much for your answer.
Tobi

see answer below.

mth75

@Mosaad-20 said in Timeline for Retropie on Raspberry 4:

are there any updates for supporting raspberry pi 4 and what is the the supported emulators?
because I am planning to buy raspberry pi 4 but I am waiting for the image to release.

Just install the weekly build:

https://files.retropie.org.uk/images/weekly/

Everything works.

After installing keep your install up to date by frequently upgrading the RetroPie-Setup scripts, Buster and the firmware:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo rpi-update (beware, only in case you experience problems or are asked by the devs' this is the bleeding edge firmware)

That's it. I'm running a nice install since February.

notthesame

if we charged a penny for everytime for retropie, retropie devs would get rich, it will be done when its done, for now just go ahead and keep that smile and continue to wait in line for it :)

mth75

@notthesame The point is, one can use Retropie for RPI4. You don't have to wait.

quicksilver

@mth75 said in Timeline for Retropie on Raspberry 4:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo rpi-update

This is not the correct way. The first two lines will update your pi with the latest release firmware and packages. The third line (sudo rpi-update) will install bleeding edge firmware and quite possibly could introduce bugs and cause your pi not to boot. You should never use rpi-update unless instructed to do so by a rpi Dev. It warns you of this each time you attempt a rpi-update though most people it seems ignore this warning.