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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    PI4 8GB & Retropie - Is it supported?

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    • jinstaJ
      jinsta
      last edited by

      Right finally got this working :)

      To confirm, 3rd party images at the moe dont seem to be supported, but just wanted to highlight the official ''image'' download of 4.6 (found under pi4, https://retropie.org.uk/download/) also does not work and you will get a boot error occur

      You can however get RP 4.6 to work! From official Raspberry Pi page, download the imager app: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/

      Using the app, there is an option to choose the op system you want to install, so retropie for us and then let it do its thing. It will format disk/write image in one go. Once you put the SDcard in Pi, it will boot, no errors whatsover straight into Retropie!

      Note: If you use windows 10, there is chance the imager will fail to write, its a windows setting thats the issue and this is the fix: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=267364&sid=f6d32a82c84ebcfacdc2b3f1536cc4c1&start=25#p1664662

      With Pi up and running! just needed to load roms which are on my external ssd. (indeed, the following is correct proc: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Running-ROMs-from-a-USB-drive/). The SSD was again working painfully slow and needed the fix mentioned (https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=245931) to sort that out.

      mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • mituM
        mitu Global Moderator @jinsta
        last edited by

        @jinsta said in PI4 8GB & Retropie - Is it supported?:

        Using the app, there is an option to choose the op system you want to install, so retropie for us and then let it do its thing. It will format disk/write image in one go. Once you put the SDcard in Pi, it will boot, no errors whatsover straight into Retropie!

        The Raspberry Pi Imager literally downloads the same image that's available on retropie.org.uk/downoad, so you wrote the same image twice.

        jinstaJ DarksaviorD 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • jinstaJ
          jinsta @mitu
          last edited by

          @mitu but still doesn't work for some reason. Using the image on its own results in boot error. Try it

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • DarksaviorD
            Darksavior @mitu
            last edited by

            @mitu I've seen others having issues with the 8GB version but then they try the latest pi os and it's fine. Retropie's image probably needs to be updated.

            jinstaJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • jinstaJ
              jinsta @Darksavior
              last edited by

              @Darksavior said in PI4 8GB & Retropie - Is it supported?:

              @mitu I've seen others having issues with the 8GB version but then they try the latest pi os and it's fine. Retropie's image probably needs to be updated.

              I'm sure it will be soon enough as notticed if you run basic install/update in RP, you get upto to version 4.7. Hopefully in the future, something 64bit to use all the ram would be awesome too

              DarksaviorD T 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • DarksaviorD
                Darksavior @jinsta
                last edited by Darksavior

                @jinsta The retropie script already supports 64bit but it's not done. Why would it matter if it sees the full 8GB? You do know that retropie barely uses around 1GB max? You will not gain any performance with retropie by having the 4GB or 8GB model.

                ClydeC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • ClydeC
                  Clyde @Darksavior
                  last edited by

                  @Darksavior I suppose you may get a little speed or smootheness in Emulation Station when browsing the same images or videos repeatedly, since Linux fills any unused RAM with buffered data. That said, I never checked that assumption with free -h on my 4GB Pi 4 to confirm this. 🙂

                  mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • mituM
                    mitu Global Moderator @Clyde
                    last edited by

                    @Clyde said in PI4 8GB & Retropie - Is it supported?:

                    That said, I never checked that assumption with free -h on my 4GB Pi 4 to confirm this.

                    free -h
                                  total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
                    Mem:          3.6Gi       111Mi       216Mi        10Mi       3.2Gi       3.3Gi
                    Swap:            0B          0B          0B
                    
                    ClydeC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ClydeC
                      Clyde @mitu
                      last edited by

                      @mitu Thanks, so the ram is used pretty much for buffering on RetroPie. Of course, that by itself doesn't say much about any noticable impact on the user experience. I just wanted to mention this consideration, because the buffering tends to be forgotten in such discussions.

                      DarksaviorD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • DarksaviorD
                        Darksavior @Clyde
                        last edited by

                        @Clyde I'm not sure if installing from source are made to use the extra ram, but it'd be a plus if it could.
                        I use this pi control panel to look at my ram usage.

                        This is on a fresh boot to the pegasus frontend:
                        picontrol.jpg

                        ClydeC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • T
                          toString @jinsta
                          last edited by

                          @jinsta I had problems on my 4gb after I updated the eeprom. Plus ssd booting very slow. I noticed when I updated in the script it goes to .7 which is strange. Why not have .7 on the website?!

                          dankcushionsD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • dankcushionsD
                            dankcushions Global Moderator @toString
                            last edited by dankcushions

                            @toString said in PI4 8GB & Retropie - Is it supported?:

                            @jinsta I had problems on my 4gb after I updated the eeprom. Plus ssd booting very slow. I noticed when I updated in the script it goes to .7 which is strange. Why not have .7 on the website?!

                            a new image is not generated every minor version change. currently the script version is 4.6.7, and the image is 4.6. typically a new image would be generated for 4.7.

                            T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • T
                              toString @dankcushions
                              last edited by

                              @dankcushions Either way it's annoying because the boot files are not updated and if you're trying to boot from sad in the newly released NesPi4 cases you hit a wall. I literally had to install RaspiOS and copy the .elfs and .dats over to my RetroPie ssd to get it working.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • ClydeC
                                Clyde @Darksavior
                                last edited by Clyde

                                @Darksavior said in PI4 8GB & Retropie - Is it supported?:

                                @Clyde I'm not sure if installing from source are made to use the extra ram, but it'd be a plus if it could.

                                The buffers / disk cache that show up in free -h and your desktop tool shouldn't be affected by the installation method, as AFAIK they are managed by the Linux kernel itself. But as such, they'd only speed up repeated loading of the same files, e.g. the pictures or videos when browsing games in Emulation Station.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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