Hi from a complete Noob
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Gday all. From Aus and about to venture into my first simple retropi console. Waiting on a Pi 3 Model B case and fan to arrive. So in the mean time have loaded the retropi image onto SD and downloaded a rom list to try out. Everything seems to make easy sense for when it all gets here - only time will tell. 1 question I have is after the initial install can that SD card be removed, like a normal os disk? or is it something that stays in for good?
My only other concern is I've bought a cheap version of the xbox 360 wireless receiver so I hope I don't have problems connecting my wireless 360 controllers time will tell with that too... all that's left is to source a decent power supply.
I currently have an android tv box and the android 4.4 OS was far more difficult to figure out a decent console, so I thought I'd give raspberry a go and leave the android to run kodi.Open to any suggestions about anything that anyone has. should be fun to start with the basics.
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@amadsen said in Hi from a complete Noob:
can that SD card be removed, like a normal os disk?
No, there is no storage on a raspberry pi. The sd card is the only storage hence the burning of an image to allow the raspberry to boot and operate. It remains in and the os should be shut down correctly as the pi has no power switch. Cutting the power risks corrupting the card and when you discover how many hours you might put into building up your system, this would be very painful. The following should be studied carefully: https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/ With particular attention to having a decent power supply as you stated but rated at 2.5A minimum.
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You can use an another SD card with a different system on the Pi, as long you shut it down before you switch SD cards.
You still need to configure the controllers and maybe the screen settings for a smooth pixel output etc. but that is not hard to do at all. You can find everything on the Wiki and on Youtube clips. Once you reconfigured RetroPie exactly as you wanted just make sure you copy and backup the config files on your desktop so in case you ever reinstall RetroPie you only need to copy n paste the config files.
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@rbaker 2.5A minimum? what's the preferred by most? 3A? I was just shuffling through all of my phone chargers haha best I got was 2.3A so I'll be buying 1 it seems.
Thanks to both of you for clarifying about the SD Card. I was leaning towards it staying in but it just never said anywhere that I had read yet. I can preload the Sd with my roms as well in a folder called retropie I believe? It just seems so easy... insert SD and let it do it's thing, setup control, play. tweak etc I guess as I get more used to it. And I'll set up wifi so I can transfer easily after initial setup. Why I waited so long to do this I don't know
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@amadsen said in Hi from a complete Noob:
I can preload the Sd with my roms as well in a folder called retropie I believe?
Why do you think this? You should start to read the guide as soon as possible.
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@amadsen said in Hi from a complete Noob:
2.5A minimum? what's the preferred by most?
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@amadsen Most of us here on this board use a 2.5A power supply.
How big is the SD card and which systems do you want to play? I'm using a 64GB card and I have like 9GB empty space on it, I have the entire MAME/NEOGEO Romsets which take a lot of space and many PSX games.
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@PetroRie I want to clone my SD card and use it on another system I built so all I have to do is insert the card and start playing again.... IS THIS POSSIBLE PLEASE HELP ME on my retropie project
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@Corykrist1 you're sounding desperate. you already have a topic open (the answer to which is on the documentation you agreed to read before posting)
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@Corykrist1 It is possible to clone them:
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Thanks Baker. I'm reading through everything and I see the req. I just thought maybe people tend to choose something higher. I don't think I'll be putting too much strain on the pi at least any time soon so I'll just stick to the minimum power req.
I've got a couple of micro SD's floating around Petro. Was going to just start with an 8GB that's spare. the roms I got equal about 5gb. I have plenty of usb sticks too for interim. The set I got was just the most complete and diverse range so I could essentially plug and get playing. I'll weed out what I don't want and add titles down the track. -
@amadsen said in Hi from a complete Noob:
The set I got was just the most complete and diverse range so I could essentially plug and get playing
Which emulator are you referring to that you believe is plug and play? I'm hoping that the name "mame" doesn't appear in your response :)
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haha oh god really? no mame are in there but I expected them to be the worst of it, I've had a friend make himself a arcade machine and he had all sorts of issues with controls. others like snes n64 sega some ps. I have a genuine 64 and a sega but get sick of bringing them out wearing out the games controllers i rather have them as tidy displays for the most part and play on occasion. It'll all be new to me but seemed like a fun inexpensive project I don't claim to know much lol hopefully just enough to get myself into trouble.
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@amadsen Just don't become the 20000th person to post a support request saying that MAME crashes to the menu and roms will not launch - have a read of this in preparation:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2859/how-to-use-mame-with-retropie-help-guide -
@rbaker said in Hi from a complete Noob:
@amadsen Just don't become the 20000th person to post a support request saying that MAME crashes to the menu and roms will not launch - have a read of this in preparation:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2859/how-to-use-mame-with-retropie-help-guidehaha ok :)
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hehe well it's all arrived. putting it together was simple enough. really didn't need the fan that came with it, but for now it's in and permantly running 5v/gnd. That's the easy part. from what I could tell I bricked my build twice trying to install all the packages when doing the retropi config or whatever it was called. Once I stopped that it's been ok except now for getting the same result from having to dc power while on. cause I had no keyboard in and it went to the cmd line. In any case I'm just making mistakes along the way to actually getting it sussed, which is kind of fun. I've thrown a bunch of roms onto a usb that was configured by the pi and once I've reloaded my sd with retro hopefully they will be all sweet too. Baker I read the mame help and have opted to use the 2003lr although yet I haven't tried any, I'll work out all my other dilemmas before I even go to mame lol.
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@amadsen said in Hi from a complete Noob:
same result from having to dc power while on
You mean you are unplugging the cord to switch off the pi?? If so, your card and it's contents will not last long. You must shut down using the correct menu choice before removing power. Failure to follow this procedure will corrupt the sd card.
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baker just once or twice. as I do realize exactly what you said will be the result of always doing this way, it just seemed I was left with no other choice, I've also since failed to be able to get back to emulation station from n64 rom, tried the select+start but wouldn't work so before I get back into a rom I'm reading up on the hotkeys.
Although I read the basics about the pi and retropie setup, I have to admit I didn't realise I should have read more about the backend setup. I had a misconception of being a simple end user with only a little setup by myself. Ie. the n64 rom I did run (conkers) ran like complete ass jittery screen sketchy audio etc, so now I will be looking at the dismanx and some other core settings I've read that can improve n64 experience. AFTER i figure out how to safely exit a rom back to home. I'm keeping my keyboard and a usb thrustmaster controller connected until I'm happy with the end results.I've been playing with things like memory split but put it back to 256 for the time being till I understand more.
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@amadsen said in Hi from a complete Noob:
n64 rom I did run (conkers) ran like complete ass jittery screen sketchy audio etc, so now I will be looking at the dismanx and some other core settings I've read that can improve n64 experience. AFTER i figure out how to safely exit a rom back to home. I'm keeping my keyboard and a usb thrustmaster controller connected until I'm happy with the end results.
I've been playing with things like memory split but put it back to 256 for the time being till I understand more.memory split and dispmanx are not things that will help anything n64 (or much else). conkers won't run great regardless of what you do.
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@dankcushions I tried a different random rom (1080 snowboarding) and it was fine. if those settings aren't 1s I should look at can you suggest others that may help better? I've read about overclocking the pi3 but that seems a bit drastic this early on.
I've changed to hi res emulator and 1280x720 50hz and conquers ran alright at the beggining but starting to get laggy again just before the menu. lots more playing will come i'm sure now I'm getting far more familiar with things.
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