RetroFE on RetroPie

phulshof

I'm in the process of porting RetroFE to RetroPie, and I was wondering about a number of things:

Would there, apart from the RetroFE community itself, be any interest in this project?
What would be the best way of offering the result to users?

Originally I had planned to create a new SD image with the RetroFE version, but from what I understand by hanging out on the forums these past few days, that would probably not be appreciated. Assuming I can get everything to work, what would be the best way of offering this to interested users? Could it be included in a next release of RetroPie? Should I offer an installation script with instructions? Please advice. :)

pjft

@phulshof I suppose the best way is to add a script to RetroPie-Setup to add it as an optional frontend. Attract mode does the same. See here for an example:

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/blob/master/scriptmodules/supplementary/attractmode.sh

This may be overly complex for what you need for RetroFE, but can give you some inspiration. Also look at the EmulationStation installation script as well.

I personally don't know much about RetroFE, and having invested quite a bit in the last few months improving ES, I can't say I'd expect to change frontend myself in the coming months. That being said, lots of users have different needs - there's both an active AttractMode group of users here, and there are also others like @fluffypillow who are developing their own frontends, so I think it's all positive developments.

I don't think anyone is particularly married to ES as the "one true" frontend for RetroPie. It just happens to be the one that suits the project at the moment - and thankfully, with recent interest in developing it, it has gained some more momentum again. But you never know. And options are always good in my opinion, anyway :)

PetroRie

RetroFE is a front-end, a graphical interface that allows you to launch emulators, video players, and other programs. RetroFE provides a simple and unified solution to viewing your games collections, video collections, apps, and whatever you feel is appropriate. It is supported by an active and helpful community, some of whom you can find on the forums.

Source: http://retrofe.nl/about/

RetroPie has those features already, I cannot see what the point would be if they added RetroFE to RetroPie. It doesn't make any sense at all.

phulshof

@PetroRie

Basically the same reason some people prefer AttractMode over EmulationStation or Launchbox over HyperSpin: different front-ends cater to different types of users. ES is more user friendly than RetroFE, but RetroFE has multiple features that ES does not.

dankcushions

@PetroRie more choice is always good :)

plus, emulationstation is a dead project that is being kept alive by retropie and contributors, but it still has a lot of fundamental things that will maybe never get fixed. i think it would definitely be cool to get more actively developed front ends available.

cyperghost

@dankcushions Indeed :)

It seems to be a good frontend but where is light is always shadows. And I think the shadow is an enormous need of CPU, GPU und RAM

phulshof

@cyperghost said in RetroFE on RetroPie:

@dankcushions Indeed :)

It seems to be a good frontend but where is light is always shadows. And I think the shadow is an enormous need of CPU, GPU and RAM

Those depend rather heavily on the chosen theme. RetroFE allows for a huge amount of objects displayed on the screen, all with their own animations, but of course all that comes at a price. I only just got my pi3, so I'm still testing the limits of the system.

pjft

@cyperghost Things can always be adjusted and adapted. I'm always supportive for more initiatives! :)

@phulshof - did you fix the SDL issues you were having? :)

@dankcushions

"emulationstation is a ~~dead~~ stable project that is being ~~kept alive~~ actively tortured by retropie and contributors, ~~but it still has~~ and keeps getting added a lot of fundamental things that will maybe never get fixed"

Fixed that for you ;)

lilbud

@dankcushions said in RetroFE on RetroPie:

emulationstation is a dead project that is being kept alive by retropie and contributors

Replace that with drugs and alcohol and you just described Kieth Richards.

cyperghost

@pjft Haha ... Well my next was intended to have the same saying.

You all know it, success of a software depends strongly on the acceptance of the users. I'm not sure whose development staff got more members ... maybe ES maybe RetroFE. But up to now the system ES is much better accepted by the users. Time will show ... @phulshof please feel encouraged to try a port and if you let users get the option to install and try out your creation via RetroPie-Update-Scripts then I think the chances are good for a growing community. I think if you find a way to convince our theme creators then the chances for acceptance are multiplied :)

phulshof

@pjft said in RetroFE on RetroPie:

@phulshof - did you fix the SDL issues you were having? :)

Yes, those are resolved. 😀 I'm currently looking into some reported hardware acceleration issues and updating the installation script(s).

phulshof

@cyperghost said in RetroFE on RetroPie:

@pjft Haha ... Well my next was intended to have the same saying.

You all know it, success of a software depends strongly on the acceptance of the users. I'm not sure whose development staff got more members ... maybe ES maybe RetroFE. But up to now the system ES is much better accepted by the users. Time will show ... @phulshof please feel encouraged to try a port and if you let users get the option to install and try out your creation via RetroPie-Update-Scripts then I think the chances are good for a growing community. I think if you find a way to convince our theme creators then the chances for acceptance are multiplied :)

I have no intention of "convincing" anyone. :) I too enjoy choice, and I've always been active to make material as widely usable as possible. That's one of the reasons I maintain the MAME meta XML files for HyperSpin, even though RetroFE doesn't use them, and even though I've never used HyperSpin myself.

RetroFE is a front-end for people who enjoy the "pretty" graphics of front-ends like HyperSpin. It caters to people who often use full rom sets, and who like to combine special collections, like e.g. all Gradius games from different systems. That also implies that it's generally heavier on the resources than e.g. EmulationStation; I wouldn't recommend running RetroFE with heavy video usage on something slower than a pi3. I'm sure there are RetroFE themes that will make even the pi3 cry. :) Some themes even require many MBs of art to be loaded for each game, making the use of an SDD very tempting; the external HDD I use on my Linux PC is already quite slow for some themes.

There's something for everyone here; I'm just hoping to provide a bit more choice by porting a front-end already available on Windows, MacOS and Linux to RetroPie. Whether other people will use it is up to them. :)