Installing Atari 800 emulator

Seeker

I've figured out how to add roms from usb for my pi zero.
However, in the directory of ROMS, there is no Atari 800 option, so I just created one.
What I can't figure out is which Atari 800 emulator to install and more importantly where to install it.
I have all 5 ROMS for the OS in BIOS as I did do research on this.
Thanks.

mediamogul

@Seeker said in Installing Atari 800 emulator:

What I can't figure out is which Atari 800 emulator to install and more importantly where to install it.

The Atari800 emulator is installed through the RetroPie-Setup script, so there's no need for guesswork. Afterwards, it will automatically place an 'atari800' folder in your ROMs directory, so that would explain why you weren't able to find it. A tip to save you some hassle is that there is a bug in the emulator that corrupts the preference file at /opt/retropie/configs/atari800/atari800.cfg if any setting is altered through the built-in GUI, so you'll likely have to add reference to the BIOS files by editing the settings manually through a text editor like Notepad++.

herb_fargus

@mediamogul hmm. What kind of bug are we talking about? I'd be interested in hearing more about it / if we can squish it

Vaguely remember something like it when testing long time ago

mediamogul

@herb_fargus

I've been making this recommendation for about a year now and since very few people use this emulator, I rarely have to. It seems that over time, I've forgotten the specifics, so I just re-familiarized myself with the issue. Changing settings through the GUI is actually fine, as long as you go into the 'Emulator Options' menu selection and save manually. However, selecting 'Save Settings on Exit' will corrupt the file on the next exit, resulting in a freeze at the cartridge menu on the next and every consecutive launch. Even going in with a text editor and turning the save on exit option off still yields the same result, making a fresh copy of the config file necessary.

herb_fargus

@mediamogul from the docs

go back to the "Emulator Settings" and select Save Configuration File or alternatively change Save configuration file on exit from no to yes

Then you can exit the emulator by pressing F9 and then try the game again or press shift+F5 to reboot the game.

That was when I tested it the first time I'd have to look at it again to see if I can reproduce. Anyways it's good to know

mediamogul

@herb_fargus

I've heard a lot of complaints over time about how difficult it is to setup and use, but outside of this small issue, I've found that everything runs and behaves very well. You really can't beat the level of versatility it has in not only emulating the entire Atari 8-bit family, but also the wide variety of input devices that encompasses.

Seeker

Thank you very much, I found it in the manage optional settings.
There is a problem however as the Pi zero has no internet connection so it can't download the packages.
Is there anyway I can download them and place them somewhere so it can install?
Thanks!

mediamogul

@Seeker

Is there anyway I can download them and place them somewhere so it can install?

There's always a way, but I feel that it's a bit more than I can relay in a series of forum posts. If this is something you want to explore, you should do some reading about how software is installed on Linux in general, which can then be applied to RetroPie. That kind of research and application is most certainly rewarding, but for simplicity sake, I'd recommend just getting a WiFi dongle.