Raspberry pi 4 place your bets here!

[matchaman]

We'll have to wait for at least a year from now, so I assume that hardware will be seriously upgraded.

I expect something at the class of a good $100 android phone, with 2-3GB of RAM and an 8-core CPU.

I really hope that there won't be any memory built-in as this would decrease the lifespan of the Pi4.

Also a little hardware power/shut down button would be an addition I would totally welcome.

For those who expect decent N64 emulation, I will have to disappoint you. N64 emulation is far from perfect even on modern PCs. It's a complex software implementation, not that much of a hardware demand.

[drake999]

@matchaman I really hope they focus on upgrading the individual ARM cores, rather than just adding more of them, as emulators on RetroPie seem to be all single-threaded, so faster cores and a better GPU will be the most benefit. Agreed on not having built in storage. I'd rather stick with SD cards.

[Ranma]

@matchaman said in Raspberry pi 4 place your bets here!:

For those who expect decent N64 emulation, I will have to disappoint you. N64 emulation is far from perfect even on modern PCs. It's a complex software implementation, not that much of a hardware demand.

Well I'm really glad you said it. I think people imagine that a Pi4 with unimaginable grunt will somehow be able to run N64 flawlessly. This is just not going to be the case. I'm running both a desktop and an Android box with much more power than a Pi3, and while you might at some basic level see some improvement here and there, overall N64 runs pretty roughly whatever your hardware. To be honest, it's a minor miracle we have it running at all on anything. It was a notoriously difficult beast the N64, much like the Saturn.

Personally I'm in no rush for a Pi4. The Pi3 does everything I've asked of it and serves the need well. I much prefer it to my Android box as a home centre. In fact I'm getting to the point where I'm done with Android altogether.

[akafox]

@ranma said in Raspberry pi 4 place your bets here!:

@matchaman said in Raspberry pi 4 place your bets here!:

For those who expect decent N64 emulation, I will have to disappoint you. N64 emulation is far from perfect even on modern PCs. It's a complex software implementation, not that much of a hardware demand.

Well I'm really glad you said it. I think people imagine that a Pi4 with unimaginable grunt will somehow be able to run N64 flawlessly. This is just not going to be the case. I'm running both a desktop and an Android box with much more power than a Pi3, and while you might at some basic level see some improvement here and there, overall N64 runs pretty roughly whatever your hardware. To be honest, it's a minor miracle we have it running at all on anything. It was a notoriously difficult beast the N64, much like the Saturn.

Personally I'm in no rush for a Pi4. The Pi3 does everything I've asked of it and serves the need well. I much prefer it to my Android box as a home centre. In fact I'm getting to the point where I'm done with Android altogether.

Well yes. Granted you can have BETTER performance on a PC, but that is as far as it goes. The more complex system (.i.e. more than one Z80 cpu) makes it difficult. I am surprised the 3DO works at all on a modern PC. (And it does work better with a different emulator I use than the 4DO core. Beyond that anything over 32-bits sans the Sega Saturn is the line. Too complex..too much hardware to emulate let alone loading the software.

More (and faster) RAM would be nice but unless they can start programing the emulators to dedicate a core to a single CPU (i.e. the 3DO had three main CPUs the the pi is a four core CPU..get the idea?) but if that worked so well mame should scream when using more than one core..but it doesn't.

All in all The pi does MUCH more than what anyone thought it would ever do. If the raspberry PI 4 does it better..fine..does it faster..fine. Even if it doesn't I can't complain. :D has a truck deliver the raspberry pi team a few cases of beers

I just want to be able to use "crappy" CRT shaders and not lose performance..my CRT WILL die one day sigh

[matchaman]

After messing with a fantastic new-old-stock CRT TV, it appears that my #1 request for the next Pi would be something like this:

[Rion]

@matchaman No thanks. Better solutions out there already.

RetroTINK
Pi2Scart

[matchaman]

I know but those are external devices. I'd rather have a single unit that gives out the best possible 240p signal.

[Impman66]

@sirdrexl said in Raspberry pi 4 place your bets here!:

Aside from specs, one thing I hope they do is change the layout of the ports a bit. I'd like to see 2 USB ports on the same side as the HDMI and power outputs and 2 ports on the opposite side (rather than perpendicular to them).

Some improvement to powering on/off would also be welcome. It doesn't have to be a real switch/button, just a pair of pins that would power the system on and off (with proper shutdown if turning it off) if you short it. Then you'd only need a simple switch, rather than something more complicated like the Mausberry circuit.

I bought a case on Amazon that included a USB power lead with an inbuilt rocker switch (like a desktop lamp), works great. Case, heat sinks and lead for £10

[Beldar]

What I hope for personally is for the Pi 4 to keep a form factor so similar that it will still fit in all the Pi 3 cases. I also hope that it remains below $40 USD. The real charm of the Pi for emulation is the fact that we are all working from the same point of view. What works on my Pi is very likely to work on yours, etc.

It would be nice to see more RAM, a faster chip, slight faster integrated GPU, etc. In other words, incremental upgrades. Right now it does pretty much what I want it too. A little bit of extra juice might improve N64 performance and let me run the high resolution mode for PS1 without a fan. That would be perfection.

Other things like USB 3 and better wireless on board would be nice, but only if the price can be maintained. Honestly, for our purposes do those things really improve usage that much?

Well.. a Bluetooth module that doesn't overheat would be nice too.

[luizoti]

at least a 4 core 2GHz ARM or CPU with h264 H10p suport
2 Gb RAM
Gb Ethernet
Wifi a/b/g/ac and BT
USB 3
EMMC 8 ~ 32GB and a version without SD card

Separate version with SATA port.