I am New and looking for Non- Pie advice (3rd party) before i buy

kchaos

So I have been looking to get back into older games through emulation and found this site. I know that the site recommends a true Pi hardware for the software (mostly for the OS) but I have found some interesting alternatives to a Pi 3, that seem to be more powerful and I do not want to wait till 2019 for pi 4.

So the question is, if i can install Debian on another brand can it then run the emulator? I know that it holds true for a PC and even the web site says PC with Debian. Though I am not sure if these devices count as true PCs as being called for on the web site.

I welcome any other advice on this topic pro or against the idea.

mitu

@kchaos It's not the distro, as much as the platform - PC running Debian Linux (or Ubuntu) are supported by RetroPie. For other SoC platforms - Odroid C1/C2/XU4 are supported.

Really it depends on what games you'd like to play - that should dictate what platform you choose. Each emulated console/platform has it's own emulator, so it's not just one emulator that is running - see the documentation for each platform, it's really detailed and should give you an idea of what RetroPie packages and supports.

herb_fargus

@kchaos you can have all the specs in the world but if there is no software support, those specs are useless.

The raspberry pi has the best support for a single board computer, there is some minimal support for odroid/rock64/Asus tinker board etc. But they are all still considered experimental.

The other option is to install debian on a PC. Otherwise for the boards between raspberry pi/ PCs lakka usually has some good support which is a good portion of what is included with retropie anyways.

Tldr:

If you want support get a pi. If you want specs at the expense of support. Get something else.

kchaos

@mitu

From what I got from your response is that another brand like Banna Pi would not count as a PC even if installed with Debian. Though I am not sure what SoC stands for.

Thx for your input

kchaos

@herb_fargus

I was looking more for confirmation that if another brand that runs Debain would it count as a PC. Some websites I have found are calling these machines mini PCs. So what was possible/ recommended was a tad unclear for a new user looking to jump in, when not ever place is using the same terminology.

Thank you for the input that the other boards are experimental.

mitu

@kchaos BananaPI is not a PC, even if running Debian or Ubuntu. PC means it has an Intel compatible processor - x86 or nowadays x86-64 (64 bit).

jonnykesh

@kchaos The Latte Panda has an intel CPU or you could get an Intel NUC. These would both use the x86 architecture.
SOC, means system on a chip.