New to retro pie
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Hello,
I'm somewhat new to the whole retro pie thing seeing how I just discovered this cool piece of hardware last week and I'm looking to buy a pre-configured unit on eBay at the moment that's pre built, all games downloaded and other things like the Kodi app, controllers, etc. I have 2 main predicaments first before I buy one...
1.) I see that you can get something like a game genie downloaded so that you can cheats and what not but the people that sell them seem to know nothing about it, any truth to this? I've seen YouTube videos and articles on it but I don't know enough about it so wondering if someone can clear that up for me
2.) Not gonna lie, I suck when it comes to programming stuff on computers and hardware, I'm basically an average joe on a computer. I can use the Internet, watch movies, print documents and run my fantasy hockey league so that's about it so (and this brings me back to the first thing) if there is some sort of cheat system like a game genie, how easy would it be to download it and install it on to the retro pie?
Any feed back helps, Thanks!
Josh
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@Josh-I dont waste your money on premade retropie machines from ebay especially ones with games downloaded already as they are illegal.
This page has some info on some reputable sources of hardware https://retropie.org.uk/documentation/building-your-own-retropie-machine/
It really isn't too difficult to set up yourself and you can learn something new and save money along the way. There are plenty of guides on how to install it. but you have to understand while scalpers on ebay that are ripping off our hard work advertise the pi as a premade console- its not. Its a linux box that has a bit of a learning curve, but the raspberry pi was designed for learning and there are plenty of resources available.
As far as cheats some emulators have the option through retroarch and there are also guides on how to implement those. so yes it is possible but again a bit of a learning curve ;)
welcome to retropie :)
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@herb_fargus Thanks man, I didn't know that about the Linux part. I've never used a Linux os before so I should stay clear of that. As for building one, not gonna lie I'm pretty intimated by it but I am willing to give it a shot I suppose. Who knows maybe I'll be ok at it. I'm gonna do some more reading and study up on it.
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@Josh-I almost all emulator boxes run on Linux ;)
RetroPie is just a script that installs emulators and configs (from many different sources) on top of raspbian which is a Debian based Linux OS for the raspberry pi. The image we provide on our website has everything preinstalled so all you do is download and install the image on the Microsd card and then transfer your games over and you're good to go.
You could even install RetroPie on a Linux pc if you wanted to.
This guide is what you will follow in setting it up: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/First-Installation
Follow that and you can have it up and running in less than an hour :)
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@herb_fargus oh ok so the system itself is Linux based. So if I have a windows based computer, does that effect how things will operate/download/etc.? I'm planning on playing this on my tv and was hoping to get extra controllers, mouse and keyboard connected to it, is it difficult to do for someone who is pretty much considered a novice at stuff like this?
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@Josh-I plus I'm just looking at dealing with NES, SNES, SEGA and game boy and arcade (mame?) so hopefully by doing this it narrows down some work seeing how I wasn't really familiar with the other systems other than PlayStation,Nintendo and x box
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@Josh-I even if you have a windows computer there are plenty of free tools available in order for you to install the sd image and access your raspberry pi over the network. its all described on the aformentioned installation page.
for the most part you shouldnt have a problem with the systems you mentioned. mame requires a specific romset depending on the emulator but you can easily rebuild your sets with clrmamepro to be compatible. Its all explained clearly in the wiki
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