Problems getting pi 3+ to load front end

Lugzyboy82

@mitu Im going through it as we speak so I have answered my own question. Thank you. Time to get started.

Lugzyboy82

@mitu maybe you can help me with my next issue??? I am trying to install retropie on a 128gb sd card. I have ran it through sd formatter and guiformatter and tried to install it with win32diskimager which I can do fine. But after the retropie 4.4 has been written on to the sd card my laptop is partitioning the sd card which is causing performance issues when my pi unit is booting. Any ideas??

mitu

@Lugzyboy82 I don't understand what 'performance issues' does your laptop cause - maybe you explain it better.
Once you've written the SD card on your PC with the install image, your card is no longer useful on your laptop, it should stay in the Pi.

Lugzyboy82

@mitu OK. I have to insert the sd card into my laptop to format. Correct. But when I use the win32diskimager to write retropie 4.4 to the sd card, when the process is complete, my laptop seems to partition the sd card. I have drive E (boot) and drive g on the same sd card.

mitu

@Lugzyboy82 If Windows asks you to format the card, just choose No, the card is already formatted once you've written the image.

Lugzyboy82

@mitu I have done this step. I have now put the newly written card into the pi unit. I have powered up the pi unit and it takes a long time to boot. Much longer than the model b unit I had.

mitu

@Lugzyboy82 Just be patient and wait for the 1st reboot. Resizing the partition to the whole 128Gb takes some time the 1st time.

Lugzyboy82

@mitu ok. Im going to continue setting it up with a theme and roms etc. Hopefully it will speed up next time.

Lugzyboy82

@mitu are you aware of any issues getting the model 3b+ to connect to wifi??

Lugzyboy82

@Lugzyboy82 set localisation to en_GB.UTF-8 and now working fine. I must say, I do prefer the model B instead of the model b+.

Lugzyboy82

@Efriim I cant locate the place where the themes are kept. Where do I type /etc/emulatsionstation/themes???

mitu

@Lugzyboy82 https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Themes/#install-emulationstation-themes:

Alternate themes can be easily installed with the RetroPie Theme Installer.

RetroPie Setup Script >> Configuration / Tools >> esthemes

EDIT: Or you go directly to the RetroPie system in Emulationstation and start the ESThemes menu.

Lugzyboy82

@mitu I get that bit. I want to make some changes to a theme though. As in change the images etc.

mitu

@Lugzyboy82 In this case - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/EmulationStation-Advanced-Theming/.

Efriim

@Lugzyboy82
Enable SSH in the raspi-config on the pi.
Install winscp on your windows computer.
Configure WinSCP to connect to the local ip address with SCP protocol; (edit connection) enter advanced settings, and find and change 'SCP/Shell' Shell: sudo su -.

Then you have a two-pane file manager to navigate the root directory, be cautious of the sensitive filesystem.

The 3b+ wifi and bluetooth work great, no antennae needed. A cooling system is generally a must for the 3b+, otherwise you will experience throttling. A lot of the cases that you can get come bundled with a fan and heatsinks.

First boot takes some time expand the filesystem, if that is the right term it has been a while. When the image is written to the micro sdcard whether by win32 disk image, etcher, or SUSE studio image writer; the filesystem information is formatted and replaced by the disk images. In the case of the RetroPie Image, I think it has two primary filesystems 1: Boot FAT32, 2: Raspbian EXT4.

Lugzyboy82

@Efriim Sorry for the delay in response but thank you for your help.

Lugzyboy82

@Efriim Just to confirm, I change 'SCP/Shell' to 'Shell: sudo su-'

Is this correct? I don't want to make a mess of the sensitive files.

mitu

@Lugzyboy82 said in Problems getting pi 3+ to load front end:

Is this correct? I don't want to make a mess of the sensitive files.

Then don't change it to sudo su -. Please don't use the root account for everyday operations.

Efriim

@Lugzyboy82
I may have exaggerated the Cooling System. I lowered the cpu clock speeds on my 3b+ so as not to need a fan, and it emulates most everything just as well.

Yeah sudo su- will work with SCP protocol only, it is just a two-pane file manager. Except with linux files and folders have important attributes and there is nothing to safeguard against deleting important operating system files.

Efriim

But if you gotta set a wallpaper, then its probably the way to do it. The themes are all written a little differently and some have extra assets to customize with, they are in the folder /etc/emulationstation/themes/ the backgrounds are usually in the _asset, or _art folder.