Installing, uninstalling and re-installing
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First off, I swear this isn't another "when will Retropie be updated for Pi 4?" topic.
So, in anticipation of an eventual new version of Retropie, I purchased a CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 Starter Pro Kit in September. I'm planning on using it as the core of a retro arcade machine that I'm going to design and build. I'm (somewhat) patiently waiting for a Pi 4 compatible version of the software, but the kit is still sitting there, in its unopened box, and part of me is itching to crack that sucker open and play around with it.
There's one problem...
Despite over 20 years of computer hardware and software experience (including building systems and writing software), the Raspberry Pi is almost completely new territory for me. I'm eager to learn, but I want to clarify a few things before I start digging a hole too deep to climb out of:
Do I need to use the NOOBS installer that came with the Starter Kit before installing and running Retropie (when a Pi 4 version becomes available)?
If I need to use NOOBS, do I need to run Retropie from the same SD card that NOOBS comes on (it's only a 32 Gb and I have a 128 Gb that I want to use for my Retropie Arcade Machine)?
If I don't need to use NOOBS, would I be able to use NOOBS to play around with the system before the updated version of Retropie releases and uninstall it before installing Retropie?
Lastly, if I can use NOOBS for now, get rid of it later, install Retropie and use it in my arcade cabinet, how easy/difficult would it be to do that (if it's too much hassle, I might just skip NOOBS and keep waiting for the updated Retropie release)?
I did a forum search and found a lot of topics discussing these things, but they're all from 2018 or earlier, so I don't know if the information is still accurate or not. Any help would be appreciated.
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Go ahead and use NOOBS to install the Raspbian Buster desktop. Nothing you can do is going to affect anything on your pi outside of the SD card image (except the very remote possibility of flipping your warranty void bit due to excessive overclocking values). Existing versions of Retropie can be installed into an existing desktop or standalone, so you can assume the Pi 4 version will be the same. If not, you can just write the Pi 4 Retropie SD image over the top of your existing one if there is no data you want to save.
As for the 128gb card, you can use a card that big, but before you put NOOBS on it (or anything else) you will want to format it with FAT32. Cards that big wont work with exFAT on them. I am currently using a 256gb card in my Pi 4.
Play around with the desktop, people are not kidding when they say the Pi 4 has the power of a desktop computer circa 2012. I can even play the most demanding Flash games on the web at full speed. HOWEVER, do NOT set your GPU memory to a figure over 512mb, or your SD card will never be able to boot again unless you overwrite it with a new image or boot it on a Pi 3B and reset the memory size. You don't need to change the GPU memory in the Pi 4.
You can have plenty of fun with the Pi 4 while waiting for the official release of Retropie, and if you can't wait, there ARE builds of it in progress you can install manually.
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Thanks for the quick reply.
I'm not planning on overclocking (excessive or otherwise) unless I specifically run into a game that requires it to play well. Considering I'm mostly going to be playing classic arcade games, I doubt it will be an issue (I think the most recent game I'm interested in playing came out around 2001).
I'll have to remember about using FAT32 instead of exFAT. Do you use multiple partitions on your 256 Gb card? I was planning on having a separate partition on my 128 for my ROMs so I could also use it on my tablet (I have RetroArch on it). I figure if NOOBS comes on a 32 Gb card, I can make a 32 Gb partition for Retropie and have the rest as a ROM drive that I can swap in and out.
Much like with overclocking, I wasn't planning on playing around with the GPU memory unless I absolutely had to. If you're saying I shouldn't ever have to...bonus.
I'm also not interested in installing the in-progress builds early. I've done beta testing before and I find the entire process informative and useful, but incredibly frustrating. I'm hoping that when Retropie officially releases with Pi 4 support, it'll be a (mostly) hassle-free experience. There's a difference between "playing around with my new toy" and "digging into an unfamiliar technology's guts up to my elbows to see how all the bits and bobs work". I'm not necessarily against the latter, but I'd prefer to stay more on the side of the former for now.
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I use a single partition on my 256gb card, if I need to transfer big files I just use a USB stick. Small files I just transfer using Bluetooth.
Synaptic package manager is a good tool for newbies to use to get things installed and working. Once you get your desktop running go to the Terminal and install it with
sudo apt-get install synaptic
Once you get that in there, it can be used to find and install things and will also flag any dependencies for installation too. If you want to use Bluetooth for file transfers I'd recommend installing blueman, and Synaptic can find and install that for you too.
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If you want RetroPie now you can install it. The master branch works fine on my 4. Refer to the manual install guide to get started.
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