Manage & Setup Multiple RetroPies
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Trying to figure out the best way to manage a number of Retropie's for friends and family. At first pass I was simply going create a 64 gig micro internal SD and mirror it for each device. I read a few people saying this wouldn't work and each device needed to have the packages installed manually and some part of the setup used the serial number of the board and such.
In the short time I have had a few crashes, do I really want all my ROMS and potential save data in the same location as the OS and emulation station? I read a few people saying separating OS and ROMS is a must. What does the community think?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
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@sumerian No. The OS is on the SD card. It doesn't matter what the Serial Number is.. or the IP or MAC address as long as you don't customise the settings... ie a static IP or something similar. If you are going to clone multiple set-ups be sure to buy your SD cards from a reputable seller, not ebay. And buy all the same type and version. Not all SD cards are the same size. It may only be the matter of a few sectors but an img file is a complete "snapshot" of the original. It needs ALL sectors to be copied over. Even the empty ones.
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Do you feel it is necessary to separate roms from OS?
What if I wanted to take the perfect micro SD card 32 bit and move it to a 64bit. Doesn't sound like I can image it.
I get what you are saying about SD cards not all are created equal, I would likely buy from a scandisk from amazon. I hear I should be looking at class 10 only.
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@sumerian just get your set-up the way you want it. Including ROMs, Kodi etc and copy it and clone it. The only thing to be aware of is the fact that networking / wifi will need to be set up at everyone's individual home... unless they all live with you. These are really gifts that should be delivered in person as even the wifi connectivity is not as easy as some might think. If it is NEVER to go online then that is not an issue. However, issues will crop up. Bear in mind the Pi is a cheap, single board computer designed for learning, supported by a community of enthusiasts and hobbyists. It's not Nintendo or Netflix... stuff goes wrong! Are you prepared to be tech-support until they get bored? Will you drive 20 miles on a Sunday morning because wee Jimmy can't play Last Blade 2???? Well; will you??? I hope you see my point. It's a great gift but if you give it to someone who doesn't know how it works and is used to retail consumer electronic devices then... I personally think you are making a rod for your own back.
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@columboscoat I made one for my brother for xmas, and this is a valid concern. Still, I don't think he'll use it much. It's probably still in the box sitting next to his TV waiting for me to come over and connect it for him (he doesn't live close and we haven't had the chance to catch up after xmas).
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@mattrixk I suppose it's a reason to call over. Boot the brats out, keep the weemin to play, if that's their thing. Hook it up and have fun! Beat your brother up when he cheats or causes you to die!
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@columboscoat Hah, my brother is nearly 40. I mainly got it so he could introduce his teenage son to the games we played growing up, and maybe get him off the xbox a little.
My sister-in-law broke my old MegaDrive by playing Dr Mario's Mean Bean Machine so much that it just died (this was over a decade ago, so the machine was already over a decade old itself).
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@mattrixk nothing wrong with being "nearly 40" btw! Some of us just got there a few months ago... ! I hope he kicks your young ass! Bloody kids...
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@mattrixk Cool ! HAH! Get it all set up and beat hear to a snivelling mess. Embarress her in front of her kids and husband! Never get invited to any more family functions...!
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I see your point :) what about my question regarding taking the perfect 32gig sd and moving to 64gig. Any reason I can not simply make an image and move it over. Would I need to run the storage optimizer maybe when completed in retro.
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@sumerian Just copy the 32GB image to the 64GB card in the usual manner. Then put the card into a Pi. Use raspi-config and choose "expand file system". This will increase the root partition to fill the cards capacity and allow you to use the full size. Usually around 60GB or so on a 64GB card.
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@columboscoat thank you
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