Raspberry Pi

[MartyG]

There's a few SBCs out now running the Big/Little Hexcore RK3399 which are relatively powerful boards next to the Pi3, which are starting to make the XU4 look old.

Rock64 Pro: https://www.pine64.org/?page_id=61454

NanoPC-T4: https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.ph...product_id=225

NanoPi NEO4: https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.ph...product_id=241

Quite tempted to get the NEO4 as it's well priced.

I have bought into this Kickstarter - the La Frite which is Pi Zero W money for Pi3 performance.

Too many SBCs and not enough time.

[Digfox]

Alas there is never enough time

I don't mind that the ODroid and RPi 3 are mature platforms. Both have a lot of support although obviously this is an area the RPi leads in. My AMD APU PC is both getting on a bit and also becoming unwieldy for retro duties. Also AMD dumping support for old Linux GPU drivers is a killer on the system too. So I was really impressed with how far along RetroPie on the my RPi 2 has come along and I think I just want something small with a power/reset switch (mini NES/SNES/PS style).

[MENTION=42]MartyG[/MENTION] I've been looking into these RPi 'preloaded' Frontends/images on ArcadePunks as noted earlier. All are obviously very easy to setup on SD card, but how easy is it to get to boot from USB? A long time ago I used that configuration with RasPlex to get it to boot from USB but haven't looked into it yet.

[MartyG]

Very easy, on the Pi3B+ as it's already set up to do it. Just burn the image to the USB stick plug it in and turn it on.

On the Pi3B you have to alter the boot config in the /boot folder adding program_usb_boot_mode=1 at the end. That updates the USB boot flag in the OTP memory. Older Pi models don't support USB booting.

RaspberryPi.Org document the whole process on their website.

It takes a bit longer to boot when using the USB as it still checks for a microSD boot, so seems to need to do a bit of house keeping before the USB kicks in.

[importaku]

Has anyone tried using a pi for this?

https://pi-hole.net

Seems like a fantastic way to block ads, looks way more powerful than simple Adblock as it does it at a server level. Might be time to repurpose one of my pi’s from an emulation box into an adblocker powerhouse.

[Digfox]

Very easy, on the Pi3B+ as it's already set up to do it. Just burn the image to the USB stick plug it in and turn it on.

Thank you! I literally just ordered a 128GB SD card from Amazon and then cancelled reading that. So does that mean that I run the 3B+ with only a USB stick in it and no SD card?

I vaguely remember altering some lines in RasPlex but still needed to have an SD card in there. Given that I can pick up a Sandisk microSD card for £20 it's not the end of the world if I need to buy one.

Has anyone tried using a pi for this?

https://pi-hole.net

Seems like a fantastic way to block ads, looks way more powerful than simple Adblock as it does it at a server level. Might be time to repurpose one of my pi’s from an emulation box into an adblocker powerhouse.

Yes, have been running it on a RPi1 for a while now. Also can also be run via a docker container on Linux/Unraid etc. I run it for mobile device DNS only rather than changing my router's DNS, although I've found of late that more ads seem to be getting through it (i.e Eurogamer). Nowhere near as effective as UBlock Origin, although you can run in tandem.

Although it you get too aggressive with blocklists I've found you can block normal activity like updating apps from Google Play Store or even getting to sites live Xbox Live EN/GB.

That said it is an awesome project and given how cheap a RPi 1 or 0 are to run costs pennies to have blocking of ads on your network.

[MartyG]

Thank you! I literally just ordered a 128GB SD card from Amazon and then cancelled reading that. So does that mean that I run the 3B+ with only a USB stick in it and no SD card?

Yes. I've also experienced less corruption using USB sticks. Turning off the power to the Pi without properly shutting down when using a micro SD card occasionally seems to cause problems. Moving to a USB stick seemed to resolve this (this was from when I was experimenting with using a Pi for a point of information kiosk).

[Digfox]

[MENTION=42]MartyG[/MENTION] Thank you again. Yea I've recently ordered a 128BG USB3 stick, so have it lying around and would rather use this than an SD card, although at least they are fairly cheap too atm. Ideally I'd have the RPi3 accessing my Unraid server but that feels like too much of a 'faff to setup.

[Digfox]

Goodies turned up today. As you can see I've paired the Retroflag SuperPi case with the Raspberry Pi 3B+. A quick look at the Retroflag case and it feels like a Mini SNES. Feels reasonably high quality for the money. The ODroid Go also turned up. Not much to see on that one as it's all in kit form.

Hopefully I get a chance to play with later on today or over the next few days.

[Digfox]

Been playing around with both the Rasberry Pi 3B+ and ODroid Go, and one top tip is don't expect some of these 128GB images to fit on a 128GB USB stick! I need 2.3GB more at 114GB on a certain image and PiShrink doesn't help (which I found impossible to run on either my Unraid Ubuntu VM, or Oracle VM). I think most 128GB micro SD cards come with 119GB space and that's where these images are aiming for. So may need to buy an SD card or larger USB stick.

That said I've been having a great time with the ODroid Go. It feels like the perfect modern day GB emulation machine. GB and GBC emulation feels really good and performance is great. NES and Master System suffer from screen tearing although it's bearable on certain games i.e. Tecmo Bowl. Fun and pretty simple to put together and at £40 feels like a bit of a bargain.

I am one firmware version behind so need to test out that process.I also fancy buying some cheap GB Pocket buttons and Dpad off eBay to liven it up a bit.

[MartyG]

Are you sure you've got sufficient disk space allocated on your VM? I haven't had any issues running the PiShrink script on a full Ubuntu install, as like you, I've found these images don't always fit on all memory cards or sticks.

[Digfox]

[MENTION=42]MartyG[/MENTION] it was a strange permissions error on both VMs. And for the Oracle VM on my Laptop I set over 200gb. The errors were different and the first time wouldn't even allow me to run pishrink. In the end I use the old laptop with Linux Mint which had no problems. Pishrink ran fine and had great pleasure in telling me it had shrunk the image from 117GB to 117GB.

:/

[Asura]

@mgear can you provide links to where you got this stuff? Particularly that SNES case and the GB stuff?

[speedlolita]

That Odroid Go is pretty cheap, almost bought one to tinker with. Think I'd rather just buy an Everdrive for my GB Light at the end of the day though. Still, looks like a handy devices and allows you to play titles beyond just the Game Boy.
@Asura: Odroid Go is $32 shipped here or like 40 quid for one already in the UK.

Heck for $32 I'm interested again...

[Digfox]

@mgear can you provide links to where you got this stuff? Particularly that SNES case and the GB stuff?

The SUPER Pi case came from PiHut directly: https://thepihut.com/products/retrof...luxe-edition-j

The ODroid Go came from Odroid's official UK site: https://www.odroid.co.uk/index.php?r...product_id=838

I ordered both on Thursday via free (for the Pi-Hut stuff) or cheapest delivery (£3.99) for the ODroid Go and they were both with me on the Monday. Very happy with that.

That Odroid Go is pretty cheap, almost bought one to tinker with. Think I'd rather just buy an Everdrive for my GB Light at the end of the day though. Still, looks like a handy devices and allows you to play titles beyond just the Game Boy.
@Asura: Odroid Go is $32 shipped here or like 40 quid for one already in the UK.

Heck for $32 I'm interested again...

I thought about an EverDrive but ultimately it's pricey and will never resolve the age of the screen on original hardware. Again you can mod that I suppose. Obviously newer GB hardware had better screens but I always liked the Pocket's form factor. But at only £40 (£43.94 including delivery) the Odroid Go is a relatively cheap and fun little project. Cheap enough to compliment original hardware imo. Been great fun playing Tecmo Bowl on the go also.

[Jaz]

Anyone recommend an excellent C64 or Arcade image? I have the Ultimate Amiga v2 and thats pretty much the definitive for that platform. The other two I'm not so sure.