Retropie is al ‘n geruime tyd beskikbaar en daar is vele projekte op die internet wat daarvan gebruik maak. Hierdie is net nog een met die stappe wat ek gevolg het.

Indien jy nog nie van Retropie gehoor het, het ek vir jou ‘n verrassing. Retropie is ‘n nabootser vir die Raspberry Pi wat verskeie ou stelsels ondersteun, onder andere die Atari 2600, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Playstation 1, Playstation 2 en Sega Saturn. Basies enige konsole tot so onlangs as die Nintendo Wii. Al wat jy benodig is ‘n Raspberry Pi en die ROMs vir die speletjies. Die gebruik van ROMs met nabootsers is ‘n grys wetlike area waarvan ek nie veel weet, maar die veiligste is om slegs ROMs van jou eie speletjies te gebruik.

Retropie has been available for a while and there are many many great projects that makes use of it. This is just another one and details the steps I’ve taken.

If you have never heard of RetroPie I have a great surprise for you. Retropie is an emulator for the Raspberry Pi that support mane old gaming systems including the Atari 2600, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Playstation 1, Playstation 2 en Sega Saturn. Basically all the game consoles up to as recent as the Nintendo Wii. All that you need is a Raspberry Pi and the ROMs for the games. The use of ROMs and emulators is a legal grey area that I do not have sufficient knowledge of. To be safe only use ROMs of the games you own.

My projek / My project

My plan is om ‘n draagbare arkade te bou. Iets ongeveer die grote van ‘n PSP of Gameboy. Verskeie ander soortgelyke projekte bestaan reeds om idees vanaf te kry en die projek self is relatief eenvoudig. Die grootste beperkende faktor is spasie en vir hierdie rede gaan ek ‘n Raspberry Pi Zero gebruik. Hier is die lys van komponente wat ek sal benodig en/of reeds gekies het:

• Raspberry Pi Zero
• Skerm – 3.5″ TFT LCD bedoel vir ‘n kar vanaf Amazon
• Krag
  • Battery
  • Batterylaaier
  • Spanningbeheer – DC-DC step-up
• Skakelaars vir aan/af vanaf eBay
• Knoppies vir beheer vanaf eBay
• Klank
  • Versterker – PAM8403
  • Volumebeheer – B103
  • Luidspreker
  • Oorfoonprop vanaf eBay
• Omhulsel om als in te sit

My plan is to build a portable arcade, something with around the size of a PSP or Gameboy. There are multiple projects like this scattered all over the internet to get ideas from and the build itself is fairly straight forward. My biggest limiting factor is space/size and for this reason I have chosen the Raspberry Pi Zero. Here is the list of components that I will need and/or I that I have chosen:

• Raspberry Pi Zero
• Screen- 3.5″ TFT LCD meant for cars Amazon
• Power
  • Battery
  • Charger
  • Voltage control- DC-DC step-up
• Switches from eBay
• Buttons from eBay
• Sound
  • Amplifier- PAM8403
  • Vilume control- B103
  • Speaker
  • Headphone jack from eBay
• Enclosure for everything

Running Retropie

Om mee te begin wou ek net RetroPie op die Rasberry Pi aan die gang kry. Hiervoor het ek ‘n sleutelbord, muis en TV aan die Pi verbind. Ek het ook ‘n rekenaar benodig om RetroPie af te laai en die SD-kaart voor te berei vir RetroPie. Hier is die stappe:

1. Laai Retropie van hier af af.
2. Kry Etcher hier om die RetroPie .img leêr na die SD-kaart te skryf
3. Formateer die SD Card met FAT32 in Windows/Linux
4. Hardloop Etcher
   1. Skryf RetroPie .img met Etcher na die SD-kaart
   2. Skakel die Raspberry Pi  met die voorbereide SD-kaart aan
5. Retropie behoort te hardloop. Hardloop nou Raspi-config vanaf die RetroPie gebruikerkoppelvlak.
   1. Vergroot die leêrspasie op die SD-kaart
   2. Skakel SSH aan selfs as jou Raspberry Pi Zero nie Wi-Fi het nie. Met dit aan kan jy die SD-kaart in ‘n ander Raspberry Pi sit en daarmee oor ‘n netwerk instellings verander.
   3. Indien jou LCD met SPI beheer word, skakel SPI aan.
6. En ek glo dit is dit. Nou benodig jy net die ROMs vir jou speletjies.

For a start I just wanted to get RetroPie working on the Pi. For this I connected the Pi to a keyboard, mouse and a TV. I also needed  a PC to download RetrpPie and prepare the SD card for the Pi.

1. Download Retropie from here.
2. Download Etcher from here to write image to SD Card
3. Format SD Card with FAT32 in Windows/Linux
4. Run Etcher
   1. Flash RetroPie image with Etcher to the SD card
   2. Power-up the Raspberry Pi with the prepared SD card
5. Retropie should startup. Now run Raspi-config from the interface and
   1. Resize filesystem
   2. Enable SSH even if your Raspberry Pi Zero does not have Wi-Fi. With this you can put the SD card in another Raspberry Pu if you need to change any settings over a network.
   3. If your LCD is controlled over SPI, enable this.
6. And that is it, I believe. Now you only need to install the ROMs to play your games.

Volgende / Next

Volgende gaan ek kyk hoe om ‘n klein LCD skerm aan die gang te kry.

Next I will look at getting a small LCD running with the Raspberry Pi.