![]() When I originally built the system, I used the first random micro-USB cable I found lying around, plugged into a shared USB power supply. Either would be fine, but while technically RetroPie is supported all the way down to the original Raspberry Pi models, I wouldn’t recommend anything older than a 3 due to the emulation’s CPU demands. When I first built the system, it was a Raspberry Pi 3, but shortly after, the 3 B+ (slightly better CPU and Wifi) was released and I switched to that. I didn’t want to build a mini x86 system, and RetroPie is primarily targeted at the Raspberry Pi. ![]() ![]() I could pick up the controller and be within 30 seconds of gameplay. Ironically, this post has been delayed by months because I’ve been continually switching out and modifying things, but the important difference is that at any point during the last few months, the system has always been in a “just works” state. No, if I wanted to do a new emulation box, I would need to suppress my desire to tinker with every internal aspect of the box and build something which is self-contained and just works. The front-end software I wrote might not work right. The wired USB control pad wouldn’t be attached and might be in a drawer somewhere. It wouldn’t be on when I wanted to play and would require a full boot and log-in cycle (digging out a USB keyboard to attach). The problem was there was always something wrong or quirky with it. ![]() I installed Ubuntu, got emulation software working, and wrote my own custom front-end launcher system. This plays into the story of my last emulation box: years ago, I built an i3 system into a small Shuttle case. As an aside, I like to take things apart, figure out how they work, break them, re-implement them, make them do new things, etc. So this year, I decided to build an emulation box for the living room. Get up from the couch and physically switch out a bulky cartridge to play a single game? And let’s face it, I (and the world) have gotten lazy over the last 30 years or so. And I don’t have a “man cave” where I can set up a proper CRT TV to play them on. (My working theory is the TV expects a proper 480i composite signal, while Nintendo consoles of the time would output a slightly standard-breaking 240p which is to be interpreted as 480i.)Įven if they did work, I don’t really have room in my living room’s entertainment center. ![]() The NES and SNES don’t even work with my living room’s 65” 4K LCD TV. See, the problem with collecting a set of 30+ year old hardware is at the end of the day, you’re left with 30+ year old hardware. It was a fun process, but since then, all the consoles (except the Game Boy Color) and games have sat in a box. Early in 2017, I did a three part series, “Re-Buying My Childhood”, where I tracked down and re-purchased the various Nintendo consoles and games I owned as a kid. ![]()
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