Tempted to get a Raspberry Pi 3

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
OP
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
I couldn't think where other to put this, as there's no Raspberry Pi section, so my apologies in advance

For the following reasons:

- I have 45 or so dollars of gift credit on Amazon, so that'd cover the cost
- Wii U isn't gonna be getting DS, PSP, PSX, or N64 emulators anytime soon, if ever
- It seems to be surprisingly powerful given its size, and supports many controllers
- The number of emulators it supports is insanely high
- It would be a good alternative to using my PC for other emulators

My only concerns is setting it up, whether or not the steps in doing so are user-friendly, if it's really all it's cracked up to be for being an all-in-one emulation device. That, and I notice a lot of people don't get a case for it, and I see the official one on Amazon, that'd give me peace of mind as I'm not too keen on leaving the PCB exposed.

Does it support headphones well enough? Or is it better to hook up to external speakers? Are the problems people have with the ports being flimsy/easily broken warranted? I should do more research, obviously, but the appeal is starting to get to me, I'd just like to hear your guys' opinions first :P

Either way, I'll get a cover, and I'll need a micro SD card, I just hope this won't be needlessly complex to set up.

@VinsCool
@Arecaidian Fox
 
Last edited by the_randomizer,

Tom Bombadildo

Dick, With Balls
Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
14,573
Trophies
2
Age
29
Location
I forgot
Website
POCKET.LIKEITS
XP
19,186
Country
United States
Setting it up is only as hard as you make it. You'll probably want to use RetroPie or Lakka, both are basically OS's with frontends dedicated to running emulators. I prefer RetroPie myself, but they both offer the same exact things. Both are extremely easy to setup, simply download the image file and use Win32DiskImager to install it on the micro SD card you're going to be using with the Pi3. There's also an official guide on installing it first time: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/First-Installation which will also tell you how to put ROMs on it using a USB drive. If you need some sort of extremely in-depth 500 step guide on doing anything, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube and elsewhere that are for beginners.

Headphones work fine enough, as do speakers. I have a Pi 2 hooked up to my speakers in my office, haven't had any problems with it and it sounds fine enough. The ports are as strong as any other device, as long as you don't start throwing it against a wall or deliberately bending them you'll be fine.

These are probably one of the cheapest way to emulate a majority of retro consoles, but be aware that some emulators are still not really "as good" as a normal PC would. N64 emulation is still iffy on the Pi 3, some games run fine, some have bad slowdown, some have glitches that make them unplayable etc. PS1 emulation works ok enough, but any game with "advanced" particle effects will experience slow downs during those effects. PSP emulation is also very iffy, most games run in a "playable" state but sound is still a major issue with most games. Forget about DS emulation, it doesn't run well at well.
 

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
OP
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
Setting it up is only as hard as you make it. You'll probably want to use RetroPie or Lakka, both are basically OS's with frontends dedicated to running emulators. I prefer RetroPie myself, but they both offer the same exact things. Both are extremely easy to setup, simply download the image file and use Win32DiskImager to install it on the micro SD card you're going to be using with the Pi3. There's also an official guide on installing it first time: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/First-Installation which will also tell you how to put ROMs on it using a USB drive. If you need some sort of extremely in-depth 500 step guide on doing anything, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube and elsewhere that are for beginners.

Headphones work fine enough, as do speakers. I have a Pi 2 hooked up to my speakers in my office, haven't had any problems with it and it sounds fine enough. The ports are as strong as any other device, as long as you don't start throwing it against a wall or deliberately bending them you'll be fine.

These are probably one of the cheapest way to emulate a majority of retro consoles, but be aware that some emulators are still not really "as good" as a normal PC would. N64 emulation is still iffy on the Pi 3, some games run fine, some have bad slowdown, some have glitches that make them unplayable etc. PS1 emulation works ok enough, but any game with "advanced" particle effects will experience slow downs during those effects. PSP emulation is also very iffy, most games run in a "playable" state but sound is still a major issue with most games. Forget about DS emulation, it doesn't run well at well.

Hmm, certainly is fair enough and sounds pretty straightforward, PSX would be likely as far as I'd go as far as complex emulators go, N64 and DS, yeah probably not. I'll do a bit more research before I splurge my gift card amount on this, will read reviews and watch videos. I'd likely go with RetroPie, which is RetroArch I believe, in RP form, thanks for the feedback :P

Recalbox FTW. No set up whatsoever, faultless emulation, super simple to install.

I love my RP3!

Hmm, I'd rather get it with my gift card on Amazon though :P The steps to use RetroPie sound easy enough.
 

Tom Bombadildo

Dick, With Balls
Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
14,573
Trophies
2
Age
29
Location
I forgot
Website
POCKET.LIKEITS
XP
19,186
Country
United States
Hmm, certainly is fair enough and sounds pretty straightforward, PSX would be likely as far as I'd go as far as complex emulators go, N64 and DS, yeah probably not. I'll do a bit more research before I splurge my gift card amount on this, will read reviews and watch videos. I'd likely go with RetroPie, which is RetroArch I believe, in RP form, thanks for the feedback :P

Hmm, I'd rather get it with my gift card on Amazon though :P The steps to use RetroPie sound easy enough.
All of the emulation-centered OS's use Retroarch, the main difference between them all is just how it's setup and what features it includes. You can check out this video, which shows up some games and emulators being run on the Pi3:

It doesn't really go into a lot of details, he mainly chooses the games that play well as "examples" but it's a good "first look" so to speak.

Also, Recalbox is an OS, their store is just an affiliate thing that links to Amazon pages.

I completely forgot about Recalbox, of the three I believe Recalbox is the more "user friendly" one of the three but isn't a customizable.
 

KiiWii

Editorial Team
Editorial Team
Joined
Nov 17, 2008
Messages
16,544
Trophies
3
Website
defaultdnb.github.io
XP
26,786
Country
United Kingdom
Hmm, certainly is fair enough and sounds pretty straightforward, PSX would be likely as far as I'd go as far as complex emulators go, N64 and DS, yeah probably not. I'll do a bit more research before I splurge my gift card amount on this, will read reviews and watch videos. I'd likely go with RetroPie, which is RetroArch I believe, in RP form, thanks for the feedback :P



Hmm, I'd rather get it with my gift card on Amazon though :P The steps to use RetroPie sound easy enough.

Eh?

Just buy your pi wherever and download recalbox.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

All of the emulation-centered OS's use Retroarch, the main difference between them all is just how it's setup and what features it includes. You can check out this video, which shows up some games and emulators being run on the Pi3:

It doesn't really go into a lot of details, he mainly chooses the games that play well as "examples" but it's a good "first look" so to speak.

Also, Recalbox is an OS, their store is just an affiliate thing that links to Amazon pages.

I completely forgot about Recalbox, of the three I believe Recalbox is the more "user friendly" one of the three but isn't a customizable.



You can go deep and customise it, I use the latest 4.1 beta for enhanced compatibility with reicast and PPSSPP. It's all completely configurable with a keyboard and Linux knowledge.
 
  • Like
Reactions: the_randomizer

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
OP
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
All of the emulation-centered OS's use Retroarch, the main difference between them all is just how it's setup and what features it includes. You can check out this video, which shows up some games and emulators being run on the Pi3:

It doesn't really go into a lot of details, he mainly chooses the games that play well as "examples" but it's a good "first look" so to speak.

Also, Recalbox is an OS, their store is just an affiliate thing that links to Amazon pages.

I completely forgot about Recalbox, of the three I believe Recalbox is the more "user friendly" one of the three but isn't a customizable.


After seeing a few videos, it seems to run most emulators pretty well, now, the other concern I have is people are referring to using a heatsink on the CPU, is this necessary? And is that case that I see on Amazon a good case to use? If not, do you recommend a good case to use to protect it? I have a smartphone USB charger (that goes into the wall), I can probably use that to power the device. I just now need to decide to use RetroPie or RecalBox.

I love my Pi3. Grab a 128gb msd card flashed with Reys 128gb image. Job done.

I have no idea what that image is or what it does, I admit.

Eh?

Just buy your pi wherever and download recalbox.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------




You can go deep and customise it, I use the latest 4.1 beta for enhanced compatibility with reicast and PPSSPP. It's all completely configurable with a keyboard and Linux knowledge.

Does it work with Nintendo controllers by chance, like the Classic Controller or Pro Controller?
 

Tom Bombadildo

Dick, With Balls
Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
14,573
Trophies
2
Age
29
Location
I forgot
Website
POCKET.LIKEITS
XP
19,186
Country
United States
Cases make no difference whatsoever. You could use a piece of cardboard if you wanted.

Heatsinks are only necessary if you decide to overclock your Pi to get better performance, but even then for the most part it's not necessarily a requirement.
 
  • Like
Reactions: the_randomizer

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
OP
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
Cases make no difference whatsoever. You could use a piece of cardboard if you wanted.

Heatsinks are only necessary if you decide to overclock your Pi to get better performance, but even then for the most part it's not necessarily a requirement.

The only other thing that worries me a bit is that this doesn't have a power button, or reset button, but relies wholly on AC/USB power, will it being powered on and off be detrimental at all to the device? I want this thing to last at least a few years.

Raspberry Pi 3 kit (has charger, case, etc all in one)
http://tinyurl.com/h8xp7th

16 GB micro SDHC card with adapter
http://tinyurl.com/gms9eew

With my gift card I only pay like 10 dollars. I still have a few concerns, to go with RetroPie or the other OS/firmware, etc etc. I'll do more research :P
 

Tom Bombadildo

Dick, With Balls
Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
14,573
Trophies
2
Age
29
Location
I forgot
Website
POCKET.LIKEITS
XP
19,186
Country
United States
The act of unplugging it by itself will do no more harm than it would with any other device. I've probably unplugged/plugged my Pi2 thousands of times at this point, still fits fine and runs like new so I doubt it'll break any time soon.

If you unplug it while the green "ACT" light is lit up (which indicates the SD card is being accessed) you do run a small risk of corrupting the SD card, but you should always shut it down via the power options first anyways (like any other PC) so that shouldn't be an issue ever.
 
  • Like
Reactions: the_randomizer

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
OP
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
The act of unplugging it by itself will do no more harm than it would with any other device. I've probably unplugged/plugged my Pi2 thousands of times at this point, still fits fine and runs like new so I doubt it'll break any time soon.

If you unplug it while the green "ACT" light is lit up (which indicates the SD card is being accessed) you do run a small risk of corrupting the SD card, but you should always shut it down via the power options first anyways (like any other PC) so that shouldn't be an issue ever.

Fair enough, I do want my money's worth, do you personally think it's worth the investment? I do thank you guys for your feedback.
 

retrofan_k

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
2,077
Trophies
2
Location
Caves
XP
2,462
Country
Belarus
I have no idea what that image is or what it does, I admit.

It's a Retropie/Emulation Station image with a crap ton of roms on it, so all the hard work is done for you. Just a few minor tweaks needed afterwards and that's it. If you search Reys 128gb on Youtube, there are videos about it.
 
Last edited by retrofan_k,
  • Like
Reactions: the_randomizer

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
OP
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
It's a Retropie/Emulation Station image with a crap ton of roms on it, so all the hard work is done for you. Just a few minor tweaks needed afterwards and that's it. If you search Reys 128gb on Youtube, there videos about it.

I'd rather have control of what ROMs to put in there, as there are a lot of games that I'm not a huge fan of to be honest, heh, I've been watching videos, it doesn't seem nearly as complicated as I thought, still, IDK why I'm not decided on this fully yet. I don't want to end up regretting getting one, you know?
 
  • Like
Reactions: KiiWii

retrofan_k

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
2,077
Trophies
2
Location
Caves
XP
2,462
Country
Belarus
Yeah, that's fine and it's not too complicated to DIY, but for quickness, it's ideal and you can always delete stuff you don't want afterwards. It's also good for Kodi builds too, as I recently configured a "Pulse" build, which runs fine on the Pi 3.
 
  • Like
Reactions: the_randomizer

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
OP
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
Yeah, that's fine and it's not too complicated to DIY, but for quickness, it's ideal and you can always delete stuff you don't want afterwards. It's also good for Kodi builds too, as I recently configured a "Pulse" build, which runs fine on the Pi 3.

Are the emulator cores up to date? Like Snes9x is 1.53/mainline or is it Snes9x Next? I don't want there to be weird or inaccurate sound, as I'm well, heh, sensitive.
 

retrofan_k

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
2,077
Trophies
2
Location
Caves
XP
2,462
Country
Belarus
Are the emulator cores up to date? Like Snes9x is 1.53/mainline or is it Snes9x Next? I don't want there to be weird or inaccurate sound, as I'm well, heh, sensitive.

They are fairly recent, yet I have not checked the versions for a bit. However, there is a new update for it that I need to do this coming week.

The Snes ones run great and I use it mainly for Mame, which is also amazing.

You can check the all the emulator versions over at Retropie's site.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

The only other thing that worries me a bit is that this doesn't have a power button, or reset button, but relies wholly on AC/USB power, will it being powered on and off be detrimental at all to the device? I want this thing to last at least a few years.

Forgot to mention before. You can use a Switched PSU. I have this one here but there should be a US equivalent somewhere.

http://www.modmypi.com/search/?search=Power

So no more unplugging:D
 
  • Like
Reactions: the_randomizer

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
OP
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
They are fairly recent, yet I have not checked the versions for a bit. However, there is a new update for it that I need to do this coming week.

The Snes ones run great and I use it mainly for Mame, which is also amazing.

You can check the all the emulator versions over at Retropie's site.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



Forgot to mention before. You can use a Switched PSU. I have this one here but there should be a US equivalent somewhere.

http://www.modmypi.com/search/?search=Power

So no more unplugging:D

I think that one in that Amazon kit comes with one, not sure :P I see universal ones too.

http://tinyurl.com/h8xp7th

Is that adapter the same one you're referring to? The emulators seem to be up to date and most of them seem to run pretty darn well.

It's 35$, you loose nothing buy it! Seriously, I have a RPi2 and it's an amazing little emulation machine and shockingly a decent desktop. The Ri3 is even better than that!

Oh I know, I wan to get this http://tinyurl.com/h8xp7th as well as a 32 or GB micro SD card :P
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Catboy

The Catboy

GBAtemp Official Catboy™: Boywife
Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
27,801
Trophies
4
Location
Making a non-binary fuss
XP
38,778
Country
Antarctica
I think that one in that Amazon kit comes with one, not sure :P I see universal ones too.

http://tinyurl.com/h8xp7th

Is that adapter the same one you're referring to? The emulators seem to be up to date and most of them seem to run pretty darn well.



Oh I know, I wan to get this http://tinyurl.com/h8xp7th as well as a 32 or GB micro SD card :P
Just make sure you get a fast SD card. Trust me, SD speed makes a huge difference.
 
  • Like
Reactions: the_randomizer

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    SylverReZ @ SylverReZ: @salazarcosplay, Morning