A Raspberry Pi and Two retrodes walked into a bar...

[Steeds]

Hi Folks,

Just got my order i long forgotten about (Ordered much earlier this year) for a raspberry pi from Element 14.




Now that i have it, i don't know how to go about it. Was thinking of making a UGM or "Ultimate Gaming Machine". Need a powered USB hub to power up the pi & the retrodes then a smallish monitor or screen to play on. Will have to start compiling a list of OSes and Linux emulators to use them with. Will need get some Snes controllers too.

Has anybody got any suggestions on where to get good parts in UK but if not, what else could i do with trio?

[JonY]

Hot sure on the HID support in Linux, so if that doesn't work, you could do this: http://hackaday.com/2012/07/05/interfacing-snes-controllers-with-your-raspberry-pi/

Although thinking about it, you could just set the Retrode keyboard mode...

[ríomhaire]

Just out of curiosity, is the Raspberry Pi powerful enough to run XBMC with no hiccups?

[Steeds]

Just out of curiosity, is the Raspberry Pi powerful enough to run XBMC with no hiccups?

Haven't tried this set up yet but the raspberry pi has its own port call Raspbmc.
The only requirement other than a Raspberry pi is a class 6 8Gb SD card. Am hoping to use this rather than Debian for the main system.

[JonY]

Just out of curiosity, is the Raspberry Pi powerful enough to run XBMC with no hiccups?

As well as Raspbmc, there is OpenELEC. I have tried both, and had more luck with OpenELEC. If you look around, you can find precompiled SD card images rather than building your own.

Edit: Bad links, now sorted, sorry!

[matt]

@JonY all your external links are badly formed. Please check them

[JonY]

Oops, fixed them.

[ríomhaire]

Thanks guys. That's really cool. Seems like a really good way to set up a modern media centre. May have to add it to my "to buy" list.

[Steeds]

It seems the Raspberry Pi might have a challenger in the form of the "Gooseberry"
Pics:




I'll let the website specs do the talking:

Specs

   
• CPU : A10 1 Ghz overclockable to 1.5 Ghz  (1.2 Ghz highest stable overclock on android)
• Graphics Processor : Mali 400 MHz
• Operating System : Now Android 4.0 ICS
• Onboard Storage: 4Gb (upgradeable by Micro SD memory card- 32gb)
• Wifi: 802.11 b/g/n
• Connectivity: Ac jack, 1x 3.5mm Earphone Jack, 1x Mini Usb, 1x Hdmi Out, Micro Sd slot
• Compatible software: Android ICS is the only compatible OS! Ubuntu and Arch linux are expected in the future

Requirements to get the board running

   
• Mini Hdmi cable to connect the board to an tv or monitor
• Male Micro usb to female usb cable to connect usb peripherals  (mouse, keyboard, usb hub)
• Powered USB hub to connect power hungry peripherals such if required such as External Hard drives
• Micro USB to USB to connect board to computer for flashing the on board Nand flash

GooseBerry Board vs Raspberry Pi

   
• The Gooseberry board is roughly 3 x more powerful in processing power than the Pi
• The Gooseberry board has a newer arm architecture meaning it is compatible with newer software such as Ubuntu which the Pi can not run
• The Gooseberry board has double the ram of the Pi (512mb)
• The board does not have a Lan  port, although Wifi is present
• The board does not have analogue video and so can not connect to old TV's
• Only a limited OS (android) is supported as of yet fully, the board however is capable of running other Os's such as Ubuntu (currently without graphics acceleration). Premade images for Ubuntu are now available and videos of the board running ubuntu and other linux flavours shall be uploaded.

The reason i bring it up? £40 + delivery and (possibly) run android!

Decision time me thinks...Keep Raspberry or go Gooseberry?

[Steeds]

Can't do much other than go to the menu, but for someone who isn't very good at this:







Using JGBE or Java Gameboy Emulator on latest stable Raspbian "Wheezy" image

Read on twitter that someone is doing a MAME compile for the pi, would certainly make things easier than using java...

[Seik]

That N64/GB adapter....

I'm jelly! D:

[Matthias_H]

The reason i bring it up? £40 + delivery and (possibly) run android!

Decision time me thinks...Keep Raspberry or go Gooseberry?

Hmmm. First time I've heard about that. Seems to be a fair bit bigger than the RasPi -- a standard assembly that would otherwise end up in China tablets. What confuses me is that those folks don't know the slightest bit about their own product (does it have GPIO pins?) since it is not their own design. Even funnier, they don't have the schematics for it! I doubt that this will be adopted by as substantial a community as the RasPi, with a serious dedicated linux distro and all that.

[Steeds]

Hmmm. First time I've heard about that. Seems to be a fair bit bigger than the RasPi -- a standard assembly that would otherwise end up in China tablets. What confuses me is that those folks don't know the slightest bit about their own product (does it have GPIO pins?) since it is not their own design. Even funnier, they don't have the schematics for it! I doubt that this will be adopted by as substantial a community as the RasPi, with a serious dedicated linux distro and all that.

After reading a thread on the website, i'm gonna have to agree. My theory is that someone bought a job load of motherboards and tried to palm them off as "upgraded" raspberry pi's.

not that i wouldn't have one of course...