SparkFun Electronics Comments

M-Short on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2017-05-02T10:39:30-06:00

Sorry about the delay. The emulator should work on any version of the Pi, but the older versions of the Pi used a different chip and therefor need a different version of the OS. Check out the retropie guys (see David in Denver’s post) and you should be able to get the image you need for any version of the Pi.

LightningHawk on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2017-01-09T11:14:35-07:00

Ryan Bates over at RetroBuiltGames.com has a great tutorial on adding a coin slot + acceptor to a cabinet build. http://www.retrobuiltgames.com/porta-pi-arcade-help/add-coin-acceptor/. Since it is just an optical sesnor you could make your own coins which would be pretty rad. We also sell https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11636 which accepts 6 types of coins. The Hatermatic github repo by Mike Hord is a good place to look at how to wire this one. https://github.com/sparkfun/HaterMatic

Customer #887913 on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2017-01-09T10:54:49-07:00

I want to build this into an old Arcade Game Cabinet I have complete with coin slot for quarters. Is there an input for the micro-switch on the coin mech that would allow one play per time it is tripped? It will be fun to have it in my basement and require my friends to cough up quarters to play it.

Customer #373471 on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-12-30T16:22:46-07:00

What am I doing wrong? There are only about five games I can load and play. Games like doom load up in the middle of a already played game session even if I pick “New Game”. RetroPie says there are 13 games available but I cannot get into any of them. I need some help.

fourstix on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-12-28T17:35:01-07:00

I did the same thing, trying to remap keys for the Mame emulator to match the buttons. I followed the link in the Tutorial to RetroBuilt Games. Here’s a copy of the link: http://www.retrobuiltgames.com/porta-pi-arcade-help/porta-pi-software-os-download/

Then I downloaded the “RetroPie_V3.8.1 for Pi2 / Pi3” image and used Win32DiskImager to re-image the card. That seemed to get me back to square one.

LightningHawk on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-12-05T10:34:53-07:00

We did sell the female quick disconnects at one point in time but they have been discontinued.

LightningHawk on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-12-05T10:30:58-07:00

It depends on what hardware you have. If you have a Raspberry Pi model B then there is not enough GPIO to add player 2 controls. If you have a model B+ with the 40-pin header then you will need to update the software as well.

To update the software (Edit Keyboard Mapping): 1.Boot up your raspberry Pi with a keyboard. Once you are in Emulation Station press F4 to get to a terminal. 2.Type: “cd Retrogame” 3. Type: “sudo nano retrogame.c”

4.Scroll down to about line 74, You should see an input column and a column for the corresponding keyboard mapping.You can add player 2 controls here as well re-assign the GPIO/keyboard mapping for Player 1.

Once you are done updating make sure the last line of this block of code does not have a comma at the end the way the previous lines do.

Crtl+O to save the file.
Ctrl+X to exit the editor.
Type “make” to recompile the file.
Type “sudo reboot” to restart your Pi.

Now you need to update RetroArch so that the emulator recognizes the new keyboard mappings. In the terminal type: “startx”. Navigate to the retroarch.cfg file which is located: /opt/retropie/configs/all and scroll down to the keyboard inputs. Make the changes that reflect the changes you made to retrogame.c save the file and it should be good to go.

If you have any questions just let us know.

BenjaminTM on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-12-05T10:04:33-07:00

To make a 2-player setup would one just need an extra set of joystick and buttons, or would different software and hardware be needed?

justabill on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-12-04T08:32:11-07:00

I think my card has become corrupted. Is there a disk image I can download to create a replacement?

M-Short on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-12-02T11:39:27-07:00

There is a microSD card with and full size SD adapter. We basically program this guy.

Sam L on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-12-02T11:22:38-07:00

I just noticed, the description says this comes with a 1x SD Card with Porta Pi. The only Raspverry Pi that uses SD is the B. The A+, the B+, the 2 and 3 all use micro SD cards. Which does this come with? an SC or Micro SD?

David in Denver on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-12-02T09:20:18-07:00

I got it to work with my 1st generation Model B, but it was a big, big pain. The supplied SD card with PortaPi won’t work with the PI 1 — it crashes when the emulator is run.

I had to make a new SD card image from retropie.org.uk for the PI 1. Then I added retrogame, https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-Retrogame, and change the configuration file to match the buttons. There might be a step or two I’ve forgotten, but it works now. Performance seems to be adequate for the few simple games I’ve tried.

JustJon on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-11-01T21:10:37-06:00

Looking at the parts list, I see Female quick disconnects listed, but only male quick disconnects when I search your site. Are the female ones not available on your site or is it the male ones? If so, which size, since you have two different ones listed when I search. Thanks.

FBStar on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-10-28T21:44:32-06:00

Thanks for the response. I do have the tools to build this into an off the shelf project enclosure. I plan to pick one of these kits up as soon as the new ESP32 is in stock! Please do pitch the idea…it would be better than a sloppy DIY solution.

LightningHawk on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-10-28T19:24:40-06:00

Yeah this is meant to be a temporary solution until you build/buy a cabinet. Pretty much any project enclosure big enough to hold the joystick and buttons will work. But I may just pitch this enclosure idea to engineering on Monday. Have a good weekend.

FBStar on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-10-28T19:18:47-06:00

I would get this if it it came with a better enclosure, as in a plastic case that would be sold separately.

laserhawk64 on KIT-14007 - SparkFun PiRetrocade

2016-10-28T18:47:18-06:00

Thinking of getting this for a friend for Christmas (he loves games). I have limited funding (it’s a long, sad story) but I do have a 1st-generation Pi Model B… will this kit work with it, or is that a bad idea (or both)…?