Cheap Retro Gaming with the $23 Orange Pi 

They are so cheap, I couldn't resist :) I'm eager to see how these boards develop and what comes next.

Thanks.

Thanks!

Justin Nuckolls Nice!

I thin this will happen with time, they will only get more powerful.

Thanks :D They do have different models, but I am not sure if it helps with these games.

Nice, what's your take on it?

PhilsComputerLab Well. The OS it self are running as it should. The problem is that there is a bug in the newest version, wich prevents me from launching any rom. So... Yeah... Need to wait untill a new version are released or buy a different pi. Its the neogeo and sness roms that gives trouble. Armbian runs great, so as of now it is a wonderfull filesharing server for the home network.

Nice, got to check out the Dreamcast!

Yes, you should try the game Shenmue or the 2012 Turrican-inspired Gunlord.

It supports so many machines, crazy. I only checked out a few due to lack of time. There is a full list floating around on the Internet. C64, Atari, all the good stuff. Lynx as well :D

Yes good point!

Nice!

Nice, I also got the RPI 3 :D I didn't want to compare it with the Pi3 because there is a lot more to it. But it's fine in the comments. The software support is much better for the RPi. That's why I showcased these two projects, those are working great with the OPi and I couldn't tell a difference between the OPi and RPi. RPi is strogner with much more other projects or if you want to get into programming. More documentation, kits, help, tutorial available. But just for gaming, and if you like Lakka and RetrOrangePi, the OPi is on the same level, but much cheaper!

That's cool, many do :D What is awesome is that we can change the settings!

Not sure, I connected my controller with USB.

I found Munt on Pi too much hassle. Will just wait for newer boards that run Windows, there is much better software, easier to use. Basically one program that does everything. I do have a video coming up though on a General MIDI box.

Nice, eager to hear how you go with it.

PhilsComputerLab Well.... Can't wait to get it I must admit. It cost me 304 Danish kroners including shipping. Can't remember what that is in US Dollars. It was just the board and not a bundle.

PhilsComputerLab Checked the price in euro. I paid 40 euro including shipping for my Orange PI Plus 2.

Sweet, I'll have a quick look on the website.

Almost finished downloading both OPI-PC and OPI-Plus2 images. Going to test them out on my two boards.

brostenen Cool. I wonder what's changed.

PhilsComputerLab Well... Even more cool splash screen on first boot. Different menu UI. More retro music in the background. Somewhat more simplified. Just different. One major bug though. You need to delete boot.bmp from first fat partition before first boot. Else works like a charm. I had it hooked up on the router, and transfered some games from my linux laptop, using sftp in Filezilla. Have to use it more. It should have allmost all content replaced or something. Not really shure how much. Running smooth on OrangePI-PC, so i am missing to test on my OrangePI-Plus2, wich is a lot more powerfull. Uhhh... It has a new menuentry, were it is supposed to install on a emmc storage. The Plus2 has 16gb emmc. Possibility for installing other themes as well. Changing background music and so forth.

Some 10 to 12 hours of useage. Makes me think that version 4.1 has most quirks rooted out. Now I can finally add +500 roms in one go over the network, reboot, and scrape them all in one go. And not having the RetroOrangePI getting corrupted. Feels way, way more polished. Need to do one week more of testing and fiddeling. In order to give a final overall verdict. So far its way more awesomme.

No it isnt at the moment bcz there is no support for pc2 yet whereas with pc1 you get full support with many distributions. Pc2 is new and it will take some time to get it to run lakka or retroorangepi. Trust me, i have 6 of this boards( Pi2,Pi0,Pocket chip,Pine 64, opi zero, opi PC2).

Well, i hope it will be supported soon, seems even faster then the Raspberry pi 3, ( i have the Raspberry pi 1, 2, and 3 by the way).

Not sure. The video is about the unit I have. You could check the links in the description and ask there?

What time in the video please?

@@philscomputerlab 4:33

@@christopherlathrop6317 Oh that's Viewpoint

@@philscomputerlab Thank you! :-)

I'm not that familiar with SNES games, but I couldn't see any issues with either the RPi3 or the OPi PC. I didn't try some of the later 3D games like Star Fox, but Contra III looked accurate to me.

I think the most technically demanding SNES games would be Super Mario RPG or Mega Man X2 or 3, they had unique extra chips, and the Star Fox 2 leaked prototype I think would've used the second SuperFX chip. As far as I'm aware, Contra 3 didn't use any special hardware, and all the games I threw at the Raspberry Pi 2 like that worked fine.

brostenen Nice.

I will be checking it out, when it is ready. I will report, as soon as it is released. If you do not beat me to it, that is. ;-)

brostenen I'm super busy, so I doubt I will even get a chance to check it out...

Yea mine didn't but I have lots of spares :)

PhilsComputerLab , oh crap, so you had a different power to connect it to? what about the picky voltage? and did you have overheating problems?

You just need a travel adapter, not voltage. Had no temp issues.

Around a month or so.

We will be getting taxed soon as well :( Eager to hear which software you prefer!

I'll be going for Lakka, as I want more room for games, and it doesn't try to do too much. The multiple models of the Orange Pi cause confusion: some later models have GPUs that don't have a RetrOrange Pi port, as the drivers don't yet exist. The Orange Pi PC2 for example, is not compatible. The similarly named Orange Pi Plus 2, however, works fine.

MarkTheMorose I see, it's been a while since I looked into all of that.

Viewers would be advised to stick to Phil's recommended model, or anything listed as compatible at www.retrorangepi.org/about/ (a list of 9 Orange Pi boards, not all of which are still being sold, it seems.)

I use a micro SD card from Samsung with 16 GB.

I don't have one :(

PhilsComputerLab I recently got my hands on my old NES, SNES and Genesis (and a sorely lacking library of games), AND my old housemates old beast of a Sony WEGA CRT. Having played emulated games for ages on various platforms, I have to say, there is something about having a legitimate console hooked up to hard-wired controllers, in a hyper-responsive CRT TV, that is lacking in emulated systems hooked up to an LCD TV. Granted, my LCD TV has horrible input lag, game mode or not, but playing a NES game legit on a CRT just feels so fluid and responsive. And expensive if you want a decent game library. ;) Not that hooking up a Pi to an old CRT is going to be the same, it was just the first thing I thought of.

Yes nothing can beat the real thing. I only have one CRT VGA monitor, I use for the Mist FPGA computer.

Checking out the MIST. Thanks!

LOL ok :D

chicken livers build a pc with Kaby Lake processor. the onboard GPU is plenty capable of doing 4K output and media consumption.

jamesoleruster what's the power to price ratio like though as opposed to something like the Wetek Play 2 which has a tv tuner built in already? I guess if I built a media PC I'd always having the options of beefing up the graphics in the future for CEMU etc

chicken livers The cheapest processor of the lineup is a Celeron G3930, with a MSRP of 42 dollars. I however recommend the Pentium G4600, with a higher clock, more threads and a more powerful integrated GPU for 82 MSRP. Or if you just want more threads and higher clock, the G4560 is 64 dollars MSRP. The Pentiums are popular budget PC gaming CPUs, so media consumption is not gonna be a hassle for it. The HD 630 on board the G4600 should handle well most PC games on the lowest settings, and 6th gen console emulation should be no struggle for it.

I think it's Viewpoint?

I found it under the video section. I think I am showing it in the video actually. You can also change it in the core options for each emulator.

Video Section? Is that only for "Genisis Plus"? I can't find anything like that. If I hit START, there's a menu with system / system settings / display settings... I can only change resolution here, and loose my picture if I do change anything. I want to fix the NES emulation, there's nothing in the menu for video. If I select NES, hit SELECT / System UI, there is a Video Mode (default - grid view - simple - detailed...?...) nothing about aspect. If I launch a game I can press A to "Configure Launch Options", I get a blue screen windows 95 looking menu, there's a retroarch render option with more resolutions, no aspect. I just can't find anything that looks like the Video options screen that you show.

What's Genesis Plus? Watch the video, I actually talk about the aspect ratio and then you see me changing it. There is a menu for video, like there is one for sound and other things.

Agreed! Lakka works really well with this one. But for everything else? Go with a Raspberry Pi. Sure they cost more, but the support, documentation is just so much, much better!

@@philscomputerlab I think I will try LAKKA next. I'm willing to learn Orange Pi, but I've no idea where to start! Everything so far is outdated or not in English lol

@@NyneIX9 Yes try Lakka, it worked really well for me as you can see in the video! Easy to play a few retro games :)

Yea I'm not very familiar with all of these I'm afraid. This video is a bit "outside" of what I usually do. I will gave the opportunity to review a PC stick, but I fear it's much older, likely older than the Z8700 you mentioned. I will of course focus on retro games for this review :D

It was mostly in reference to what you said about PSX games suffering occasional slowdown. There's quite a few SBCs on the market and the x86 offerings are better suited to first (and now second) gen 3D retrogaming, both as a matter of performance and as a matter of emulator maturity on Windows. Also, don't mean to labour the point but what is that accent? I've lived in Oz all my life and your voice is unique. I don't mind if you're not comfortable sharing personal info on yt.

Crunchy Chips mmm The cheapest apollo right now is $199 for the voyo v1 so it's a lot more than a bit more but of course a lot more powerful. A great step up from a pi is the Z83ii with z8350, 2gb, 32gb emmc and windows 10 for $85

How is it with those devices, is Windows "burned" onto them like a firmware or do you get a BIOS and can install whatever OS you like?

I don't believe Windows has ever shipped on a ROM and you'd still need some way to bootstrap it. These SoCs (the x86 ones, at least) are just like the SoCs that come in notebooks. As these are enthusiast-class devices, the UEFI firmware is also typically a lot less locked down than the kind of shit you get from Dell or HP, too.

DonPedro It might be available to install through the package repos, or in worst case scenario you could probably compile DosBox from source (although that could be a bit technical for someone who didn't do that before)

dosbox is included by default (retrorangepi)

Real DOS won't work, because there is no x86-CPU, so DOS-games can only be run via emulation with DOSBox.

I shall look into that! Thanks.

As far as i know the pi zero would be the bertter option all around cheaper and better support. Just 4british pounds, should be less then 6$. Unfortunately supply is low so you only get one at a time from the distributors. The big pro of the orange pis is the ultimate supply by aliexpress. And of course low price.

I'm using retropie on my zero and planning to build a bartop arcade but mame lags with cps2 games, so i'm thinking of buying a rpi3 or an orange pi pc h3 to maintain the budget

I really wanted to avoid such a comparison as I really don't do much with these little computers. The message I wanted to communicate was "hey this thing is $23 and plays a lot of retro games".

You CAN get a Raspberry Pi Zero for £4 though which can run the same games with RetroPie

One thing I found odd with the RPi is the gap between prices people mention and what's actually available. I thought the RPi for example was cheap, but it costs around 60 to 70 over here.

PhilsComputerLab really? Thats nuts, my pi 3 was about £30

rebehle420 Got mine from the pi hut for £4

Yes I believe so!

IMO yes, but it also costs more.

That is Wipeout.

thx man!

Price really.

Well that's indeed worth taking a look at this thing, especially the non shared USB ports and Gigabit connectors that might be useful for Router purposes. But then again, if you say there's only one real good distro out there to use this thing with, I might just as well take a look at something like the a bit more expensive LattePanda that's also x86 based.

That's a good point, the RPi can get expensive depending on what you need.

I think it's Viewpoint?

I didn't know there was express shipping! Might come in handy for future projects.

What's a 5th generation console?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_generation_of_video_game_consoles

Wow, really? Why don't you just Google your own question then?

Don't expect to play N64 games and beyond on this kinda of mini-PC boards as nowadays, be it on OrangePi or RaspberryPi. Most N64 games are not playable, most are full of graphical glitches and slowdowns, be it by fault of the emulators available for these mini-PCs or the hardware itself. Super Mario 64 is one of the few that plays relatively well, only tested on RetroPie for the Raspberry Pi though. It can only run as far Saturn and PS1 games in a general playable manner.

N64 performance seems reasonable since 2.5.2 version with glupen64 core. At least, as reported by its users. Saturn is not playable at all.

That's Ridge Racer!

Thanks for reply. But I mean the flying triangle racing game start from 6:10 .

That's Wipeout!

Thanks for your answer. That's a good game.

Thanks for your answer. That's a good game.

Well the RPi3 had the same slow-downs in Ridge Racer, I don't think it's faster than the OP PC.

Probably just poorly optimised software, in any way emulating hardware in software is generally bad on all platforms try running wii games on pc and you will see how it struggles... Well faster 64 bit cortex 53 cpu should perform better, gpu is new as well, memory is probably bottleneck in this platform...

Aberran Fox I use RetroPie on my RPi3 and love it. Emulation Station does use RetroArch but all the config has been done. You put the ROMs in the respective folders and off you go. It automatically sets up your gamepad for each emulator. I haven't had to touch a single config file.

I also had good experiences. Sometimes the emulator doesn't show up, but for me this was always missing BIOS, or trying another ROM version.

Andreas Koepke Well your luck with it does not change my experience. I am glad you have found success. I just can't spend money on something that in another form has been the biggest headache ever for me in regards to emulation. I was thinking Mac emulation would be the roughest time I ever had but this has surpassed it because for the first time ever this program seems to just change its settings without my input. Or just go back to defaults after I spent hours getting it how I like it. Just have no patience for that kind of thing. WinUAE and Mupen seemed to do that with inputs but I have figure out why on those so maybe there is just something I am missing.

Aberran Fox I wasn't trying to deny the experience you had. The point I was making is that using Emulation Station is a heck of a lot easier than downloading the emulators themselves and trying to config each one.

On windows I have had better luck with mednafen I like how it is all hotkeyed for on the fly adjustments and most everything can just run from the commandline. I still would rather find a better Sega set of emulators but Kega Fusion works ok for now. Everything else I do is with Standalone emulators. Well I do use Mess from time to time for real obscure things.

Bort in Australia, but I travelled and lived overseas a lot when I was younger, UK, Germany, New York, Australia, and ended up staying in AUS :D

@@philscomputerlab I did pick up on the Australian, but it almost sounds meshed with the German accent. Very unique.

Well said. Netbooks are not much use for 'modern' computing, but the are great as mobile retro gaming systems. One benefit over a handheld system is that netbooks have real keyboards, so emulating retro home computers is much easier. Yesterday I tried Batocera Linux (a dedicated retro game distro) on a couple of old laptops, but for some reason they either didn't run or ran really slow. Worked on a Samsung NC10 netbook no problem!

Generic Green Squid yep, it runs youtube as a kodi addon or youtube-dl with smplayer/mpv

Alienware Gamer ALX If it's used and old then portability isn't a thing. Battery would be dead, screens of 10 yearold laptops often need CCFL bulb replacement. It may get really expensive. On top of that hard drive may be nearing to it's death. You will also have keyboard worn. You can find one for cheap and without most of these cons. I personally worked on used HP DV6000 laptop. It was worn down, quality of wires and internal construction was utter shit. I upgraded everything I could in it. Spent over 100 euros for parts and still it needs new CCFL and battery. It was my personal project, so I didn't mind spending good chunk of cash on it. In the end I realised how lemon it was. It's complete money sucker. Buying new lappy for retrogaming isn't worth it. It's expensive and the cheapest laptops have very limited storage, atrocious screens, keyboards, build quality. These boards are really a cheap way to enjoy retro gaming. Another option is to get used desktop, but compared it to something like RPi, it will suck much more power, heat more, will be much bigger and there's a risk of internals being on the verge of breaking down. Everything depends on preference, but these small boards are really a good option.

Why wouldn't it?

On these retro gaming devices, you would be.

Yes, if there wasn't Brexit.

Made in the Sony plant in Wales, Brexit not an issue.

Interesting seeing as the Pi3 I have in front of me was made in PRC....

I've seen such things on GearBest. I'm assuming they aren't official, but don't know for sure.

In my looking Pi's are legitimately made in both the UK and China. To meet demands, it doesn't shock me at all. I'm guessing mine from Canakit is 'Official' yet Made in PRC. The country of manufacture has little to do with the quality of the item. The argument of xx is better than yy because it's made elsewhere holds little value. There's plenty of garbage made in the US, and plenty of quality items made in countries such as China.

$35 with PSU and case? Link please.

PhilsComputerLab I'm just saying... more features. Plus I trust the quality of an RPi.

+Corey Hectus Just the raspberry pi 3 board without case, power supply or shipping is $43 here. It's not even close to being in the same price league.

More features? Such as? You can get an Orange Pi for as little as $9.99. With enough features for the average user.

In my country forget the raspberry pi, price is through the roof.

Yes that's it :D