Author Topic: R.A.M.E.S. - Raspberry/Retropie Attract Mode Entertainment System Project  (Read 6636 times)

kent79

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R.A.M.E.S. - stand for Raspberry/Retro pie Attract Mode Entertainment System. This is my first RPI project. First, I would like to say Thank you to Attract Mode (AM) and Andrew Mickelson. It makes my dream come true. One system can take all my favorite Entertainment features. The system is based on AM fronted and would like to extend the features.

Resources:
-   Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
-   Retro pie 4.4 image
-   Attract mode
-   5” TFT LCD
-   Bluetooth gamepad
-   Photo Frame (as a case)

Below is main feature of R.A.M.E.S.
1.   Date & Clock
2.   Retro game frontend with Classic, Arcade, NES, PCE, Mega Drive, SNES
3.   Video Playback
4.   Jukebox
5.   Photo Album with Music
6.    Internet Radio

This is a small, clean light theme desktop device. Now, You can enjoy games, video, music, radio anytime through by Bluetooth gamepad. What do you think? Please give me an advice. Or if you want to get the system’s theme files. Please let me know. Thanks.

Demo:
https://youtu.be/DpT8frLA0U8

How to install attract mode in rpi
http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=2275.0
« Last Edit: June 17, 2018, 02:38:00 AM by kent79 »

progets

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Cool project!

My thoughts, take them with a grain of salt.

Consider getting rid of the boot text and images to make it look a little cleaner. Read here if you're interested https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/FAQ#how-do-i-hide-the-boot-text. (If you're making changes using Windows via the samba share make sure you do this in a UNIX aware text editor like Notepad++, using a native Windows text editor like notepad.exe will likely break the file. You can also do this from the console (directly or remotely using something like putty) using the nano text editor)

Disable the video GPU splash at power on. This is done by adding "disable_splash=1" to the config.txt in the boot partition. You might also consider adding "avoid_warnings=1" and "avoid_warnings=2" to this file if you don't want to see the lightning bolt or thermometer images on the screen if you should be over temp or over voltage. (If you're making changes using Windows via the samba share make sure you do this in a UNIX aware text editor like Notepad++, using a native Windows text editor like notepad.exe will likely break the file. You can also do this from the console (directly or remotely using something like putty) using the nano text editor)

You should replace the RetroPie splash screen with the AttractMode video and disable "wait for network" in raspi config. I think these are increasing your load time. Use the AttractMode intro video in place of the RetroPie splash screen and turn off the intro video in AttractMode for best/fastest results.

Get rid of the runcommand option screen. This is helpful to setup your system but can usually be turned off after setting up any alternate emulators that you need. It looks cleaner and the games will load quicker.
« Last Edit: June 16, 2018, 01:03:55 AM by progets »

kent79

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Wow.  Many Many Thanks for progets You help me a lot  :)

verion

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hmmm... I was pretty sure that I've made also AM intro for vertical screen... but I didn't :D
Do you want one?

progets

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I just mentioned this in another thread and thought it might help you.

The SD card bus on a Pi is very slow to be compatible with most SD cards. You can overclock this aspect and you will see a significant performance gain. This is risky and you would need to use a top notch SD card for it to work (like a high end Samsung or Sandisk). Any SD card not up to the task will get corrupted on the first boot so make sure you make a backup before trying. Adding "dtparam=sd_overclock=100" to the config.txt will double the speed of the SD card bus on the Pi.

P.S. I'm assuming you already know that you can overclock the CPU, GPU and RAM on the Pi.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2018, 12:02:02 AM by progets »

kent79

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hmmm... I was pretty sure that I've made also AM intro for vertical screen... but I didn't :D
Do you want one?

Of course if you have. Thank you very much. You are the best  :)

kent79

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I just mentioned this in another thread and thought it might help you.

The SD card bus on a Pi is very slow to be compatible with most SD cards. You can overclock this aspect and you will see a significant performance gain. This is risky and you would need to use a top notch SD card for it to work (like a high end Samsung or Sandisk). Any SD card not up to the task will get corrupted on the first boot so make sure you make a backup before trying. Adding "dtparam=sd_overclock=100" to the config.txt will double the speed of the SD card bus on the Pi.

P.S. I'm assuming you already know that you can overclock the CPU, GPU and RAM on the Pi.

The performance is ok for me now. My SD card is 32GB Samsung EVO +  :)

kent79

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Hi All,

I update the system again.   :)

- add Clock Alarm function, you can stop alarm while you wake up  ;)
- entry to game speed is up. Thank you very much for "progets" advice
- support internet radio streaming

Demo:
https://youtu.be/KL-gx7th1Nc
« Last Edit: June 17, 2018, 02:41:51 AM by kent79 »

qqplayer

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Any chance to upload a basic working image with all the stuff setup ready?
I mean not roms but all your custom additions.

kent79

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Any chance to upload a basic working image with all the stuff setup ready?
I mean not roms but all your custom additions.

Ok, I will try to best draft it  :)

qqplayer

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Any chance to upload a basic working image with all the stuff setup ready?
I mean not roms but all your custom additions.

Ok, I will try to best draft it  :)
Awesome , thanks!