Turn a Raspberry Pi Into the Ultimate Emulator

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
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The Raspberry Pi is quickly becoming the Swiss Army Knife of the computer world. The minute $25/35 dollar computer is constantly being put to the test to run more and more applications that really appeal to computer enthusiasts. This time around: an emulator for very old and outdated hardware.
 
I wanna do this for my Raspberry Pi, except with 8-bit Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Sony Playstation. In fact, I'll probably do this today.
 
Neat, at first I was thinking "but can it do more than 8 bit games??" and sure enough at the end Monkey Island (the newer versions). Although I'm guessing that's in gross violation of most copyright laws... but I don't care.

Of course I can do that without at Raspberry Pi too.
 
Ashbringer said:
I wanna do this for my Raspberry Pi, except with 8-bit Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Sony Playstation. In fact, I'll probably do this today.
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I don't think the Rpi has enough HP to emulate PSX games
 
Stoly said:
I don't think the Rpi has enough HP to emulate PSX games
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It can with really weak PSX games, but heavy duty 3D ones.

The problem I have with Raspberry Pi is the distros for it. You have Debian, Arch Linux, and XBMC variety. Fedora maybe coming to it or is already on it.

Debian is much nicer to use, but nearly everything on it is outdated. FireFox is Iceweasel and is stuck at version 10. So really Chromium is your best choice. Arch Linux is just Terminal and you have to install everything you need for it.

I'd really like to see Ubuntu for it, cause Unity UI might be just as good as LXDE for it. Plus it performs really good on ARM chips I hear. Though yea this is ARMv6 and not supported.

If Fedora makes it then I'd be happy.
 
I've been tinkering around with learning assembly to make my own NES games. Mostly just to learn a new language, but having a goal makes the projects more enjoyable.
 
I'm actually amazed at what can be done with the NES for so little data. Talking entire games that are less then 100KB of space...Word Documents now-a-days can be more then that. Everything is so bloated because space is not a concern anymore.

I appreciate what those guys were able to do with such limited space and no advanced compression to cheat.
 
The Pi is just slightly underpowered from being extremely useful. They don't need to update the current model but add one more model with just a bit more umph and better internal power regulation/management.
 
Is it possible to connect a USB video card to the Pi in order to get more gfx intensive ROMs to play?
 
techrat said:
The fact that it can do media playback at 1% of the power consumption isn't enough?
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lets be honest. Its hamstrung media playback. I guess its fine for those who reeaaaally just cant afford a proper HTPC or ps3, etc.

I think the Pi is great for enthusiasts/hobbyists who love to tinker, i just cant see myself spending the time to even bother just to have a gimped emulator/media server/etc. Maybe next revision.
 
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