What resolution?

#1

Hi,

So after 6 months or so of using RetroPie on my TV with a PS3 pad, I’ve finally invested in a second Pi2 and put together the PiCade following the YouTube video and installed the latest RetroPie image on the memory card.

I was expecting a few niggles with sorting the 8inch screen but never really had any problems and it powered up perfectly.

Only when I ran the MegaDrive emulator did I experience a problem with the picture vanishing from the screen. Is this a resolution issue that needs correcting in the Setup and if so what do I set it as (i.e Pal 4.3, NTSC etc etc) ?

Many thanks in advance.

#2

Hi, I had a similar problem with a few mame games and it turned out to be a power problem, I had the 8" screen, keyboard and a few other things plugged in and at the time didn’t have a 2a power supply, unplug a few things, screen, plug the hdmi into a tv and see if it still happens.

edited typos

#3

Yes indeed that WAS the problem.

Of all the thousands of ROMs I could have put on, I managed to choose a corrupt Streets of Rage which threw a spanner in the works. I needed my wireless keyboard to properly tinker about with the settings and seemingly tipped it over the edge as far as power usage is concerned hence the screen blackouts.

So the next question for future reference would be - is it possible to power the 8 inch screen separately through a powered USB hub?

#4

Hi, I think going through the same pain I think I plugged in a wired keyboard which must use much less power, or perhaps you could plug in the ethernet cable and ssh to the pi from a laptop instead?, but shortly after my troubles I noticed that the 12" display was in the new products section on the Pimoroni store (not in the obvious place where the 8" screen is or kit section) and just had to have it, this is powered separately anyway so I went back to having my wireless dongle plugged in permanently as the power draw was much less… sorry for the ramble

#5

It’s odd cause on my other Pi connected to the tv, its’ only powered by a USB service port but is enough to provide juice for a bluetooth dongle and the wireless receiver dongle for my mini keyboard. Swap out the wireless receiver for a wired keyboard on that one and the power draw is too much (colored bar icon thing on screen).

I thought I’d easily get away with just having the wireless receiver dongle attached to the Pi inside the PiCade but obviously the power draw is slightly too much. Plugging in an ethernet cable is no big issue really but I was thinking of MAME which I remember needs a keyboard to access the menus and configure the controls.

As for the 12inch screen, well I think my will power will collapse and I’ll end up buying one too as soon as they become available again and payday comes around :-D

#6

I’m not sure what combination will work to be honest but as for Mame you should still be able to run one of the old games with you keyboard plugged in, then press ‘Tab’, go to default controls for all games, then map the joystick, buttons, player 1 start, player 1 coin in. After that you can unplug your keyboard and then just use the pieced buttons.

I’d also make sure that you have a good power supply that’s 2a or above.

as for the 12" screen I think that it’s still available https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/screen-kit

Edit: no it’s out of stock