Raspberry Pi

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Anyone else here into the Raspberry Pi?

I'm currently on a Pi 400 and it's been my daily driver for the past 6 weeks. I'm a retro/vintage computer/console enthusiast and have managed to set up emulators for every system I own up to 32-Bit. You might say that the Raspberry Pi 400 is one micro-computer to rule them all.

The thing I'm most proud of is finding a way to run my favourite football management sim on the Pi (Championship Manager 99/00). This is a Windows 98 PC game and required a compatibility layer (Wine), an x86 processor emulator (Box86) and a patch to run the game without the CD-ROM disc. With these things, I was able to copy over the Wine installation I had made on my laptop and run the game completely flawlessly.

Please share any Raspberry Pi projects you've done or are currently doing.

Been a while since I've owned a new Pi because of the shortages. I have a broken original and a Pi 2B that I used to use as an AirPlay and Spotify client on some speakers. Also played around a lot with emulation on them back in the day (had a really nice RetroPie setup), but lately I've moved to using a junker PC that I keep throwing cheap parts I find locally on Facebook Marketplace in to do all my emulation. Really nice to be able to play Gamecube/Wii/PS2/XBOX stuff.

Check out the MiSTER project if you haven't yet. It's an FPGA-based emulation project, meaning instead of a typical CPU, the logic gates on the chip can be rearranged with software, providing theoretically perfect hardware-level emulation of old consoles and computers. Quite a bit more expensive than a Pi, but really cool in theory!

I may turn my Pi 2 into an FM synthesizer soon. There's a cool project to build a rather capable one. https://github.com/probonopd/MiniDexed

I have a Pi 3B that I stuffed into a mini SNES replica case and made into a RetroPi rig. I also have a Libre LePotato that I'm trying to turn into a portable media box.

I have a low power FM station run by a Pi 2B. There are 1200+ mp3s played in shuffle mode. After every 5 selections, One of 10 different station IDs which rotate.

I'm using a Pi 3B as a Ham Radio repeater controller.

I'm using another 2B inside the cabinet of a 1947 Sears Silvertone table top radio playing mp3s of old radio shows and songs. It even takes time to "warm up" when switched on with a low hum until the 1st selection fades in.

Not yet but I kind of want to be. I Googled the Pi 400 and it totally looks like something I'd enjoy using. Also for a long time I've been thinking of getting a Pi to run Home Assistant and/or Rednode.

Also I'd love to have a Pi to use as a console, possibly inside of a NES case (I'd use the Pi 400 for old PC and C64 games).
Is there any way to make a Pi connect to component inputs on an old television?

I don't do enough on the Raspberry Pi. I have a Pi 4. The Raspberry Pi stirs something in my brain that I haven't felt since the first time I used an Apple II plus back in the eighties.

If you can get a Pi 1 (maybe also a 2) it has component video output as well as HDMI

I had a CRT TV phase! At one point, I had 5 TVs/monitors in my tiny shared apartment. I can only wonder why those roommates don't like me much these days...

Getting a Pi into a component TV is not trivial with minimal input lag (if that's what you desire) because you'd need to get an HDMI->component converter, and not all of those have the best response times, and you may not be able to get it to dip down to 240p to get those gorgeous CRT scanlines.

You could get a hat that provides RGB SCART hat (like component but outside of the US) like the one offered here: https://www.rgb-pi.com/ then a SCART->component adapter like seen here: https://stoneagegamer.com/retrotink-rgb ... onent.html

That should let you get 240p with low response times. Another option if you really value authenticity is to check out the MiSTER project! It's an FPGA-based emulation project, meaning that instead of emulating all of the retro consoles' processor architectures in software, the FPGA can emulate them at a hardware level, "rewiring" the gates on the chip to be a 1:1 clone of the real consoles. Acts very similar to a Pi, and there are extensions for it that directly output component. This is, imo, THE solution for the most accurate retro gaming experience outside of buying tens of consoles. Plus, they have adapters to let you use original controllers with no added input lag. Really cool project. But everything included will cost you somewhere around $300 if I remember right. Never built one myself, but I hope to some day.

Dorky nitpick here, but no Pis have onboard component (the red/blue/green cables), but the Pi 1 has a composite output (just the yellow port) on board, and the Pi 2 still has composite, but it uses a TRRS cable in the headphone out for analog video. Not sure if all Pis have the same feature as the Pi 2, but I've used the TRRS solution myself.

According to the PiHut, the 2, 3, and 4 have composite video on the 4 pin A/V jack, and PiHut sells a cable for that

And the nitpick wasn't dorky. I did in fact mean composite, not component. I am required to make at least 1 mistake a month so people don't get the idea that I'm infallible

Just ordered a 4 and a robot kit - 4 wheel kind

Njoy!

The Rpi arrived, the robot kit is on back order. Needed a micro sd (got one at Walmart) and a HDMI adapter cable. Also picked up a USB keyboard on clearance.
Price adding up. May use it to program two arduinos (Uno and a Uno clone) we have. And Lego RCX.

Still have “Tonybot” with Rpi and Vision options on my wishlist.

I really want one now that the spice flows again...
I love Linux and I love the idea...
I just havent committed to WHAT it is I wanna do with one yet!?

I have found that the uses make themselves apparent when you have a pi handy

The robot kit finally arrived. I got one from SunFounder called “Raspberry Pi Ai Car Kit - PiCar-X”

https://www.sunfounder.com/products/picar-x

Now I just need to find time.
The one on my wish list is:
“TonyPi Hiwonder AI Intelligent Visual Humanoid Robot Powered by Raspberry Pi 4B 4GB”
https://www.hiwonder.com/products/tonyp ... 3114681431