Installer data not included in

Marcy

Hi developers,

I gave BATOCERA a try yesterday and so far it's quite fancy. Would it be possible to include the installer data in ...

https://www.batocera.org/upgrades/x86_64/stable/last/batocera-5.24-x86_64-20191105.img.gz

... instead of letting users download the upper 1.08GB file. Start from USB and click System Settings => Install Batocera on a new disk => and let users re-download everything again to install BATOCERA on an HDD or SSD? That's quite annoying and requires online connection again.

Furthermore I would like to know, what kind of WiFi-adapter is perfectly supported in BATOCERA, as up to now, I was unable to connect throug WiFi with different USB-adapters.

And last but not least, I would like to configure the SSH root password by myself, instead of having a randomized password that cannot be changed.

Nice distro though! Keep it going.

So far, regarding PC 64-bit support my favorite distro, as RECALBOX doesn't support installation on an HDD or SSD, as long as you don't add the device to Etcher and LAKKA has some serious WiFi bugs as well and playlist support for Dreamcast requires BIN/CUE, instead of CHD, as long as you don't create the playlists yourself.

There is always room for improvement.

Now, I will check, if Dreamcast and PSP is fast enough on Haswell Pentium CPUs 😉

Regards,
Marcy

BZZ

Do you mean having the installer included in the installed system ? That would just make it heavier. Many people use minimum partition space required for system and use bigger drives / partitions for ROMS.

What adapters are you using? I have the wifi adaptor that came with PI case that I used before in my x64 desktop with no trouble at all.

Whilst I do not have access to my batocera at the moment isn't there an option to change the password in the settings?

Also looking at reddit it seems there is a way to install Recalbox from CD or USB to HDD. I dont really know much about LAKKA, never used it.

Your CPU for Dreamcast or/and PSP should do as long as the rest of your hardware is supportive enough. Also depend what is the processor you actually have as 'Haswell' refers to architecture not speed or number of cores.

Marcy

Hi BZZ, just as an example. When I download LAKKA for PC 64-bit (the download has around 300-400 Megabyte), I can use ETCHER to write the image to an USB thumbdrive. When I boot the PC from the USB thumbdrive, I can enter a command (i think it was 'installer') and then I get the option to install LAKKA to another device, e.g. HDD or SSD. If I don't add the command 'installer' LAKKA opens as Live environment.

I wished something similar would be possible with BATOCERA as well, as I can't imagine that a whole distro needs to be downloaded again, to install BATOCERA to another device, as it is now, when BATOCERA is working and you decide to install it to another device.

I used different USB WiFi adapter, none worked, even Edimax EW-7811Un, which is known to work very well on Raspberry Pi 2. That's why I asked, which USB WLAN adapter is known to work well in BATOCERA.

Regarding the password change for the account 'root', when using PuTTY to access BATOCERA via SSH ... maybe I am blind, but I did not manage to change the random password at all.

You can always take the HDD or SSD and plug it to your PC and use ETCHER to install LAKKA, RECALBOX or BATOCERA I suppose. I miss the USB installer in RECALBOX and BATOCERA. This would avoid to unplug and replug the HDD or SDD every time, specially if it's an ITX case and the unplug and replug takes time.

Regarding Dreamcast and PSP performance ... I use a Pentium G3220T CPU with 2 cores at 2,60 MHz and the respective Intel HD GFX, which is implemented in the Pentium CPU.

PSP and Dreamcast is suprinsingly running very well compared to LAKKA, though I just used it on a standard monitor with 1280x1024 resolution, instead of on a TV with Ultra HD resolution. I noticed only some slowdowns, where emulation didn't run at full speed.

Would it make sense or help to add more cores via a Core i5 CPU and plug an NVIDIA graphics card or is that a waste of money?

Regards

joinski

Marcy

For Dreamcast and PSP you do not need a dedicated GPU. The Intel HD Graphics of the Haswell Pentium should be good enough for at least native resolution.
Here are some performance tests i made in the past with several different PC hardware:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K-HDv3SXqWj-aoniuAJnFzsRNsg8HyHv55C0RJgFgrY
1x means the game ran at fullspeed in native resolution
2x means 2 times native resolution
3x means 3 times native resolution
and so on
0 means, the game did either not run at all, or slow (not fullspeed, even in native resolution)

BZZ

ajdelguidice What do you mean by slow? And what guts does that inspiron have ? CPU? RAM? GPU?

@joinski posted interesting spread sheet some time earlier: joinski take a look.

Marcy

Hi joinski,

very interesting read, specially the chart you linked to. I can tell you that Dreamcast and PSP runs mostly ok, though in PSP I noticed some slowdowns. If I interpret the chart correctly, then Nvidia cards could speed up further or are most Libretro cores acting like MAME, where everything is done in software and graphics cards won't speed up anything?

I tend to upgrade my CPU to something, which is faster, maybe 3 or more than 3 GHz, more cores don't seam to speed up things anymore and Intel integrated GPUs in Intel CPUs is enough or am I just wrong with this assumption? I would like to have some reserves for future emulation.

Regards
Marcy

joinski

Marcy

Intel HD Graphics is fine for native resolution PSP, Gamecube and 3DS and older systems up to N64 and maybe dreamcast in higher resolution (also PS1 in 2x native).
If you want to play Gamecube and PSP in several times of native resolution (3x or more) you have to use a nvidia or AMD/ATI graphics card (but this card should not be too old.... let's say not older than 5 years (just a guess)... you could orientate at the 3D Mark scores.... the GPU should at least have 400 G3D Mark).

For the CPU the single-thread performance is a bit more important than multi-thread performance.
So for Gamecube and PSP the single-thread rating (passmark) should at least be around 1.000 (the more the better).

Marcy

Ok, finally I found time for an update. If I understand correctly, it makes more sense to use a Core i3 CPU with higher frequency and 2 cores instead of a Core i5 CPU with lower frequency with 4 cores and lower TDP just as with so many emulators, e.g. MAME, which doesn't make big use of more cores, only higher frequency and better CPU architecture speeds up things, as nearly all emulation stuff is done in software or are there any libretro cores, which make big use of hardware acceleration of Nvidia cards?

Regarding WiFi adapter support, I hope that those recent Retroarch changes will improve support. I am unable to use WiFi, no matter what adapter I use. I am forced to use a LAN cable atm.

I am really impressed how good Batocera has improved lately.

Some things I am missing and come to my mind atm, are ...

25% scanline shader instead of 50% scanline
better WiFi support
create Batocera USB boot device to install directly on an HDD or SDD instead of re-downloading again

Regards,
Marcy

Marcy

Guys, what do you think? Should I go for a Core i3 CPU with more frequency but only 2 cores or for a Core i5 CPU with lower frequency but 4 cores? What you think is better for emulation, even for Gamecube, 3DO, PSP ?

Regards,
Marcy

joinski

Marcy

compare the single-thread rating of both CPUs on https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php and take the one with more single-thread performance (because this is (still) more important for most emulators than multi-thread performance).
but also take in mind, that there are different iGPUs of Intel CPUs per generation (Intel HD Graphics 4000 for example is not as performant as Intel Iris HD Graphics or Intel UHD Graphics 630, so this could also make a difference for Gamecube, 3DS and PSP performance). if you are using a dedicated GPU (like nvidia GT1030 for example) then you can ignore the performance of the Intel iGPU.

you can also have a look on these lists (i tested several different hardware with batocera):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K-HDv3SXqWj-aoniuAJnFzsRNsg8HyHv55C0RJgFgrY
0 = did not run or not in 100% fullspeed
1x = 100% fullspeed at native resolution
2x = 100% fullspeed at 2x native resolution
3x = 3x native resolution and so on

Marcy

Hello joinski,

many thanks again. First I didn't notice, that the spreadsheet had different versions to select. This should be sufficient to finally decide what hardware to invest in now.

Regards,
Marcy

joinski

Marcy

it has different versions, but the differences between those versions are not that big and can be neglected.