Hello
So many (or some) of you may have seen the
indiegogo campaign about the RetroEngine Sigma
It seems to me it is a Pine A64 (512MB) board that is in the case? Could this mean that these guys have figured it all out, how to get the Mali 400 to work properly and got the licenses for it?
Here is a picture of the specs:
![[Image: fkg3lwn2zywzeagb39fh.jpg]](https://i0.wp.com/www.eteknix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/fkg3lwn2zywzeagb39fh.jpg)
(12-09-2016, 04:53 PM)8BiTw0LF Wrote: [ -> ]Hello
So many (or some) of you may have seen the indiegogo campaign about the RetroEngine Sigma
It seems to me it is a Pine A64 (512MB) board that is in the case? Could this mean that these guys have figured it all out, how to get the Mali 400 to work properly and got the licenses for it?
Here is a picture of the specs:
Nope. Whatever is in this 'retro console' uses an AW H3 (cortex A7) which is more akin to the orange pi (or exactly it). The pine uses an A64 (cortex-53) SOC - which is different (closer to the new AW H5). In the campaign you can see that its running
retrorange pi based on armbian. [edit] re. Mali - different architecture.
(12-09-2016, 05:23 PM)Luke Wrote: [ -> ]Nope. Whatever is in this 'retro console' uses an AW H3 (cortex A7) which is more akin to the orange pi (or exactly it). The pine uses an A64 (cortex-53) SOC - which is different (closer to the new AW H5). In the campaign you can see that its running retrorange pi based on armbian. [edit] re. Mali - different architecture.
Dammit.. So I should cancel my order on the A64 2GB? I've seen alot of frustrated people around the web and it doesn't seem that the Pine64 is coming around the way it should be.
The PineA64 board is a dev board. You can do a whole lot with it, but there are some things that don't work the way you might expect. Things are shaping up. The community is active, and there's a lot of development both on the hardware and the software side. The Pine team are focusing on developing the hardware and exploring different ways to implement the products in a very maker friendly way. Just look at the PADI stamp and the coming SOPine boards and the super-affordable ultrabooks that are in the pipeline.
If you want an entertainment centre with retrogaming capabilities, you can try a pine board with Android 6 image and load up emulators from the Play Store. Or you can go with a retroarch-like setup and emulationstation. If you're going for a PineA64 setup, you should be prepared to tinker a lot and spend time lurking the forums and chatting with the other community members. Odds are that others share your interests, and that might sow something that can grow into a project .
But if you're not into tinkering or after something that just works straight out of the box like the Mini NES, you should consider getting a specially designed unit dedicated for that exact purpose.
My main reason to buy a micro computer is for building an arcade machine, so I've asked for a refund.
Hope you get around the hurdles and maybe I'm coming back someday
Thanks for your replies.
I'd like to jump in on this discussion, because I also like to create the best emulation machine. I backed the Pine64 kickstarter, but after I received the 2GB Pine board, I put it in a drawer because I didn't have the time at that moment that was required to make it do something useful. Now we're a few months further into development and I see that considerable progress has been made, so it might be time to blow the dust from my board and start using it.
Considering emulation, I see a number of possible solutions.
a) Install Android on the board and then install emulators from the Play Store. There are countless. Is there any Android version that is best? I've seen the "regular" Android 5.x, but also 6.x beta and even 7.x beta.
b) Install RemixOS, which seems to be a good alternative to Android, offering the same possibilities. Or am I mistaken here?
c) Install a Linux distribution and then port RetroPie, RetroArch, EmulationStation or something similar to it. This seems the most flexible and compatible solution, except it looks like a whole lot of pioneering needs to be done.
So can someone advise me which is the best choice to start with? I'm not afraid of experimenting and finding out things by myself, but if it's clear from the beginning that a certain approach will never lead to something satisfying, I'd rather skip that.
(01-02-2017, 07:16 AM)Squirrel61 Wrote: [ -> ]I'd like to jump in on this discussion, because I also like to create the best emulation machine. I backed the Pine64 kickstarter, but after I received the 2GB Pine board, I put it in a drawer because I didn't have the time at that moment that was required to make it do something useful. Now we're a few months further into development and I see that considerable progress has been made, so it might be time to blow the dust from my board and start using it.
Considering emulation, I see a number of possible solutions.
a) Install Android on the board and then install emulators from the Play Store. There are countless. Is there any Android version that is best? I've seen the "regular" Android 5.x, but also 6.x beta and even 7.x beta.
b) Install RemixOS, which seems to be a good alternative to Android, offering the same possibilities. Or am I mistaken here?
c) Install a Linux distribution and then port RetroPie, RetroArch, EmulationStation or something similar to it. This seems the most flexible and compatible solution, except it looks like a whole lot of pioneering needs to be done.
So can someone advise me which is the best choice to start with? I'm not afraid of experimenting and finding out things by myself, but if it's clear from the beginning that a certain approach will never lead to something satisfying, I'd rather skip that.
I votes for try out Ayufan Android 6.x build.
(12-09-2016, 06:03 PM)CaptainZalo Wrote: [ -> ]The PineA64 board is a dev board. You can do a whole lot with it, but there are some things that don't work the way you might expect. Things are shaping up. The community is active, and there's a lot of development both on the hardware and the software side. The Pine team are focusing on developing the hardware and exploring different ways to implement the products in a very maker friendly way. Just look at the PADI stamp and the coming SOPine boards and the super-affordable ultrabooks that are in the pipeline.
If you want an entertainment centre with retrogaming capabilities, you can try a pine board with Android 6 image and load up emulators from the Play Store. Or you can go with a retroarch-like setup and emulationstation. If you're going for a PineA64 setup, you should be prepared to tinker a lot and spend time lurking the forums and chatting with the other community members. Odds are that others share your interests, and that might sow something that can grow into a project .
But if you're not into tinkering or after something that just works straight out of the box like the Mini NES, you should consider getting a specially designed unit dedicated for that exact purpose.
Well said. The possibilities are endless with the Pine board. The Pinebook line looks fantastic. There is nothing like going on a forum, having a question, and having like-minded people answer it and help you out. And there is nothing like setting something up yourself, having it work correctly, and feeling accomplished about it.