Raspberry PI 400! My Mini Amiga Project - Base Image

[intangybles]

Raspberry PI 400!

What a wonderfull little machine it is! So very impressed with it so far.

This is just a quick overview of what I have had the time to try so far in my adventure to build an everyday use miniature Amiga system to fit on my limited desk space.

Like all of us I find myself very "time" poor these days, so I have not had a chance to delve into the details of why some things do and don't work but I will list the images I have tried and what I have found out (aiming for a full 64bit OS to make the most of the new Hardware).

P.S. I don't have a Pi4 so these build where all new to me - some workarounds espoused on the net where suggesting install to that first and then transfer to the Pi 400.


Raspberry Pi OS (https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/)

The basic system that comes with the Raspberry PI 400 kit. Very good as a base Linux system. I did try out compiling Amiberry on the platform and 3.3 worked well except for the common problem I have found the it will not boot into fullscreen or even full-window (the $64,000 question why is the part I have not had time to do yet) other than note it actually seems to hold Amiberry in a boot loop of some kind.

RetroPie (https://retropie.org.uk)

Goes on well out of the box - if you want to play Amiga Games hands down the best solution. I did install the Pixel Desktop but it did exactly the same thing as Raspberry Pi OS - no full screen boot.

Manjaro (https://manjaro.org/download/)

Hands down the quickest OS feel on the Pi 400 - no real surprise being Arch based. When I was trying it they had not implemented any Pi 400 support and so it took a bit of patching to get Networking etc working correctly. I understand the new release is starting to implement Pi 400 support. Same old story on the fullscreen front! Can't get it to work! Shame I really like they way they have brought Arch to the Desktop world - so to speak!

Ubuntu Desktop (https://ubuntu.com/download/raspberry-pi)

Seems to give the fullest 100% 64bit support out of the box so far! The only problem with Ubuntu Desktop is its Default Desktop is very HEAVEY. On the up side once you have all the developer tools installed Amiberry compiles correctly and runs perfectly in Fullscreen from boot! So I am going to stick with this and get my Virtual Amiga fully setup - I can always move to another base OS later. The reason I was holding back on using this was my secondary Emulation I wanted was old MacOS8 but I had trouble with BasiliskII in the full 64bit environment - solved that last night so its full steam ahead!

I was always an Amibian user on my old PiB etc But I want to take advantage of the advances in Amiberry (Like AmiKit on Windows or Mac - Rabbithole) and get that "AmiHybrid" type feel that Mr Jones is talking about! (Side note the 1.5 build would have to setup on a Pi4 - updated and moved across to the Pi 400).

I know both Amiberry & AmiKit are working on this - will be interesting to see what comes out in the end.

AmiKit (https://www.amikit.amiga.sk)
Amiberry (https://blitterstudio.com/amiberry/)

I am using an Amiga hard file image I built some time ago as a test for my NinjaKat (Pi3B based bar top) as my base to work from. So far so good!

[intangybles]

Tiny update... Ran so short on time!

I settled on "Ubuntu Mate" in the end as a base! All good so far - lower GUI overhead and full 64bit!

Hope to complete my config over XMas.. Lets see if AmiKit beat me to it! 

[Heywood]

Hey - have you tried out PiMiga? It's someone take on getting the Raspberry Pi400 with a small distro to get straight into Amiberry in a short amount of time.  I've been playing with it on and off (still prefer real metal) and slapped together a PCB that plugs into the Pi400s GPIO port and has some DB9 connectors that with the right drivers lets you use Megadrive controllers to play games.

I'm guessing is its directly on the GPIO the latency compared to USB should be pretty good.

Details on the PCB and the PiMiga installation process are on github at https://github.com/thinghacker/RaspberryPi400-GPIO-DB9 - its based on a design used in retropie so can be repurposed to other gaming emulations too.

[quantum8]

If you quit out of amiberry in pimiga you should be able to compress the entire amiga folders and send to external storage, wipe the partitions and install a 64 bit distro before putting all the pimiga stuff back on there for that speed gain.

It's a little bit of work but should be doable.

[intangybles]

Just a quick note, looking to build a 100% licensed option on a stable 64bit base.

[intangybles]

Hey - have you tried out PiMiga? It's someone take on getting the Raspberry Pi400 with a small distro to get straight into Amiberry in a short amount of time.  I've been playing with it on and off (still prefer real metal) and slapped together a PCB that plugs into the Pi400s GPIO port and has some DB9 connectors that with the right drivers lets you use Megadrive controllers to play games.

I'm guessing is its directly on the GPIO the latency compared to USB should be pretty good.

Details on the PCB and the PiMiga installation process are on github at https://github.com/thinghacker/RaspberryPi400-GPIO-DB9 - its based on a design used in retropie so can be repurposed to other gaming emulations too.

Looks very cool little board - clever! Don't know that I would go to that extent just presently, its the Desktop experience I am after on the Pi400, I have my joystick gaming pretty well covered on my NinjaKat!

[intangybles]

Update time! So no spare time over Christmas but i'm happy with my Ubuntu Mate build on the Pi400 with Amiberry and my AmiKit port! My CrowPi2 has arrived - my first "Pi4" - so I note that Manjaro have updated again so going to give that a go on the CrowPi2 and will also see how the final SD-Card runs on the Pi400!

[intangybles]

Hey - have you tried out PiMiga? It's someone take on getting the Raspberry Pi400 with a small distro to get straight into Amiberry in a short amount of time.  I've been playing with it on and off (still prefer real metal) and slapped together a PCB that plugs into the Pi400s GPIO port and has some DB9 connectors that with the right drivers lets you use Megadrive controllers to play games.

I'm guessing is its directly on the GPIO the latency compared to USB should be pretty good.

Details on the PCB and the PiMiga installation process are on github at https://github.com/thinghacker/RaspberryPi400-GPIO-DB9 - its based on a design used in retropie so can be repurposed to other gaming emulations too.

Anyone running PiMiga 2.0 on the Pi400?