indieGO! All-in-One Retro Game Console (Raspberry Pi 3)
Created by ARES Computer inh. Pascal Papara
A true console with access to thousands of games from past, present and future, powered by a spiritual successor to Commodore Amiga OS.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Getting is believing - and a big update for Amiga fans : )
almost 8 years ago
– Sat, Jan 14, 2017 at 11:40:56 PM
Dear Backers,
welcome to another summary of the latest additions, upcoming updates and bonus gifts for your to make the waiting less painful.
One sentence about the waiting time:
It will soon be over.. I can't send everyone an email about "how long" it still takes because in that time I better test and send out units. But I can give you an estimated shipping date +/-3 days if you like. It could happen that exactly your unit has something which may need to replaced.. The good thing in that case is that your unit will be also updated.
Normally you can update the console with the online update function. If something doesn't work, which could happen because the connections breaks, you can also download the latest update archive at the backer-section of www.indiego-gaming.com
The archive is called updatearc.zip and if you place it in your home folder (icon on the desktop) and do a right click with a mouse and than choose "extract here", you will have the latest configs and scripts.
If you tend to configure something by yourself...
.... which is possible, please back up your config files you have edited before rolling out an update. If your manipulate something it could be overwritten by my settings during the update. If you think you could optimize something, please let us know it in the forum www.a-mc.biz/support and we can perhaps add it to the next update.
Feel free to make use of the custom menu which will never be updated and so you can express yourself if you like.
Console update to Version 1.7.0
A week ago I started this update with the intention to announce 1.6.0 which had a lot of fixes, optimizations but now we are already a version ahead and it transforms the indieGO to an sort of NexGen Amiga : )
Some of the fixes:
A new Joypad config for the PSX look-a-like pad for the Dreamcast Emulation. Also I have fixed a typo in the emu.cfg file ("mappig" should have been "mapping" )
Unstable Deluge torrent client has been replaced with transmission.
Added the SNES- look-a-like joypad mapping
Additons:
A new experimental Saturn Emulator which can be found in the "Front-End" section.
New (alternative) Amiga Emulator:
For now we have FS-UAE and with the next update you get also UAE4ARM which features a JIT-compiler.
New Game:
A single and multiplayer Smokin Guns a wild west first person shooter. You can play agains PC-gamers around the globe as well.
New OS:
You will find a new Entry in the main menu which is called AEROS. If you choose it, it will switch on the fly to AEROS without a need to reboot or to waste a whole partition of the SD-CARD.
So it is now ok to expand the filesystem of the SD-card to the full size with the option in the settings. For now it said it isn't recommended because AEROS didn't work with the Mali drivers used for the indieGO!-OS. Deadwood (an AROS developer) has fixed it and so we don't need to waste extra space on the SD-Card for doubling core files.
This is the first AEROS release for ARM with 3D support : )
AEROS is looking better than the "Mate" desktop mode : )
New OS 2:
This will be an optional download (accessible from the indieGO-menu). The new update will bring the requirements to run the PC Version of IcAROS desktop and AROS for i386 in general. The speed is comparable to my Macbook Pro late 2009 (XU4 version) and this is only possible because of Exagear the i386 wrapper for ARM.
This is AROS for PC running on the Odroid (ARM)
EXPAND your Filesystem
Now since AEROS doesn't require an own partition on the card, you can safely use the "Expand filesystem" option in the settings menu to engage the indieGO!-OS partition.
I am going to release an Android installer in one of the next two updates but on the Odroid it will be virtualized. Android is an egocentric OS and was very destructive against other partitions so I think running it on top via Hardware virtualization which the CPU of the odroid is capable of is the best way. The Raspberry Pi can't do this and there it is required to have 2 partitions.. which again isn't the problem if you use Berryboot.
Bonus programs to make the waiting time a little bit less painful and the future bright : )
As mentioned in the comments I would like to make the waiting time a little bit sweeter and raise the use of the forum www.a-mc.biz/support.
If you remember I have requested a photo of you when you get the consoles. If you don't like to present yourself, a photo of your TV-setup would do it too.
I would like to present this photos on Facebook or here at Kickstarter. Everyone who sends something in will participate in an Tombola (every 2 weeks). If you didn't win, you will stay in the possible winner lane for the next Tombola. At some point you will win : )
Besides this and this is were democracy starts, I would like to introduce another program. Starting at Saturday I will create a poll for the "user of the month". Before the poll is created we will ask for suggestions. You can name a user which will be placed on the list. The one with the more votes will win. Reasons for this can be that he / or she has helped you with a problem or creates a tutorial, a hack or anything else which made you happy : )
Because I beliebe we have more others of the months, there will be announced prices for place 1 - 3. If a user has one, he will be excluded form the next poll to give other a chance too.
As mentioned in the last update, Fabio is working on an updated launcher menu (see discussion here) and fixing the FolderSniffer which will allow us and you to let the console autostart inserted GAME-cd's with game- specific settings.
The upcoming launcher menu will held descriptions and arrows to indicate more available options
with a special key (t on the keyboard is default) you can switch between available themes)
Fabio aka Allanon in the Forum with his indieGO! : )
User creations:
Kay is creating a customized Launcher menu (see forum ). I like his style very very much!
Kays first mod of the indieGO! Launcher : ) - Worlds first mod : )
Tony "AmigaGuru" - click on the picture to see his interesting blog
EDIT:
This updated was delayed because Fabio has worked on a new launcher menu has finished it in he meanwhile... So we will bump the version directly to 1.7.0.
A short and shaky video can be seen here:
Kay found also a Wii game which works : ) Kororinpa (Pikmin works too)
Kurze Zusammenfassung für deutsche Unterstützer.
Eigentlich hätte dieses Update früher kommen müssen, allerdings kaum immer wieder etwas neues und das geschriebene war schon wieder überholt.. Dazu kommt noch das primär versandt wird und ich froh bin das Deadwood, Fabio und auch unsere Unterstützer aktiv mit wirken und täglich was dazusteuern.
Heute erscheint ein neues Update für die Konsole, die die noch auf die Konsole warten und der Konsole noch nicht auf dem Postweg ist, bekommen dieses ausgeliefert.
Neu ist das AEROS jetzt verfügbar ist. Vorher war geplant eine separate Partition zu nutzen.. Das wäre aber Dopplung an Daten und Speicherverschwendung. Jetzt ist indieGO!-OS mit AEROS verschmolzen, wie man im Video sehen kann, wird on-the-fly zu AEROS gewechselt.
Neu ist das neben FS-UAE auch UAE4ARM enthalten ist.
Neue ist ein optimierte "spielbarer" Saturn Emulator (er erfordert jedoch ein bios image)
Diverse Problem wie dass das SNES-look-alike Pad bei Amiga-Spielen nich lief, sind beseitigt.
Das Menu wurde überarbeitet und zeigt mit Pfeilen oben und unten an ob das Menu noch mehr Optionen bereitstellt. Außerdem findet man am unteren Rand jetzt Beschreibungen des Menu-Eintrages und es werden Icons angezeigt.
Kay aka deaddiks im Forum www.a-mc.biz/support modifizierte sein eigenes Menu bereits. Über Tips und Tricks, sowie add-ons die man teilt, würde ich mich sehr freuen und hin und wieder wird man dafür auch belohnt : )
Um mehr Aktivität im Forum zu bekommen, wird es zukünftig die Möglichkeit geben monatlich die Top 3 User zu nominieren. Diese erhalten dann Preise wie Spiele und Zubehör. Wen Ihr wählt, bestimmt ihr selbst. Gründe können "Hilfsbereitschaft", "Optimierungen", Add-ons oder Anleitungen und ähnliches sein.
Außerdem wird alle 2 Wochen Jemand gezogen, der dem Aufruf gefolgt ist und uns ein Foto von Ihm oder nur seiner Konsole zur verfügung stellt. Die die nicht gewonnen haben, bleiben für die nächste Ziehung im Pott und könnten beim nächsten mal gewinnen.
Grundsätzlich besteht bei Fragen und Problemen nach Erhalt der Konsole die Möglichkeit zu telefonieren.. WhatsApp/Facebook und co ermöglichen das.
In den Settings gibt es eine Option namens "Expand file system" die muss man ausführen.. dann Neustarten und dann noch einmal starten um abzuschließen. Danach steht der gesamte Speicherplatz der micro-sd zur Verfügung. Bisher weil unklar war ob AEROS eine eigene Partition benötigt, ist dieser Speicher unpartitioniert geblieben. Auch Android wird man so starten können.
Morgen stelle ich den Weltrekord im Testen/Verpacken und senden auf. Ab nächster Woche werden die Pakete von DHL abgeholt. Bis dato habe ich diese wenn ich den Karren voll hatte selbst zur Post(oder je nach Uhrzeit Packstation) gebracht. Um auch die letzte Möglichkeit der Beschleunigung zu nutzen, wird jetzt der Service der Abholung genutzt.
Late christmas gift and some hints
almost 8 years ago
– Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 05:18:30 PM
I hope you had a wonderfull christmas time!
Meanwhile some people got the indieGO! already and based on their feedback there have been some updates.
It is possible that your indieGO! arrived or will arrive with an older version of the OS.
Please perform the online update "twice" if you are on an version below "1.4.x"
The latest update bumps it to version: 1.5.8 and includes a small gift / excuse for the waiting time. I have decided to roll out Projekt Lila Amiga Beta version for free.
The second half of the video below shows it, the first half of the video shows just the boring update process but I assume it is helpful to see "how long it takes" *:
* Because it is always possible that your internet connection get interrupted. So if something doesn't work, run again the update, it will be shorter next time because it will only install required /missing parts.
Some FAQ's from our first time pioneers:
A big thank you to Kay who run into trouble attaching an NTFS formatted drive using the provided script. It is now failsafe.
So how to attach an USB Harddrive (internal or external).
The semi-automatic setting will require to format the HDD to EXT4 filesystem. So it doesn't work with NTFS/FAT or anything else.
If you like to use an HDD to store games/ROMS and so on you need to attach the HDD over USB.
Than watch this video and follow the "partitioning and formatting" step.
Open Gparted-> Create MSDOS table ->Create Partition and format it to EXT4
IMPORTANT! EXT4!
Now go back to the indieGO-menu (there is an icon called "indiego.desktop" on the desktop. Double-click and choose "RUN" not(!) "Run-in terminal".
Run-in-terminal seems to work, but it would block other front-ends to work properly.
So back in the indieGO-menu scroll as far as you can down until you reach the point "settings".
There you can select the HDD option. It will copy everything ROM related from the SD to the HDD and at the next boot opening the ROM folder will show you X Terabyte storage (the size of your HDD). All emulators point automatically to the HDD.
Another simple hint: Try to scroll further down in a menu. There are often more options than visible at first.
Where are all the emulators?
They are there, expect a few (update comes). If you choose Emulationstation from the menu, it will at first show only Systems for which you have stored ROMS.
Place roms in /ROMS which is a shortcut in the file manager. (favorite menu on the left site).
As soon you add an N64 ROM to ROMS/N64, the system will pop-up in EmulationStation. Else not. This will keep it clean.
My joypad works in main menu but not in emulationstation.
The PSX look-a-like has a small button close to "start" and "select" which enables the "analog-mode". Please press it.. now it should work.
I wan't to have AEROS working on top of the Mali GPU. Normally AEROS for Odroid doesn't work on 3D- enabled drivers. The simple soluton would be to put it in another partition but would lead to duplicated software and waste of storage.
Deadwood one of the most important AROS developers is getting an odroid and will check it out. This is the "best" and not the "simplest" solution. If it will not work within 14days, you can install aeros form the setting menu into a partition on your SD-card.
So far this space on the internal sd-card is preserved and not used (unallocated).
Autostarting CD-ROMs by FolderSniffer
FolderSniffer is included on the SD-card already but it is not active yet. FolderSniffer is the one who will scan CD-ROMS and recognize the game and then executes it with "per game" settings.
In the moment you will see "force PSX" "force CD32" in the menu. Those will take any CD as if they where made for the chosen system. Problem: The emulator settings are not optimized for some games.
Why is it disabled.. Yeah.. FolderSniffer requires an internet-connection.. i had no clue because I had every time I used it an connection. If you don't have one it will just quit.
Fabio will rebuild it so it will not just quit when there is no connection. The connection is just required for updating the database or sending new game entries (you scanned) to us for addition to the database.
What is the best way to add roms.
In the moment it is in desktop mode, where you can open the file manager and will see a shortcut to ROMS.
The you can see folders named by systems. Place your roms in the corresponding folders to see them in Emulation station.
Carlos got one : )
Today a lot people will get tracking numbers (evening). Some consoles (<3%) were dead on arrival, which sucks to be honest, because I've tested them : ) But sometimes the box is 2cm shorter or the guy at the customs was drunk. In that case stay "cool" : ) You will get a new one and a retour label. But perhaps if the box is visually damaged, feel free to resend it to sender by not taking it at all from the courier because of the damage (directly at your door).
Timo managed to update to the latest version
A live-stream found on Facebook:
More hints:
Using XBMC for games
Alternatively you can use XMBC which included a plugin called ROM Collection Browser. It is installed already but fetching covers seems impossible.
Libretto-gui / Retroarch
if you are used to this, you can. : )
It can only controlled via joypad (remember to press the "analog" button on the pad if required)
EmuLA
This one is pre-installed but it lacks your individual serial. If you are interested to use EmuLA, please request the serial and I will send one. For now EmuLA starts in the desktop version. If you register, you can activate the console mode front-end.
For EmuLA related support visit the Forum because it is entirely Fabio's baby.
With the next update you will be able to download more games and they will also be accessible form EmulationStation. This will bring it closer to RetroPi (for those more used to this)
Timo has added an Amiga sticker : )
..and C64 on the other side
In order not to work in the wrong direction an loose time, I would like to add features and options based on your requests.
So everyone who get's one in the next days, please use the forum even for simple questions : ) It will help others as well.
One weekly update is possible besides shipping the other consoles, so if you find a bug try first the update, if it doesn't help, post in the forum and than it can take up to a week before it is solved.
Now i need to send out tracking numbers.. BTW: If a console is broken and I have to resend one, it becomes priority. The reason is that I believe waiting for console is less annoying than having a broken one on the table.
Stay tuned! Soon we can focus on playing and rolling out more and bigger updates.
If required we can also use a messenger to give support.. not 24/7 of course : )
I wish you all the best and that we soon can start the journey together..
On the list for a close release:
Kodi upgrade option
Game downloader like in RetroPi (adding them to EmulationStation)
Samba share (see your indieGO from Windows /MAC /Linux and place ROMS/media via local network )
Oh the Pi3 version should be ready for download at the 30th if nothing comes in between.
Status report 2
almost 8 years ago
– Sat, Dec 24, 2016 at 12:22:24 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Small status update and an invitation
almost 8 years ago
– Sat, Nov 26, 2016 at 07:55:48 AM
Hi,
I get a lot of email requests about when his or her console will be send out. I can't answer everyone because I loose time on doing so : ) Please be patient.
Also I can't check all emails.. Sometime I get so many that I definitely oversee one or two.
Perhaps it is better to use the forum for Questions :
This way the question is set into stone and I can track them better. It will also help others who may have the very same question. And perhaps another user can give the answer before I have even seen it.
Also I can point a specific developer to questions which he can answer better and saves my time for sending out your consoles.
There is also a first update for the console available.
A new one will be released tomorrow and it adds layouts for some joypads as well as bluetooth corrections*. The updates are cumulative. This means if you update the console it will always contain all prior fixes.
*Bluetooth dongle for the XU4 version is placed inside the small white paperboard box. Please plug it into the rear USB port.
I will also add a new option to the main menu which is called "install alternative packages" This one will install non-free stuff like Fan-games and Blu-ray enabler and other things. The Software packages will not be hosted by us. You will also need to accept the disclaimer.
One note:
The main menu doesn't indicate (yet) that there are more options than actually visible. Please use the Joypad to scroll further down if you reach the last entry in the list.. There are a few more.
Shipping impressions, last minute UK only 2 days delay and Live streams
about 8 years ago
– Sun, Nov 06, 2016 at 12:40:40 PM
I hope you have a nice Sunday.
The first backers have got a tracking number, everyone else has to be "strong" I am doing my best.
While packing some uk consoles I have checked Amazon shipping rules (because I planed to let handle shipping by amazon in the future).. good that I had a short read.
I planned to send out UK power adaptors which are placed on the EU plug... God bless the queen I didn't send them out : )
I wasn't aware that this is strictly forbidden! The UK government believes that you could disconnect the adaptor and put the wrong connector to the wall plug..
Long story short: I had to order new and certified EURO8 to UK plug cables which are made of one piece. They are arriving on Tuesday.. I have already a lot uk boxes ready for shipping and just need to add those cables and "strictly remove the "not uk"- cables".
This is what i got: http://www.mag.de/media/products/0407017001478281729.pdf
I just wan't to share this info in case someone else sends stuff to uk.. for me it was new. Especially because I thought we are "at least temporary" in the EU ; )
Impressions..
Fucntion test of the indieGO with the Reshoot CD-ROM : ) Can you beat my highscore?
You can add more how-to's to the manual when we add them to the Forum
Egypt decal, function test
decal, 2 SNES Joypad, 9Pin adapter and SNES Joypad Adapter
you can see the AmigaForever license sticker, the QA sticker signed by me and a decal
Depending on where you live I am using DHL, UPS and Hermes (germany) in every case you will get a tracking number.
If you like to pick it up by yourself, please give me at least 3 days preparing time : )
The manual and how- to's
As you can see above the manual can be expanded. You can, if you like, print new pages and add them to the original short manual. Whener you will ask something and we create a description in our forum www.a-mc.biz/support we will update the manual.
I have created an "alternative OS section" where I will place images form other operating system too. indieGO!-OS will see an update next, weekend.. I would like to get first some feedback from the first owners.
Planned for update 1:
Replacing the boot menu with a new version featuring sub-menus
Adding more games and demos
Fixing some wrong paths and merging with the other included Front-Ends*
Updating compatibility of FolderSniffer
Add CD-i support (Firmware has to be added by user)
The indieGO! OS image will be made available as soon it is uploaded.
*Emulation Station will show only emulators for which you have added ROMS already.. so at first it will look a little bit empty.
Live streams
Kickstarter has a new feature which allows to stream and communicate with backers. Perhaps we can use it for live tutorials.
