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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:

Evoke 2016
over 8 years ago – Thu, Aug 11, 2016 at 11:51:01 PM

OMG! Evoke is happening this weekend! 

Is someone coming?

https://www.evoke.eu/2016/competitions/

Fabio can't attend so I will go alone and show the indieGO! Thank you demo running on an indieGO! 

AEROS 4.0.1 for Pi3 will be uploaded in around 1 hour to the Backer section on the indieGO!-Gaming Website. This is also the version which will be included as one boot option on the consoles. (indiego-gaming.com Backers section)

Changelog:

  • updated UAE4ARM 
  • New and fixed Appstore binary (the last one crashed immediately) 
  • AmiCloud v1.1 Added ExFAT support 
  • Added the new Wallpaper from Broadway preview 1 (old ones are still included) 
  • Added Bluetooth support for the Pi3 
  • Updated Amiga Racer (v3.62) 
  • Updated to newer Kernels 

https://www.aeros-os.org/AEROS-for-Pi-User-Guide.pdf

The Odroid Version will be uploaded at the weekend. The image requires at least a 16gb card. 

The final SD-image which is also the master for the indieGO! storage will require a 64GB sd-card.

Bszili is now finalizing PSX-Emulation (there pop ups a mouse-pointer even if no mouse is attached... strange but soon fixed : ) ) 

After that he will start with the Backporting Dolphing to ARM32 project.

Fabio is working on indieCHAT which was planned to be released as later update when the consoles are send out already.. but due to the WEEE Registrations delay (funny and sad at the same time - funny if you followed the comments on front page and the news on www.stiftung-ear.de) it will be done and preinstalled before shipping.  

I am now trying to upgrade Android from 5.1 to 6.0.1. 

Oh and I need to test EmuLA for ARM build 2 : ) 

I have a sort of foundation in mind to pay further development /forks and additional development. If you like to become a patron we would be happy about every 1€. To make this transparent we will name all patrons on a credit page so everyone can see how many supporters are there already. The idea is to be able to release stuff for free to our subsricers instead of asking money. Examples are games, tools, distributions and other services. Starting at 5€/month you qualify also for some rewards like ARM boards. 

This can become interesting if for example a successor for Odroid and Pi appears. This way we can move together to the new thing. 

Here you can find info about the existing subscription deals:

http://www.indiego.rocks/file/download/78e323c0d49f96537f84a12660516bd6

Subscribers get also AmiCloud for all Platforms. I think it is more than fair for 5€/month : )

By time we will add more and more software and at the end it will be a sort of flat-rate. 

Virtual-machine-renting will be covered also.

Software side of things and supporting each other : )
over 8 years ago – Fri, Aug 05, 2016 at 10:34:52 PM

Hi,

this is just a short update about software news.. But I hope you like it anyway

As you know you can get VIP-Status at www.ares-shop.de which will give you better prices (and if you choose self-pickup you can save the shipping costs) on Projekt Lila (1/2 of the CD's are sold). 

The CDROM packages include also a download code (and yes you could share it with a friend ; ) ). It is planned to send all owners of the CD-ROM version a "Remastered CD-ROM" at a later point for free. This CD-ROM will contain an enhanced version of the games and some bonus. This Remastered version will be for free and only for those who own Projekt Lila already on CD-ROM. 

Also we use the money earned by sales for the next games. Amiworx will start with "Oh No! More Aliens" right after the release of Tales of Gorluth 2. Graphx are ready and Amiworx will do the music conversations as well.

Tales of gorluth 2 will be also available at www.ares-shop.de for Amiga CDROM and so the indieGO! . 

We are on the supporter list : )
We are on the supporter list : )

Beides this you can also get the Game reshoot made by Richard Löwenstein incl. a printed Amiga Joker Magazin at a discounted price. (only 25 CD-Roms can be offered with this price).... eh the price for you is: 30€ incl. shipping vs. 36€ including shipping.

Damn the Magazin is so cool : )
Damn the Magazin is so cool : )

Well.. maybe this helps a bit over the waiting time.. 

Right now I am combining indieGO!-OS and Android so I can provide a SD-Card image for you for SD-Cards with at least 64GB storage (there are no more indieGO!'s with less than 64GB.. the minimum is 64GB). It takes a while to combine the partitions.. I could swear I am sitting here since 4 hours : ) (a hint: always make backups because you can always mix up the destination with the source... face palm : D )

squeezing Android next to indieGO! OS
squeezing Android next to indieGO! OS

Oh and Piko Interactive has started also a Kickstarter campaign about a christian gaming device and games. Check it out : )

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1549719931/the-arkade-a-classic-christian-video-game-plug-and

Tales of Gorluth 2
Tales of Gorluth 2

Release of Reshoot is planned for the 17th of August and TOG2 will be released early September. I will add both games on sunday to the Ares shop. 

BTW you can bookmark www.a-mc.biz/support where we can discuss console released questions as soon you get your hands on the consoles. I will add some sub-forums in the next days. I think placing some sticky how-to's can be better than only a static printed manual. 

Oh.. and everyone who has bought Projekt Lila will also get a 5€ discount for Oh No! More aliens. The targeted price is 29,90€ this time (so it would be 24,90€ if you own PL).

I wish you a nice weekend. 

While waiting for the WEEE registration...
over 8 years ago – Tue, Aug 02, 2016 at 07:41:13 PM

Hi,

as you know we just need the WEEE registration number to start shipping.. I have around 70 consoles left which need to be finished yet. 33 of them are custom ones with 2.5" Hard-drives. In the moment I manage to build around 6 a day beside everyday work (everyone is on vacation except me : D ). 

While waiting for the WEEE-registration we do the best and test and enhance the software side as much as possible. 

Basically 2 days of the week (7days used) are spend by myself for testing, compiling, testing, downloading and configuring games/emulators and controls. 

I've found a few bugs on Odroid ports, reported them and now they are fixed : )

Fabio has released EmuLA in the meanwhile for Windows and AROS operating Systems and I've got today a special Odroid Version which uses different Emulation-Engines suggested by me.

We have also exited the Beta period of AmiCloud and we are now beta testing the VM feature. 

What is it? The idea is to offer Virtual-machines streamed from our servers. You could for example run Windows this way. For the indieGO! it will mean that we will provide you access to steam... Steam streaming over internet will be possible in 2017 for Pi3 and Odroid based versions. End of 2016 you will be able to run Operating systems like AROS, Reactos, Ubuntu (all x86) this way. 

The indieGO! comes with Moonlight which allows to use the streaming feature of Steam. 

If you have a PC in your network with an compatible Nvidia card you can establish a local game-stream. The indieGO! will get the Video and Audio from your PC as a stream and it will send your Gamepad/Keyboard/Mouse input back to your PC. 

Our plan is to make the local PC unnecessary by offering the streams over internet using Nvidia GRID. 

Besides Emulation the indieGO! comes already with over 40 native Ports of famous games series. All you need is the original game data to play them. I may find time (due to the WEEE slowness) to add even more. 

Just to name a few ARX Libertatis, Jedi Knight, Quake 3, Doom 3, Theme Hospital, Baldurs Gate, Half Life (and original Counter Strike).. 

As promised wherever possible, shareware or demo data of those games will be included.

Those games will not be emulated, they work natively and so you can expect 720p - 1080p on the XU4.

Doom 3 in 1080p is still nice
Doom 3 in 1080p is still nice

 

Half Life
Half Life

Forking..

Due to the fact that we have a DVD-RW / or BD-RW we have different needs than other ARM based devices. An example is Playstation Emulation. Initially it was planned to use standard PCSX which can use a real CD-ROM drive. I was not impressed by the compiled PC codebase in terms of performance. 

For ARM devices there exits PCSX-rearmed which is an ARM optimized version but lacks the CD-ROM support. 

Now we have done PCSX-rearmed and armored  :D ... wich its ARM optimized and includes the CD-ROM support. 

The sources are available here:

GITHUB

The coder BSzili is well know in AmigaOS, MorphOS and AROS land where he did a lot of game ports from PC to those platforms. He will also check the latest Dolphin Code base and the unofficial x86 32Bit Dolphin fork in order to get it optimized by back porting new components to ARM 32Bit. 

I have still the CD-I emulation on my list... As soon I have more time (7-10 days when I finished the remaining consoles) I will contact again the developer to request the source or offer support for an ARM version. Than we should have covered everything.. 

I am sorry for the delay.. 

I will try to use the time to make things more polished. Some of the things I've planned to offer as update are now included.. 

The next thing is to work on Android for Pi3 (due to the switch from Pi2 to the Pi3 the old image stopped working), also I need to check if an upgrade to a new Android version is possible for the Odroids. 

I wish you a nice week and strong nerves (something I lack ; ) )..

PS: Is someone coming to the Evoke in cologne ? 

One step left..
over 8 years ago – Wed, Jul 20, 2016 at 11:17:54 PM

I know you can't await to get your console delivered. Trust me I can't wait too : )

I have used the last week to fine-tune and update/test stuff on the software side. 

I've got also the remaining USB-cables (from external to internal USB) to finish the remaining consoles. Now all I need to start delivery is the WEEE registration number. 

I have emailed them and still wait for response. Whenever I try to call them, I just get the computer voice telling me to try it later or send an email... 

Bureaucracy 2.0 

Whatever, we use the waiting time to optimize stuff and reduce your own time needed to setup or add things. This means more time for gaming : )

Well.. and there are as usual every day problems which need to be fixed like moving the cloud to new servers with new OS and new problems. Whatever at the end it will benefit you with more speed and more storage ; )

What happened till the last update.

1. We got the missing cables hooray!

2. We go the Projekt Lila packages!! It is now available at www.ares-shop.de (Kickstarter backers can pm me to get a VIP-status for the shop, so the price reduces to 29.90€ and if you choose self pickup, you will save the shipping costs) 

The games is limited to 500 CD-ROM releases. After that there will be only a download version. 

The game is also available at www.vesalia.de and www.amiga-shop.net (soon because their neighbor took the packages and is gone : D )

Every game includes a download code and is numbered and signed : )
Every game includes a download code and is numbered and signed : )

 

Helping hands : )
Helping hands : )

3. I've started some optimizations on the Odroid Setup because the ODROID didn't get the love it disereves yet compared to the raspberry pi (at least it is my impression). 

So as you may know I have worked on setting up PPSSPP which works perfectly and with some games you can also apply AA and Some filters without loosing performance. Some are more demanding than others but except 3 Games from around 20 I have tested everything should work without any user intervention. You can create setting per game if you like. 

Oh and you don't need to add a PSP bios. It is woking without. 

Next was Dreamcast.. Hallelula.. Reicast worked way too fast but had a scratchy ear destroying noize on the Odroid.. I have fixed this and you can now play Dreamcast games (compatibility lists for reicast are available).

Next was Gamecube .. and now the bummer... You have asked me if it is possible to compile the 5er branch of Dolphin.. No it is not because the 5er branch is so far x64 only.  Also later 4.x branches of dolphin where 64bit only. The Odroid XU4 is 32bit. The Pi3 ironically is 64bit but offers only a small part of the performance of the XU4.

So I have compiled the last officially working 32bit Version and compiled it for the Odroid. 

Pikmin works : )

As soon I get my head free (or hands) I will create a fork which will take parts of newer dolphin revision to use later optimizations for more speed. I am sure we can at least grab newer DSP emulation with multicore support which is not yet included... This could be also with luck just enough : ) We will see. 

Next question was if Mame is working.. Yep Mame is no problem. It works

 

 

 What now? Fabio and Chris are working on fixing bugs and adding features. 

The creator of Hollywood programing language helps me to fix a few EGL related problems on the ODROID which don't happen on the Pi. (the price if offer 2 options.. glad that we removed the C1 : ) )

And I can go back to the bat-cave and add the USB-internal to external cables to complete the remaining consoles..

Stay tuned. I will scream loud here on Kickstarter when I get my WEEE number!

Meanwhile you can use the backerkit service to check your shipping address and if required please update them. Before sending anything out I will contact you and do a last personal verification of the goods and shipping address via email. But if everything is already correct it will save our time ; ) 

Just a reminder:

We have started this campaign before the Pi3 was announced.. We have upgraded the Pi2 models to Pi3 models. Some may have missed it ; )

Box trolls would be proud if they could live in them
over 8 years ago – Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 05:00:17 PM

Just a short update:

Yesterday I've got the boxes without a warning . A big thank you to my wife for carrying them in while I have been at work. The Projekt Lila CD's will arrive tomorrow. They called me a few minutes ago.