It took a bit of trial by error and reimaging my SD card a few times but finally got this working.
Yes, I am playing Outrun in my backyard using a battery pack. How cool is that?
Are you worried how you are going to stay entertained during the next CoronApocalypse?
Then, this project is for you!
What you are going to need is as follows:
- Raspberry Pi 2 Model B v1
- 3.5" Touchscreen Monitor 320x480
- Compatible USB Gamepad
- SD card w Retropie image
For initial setup, you will need:
- HDMI monitor
- Internet connectivity (Preferably via Ethernet)
- Keyboard and mouse
Enable SPI, I2C, and SSH
sudo raspi-config
Use the arrow key to change selection to interface options.
Select and enable SPI, I2C and SSH
Ifconfig (*This will tell you what your IP address is for your SSH connection.*)
Now, you may connect with your SSH client with this article up so you may easily copy and paste the commands.
The following are the instructions provided on the LCD screen item page on Walmart. In the event it is discontinued, I would like to capture these instructions on the blockchain so it may help people in the future.
They are as follows w slight modification:
Step 1, install the official Raspbian or UbuntuMate image
Download the latest Raspbian image from the official https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ Download the latest Ubuntu Mate image from the official https://ubuntu-mate.org/download/- Download latest Retropie image https://retropie.org.uk/download/
- Format the Micro SD card using SD Formatter,
- Use Win32DiskImager to burn the official image to the Micro SD card.
Step 2, install the LCD driver
Online installation (Raspberry Pi needs to connect to the Internet) - Use
the Putty connectionSSH client to log in to the Raspberry Pi system to the user command line (initial username: pi password: raspberry) - Execute the following command (after copying, click the right mouse button in the Putty window to paste): (I've corrected the issue with their command lines starting w capital letters which was fairly annoying.)
sudo rm -rf LCD-show
git clone https://github.com/lcdwiki/LCD-show-retropie.git (*Note, this is changed from https://github.com/goodtft/LCD-show.git which may be used for non-retropie builds*)
chmod -R 755 LCD-show-retropie (or LCD-show for goodtft)
cd LCD-show-retropie/ (or LCD-show)
sudo ./LCD35-show
The next steps are based on the procedures outlined in this article. Since we already have our drivers, we will move on to the framebuffer copy software section.
Go ahead and run updates for the operating system and reboot.
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo reboot
Confirm your LCD is properly installed with:
ls /dev/fb*
You should see an fb1 device present. If not, troubleshoot accordingly (verify connection, previous steps etc)
Installing Framebuffer Copy (fbcp)
sudo apt-get install cmake
git clone https://github.com/tasanakorn/rpi-fbcp
cd rpi-fbcp/
mkdir build
cd build/
cmake ..
make
sudo install fbcp /usr/local/bin/fbcp
To have the software run at boot, you need to modify the rc.local file
sudo nano /etc/rc.local
Add the following line immediately above "exit 0"
/usr/local/bin/fbcp &
To save:
Hit CTRL+X, then Y, then enter key. Then, reboot.
sudo reboot
Your LCD should now be functioning as a display.
Although not necessary, it is possible to modify addition settings such as screen rotation or frames per second (fps) per your preferences using the following:
sudo nano /boot/config.txt
There may be configuration optimizations that can be found but will take some tinkering. It also may vary depending on what gaming system your are emulating.
Hope this tutorial will be helpful in preserving at least some or our sanity during quarantine. Retro gaming is one of my favorite hobbies as it reminds me of simpler times. Give a try!
Feel free to let me know if there are any questions or your get stuck. Will be glad to help!