Zaltran Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Is that free? Did you basically image the 2gb card as a 128mb card? yes and yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shipwreck Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 (edited) Ok, I don't know where that old 2GB card is. So, I AM going to use the one included with the machine. Others have done it with no issues. So, do I need to format anything at all, or can I just erase all the folders and put the folders back with the new files. Or, do these: 1. Download an unzip the .img file above. 2. I use etcher from https://etcher.io/ 3. Install etcher, run it, and select the.img file you downloaded for the first option. 4. Connect the Retron 77 SD card to your card reader, and select as the second option 5. Burn the file to your SD card. If all went well, you should get a confirmation notice 6. Copy your desired ROM files over to the 'Games' folder on the SD card 7. Play Atari. Note that there are no page transition animations. It works, but the UI is still basic. This will allow you to play 99% of the games the current Retron 77 cart dumper will not read. Edited July 17, 2018 by Shipwreck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIO2 Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 1. Download an unzip the .img file above. 2. I use etcher from https://etcher.io/ 3. Install etcher, run it, and select the.img file you downloaded for the first option. 4. Connect the Retron 77 SD card to your card reader, and select as the second option 5. Burn the file to your SD card. If all went well, you should get a confirmation notice 6. Copy your desired ROM files over to the 'Games' folder on the SD card 7. Play Atari. Note that there are no page transition animations. It works, but the UI is still basic. This will allow you to play 99% of the games the current Retron 77 cart dumper will not read. Do that. Etcher is really easy to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mckafka99 Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Walmart had a 2 pack of these for about $13 (overkill on the size I know, but only $13). Out of the packaging, using Etcher with the new image and it worked flawlessly. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shipwreck Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Do that. Etcher is really easy to use. Ok. I don't have to erase the original card first, or reformat it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIO2 Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 (edited) Ok. I don't have to erase the original card first, or reformat it? No. Just follow the steps Lord Thag posted for Etcher. I don't know what the issue was with my 512mb card - never got it to work but, I have since used the original 128mb card and a 2gb card with Etcher and both worked fine. Just be very careful that the destination you select is actually the SD card. If you have other removable media on the system it may pick that up first. Edited July 17, 2018 by SIO2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIO2 Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 I forget the software I used to burn Pi images, but it had the option to expand the image if the current SD card was bigger than the source image. I would assume other imaging software would have similar abilities. Please note you cannot build a FAT16 directory larger than 4Gb. Typically 2Gb and under cards use FAT and 4Gb and larger (up to 32Gb) use FAT32. I wish you remembered. I looked for something that could expand the image but, I got tons of stuff saying the Raspberry Pi has that built in now. I guess it asks you when you first boot the image if you want it expanded or some such. Anyhow, I got a 2gb card to work so... moving on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shipwreck Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 No. Just follow the steps Lord Thag posted for Etcher. I don't know what the issue was with my 512mb card - never got it to work but, I have since used the original 128mb card and a 2gb card with Etcher and both worked fine. Just be very careful that the destination you select is actually the SD card. If you have other removable media on the system it may pick that up first. Thanks a bunch. That did it!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 I wish you remembered. I looked for something that could expand the image but, I got tons of stuff saying the Raspberry Pi has that built in now. I guess it asks you when you first boot the image if you want it expanded or some such. Anyhow, I got a 2gb card to work so... moving on. Yeah, I think I did use a disc image proggy to write the file to the SD card, then used a command line within the Raspbian interface that expanded the image. This would obviously not work on a FAT partitian. Also the fact the sector size gets larger as the partition gets bigger, the files would need to be reorganized. You may try copying the files to your PC for backup and reformatting the SD card. Windows won't expand the partition but SD formatter will. However any type of low level format restoring full disc capacity will likely erase the boot sector. Windows built in disk manager handles hard disk partitions but I'm not sure it will enable you to edit an SD card. Hmmm... I still exclusively use Windows 7, but maybe this Windows 10 tutorial will be of help to you... https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/partition-a-usb-or-sd-card-disk-management-windows-10/ There should be a large amount of unallocated data at the end of the drive. Assuming the hidden partition is at the beginning of the drive, it may work to expand the FAT partition. If it's at the end, perhaps not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shipwreck Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Well, I can take back that unopened 128 GB SD card I bought today - not realizing it was 128MB 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Pez Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 (edited) When playing rom games is there a way to go back to the home screen with out turning it off and on again? Edited July 17, 2018 by jim1174 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHairy Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 The issue with using other SD cards is that the Hyperkin image contains the bootloader (U-Boot) in the first few sectors, that's why you have to write the Hyperkin image to get the R77 to boot (the device has no internal flash, it boots and runs directly from SD). However, the only thing special to the FAT partition on the image is its start sector. You don't necessarily have to resize it, you can also backup everything on the partition, delete and recreate it (to the desired size) and then copy everything back. The only thing you have be careful about when deleting and recreating is the start position: make sure that the new partition starts at least at the same sector as the old partition (or even higher) to avoid corrupting the bootloader. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Atari_Warlord Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 When playing rom games is there a way to go back to the home screen with out turning it off and on again? The only method I found was to keep a cart handy and push it down and up in the cart slot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+stephena Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 The only method I found was to keep a cart handy and push it down and up in the cart slot. This is the only current workaround. Eventually, it would be nice to re-purpose one of the buttons on the back to do it (say, the 4:3/16:9 button). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Well i updated my card and now for some reason i have huge bars on the top and bottom of my TV Screen when its plays games. For a Minute i thought it was my TV. But it dose the same thing on every TV in my house. I tried changing my Stella setting but nothing works. Could it be the pal version of the rom? Pal versions scale differently when there is no fullscreen fill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Well, I can take back that unopened 128 GB SD card I bought today - not realizing it was 128MB You should be able to use any size microSD card as long as it's at least 128MB. http://winflashtool.sysprogs.com/download/ This utility will place the .img file on the card in one step (don't check the option to resize or expand the image). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shipwreck Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 You should be able to use any size microSD card as long as it's at least 128MB. http://winflashtool.sysprogs.com/download/ This utility will place the .img file on the card in one step (don't check the option to resize or expand the image). Thanks for the information 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColecoJoe Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 I'm not entirely sure the exact process, but it is possible to "expand" the FAT partition to occupy the remainder of unused space on the card. I thought FAT only recognized up to 4 gigs so what would be the point of expanding it or by expanding does it make FAT see passed the 4gb limit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColecoJoe Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 My recommendation is to use a different sd card so if you mess it up then you still have the original to use in the retron 77, you can write the image to the sd card without the step to format it. You can also backup the 128mb card and if something goes wrong just re-flash it with the backup image but stop worrying, this stuff is super easy and I would be surprised if you bricked anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Thag Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 FYI for those having issues with a specific card... that's just how it goes. Some SD cards are not built to spec, some have been messed up due to improper formatting etc. If you keep running into a bad burn when following the directions I posted, just try a different card. I run into this issue all the time burning cards for Raspberry Pi machines. Some of them just won't work or are unstable. It's the nature of the beast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shipwreck Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 (edited) Last night, I just sucked it up and used the factory card - but, those steps worked 100%. I dumped about 100 roms onto the card last night - now I don't have to worry about switching cartridges anymore. I do hope they change the menu, though. It is strange - it is not in complete alphabetical order. It's like some are, and then it starts back to "A" again. Then again. So, I have like 3 or 4 sets of games in alphabetical order, instead of ALL of them being in that order. I returned that $38 128gb card today. Apparently I never noticed it was MB and not GB Edited July 17, 2018 by Shipwreck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 On Windows, I use a tiny app called DriveSort.exe that’s been around forever. It is on so many sites to download, be careful and use a reputable site or scan the file for malware before running. That will write the file names in order. Also you can choose to sort by the 8 character name, or the full file name. Last night, I just sucked it up and used the factory card - but, those steps worked 100%. I dumped about 100 roms onto the card last night - now I don't have to worry about switching cartridges anymore. I do hope they change the menu, though. It is strange - it is not in complete alphabetical order. It's like some are, and then it starts back to "A" again. Then again. So, I have like 3 or 4 sets of games in alphabetical order, instead of ALL of them being in that order. I returned that $38 128gb card today. Apparently I never noticed it was MB and not GB 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColecoJoe Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Last night, I just sucked it up and used the factory card - but, those steps worked 100%. I dumped about 100 roms onto the card last night - now I don't have to worry about switching cartridges anymore. I do hope they change the menu, though. It is strange - it is not in complete alphabetical order. It's like some are, and then it starts back to "A" again. Then again. So, I have like 3 or 4 sets of games in alphabetical order, instead of ALL of them being in that order. I returned that $38 128gb card today. Apparently I never noticed it was MB and not GB You might have to run a sort script on the SD card. I know on the flashback portable that's how it is for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shipwreck Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Thag Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 On Windows, I use a tiny app called DriveSort.exe that’s been around forever. It is on so many sites to download, be careful and use a reputable site or scan the file for malware before running. That will write the file names in order. Also you can choose to sort by the 8 character name, or the full file name. I do as well, highly recommended. http://www.anerty.net/software/file/DriveSort/?lang=en Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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