zzip Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 I have heard that "Atari 50" is something like 8Gb in size.. That would make it a tight fit on the eMMC for many of us. I haven't really seen much discussion about adding storage. In the Atari OS I've seen that you can select available partitions. I'm just wondering if they should be prepped in any way.. like formatting, or will AtariOS take care of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrZarniwoop Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 You can partition/format an entire drive for AtariOS right from the VCS. If you want to have multiple partitions, AtariOS seems to recognize and use an ext4-formatted partition on a drive with something else, such as Windows. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 22 minutes ago, MrZarniwoop said: You can partition/format an entire drive for AtariOS right from the VCS. If you want to have multiple partitions, AtariOS seems to recognize and use an ext4-formatted partition on a drive with something else, such as Windows. I don't want AtariOS to manage the whole disk since it's already partially partitioned. I have an m.2. with ubuntu on it filled with emulations and retro PC games. But I left half of it unpartitioned for future use.. I didn't know if I'd need it for more AtariOS space or maybe install something like batocera So I can just add a new partition of 32-64gb easily, but I don't know what the partition type should be or if it should be formatted. Maybe it doesn't matter and AtariOS will just take care of that when I select the drive. I just didn't see any documentation or discussion around this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrZarniwoop Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Format the unpartitioned part as an ext4 drive and AtariOS will automatically use it. Name it obviously so you can select the right partition from the VCS. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 You can tell AtariOS to save your games on your Ubuntu drive. The bonus is, you can now also launch the games from Ubuntu. I have done this from Debian. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THX-1138 Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 (edited) 16 hours ago, zzip said: I have heard that "Atari 50" is something like 8Gb in size.. That would make it a tight fit on the eMMC for many of us. I haven't really seen much discussion about adding storage. In the Atari OS I've seen that you can select available partitions. I'm just wondering if they should be prepped in any way.. like formatting, or will AtariOS take care of that? Yeah AtariOS can and will do that for you. What I would NOT do is use a SSD or M.2 drive already used for another OS such as Windows or Linux. You never know what you may want to do in the future, you may want to reinstall or swap out the drive for something else. I would go and buy a one of those physically small USB drives and stick it at the back of the VCS out of sight. I bought a 256GB Sandisk very cheaply off Amazon. Then go into AtariOS, into the system tab and find the new drive, format it and move over any VCS games you want. When you buy new stuff or re-download things, you can then select what drive you want to install to, ie. the internal VCS 32GB eMMC, or your new USB drive. Nice and simple. Edited December 20, 2022 by THX-1138 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 3 hours ago, THX-1138 said: What I would NOT do is use a SSD or M.2 drive already used for another OS such as Windows or Linux. You never know what you may want to do in the future, you may want to reinstall or swap out the drive for something else. Yeah that's why half of it is still unpartitioned It's a 1TB SSD. My enitre emulator and retrogame library easily fits into the first 512GB. I knew that down the road I may or may not want space for AtariOS, depending on what games release. But now I'm weighing how much to give to AtariOS, I'm thinking 64Gb, in case that homebrew app comes out. If I ever need to redo the disk, I can just back up the contents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THX-1138 Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 1 hour ago, zzip said: Yeah that's why half of it is still unpartitioned It's a 1TB SSD. My enitre emulator and retrogame library easily fits into the first 512GB. I knew that down the road I may or may not want space for AtariOS, depending on what games release. But now I'm weighing how much to give to AtariOS, I'm thinking 64Gb, in case that homebrew app comes out. If I ever need to redo the disk, I can just back up the contents Cool, if you're comfortable partitioning and backing up stuff, go for it. 64-128GB should be enough, depending on if you're wanting to move stuff already on the 32GB eMMC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 2 minutes ago, THX-1138 said: Cool, if you're comfortable partitioning and backing up stuff, go for it. 64-128GB should be enough, depending on if you're wanting to move stuff already on the 32GB eMMC. Adding partitions is easy, it's just when you want to resize partitions and move them around.. then it gets scary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 1 hour ago, zzip said: Adding partitions is easy, it's just when you want to resize partitions and move them around.. then it gets scary This is what LiveUSB sticks and gparted are for. Ha, what is scary is when an lvm container is nuked. You can restore even that, as long as others haven't been created. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justclaws Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 Also, plugging in a USB flash drive (aka usb stick/"thumb drive") offers that for formatting as a external storage very easily. Locally, for me, a good fast 128GB USB 3 stick is easily found at a good price, and is good enough for game storage also. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario64 Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 If I may tag into this conversation, what is the best/easiest method to expand VCS storage if only using it with Atari Shop games (no PC mode stuff)? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 This is what I got for external storage for my VCS - havent used it, but its a good price and fast USB stick: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D7Q41PM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.A.P. Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 I'm starting to encounter a happy problem: I have so many VCS games now that I can't keep them all installed on the system at the same time. Can I just plug a flashdrive in to use for extra storage? Will it let me play the games installed on it? Is there a way to transfer all my games to a flashdrive, to keep everything in one place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THX-1138 Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 No problem. Get a USB drive of your choice and plug it in. In the AtariOS Dashboard go to the System tab and in there you can find your drives. You can then move games over and when you download games in the future, you can choose what drive to install them on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted December 27, 2022 Author Share Posted December 27, 2022 AtariOS actually makes this easy to do, you could use a flashdrive or part of an internal SSD, you can easily move games from one storage device to another from the AtariOS dashboard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
napabar Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 On 12/26/2022 at 1:18 AM, THX-1138 said: No problem. Get a USB drive of your choice and plug it in. In the AtariOS Dashboard go to the System tab and in there you can find your drives. You can then move games over and when you download games in the future, you can choose what drive to install them on. Does the Atari VCS need to format these USB drives into a ext4 file system, or is it just happy with FAT32 or exFAT drives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THX-1138 Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 If you plug in a USB drive, it will format it as ext4. The transferred games will be moved over and will be visible in the Dashboard if the drive is plugged in. If the drive is removed the games will not appear on the Dashboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 1 hour ago, THX-1138 said: If you plug in a USB drive, it will format it as ext4. The transferred games will be moved over and will be visible in the Dashboard if the drive is plugged in. If the drive is removed the games will not appear on the Dashboard. The beauty is, you can then take it over to your Linux Desktop and run them there, as they are DRM free. What would be interesting is if you could do that with Unity based games bought from GOG, or some drm-free ones from Steam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
napabar Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 2 hours ago, THX-1138 said: If you plug in a USB drive, it will format it as ext4. The transferred games will be moved over and will be visible in the Dashboard if the drive is plugged in. If the drive is removed the games will not appear on the Dashboard. Thank you very much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted March 31, 2023 Author Share Posted March 31, 2023 2 hours ago, leech said: What would be interesting is if you could do that with Unity based games bought from GOG, or some drm-free ones from Steam. You mean take those games and run them from the Atari OS Interface? Guess we'd need to figure out how to register them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 52 minutes ago, zzip said: You mean take those games and run them from the Atari OS Interface? Guess we'd need to figure out how to register them. Yeah. I bet there is something simple going on. Wondering if something like Fantasy Grounds would work (it is Unity based and the keys all register back to them instead of Steam) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockymin Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 On 1/14/2024 at 4:39 PM, Atari_JaguarVCS said: That's what I'm thinking. I bet they will be using the Atari OS on another device down the line and that's why they are interested in improving its security and adding in new features to the OS and general quality of life improvements and also adding in lots of games and getting dev support behind it so its pretty evolved and ready to go on a new device. I don't think they need an entire new Atari VCS 800 however far from it, its got more than enough horse power under the hood for the kind of games its going after and targeting, the majority of the games on the store don't even take full advantage of the system, only a few i would say do. The Atari VCS's main limitation i can see is the onboard storage out the box especially now we're getting bigger and better games on the system so it makes upgrading the storage a must so a new VCS with more storage on board would be great. I like the idea of a hybrid Atari VCS myself though if they wanted to overhaul it design wise something in a similar fashion to the Nintendo Switch that can go handheld and then dock to the TV would be cool, and making it compatible with the Atari VCS modern controller and Classic joystick or releasing the new device with improved controller and joystick but also making them compatible on the original Atari VCS 800. Id like something like the 2600 to be the dock if they went with a hybrid Nintendo Switch style device and give it a built in usb cart reader ready to go 😅 Is the storage in the VCS upgradeable? I read that the RAM was, but haven't seen anything about the storage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stirrell Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 1 hour ago, Rockymin said: Is the storage in the VCS upgradeable? I read that the RAM was, but haven't seen anything about the storage. Yes, the internal storage is a M.2 SATA drive and can be replaced. Or you can plug an external USB drive into one of the four USB 3 ports for additional storage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockymin Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 4 minutes ago, stirrell said: Yes, the internal storage is a M.2 SATA drive and can be replaced. Or you can plug an external USB drive into one of the four USB 3 ports for additional storage. Would you need to reinstall the AtariOS or whatever it is that controls the system? If so, how is that done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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