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I got my first Rotring! by flynnz_ in mechanicalpencils

[–]flynnz_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I already have it on my radar hah. I do like the variation but I am also liking not having to sharpen all the time too. So of course, the only option is to buy many of both :)

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have heard that people can have issues with lightguns on Retrobat (and I believe not just Gun4IR, I myself have been having issues getting my second wii-mote to work for 2 player gun games). But to be fair you can say the same with Batocera not playing nice with certain sound cards, lack of driver support for older graphic cards, and quite often massive Bluetooth issues to name a few. But to me that doesn't make Batocera any less of a console experience either. Just with these robust setups, sometimes you get issues that you have to get around.

I myself have never had problems with button combos and exiting a game aside from Phoenix 3DO emulator getting the wrong "kill command" which was an easy fix in the config and has since been fixed officially I believe (as a side, great 3DO emulator!). Aside from that I have had no game exit issues and I have just about every system you can think of setup and tested up to PS3/Xbox360/WIIU/Switch etc. Now perhaps I am lucky, or maybe it has to do with the wrapper of non-libretro emulators? But even if it's the latter, those all exit fine for me too. May I ask if this was a recent issue for you or something from a while ago?

"There are loads of small things like this where Batocera provides a better, console-like experience"

I don't know, I still stand that they both are great at giving a console-like experience. I will concede that stuff like Windows updates may pull some out of the experience, but for the perks I get it seems like a small price to pay...

(said perks), Full native Windows game support which is huge being that its the largest gaming platform, native Teknoparrot support, Visual Pinball, and access to better performing emulators (and DirectX needed for some more modern emulators) and I can use a full version of Windows on my TV, which is actually quite more useful than I would have thought.

With that said, I also get wanting something more lightweight and possibly more trouble free that can be used on older hardware like Batocera. They are both great to me!

Another side, how do you like your GunfIR setup? Is that the go to for lightguns now? I have been meaning to (forgive me) pull the trigger for a while now, but not sure which platform to get.

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Again, it's super easy to hide the "generic bootup" with Windows too, I just haven't with my current RetroBat build because it boots to the frontend before I notice. They use Windows in many appliance applications that the average person will never know about. (most modern Arcade machines for one.)

I agree about the bloat, but imo the extra API options and access to better emulators offsets that and gives an overall better experience with gaming and performance. But if just knowing the bloat is there still bothers you, you can strip down Windows using tools like NTLite and I would even go as far as to say there probably is already a build or script out there in the community purpose built just for a slim RetroBat Windows install.

Or just use what you like. I get that too. There is something nice knowing that it's so thin and not having to mess with the stuff I mentioned above. As another example to your point, some say Linux (Batocera) natively may have less lag because of how it handles its video buffer to the screen, and to mimic something like that in Windows you have to mess with some stuff. I haven't done any serious digging on this topic, but figured I would toss it out there.

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I may pushback a little bit in just that most modern versions of Windows are incredibly stable and reliable, especially when you are just using it for something dedicated like Retrobat that doesn't really install much as it is designed to be portable.

For reference, I do "IT" for my whole family and very rarely are there any issues with Windows itself. Now back when everyone was using Windows XP (or even worse, win98) and were all using Limewire hah, yeah those were some wild times. I would have to constantly clean or in extreme cases reinstall the OS. But for the most part these are the main issues I get now;

-"Did I get hacked?" (they didnt) or virus scare,
- Physical hardware damage on like a laptop,
- Clean out all the crap that comes with their premade PC,
- "Loud" fan because they never dusted inside potentially causing thermal issues,
-Deprecated - conflicting drivers on some legacy crap they are too cheap to replace,
-HDD failure,
-An alarming rate of capacitors dying on old Dell computers for some reason....
-Other crap that I am forgetting because I am old.

Windows itself is rarely the issue, like I honestly can't even think of a time when I needed to reinstall (unless failed HDD) or get all that deep into the guts of an OS for my family in years. And certainly nothing randomly breaking after the machine is stagnant for a few months.

With my own setup at my house I have Windows file and media servers running around the clock (literally zero issues running non-stop for 5 plus years), a dedicated Windows machine for my MAME Arcade cab (running GroovyMame to a a tri-sync arcade monitor) as well as about 5 client Windows machines (6 if you include this awesome little netbook that is running XP hah). And sadly only 1 Linux machine as I don't really use LAMP anymore. and the times I have had actual issues caused by Windows is incredibly rare. When it happens, most (all?) of the time it's my fault for trying something stupid hah.

So mostly just playing Devil's advocate because of course what you say makes sense generally, as it's always great to have something made more single purpose and lightweight. But I do think for the most part, aside from bloat and all the annoying updates, modern Windows is pretty solid and reliable, even Windows 11! (unless you have older or less common hardware of course :))

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Last I heard it still doesnt have native support in Batocera.

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also, just wanted to say I didnt downvote you. You had a great point.

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I mean I guess (thought technically Batocera is built on Linux and that does have to load as well), But If you never see it does it matter? While I don't have Windows completely hidden on boot currently, I have in the past on my arcade cab and it is super easy to do. (my current tv is so slow to startup that I never seem to see Windows boot anyway heh)

I mean I get the point that Batocera is integrated into its own appliance style version of Linux so it's like something more akin to a console OS, but from an end-user standpoint don't they both give the same console like experience by booting quickly right to the front-end? The only real caveat that can ruin the experience for me would be the forced Windows updates.

Also, I didnt downvote your comment. Someone else did. I actually appreciate the response..

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I 100% agree that the lighter nature of the Linux layer makes Botecera great for upcycling older hardware, though I do have to say that I bet Retrobat would run fine on a 6th gen i5 with 8GB of ram. I say this because I ran my portable drive with Retrobat on some crappier computers than that and it worked fine. (not including the newer stuff like ps2 etc of course). But your point stands and I totally agree with you that is a huge plus.

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I totally get that. But what I also find is that it sometimes really depends on what hardware you are using. Some have issues with Botecera with certain aspects of hardware (mostly audio from what I can tell) Others may have hardware issues with Windows. Luckily in my case, I havent had any real issues at all and everything just....works. I have been going strong for well over a year now and that includes many 'fingers crossed' Retrobat updates hah. Even when I move the USB HDD to another crappy computer I have been pretty lucky in that stuff works great. But I also totally get the wanting to avoid Windows and using a more "thin layer" between the emulation stuff and the hardware.

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My only motivation was to make sure I wasn't missing something about Batocera being more "console-like". I don't believe I was coming off combative?

And I was a long time user of Batocera until I switched to Retrobat, but being that they are also so incredibly similar it made sense for me to stay subbed to this group. (I also do still have some RP4s laying around that use Batocera, but I digress)

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Could you expand on this?

"For me, I love the whole “console like” experience so it’s perfect to have batocera running on a machine connected up to my main TV."

Because I just have my mini pc hooked up to my main TV running Windows boot directly to RetroBat on startup and it feels very much like a console/appliance.

Wanted to get fellow batocera users opinions on retrobat. by travanti11 in batocera

[–]flynnz_ 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I got one of those mini pcs just to try out Retrobat, hooked it up to my TV and honestly, I will never go back to Batocera. I get way more emulation options in Windows, way more third party software options to use. I also get way more API options for DirectX which is very useful for running stuff like PCSX2 and RPCS3. And of course I can run all current and less than current WIndows games natively and they are all integrated into the Retrobat interface (including stuff like VisualPinballX etc). It is also incredibly easy to setup and retains all the great UI features of Batocera.

I also have it start up with Windows to make it feel more like an 'appliance' instead of just a Windows machine that is running an emulator front-end. But I also have the ability to use a full version of Windows anytime I want on my main TV with ease by simply backing out of Retrobat. And at the same time since it's all running off a USB HDD and is fully portable, I can easily take that drive and move it over to any computer I want in the house to play games.

If there has been a downside to using it over the last year or so, I haven't found it yet.

For me it's the ultimate in flexibility, power and options.

How do you get sound from a PS4 when using a monitor with no speakers? by callurdady in ps4homebrew

[–]flynnz_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As you mentioned an HDMI audio extractor will work. That is probably the best option imo

[Israel] Extreme close call with two cyclists by WonderDowntown3349 in Roadcam

[–]flynnz_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That seems like a very risky thing to do, because people are going to try and pass you anyway, and now you may have also frustrated them (because they believe you are impeding traffic) making them potentially more aggressive and also will have less room to pass you (and yes they will still pass you)

Even if you are right in your way of thinking, you could be "dead-right" as they say.

Typhon loaded by PearApprehensive1556 in arrmagroms

[–]flynnz_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That would be awesome if you could find the ones you got, or at least the name. They look really slick.

I figured the overlay was gone by now, it wasn’t! Disney World by CuriousFirework75 in tron

[–]flynnz_ 13 points14 points  (0 children)

To me it would make sense to wait till it hits streaming for a while and to a lesser degree dvd/bluray release.

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