How to Setup Batocera Linux and turn your old PC / Laptop into a Retro-Gaming Beast
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- In this video, we'll install & setup Batocera on a laptop that is 14 years old! I'll also show you how to install Batocera to the internal hard drive. The laptop used in this video was released in 2006 and can play many emulators, some may even surprise you! Time to dust-off those old laptops and put them to good use!
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This video is my GO TO when I am working on projects. When I first watched it I learned almost everything that I needed and I am so grateful. Now I use this as a reference guide to help me along. Thank you so much!
Thank YOU so much for your very kind comment. I'm so happy to hear it has been helpful to you! It's comments like yours that makes this hobby fun for me too.
I just downloaded Batecera a few days ago. I can't wait to try it too.
I have a laptop just like that! Mines is blue and Grey. That one was headed to the landfill too. I'm glad I can get something out of it.
Depending on the specs it could make for a nice little low end indie gaming system and run some older games too.
Nice video, I have that exact laptop and was going to scrap it. I flashed the image directly to an SSD, and put it in the drive bay and all was good. Cheers
Awesome, happy that this video helped! It's great when we can recycle older tech into a fun retro gaming console and give it new life.
@@WagnersTechTalk can you run batocera directly from a flash drive? I want to see if it will run on my 13 year old laptop.
@@marccaselle8108 you certainly can. I set up my mid-2009 MacBook Pro to run Batocera off a flash drive last night. Goldeneye stutters a little, but I haven’t tried tweaking the settings yet. Other N64, PS1, and below run easily
I have a T43 ThinkPad which was just sitting there not really being used. Thanks for this video now I can repurpose it.
Awesome, makes me happy to hear when these machines can be re-purposed instead of sitting in a landfill. Thank you for letting me know and for watching!
@@WagnersTechTalk i finally returned home and turns out they sold it :(
You deserve an award for this very effective and informative tutorial!
Hey, thank you for your kind comment! Glad you enjoyed it.
This how to tutorial helped me create an amazing retro gaming on my vintage pc system with over 100,000+ games. Thanks @WagnersTechTalk
Awesome to hear, you're very welcome! I have several more similar videos on my channel, if needed.
One of those mini pcs with a more modern ryzen mobile cpus is awesome
i actually jumped when i noticed that we have the exact same dell latitude. i think. its amazing how this machine i got at goodwill can run stuff like this. 👏
Great to hear!
Awesome very in depth and well explained video.Would love to see mame and fba broken down on where to set it etc.Truly appreciate this video and you sharing your knowledge
Very welcome, thank you for your kind words! This link has a little bit more information on copying games from Batocera's wiki : wiki.batocera.org/add_games
@@WagnersTechTalk So let's say i had a SD card, and it was my only laptop. would i be able to do this without resetting my whole device?
Nice presentation. Lots of information and questions answered. Definitely one to be bookmarked for future reference. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful, thank you for watching!
to people who cant boot or shows no bootable device after installing batocera on internal hardisk, try switching the boot mode to legacy or any other option, make sure secured boot is disabled. you can go into bios setting by pressing F2, ESC, DELETE depending on your computer company
Great points, thank you for your feedback! I do cover secure boot and the various methods of entering the system BIOS in a more recent video+guide here: wagnerstechtalk.com/pc-batocera .
im back here, since i am having troubles with a black screen after the splash screen.
edit: i fixed the problem. this is honestly a great explanation video.
Glad to hear the issue was resolved, thank you for watching and your kind support!
@@WagnersTechTalk i am now having another problem with installing batocera to the internal hard drive. it will say it is retrieving some file and then it will say its completed, even though it isnt
May want to join the Batocera discord (a few other helpful links here: wagnerstechtalk.com/sd-batocera/#Resources ) and see if someone there can tell you how to correct it. I've not encountered this issue. If you resolve it, please let me know what it was. Depending on the age of your computer and if it is x86 (32 Bit), you may need to use the image at the bottom of the download page: batocera.org/download . If your computer is 64 bit, use the one at the top.
how did you do it bro
Ha ha sit down buddy. Thanks man I reckon I'll try this. Seems like it might work better than my retropie setup I have atm. Great idea for the old laptop!
It's a great way to recycle those older laptops into useful retro gaming stations for friends, family or yourself. Hope you enjoy it and thank you for watching!
wow thanks you saved me so much work having to copy roms to the usb then copy them to my other pc
Glad I could help
Thanks man you make the best guides (especially the one on emu deck) 😊
Thank you my friend, several more are in-process. Hope you find them helpful too!
Mine is Dell Latitude D630. Will definitely try this
Update: this worked! Now my 2006-ish pc has now risen from the ashes of my web filled storage
Update after installing on a D820 (basically the same laptop, only slightly bigger): Any version after 5.26 (so 5.27.2 , 29 and 30) will not work on it.
Thank you for the video, helped me tremendously!
Most welcome, happy I could help!
I wish I could read this sooner i have the same laptop and I had to look closely at the video to figure out why it wasn't working
I was somehow able to update from v5.26 to v5.27 on an old usb install. I think I may have done a manual update or an online update from within Bato's menu. I think they may have taken the repos offline for legacy builds now tho. Or may have changed the repo location (In the case of online updates from within Bato). Really wish they would make an MBR version of new versions available. Doesn't seem like it would take much work on their end tbh. And newer versions indeed do run at first boot. But, being GPT disk format they refuse to boot on legacy systems after rebooting.
Still haven't found a proper fix for converting GPT bootable disks to MBR without complications. :/
I did on an older netbook, with 32 bits. Enough to run some games. It suppose that should be able to run ps1 but barely if can run snes. No HDD nor keyboard, it was a recycle project. Great video. Yours is a decent laptop great for lots of games.
Thank you, I appreciate your kind words. I've definitely not tried a Netbook with Batocera. Thanks for the heads up, I should probably get one at some point though.
@@WagnersTechTalk it's the 32 bit version but maybe recalbox could be a better option. This one had termal issues. But basically It's like the first pies.
Maybe Is the atom chip so that's why a core duo is a great option. Good luck with the project if you get a netbook.
Fantastic vid! I use batocera on a lot of my channel builds.
Thank you Sir! I'm a bit new to it myself, but very impressed with Batocera.
Just got an fx4300, 8gb ram, gtx 750 for 30$, want to make it an emulation only system. Thank you for this video.
Very welcome!
thanks for the tutorial, you just gained a new subscriber.
Awesome, thank you for your support! Got some very interesting stuff coming that I hope you enjoy.
This video is very helpful, I enjoyed it. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you, very detailed tutorial.
Glad it was helpful, thank you for watching!
As soon as I get home I'm gonna re try from a pendrive and install it to the hard drive
Great video. Learned a lot from your videos
Thank you, I really appreciate it!
Great video. I have a minipc Lenovo m79 that i modded a while back. Took the mobile cpu out and dumped in a desktop cpu. Then i used a dead r7 gpu pulled the cooler off it. Did some chop and drill work . now i can complete the project with Batocera . Thanks to your straightforward instructions. BTW i too have a hard time letting go of old tech lol . At least I'm not alone on that 😎👍🇨🇦
How far does that M79 go w emulation?
Great video I really enjoy your stuff! It's engaging and approachable. Any chance you'd be interested in a video of why to choose Batocera vs. Lakka vs. Retropie vs. Recalbox. I can't seem to find a real assessment on why to choose one over another and which is best for which application (ie. an old laptop vs raspberry pi or putting it on some other system like a handheld) Thanks, and keep up the great work!
That is a great suggestion, I'm not quite to that point of comparing all the versions (still gaining experience with some of them). Even so, I would simply mention the pros/cons of each and leave it up to the viewer to determine what is best for them. Often times, it really depends on what you have available and what you want to buy that really matters. Most of my Retro-Gaming videos are centered around Raspberry Pi/RetroPie. However, I wanted to demonstrate an option for those that may simply want to make better use of equipment they already have or could pick up cheaply at a thrift store, garage sale, etc. After trying Batocera on the Pi4 (and really liking it), only made sense to follow-up with a video that covers using a machine I already had on-hand and was doing nothing with. Thanks again for your suggestion, once I feel knowledgeable enough on the distros you mention I may do that!
@@WagnersTechTalk Using the Pros and Cons approach totally makes sense. I feel like the ideal or typical application of a system or what a system is designed for may help the viewer decide too. Regardless of the route you take I really appreciate it. I'm really enjoying videos. Thanks again! (What is the reason one might choose Batocera vs. RetroPie? How are they different?)
Both can pretty much play all the same emulators/games (though, Batocera 5.27 now shows PS2 on the list which I will be trying soon on the Raspberry Pi 4). I didn't notice much of a performance difference of one vs. the other. Batocera is supported on many different platforms, it's a self-contained OS. RetroPie is comprised of Emulation Station, RetroArch and additional components which sit on top of a linux os (Debian, Raspbian, Ubuntu, etc.) If you are wanting to take an existing laptop/PC and turn it into a Retro Gaming station, you can do it with either. However, IMO Batocera makes it a little easier in some cases since you don't have to install the OS, then download RetroPie, then update the scripts to auto-start RetroPie. When you download/install Batocera, it just boots right into it. However, if you want a Desktop OS (like Rapsbian, Twister OS, etc.) and don't want to dedicate it exclusively to RetroGaming, then RetroPie makes the most sense. Again, just really depends on user-preference and how they want to use it. Hope this helps some. I personally love them both and keep each on their own microSD cards. But then again I make videos and need to bounce between each, so there's that 😃
I Love Batocera It's A Great Emulator On My Laptop
Great video as always.
Thank you RC, I appreciate it!
Great vid! NOW I CAN GET A LAPTOP AND PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you and enjoy!
I have three PCs and one laptop (I use this for school which is why I made sure to buy an expensive one). Only one PC is being used for gaming and heavy tasks while the other one has mid specs so we just use it for our printing works and documents. But the other one is hopeless. I built it with scraps from my uncle's computer shop. He had more than 6 computers but 4 of them were destroyed by rats and mice. Wires have been bitten off, many parts have become unusable. But I've dedicated some time to build a single PC and I've succeeded. The PC is slow though so I can't even run windows 10 because it's slow. I've tried Linux mint on it which runs smoothly, I tried some games and the best it could handle is GTA San Andreas (through Lutris). So instead of turning it into another computer. I want to turn it into something different. Which is why I'm watching this video.
Awesome, depending on the age of the machine the information here should be helpful to you! I honestly didn't think a 14 year old laptop would be usable for much and was pleasantly surprised!
I’ve done this before still run Batocera of the usb if you want without the need to copy it to the hard drive .
Hi Jason, thank you for watching! It depends on the age of the PC. The PC I was using only has USB 2.0 ports and it was really slow trying to run off USB. However, with modern machines USB 3.0 is great. For that reason, made a video here that does exactly that: ruclips.net/video/ufoFmeKjaws/видео.html
Why is batocera directly install and reformat the SSD instead of selecting the partition on the SSD ?
Batocera creates two partitions of it's own and therefore requires the full drive. If that's an issue, you pay prefer this video: ruclips.net/video/ufoFmeKjaws/видео.html
Great show
Glad you enjoyed it, thank you for watching!
I have a old mac mini from 2012 that I could install this to since I barely use it and it is an intel mac but has ubuntu on it for now. Been wanting to make it into a retro gaming mac.
I've never owned a Mac, so I honestly can't say. Since it's an Intel CPU, it very well might. If you give it a shot, let me know how it works out for you!
I was searching for batocera videos and boom my laptop XDD
toshiba satellite p745-s4320 is my laptop. Which version of Batocera Linux should I get?
I would go with the x64 Standard Desktop/Laptop (upper-left) here: batocera.org/download
@@WagnersTechTalk Thank you so much
If someone acquired a Batocera Flash drive plug n play... would I need to turn my laptop off and then connect flash drive and go to boot menu? Or will it automatically load?
how do we get the same games you have? Ive been having problems with downloading games and keep getting virus'
Hi. Awesome video. Love this as I can actually play old games from back in the day (1990's) when my parents couldn't afford game machines. Could there be a follow video in more detail as to what each game platform minimum requirements are. And also where do get the games for various platforms. Id prefer to be able to download a large collection if possible and how do I add other platforms as my install only shows about 8 console platforms. Allot is missing as the list shows almost 90 platforms... thank you.
Glad you enjoyed! Definitely doing more on Batocera in the future. My goal was to demonstrate what it can do and help you get started. There are rom packs that can be downloaded for various emulators, though I don't provide links to those for obvious reasons.
@@WagnersTechTalk Thank you for the reply. And I understand. Keep up the great videos.
Archive.org has tons of roms also. Most are public domain due to their age so no copyright issues to worrie about. The site is a Preservation program for everything digital.
This very cool. I am going to have to try this on an old laptop I have laying around. I do have one question. In the video you mention how the update from 5.26 to 5.27 wouldn't work and you had to downgrade. The latest Batocera is called Batocera 34. I am wondering if this will work on an older laptop (I think it is from around 2010) or if I will have to get the older 5.26 version? Thanks.
I would try the latest version first, your laptop may be new-enough that you won't run into the issue I did. If it doesn't work, at the very bottom of their download page (link batocera.org/download ) see "Batocera.linux for very old PCs (15+ year-old)" and that version should work.
@@WagnersTechTalk How can I install downloaded image? So I don't want it to download latest. Thanks
Can I send you my wonky Samsung? The motherboard is a mess!
Keep up the great work.
lol, man you're too funny! I appreciate it Sir!
9:05 can you change vram and see if your performance increased ?
Thank you for all information and advice i really like about your project and will do same as you do to my oldest i5 laptop 💻 😀 😊 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🤩
You're very welcome, thank you for watching! Just an FYI - I have another guide on Batocera that was created about a month ago if you want to install Batocera to a USB stick and try it out without wiping the internal HDD: wagnerstechtalk.com/pc-batocera
I have 5.26 installed and it is running good, at 6:46 you switch to some sort of network for the share file and that's where you lose me. I'm not sure how to get to there.
If you have a separate computer (Windows PC) and want to see the files on the Batocera machine, if both are connected to your local network you can enter "\\batocera" on the Windows PC to view the share on the Batocera machine. Then, transfer any files (bios/roms) that you want. I have a more recent video that you may find helpful as well (skip over the parts you've already done): ruclips.net/video/ufoFmeKjaws/видео.html
@@WagnersTechTalk Thank you that helped a lot.
Great video! Couple of questions if I may.
1. How does Botacera get the drivers needed for this older hardware. Drivers for the audio, video, network ect ect?
2. Does Botacera keep the older versions of its software available for download so that you don't have to revert back to run these older systems?
Thanks!
Thank you! The drivers are packaged within the installer. Yes, they do keep older versions of their software around, I documented that here sometime ago (well, for one specific version anyways): wagnerstechtalk.com/pcretrogaming/#Revert_to_Batocera_526 . You can also ask on their forums here if you want more details: forum.batocera.org/ Hope this answered your question.
Hi,nice video here.Batocera is really awesome as I see,but I have one question.Where do you find games that Batocera runs, for example ps3?
I have an old laptop that has 4GB of internal storage, if i wanted to put games more than the size of it how can i do it? sorry for dum question
You could add a larger internal drive or possibly use an external USB drive/stick. However, the laptop likely has USB 2.0 ports which means any external drive connected would likely be quite slow.
@@WagnersTechTalk it was an asus eee pc 4G btw
Great Very Nice :D
1- Can i install Batocera in external Hard disk ?
2- How can i insert/ add the roms in external Hard disk ?
3- how i play when i plug that external hard disk on another laptop or pc ?
Thank you Saleh for watching and your kind comment. I would recommend asking your questions to the Batocera forums here: forum.batocera.org . Primarily because in this video I demonstrate how to upgrade an older laptop and install Batocera to the internal hard drive. What you're asking is a bit different than what is shown here and unless I've tested/documented it, could be wrong. Also, be sure to mention the model of PC/laptop you plan to use when posting to the forum. The folks on the forums on Batocera are very kind and helpful.
I got this but can't get it to boot up! went into the bios changed the setting for it, tried every F1-F12 and nothing, and for some reason it shows two hard drives instead of one.
After you installed to the HD, did you remove the USB stick, then boot? What brand+model computer you're using it with?
@@WagnersTechTalk the one I got is on a 2tb hard drive from ebay, all it ever shows is ERROR!
Please note: Screenscraper only allows so many scrapes and then you need to make an account from there website.
Cannot confirm. Sometimes you get a notification, that the API is closed for unregistered users, but that only happens when their server is on the brink of collapse.
Just try again at a different time.
Yeah I got like 50 of them I got them from a computer repair place near me because they were free because they're either they're outdated or not repairable not 50-something laptops in a couple of desktops laying around that I don't even use or touch
With 50 or so machines, you should be able to re-purpose at least a few of them with Batocera. Let me know how it goes, curious to hear what you wind up with!
@@WagnersTechTalk I'm trying to do that right now it's just not letting me install to a new disk from batocera it just keeps freezing at 32%
At the bottom of the Batocera download page, you'll find a link for 'Old Desktop/Laptop with a 32bit CPU'. That might be the one you need to use, depending on the CPU of the machine(s).
My device is 64-bit I know because I did this on an old hard drive that I recently lost and it doesn't freeze up 32% I don't know what to do I'm kind of confused I'm not sure if it's bonasera itself or if it's my Wi-Fi my Wi-Fi is perfectly fine
@@WagnersTechTalk I got it to install on my hard drive apparently I wasn't being a patient enough I didn't know it would take this long I let it run the whole time I was at McDonald's and it's done now is that do is get the BIOS and get some thanks man I really appreciate it
I just installed it in my spare HDD, I would say it's not easy as I think, just use an usual desktop linux like Ubuntu are much easier. In Batocera I need to keep switching between the game menu and the file manager to copy & paste files and do other setup are so annoying.
Batocera is designed as a retro gaming OS, not a typical Desktop environment. If you have a secondary computer, you can also use (in Windows) the UNC path to copy files across the network such as \\batocera or \\[ip address] , go to the share and copy to the \bios or
oms folder as-needed. Then update the game list. btw- recently released a video and detailed guide for Batocera on the Steam Deck, there are many sections on this new guide that are also applicable to running it on a PC, you can find it here: wagnerstechtalk.com/sd-batocera/#Navigating_Batocera
7:49 It's my creation !
You created the artwork for the Batocera logo? That's awesome and excellent job on it!
@@WagnersTechTalk thank you! Batocera is a great collaborate job!
@@d.a.r.y.l639 I agree, it's awesome!
Can i use this with just normal USB?
I'd recommend watching this more recent video for installing to a USB stick: ruclips.net/video/ufoFmeKjaws/видео.html
Can I ask a favor? I tried to install Batocera on my new disk and then an error always pops up saying: "An Error Occured: check the system/log directory". Sorry, I'm really not good computers and stuff. Thank you.
That's not an error I've encountered, you may want to post this question to the Batocera forums here: forum.batocera.org . The developers there are very active and helpful and may have a suggestion.
My laptop doesnt boot into windows anymore
Can you boot a laptop with batocera instead?
Yes, that's exactly what this video shows you how to do.
Great video!
One thing I'm running into is that it will not boot into batocera if it's installed on an internal drive. The only way I can make it work is plugin in a usb tumb drive with batocera on it and unplugging it later. This could be because I have a second internal SSD with windows installed on it. Any thoughts?
You may need to go into the bios on your computer and change the boot order to the internal hard drive that has Batocera installed. I only had a single drive installed and didn't encounter any issue. If changing the boot order doesn't help, you can post a message on the Batocera forums here: forum.batocera.org .
@@WagnersTechTalk hey To do that i needed to enable legacy support inside the bios. Now I dont need a usb to jump start it.
Great news!
thankyou
Very welcome, thank you for watching!
Great tutorial, however you lost me when you copied over the dreamcast bios files.. Where did you get those files from and are they neccesary? Thanks!
Hi Daniel, the BIOS files are needed for Dreamcast. I can't link to roms/bios files, but search the filenames and you'll be able to find them.
Distributing BIOS files and Roms are illegal because of copyright infringement and blahblahblah. It's unenforced and the files are easy to find with a search engine.
How can I do this if I don't have a spare USB/SD card to use and just got the HDD that's in the laptop itself? Help is appreciated
You'll need a spare USB/SD card. There is another option here to boot from the USB stick, however again it requires one: wagnerstechtalk.com/pc-batocera
@@WagnersTechTalk thanks so much for the quick answer ❤
when i install batocera , evrything on disk C os erased ??
Yes, incase you missed it: ruclips.net/video/F1GshnAYrII/видео.html
Did you mention which Batocera to download?
I did at 02:20 . It will depend on your PC/Laptop, if 32-bit then x86 if 64-bit the n x64. Most likely x64, if manufactured in 2004+.
I can’t get the games from PlayStation I put on the drive or the PlayStation console to show on my list
Try pressing Start/Quit and Restart Emulation Station. They should show up then.
No I figured it out, thanks. It’s because I put it on there as a zip file and pax doesn’t support it so I had to extract the .bin and put that on there
Ah, yes correct. Glad you got it!
I'm using a M.2 SATA 2TB on an ASUS H110M-A M.2 board (got the M.2 from a SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD). I removed the M.2 from the SanDisk Portable USB case and inserted it to the ASUS mainboard. It gets recognized as a normal SATA drive but after install to the M.2, any changes will result in a default batocera after reboot... I don't know why. :( please can anyone help me? I just want batocera to save my settings instead of starting from 0 after every reboot...
Not sure about this, after I booted from a USB thumb drive and installed it to the internal HD it would save changes just fine after removing the thumb drive. You may want to ask your question here for a greater chance of a helpful reply: forum.batocera.org
@@WagnersTechTalk I fixed it by myself with try and error.. I changed the storage to ANYEXTERNAL. Maybe the pc thinks it's an external drive (even if it's in the M.2 slot)
@@ExploitEntertainment Great news, thank you for letting me know what fixed it!
@@WagnersTechTalk you're welcome
I got Batocera to load just fine last night, but now it loads and I see the title screen, but then the video is just black. I hear the audio though. What am I doing wrong? Thanks
This is what I had to do, may not be valid anymore: wagnerstechtalk.com/pcretrogaming/#Revert_to_Batocera_526 . Depending on the age of your computer, you may need to install the 32-bit version (x86) at the bottom here: batocera.org/download
I actually deleted and redownloaded Batocera and it worked again. Thank you. I’ll keep this in mind if I run into this problem again
Awesome, great to hear you're up and running!!
@@WagnersTechTalk well, almost. Just trying to figure out how to get some roms on there. I'm trying for MAME roms, but I'm not having luck. I think it's either the wrong file type or I'm just doing something wrong
Perform a search for "archive mame romset", should get you what you're looking for 😉
Any idea why it reduces my thumb drive from 200 gigs to under 7
Batocera creates two partitions, the boot partition (readable by Windows) and a userdata partition (not readable by windows). You can learn more about it here: wiki.batocera.org/batocera.linux_architecture . It is possible to view the userdata partition under Windows using a tool such as Disk Genius. Search my site for more information on that, if needed.
I flash it on my usb but its not bootable. i checked it in the boot sequence but there no usb drive there.
Sorry for my bad english.
Check with the manufacturer+model of your computer and see how to boot off a USB. Different manufacturers use slightly different methods or some may not support it.
Also I’m not very good with computers in general 😱😱😱.....
Do you think with a bit of patience’ and watching your fantastic tutorial “
I can be able to install this amazing program???
In the video description is a link to my web page where I have a little more info. step-by-step. That and this video should help you get Batocera installed. If it's something you're interested in doing, it should help.
Sry to post on an old video.
I have a question in regards to using an old pc 2008 win7.
when flashing hard drive,
Does this affect the drivers for the monitor, graphics card, etc…
Or are these drivers stored in the bios?
No worries, happy to help. When you flash the internal drive with Batocera, it will overwrite everything on the internal drive. As a result, Batocera will install its own Linux drivers for the display, etc. The drivers themselves are separate from the BIOS and installed as part of the underlying Linux OS. I hope this answered your question.
Hello again. I did this with desktop PC and all went well. I subscribed to a "scraper" and have made my installation look very good. Lots of retro games, etc. My biggest problem is with the retro consoles like NES and SNES is the "Start" button. Batocera uses the start button to return to the main menu area, but the game wants the start button to start the game. Do you have a work-around or a favorite controller to get around this problem? Thanks much!
When mapping the buttons, map SELECT as the HotKey. This way, to exit a game it will be SELECT+START typically. There are also other combinations such as SELECT+X to enter RetroArch, etc. Hope that helps Bob!
@@WagnersTechTalk Thanks!
Hey just an idea but this seems like an excellent way to repurpose old iMacs since installing windows can be tricky do you think you could do a video on that upgrading a iMac 2011 to be a gaming beast
Hi Jeffery, I wish I could but I don't own a single Mac at this point. I've always wanted to pick one up and may later this year. Thank you for the excellent suggestion!
@@WagnersTechTalk i suggest keeping a eye towards Goodwill that's where I've found a few , i know that Linux and Mac are both based off Unix and Linux runs on everything 😅🤙 so in theory it should install without much issues
What if u follow the instructions and when u go to restart... nothing happens? Blank screen! Now what?
In that case, you're likely using a computer that's as old or older than mine. See the very bottom-left of this page for the "Old Desktop/Laptop with a 32bit CPU" and instead, use that image: batocera.org/download
Falshing this to a USB Drive it's not working have done it 2 times now on 2 pen drives and it comes up with Flash Failed
Could be an issue with the USB stick, bad/corrupt download or a hardware issue. To eliminate a software issue, give Pi Imager a try (here's how: wagnerstechtalk.com/common/#Burn_an_Image_with_Raspberry_Pi_Imager ). If it still doesn't work there, delete the download and re-download it and try again.
@@WagnersTechTalk ty it workd it is on my usb now
Very helpful video, by chance did you try and zx spectrum games, as i can't seem to get any to run, would a ryzen 3 3200g be the problem they won't run ?
Thank you. I've not tried to install any zx spectrum games on Batocera. All indications on the Batocera wiki indicate it "should" work: batocera.org/compatibility May need to reach out to the Batocera developers on this one. I honestly don't know why it wouldn't run. or if there is some new incompatibility in the latest 5.27 build.
@@WagnersTechTalk Okay, Thank you for your reply and will have a look at the wiki too, thanks
05:35 how did you manage to boot the batocera from an Internal drive? done mine and all I got is no bootable device detected, done everything according to the video, though stuck when installing to internal drives.
After selecting the options to install to the internal drive, it was bootable afterwards. It could be that your computer is x86 and not 64-bit, if that's the case use the image for x86. Search the model number of your machine to determine which platform your machine supports. At the very bottom-left of this page, you'll find a link for "Old Desktop/Laptop with a 32-bit CPU" : batocera.org/download
Thank you for making this tutorial....
I have an old Acer extensa 5630 ,intel centrino .
Can I be able to transform this old laptop in to this amazing retro gaming station ?
Quite possibly, make sure you backup anything on the hard drive that you may to save. Then, give it a shot. Let me know how it works out, I was very impressed with how Batocera performed on mine.
Can I turn my old Dell i3 laptop into a portable Mortal Kombat (mame) machine? Does 2 player work? I only have two Xbox Series X controller (wired via usb)
It may play fine, I don't have the same chipset on any of my machines I also don't have the same controller. However, I've used wired xbox 360 and 8-Bit Do controllers and they work fine. In the controller setup you can designate which one is P1 or P2.
@@WagnersTechTalk ok, thanks :)
I have an old Toshiba Satellite Laptop that has an i5...I bet that would work well for just a retro station. Blu-ray drive isn't working and WiFi card may need replaced. But I have lan cable and after I install what I want I don't need it to be online
It will likely work fine, once Batocera is installed you won't need WiFi and if you want to scrape the artwork you could use the LAN connection. Just make sure there isn't anything on the internal drive you need to save before starting. Hope it goes smoothly and it's a great way to recycle these older/unused machines.
@@WagnersTechTalk there's nothing I need to keep on it. I only really ever used it for school and media,hence,why the Blu-ray drive is not working...over used. LoL. Would you recommend Batocera or Ubuntu?
Got it. Definitely Batocera for retro gaming.
@@WagnersTechTalk would my laptop be good enough to run Ubuntu? I have 2 i5 laptop's
Almost certainly it would be fine. I can run Ubuntu on a Pi4 which is less powerful.
I'm trying to boot my Windows 7 Dell Optiplex GX520 Desktop from Windows 7 to Batocera, but it keeps giving me a floppy diskette seek failure, and it won't let me to boot. Can anyone help me?
If there is a disk in the floppy drive, remove it. If not, power off the PC and then you may want to just pull the IDE cable (grey cable) going to it. Then power back on. Be sure to check the notch in the floppy drive so you now how to plug it back in if you need to.
@@WagnersTechTalk And I also have problems with the utility partition not available error.
@@WagnersTechTalk It also keeps giving me the No Boot Disk.
Is the Batocera fllavor of linux install offering Dual boot?
No, what is shown here will completely erase everything on the drive and replace it with Batocera linux.
mine always says "error system Check log directory", can you help me please?
Not sure what it could be, I did not encounter this error. You may want to ask your question on the Batocera community forums for a faster answer: forum.batocera.org/
Happens to me as well
Make sure you on internet and have nothing in the batocera files.no screenshots no games videos marquees.
what were the last 2 games in video & system please not seen them before?
Sure, last two were Space Invaders on the Virtual Boy (ahead of it's time) and the last one Solar Quest on the Vectrex. Thank you for watching!
How can we play with laptop keyboard
I guess you could remap the keyboard keys in button mapping, if you want. I'd recommend a controller, however. The video on this page goes into the button mapping for a controller (not a keyboard): wagnerstechtalk.com/pc-batocera/
Awesome!
But where does the system get its drivers from for cpu and gpu?
When you install the image for the target platform, they are included in the image.
@@WagnersTechTalk Brilliant, thanks!
Just wanted to give you another huge cred for this video.
I have a 2nd gen Ryzen 3 Lenovo m715q and I bought a SSD hd just for this purpose. I switch between Windows and Batocera with F12 while booting so the workstation function as both emulation machine and legit browsing and youtube viewing device.
For some reason I had a really hard time accessing Batoceras share folder (6:50) on my network via my main PC that uses wire connection (so does Lenovo m715q). I worked this around by finally accessing it through my laptop using wireless connection. Windows 10 for some reason, gives me a really rough time with other device network connection when using cables, but since laptop was wireless, it worked flawlessly. I have no idea how or why, but if it can help someone else, even better. I wasted 4-5 hours on trying to connect Lenovo to my main stationary PC.
my old laptop has a broken screen and i cant get this too out put to external screen
Check with the manufacturer of your laptop (search the model # and manufacturer for the machine), there is usually a Function key and another key (perhaps blue on the keyboard) that can be used to set the laptop to display through an external VGA/HDMI port. Hope that helps get you going!
Hey can you help
I installed batocera, but my transferred game aren't working
Kind of vague here 😃 The game you're trying to run may require BIOS files, did you add them? More info on BIOS files on the Batocera page here: wiki.batocera.org/what_are_bios_and_how_to_add_them
how i can setup a second player, i use Arcade Joystick on a rasspberry pi3 and BATOCERA 5.29 RASPBERRY
Please see this: retropie.org.uk/docs/Controller-Configuration/
@@WagnersTechTalk yeah i setup the 1 Player with no problems, but if i try to setup the 2 Player it doesent work. I read a retro arch tutorial to setup the pads, but Batocera hasent a retor arsch menu. hmmmmmmmmm 😒
Great video but you completely missed the step of how to bring up OPTIONS or Menu on a keyboard not everyone has that controller.
I appreciate your feedback, I'll correct that in future videos. Thank you for watching!
It is just space bar. I literally pressed every single button on my keyboard. I can not fix the resolution and it is extremely annoying. I even tought about using xrandr in terminal. I think it is my ghetto TV. I am going to try a DVI to VGA adapter tried the BIOS and every setting on my TV.
Hi, cool video. I have Batocera installed on an old chrome book. I accidentally changed the video output to edp -1 and it lost the hdmi 1 setting that was there before. Do you know how I can get that setting back so I can play on my tv like before?
I don't have a good answer for you, may want to post your question here for a faster response: forum.batocera.org Sorry, I don't have a Chromebook and can't reproduce the issue.
"Linux because derrrr it just works"
I hate that about any Linux. One odd change to see if something works and you're gonna start sudo'ing in terminal to fix things up.
Hi, By any chance do you know if you can do this with Batocera V39, or does it have to be the version you used in the video ?
It will depend on the age of your computer. If your computer is 20+ years old (32-bit CPU), see the link at the very bottom of this page: batocera.org/download . If it's newer than that, you can use the link at the top of the page for Desktop PC's. If you'd like to install Batocera to a USB Stick to create a portable version, see this page: wagnerstechtalk.com/pc-batocera . Hope that helps!
@@WagnersTechTalk I installed that and it's pretty clunky, so I'm going to see about installing the same version you used and see if that works better. the system I have is a Acer Aspire 5517 with a AMD Athlon 64 x2 TK-42 1.6 GHz, 3GB of memory, and a 320GB HD.
I been trying this on my old dell vostro 200 but first the etcher wouldn’t load, just a blank white screen and then I got Rufus and that worked to get batocera into the usb. However after running it I only got a weird grainy picture of the batocera loading screen and then screen goes black with a little curser on top left. I’ve tried to reinstall and redo the process but no dice. Not sure what I could be doin wrong. If anyone could help that would be great, thanks.
You could possibly try this older version of Batocera: wagnerstechtalk.com/pcretrogaming/#Revert_to_Batocera_526 by connecting an Ethernet cable to your Dell (running the version of Batocera that you have now, with the cursor in the upper-left). The network is actually most likely working just fine even though it isn't fully booted into Batocera. Then, remote connect from another computer using PuTTy and run the command on that page (this is what I had to do on my old laptop). It will down-grade the version of Batocera to a version that may work. If that doesn't work, I'd recommend posting your question to the Batocera forums here: forum.batocera.org/ Lots of helpful folks there that may give you better recommendations on things to try. Hope to hear you get it all up and running soon!
Where do you get the game files? This is the second video that I have watched that has previously downloaded game files that are not shown in the video.
There is very good reason why you won't see many videos that discuss this or show you where to find them. Please see this as an introduction: wagnerstechtalk.com/emulegal
just get uncompressing error when i try to boot from usb stick
Try re-downloading/re-flashing, sounds like something might have gotten corrupted.
@@WagnersTechTalk yeah, but using another USB connecter on laptop makes me more bewildered because it says something about 32 Bit system outside of kernel...reflashing with Rufus also didnt help. .. Guess i try another ISO tomorrow. Thanks for replying!
Ok, now maybe we've got a clue here. Sounds like the PC/Laptop you're using may be a 32-bit (x86) platform and perhaps you're trying to install the x64 (64-bit version) of Batocera? First, find out what kind of CPU you have in the laptop/PC (x86/x64). Then, make sure you download the correct version from this page: batocera.org/download (x86 is at the very bottom for old computers). Hopefully this will help!
@@WagnersTechTalk I have an i686 based cpu which should be fine with 86x based operating systems. I had already installed linux 32-bit on this computer. I doublechecked to be sure its the 86x batocera.iso and get the same error. "uncompressing data ...system halted" and on another usb connector "32 bit relocation outside of kernel ... system halted" its weird.
Rats, hoping that had something to do with it. I'm unfamiliar with this error, may want to post it to the Batocera forums here: forum.batocera.org . I'm sure someone will have an answer for you, sorry I wasn't much help.
I was under the impression that batocera could be used as a live disc without installing it to a hardrive?
It can, but this video is more about repurposing an old laptop. Many of which have USB 2.0 ports and a live disc would be slow. I've been thinking of creating a similar video about what you suggest.
@@WagnersTechTalk
Looking forward to your video
how can I clone a batocerra build?
Hi Henry, check out my guide here: wagnerstechtalk.com/common This should help in how to clone a drive.
can bacotera run and be used from a flash drive .. instead of loading it on a PC
I installed it to an internal hard drive in this video, pretty sure you could use it from a flash drive but will be slower. I'm less experienced with booting from a flash drive (wasn't necessary in my case other than the initial install), any questions on that I'd recommend posting here: forum.batocera.org
Hi, good video it explains a lot, but I really do not like how you HAVE to log into Batocera's website in-order to install there program onto your computer, or the fact you need a network in-order to install rom's or bios's!
Thank you and for watching! There are other ways that you can copy games/bios files, more here: wiki.batocera.org/add_games
Wait... Does Batocera run games slower when it runs off of the USB drive? Reason I'm asking is because I'm running it on a 6 year old laptop (with no hard drive), and for some reason it can't even run playstation games at full speed, and I remember it running fine when it had Windows.
Edit: After installing the latest update, it runs Crash Bandicoot 1 at full speed, and it fixed the screen tearing on Mario 64, but that's it.
I ran Batocera off the laptop's internal hard drive and it ran very well. Booting from a USB stick will of course be slower, if it's a USB 2.0 port. N64 and PS1 played rather well on my 14 year old laptop. Your newer laptop should see even better performance.
@@WagnersTechTalk the thing has no USB 2.0 port. Just USB 3.0. I plugged the thing into every USB port it has and it ran the exact same. So should I just try installing it on an SSD?
You can ask the question here: forum.batocera.org/ But if I had an available SSD, yes I'd give it a try. As mentioned, it ran just fine off the internal HD.
@@WagnersTechTalk ah ok.
@@WagnersTechTalk Me again. I installed Batocera an SSD, and now it can run GameCube at full speed. Appreciate your help!
Thanks for the tutorial. Everything went fine, but it asked to configure the controllers even though it wasn''t supposed to, and the shoulder buttons don't seem to work. The rest works fine after being configured, though. Any idea of what it could be?
Glad the video was helpful to you! For issues that are specific to a particular piece of hardware, probably best to post a question on the Batocera forum here: forum.batocera.org . I didn't have any button mapping issues myself so I probably wouldn't be able to re-create it. What model controller had a problem?