Just bought this about a year ago, it's been sitting in it's box waiting for me to finally get around to setting it up. The 2tb hd is installed and I just need to follow this guide. Thank you for making such a guide!
Love your videos Russ, wish I had your gaming brain for about 3 hours! Man I would create the baddest gaming PC! Again thanks for all you do man you're very appreciative in the community!!!
I won't stop till you see this lol. If your lights are warm, set the camera's WB to 3200 and if you're lights are closer to daylight/outside light; 5600 for you WB. NO MORE AWB, YOU'RE A PROFESSIONAL RUclipsR NOW!!! Love your content as always :)
Amazing! I love the whole setup process I know many don't but I love the whole process of building something from scratch to making it functional it's satisfying. Hope the weekend is going well for you mate.
I am STILL on the lookout for that storage case they use for the Super Console X mini pc they had EVERYTHING sold independently except that! Great video as always one of the BEST RUclips channels to feature mini pcs and Batocera,etc
Thank you for this video. Really informative. And it helped with the audio issue on my batocera PC. Now to just figure out why I have no internet connection hahaha. Good work and please never stop!
I like tinkering stuff so id go this route, I’ve been hooked in retro games because of watching you Etaprime and taki udon. Please Keep making these videos.
After your review of the Super Console X Mini PC, I seriously considered it. Then I opted instead to try putting Batocera on a 2TB external USB drive and booting into that on my Lenovo Flex 5 laptop. I had trouble getting it to even recognize my 8BitDo controller. I tried to access the main menu to see if I could map the buttons, but I had no idea how to access the menu with my keyboard (discovered later it's the spacebar). Finally I plugged it in via USB and got it recognized and mapped and finally configured it wireless. Some of the game systems didn't look good to me, so I've been tinkering with the RetroArch settings to get them to look better, with some results working better than others. I've found PS1 games in particular to look like garbage. PSP has been the best for me, because they look incredible on the screen and mostly perform much better than my Anbernic handhelds. N64 runs some games that don't even run on the Pi4 (I have one of those as well). I may do a dual comparison of the video setting in RetroArch on my Pi4 to see if I can get SNES, PS1, etc. to look better. I can't remember what I did, but Genesis looked bad until I did *something*. :) Thanks for the inspiration, and I'd love a video on getting the best settings (similar to what you did for the RG351P).
Try different cores for the ps1, I'm happy how duck station looks. Also, try running scan line filters. It can really change the picture a lot. Personally, I was surprised when I first tried this.
*Thanks for your detailed video.* I'm a graphic designer (so I use computers a lot), but when it comes to computer handling and manipulations (installing a brand new OS, etc), I get overwhelmed pretty quickly and generally don't feel confident enough. I'll watch your video again and will probably try to buy a brand new PC and install Batocera on it.
Yes, and some J3455 models are also using cheap and slow DDR3 RAM in them, and the vendors aren't always telling. Some models (like the one used in this video) have faster DDR4, and I assume this has a huge impact on performance, as I had one of those DDR3 J3455 and DC games weren't even playable on it, and even PS1 was "barely ok". Forget N64 or GC. Anyone considering one of these mini PCs should spend just a little more and get a J4125. I think all J4125 use DDR4 too, on top of having a better CPU/GPU. So just get a J4125 folks.
I just bought a mini pc a little bit more powerful than this. Can play xbox and ps2 perfectly fine. Just waiting for the delivery. I'm hoping this video will help me install batocera and everything else I need. Great video thank you.
Also a note, some PCs have a boot menu key, when you press it it does not go to bios just shows the boot options, and you can choose different boot device for this one boot time. Next time the default one will boot again.
The deeper I go into retro emulation the more I realize it's the PS2 specifically that I want to play the most. Just no clue what is the "best" "affordable" "smallest" option to get PCSX2 running smoothly with some upscaling.
@@octorox_animation if you mean like an actual ps2, thats not my goal. No HDMi output and your stuck with 480i no upscaling. Looking for something that lets me run it via HDMI with 2k or 4k resolution upscaling. Similar to PPSSPP does for PSP games.
@@BrianMills198686 i think thats why Keith said the real hardware might be cheaper. Upscalers that output hdmi are not terribly expensive. Now if you mean you want a device to also render at a higher resolution (meaning not just blow up the image but also improve detail), then thats going to require a decently powerful computer. Nothing too crazy, but probably not this type of sbc stuff you see on Aliexpress either.
I've recently ordered a barebones version of the Minisforum UM680 Slim Mini PC, and I'm currently waiting for it to arrive. After I install my own RAM and SSD, which I've already ordered ahead for my Mini PC's arrival, I'm going to be dual-booting Batocera and CachyOS. In other words, Batocera will be my go-to Linux distro for emulating my favorite PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games, and CachyOS will be my go-to distro for Web browsing, audio and video editing, retro PC gaming, and other daily tasks. I’ve already installed Batocera Linux on my 1TB NVME SSD via a USB-C NVME SSD enclosure kit. There’s still a matter of installing said SSD in my new Mini PC, along with my 2TB SSD, which will have CachyOS installed on it.
Nice vid 👍 I was originally going to get android box but in the end went the pre owned Lenovo Tiny PC route and never looked back. Didnt want to spend a great deal either so its good value too. I just wanted a 'console' to run the systems that my PS Classic and the android boxes struggle with,namely N64,Dreamcast, PSP and so the Lenovo does that great..and these can also be upscaled and still run great. The bonus part is I now can also play Saturn as well and even a lot of gamecube, and many PS2 and some xbox and Wii even. Thats just a bonus. I specifically bought the Lenovo for this, as a retro emulation console. I did plan to have it all installed on the internal HDD but thought it handy to keep windows on it should I ever need a spare PC. (Which did come in handy once when I needed it) And so I now boot Batocera off a flash drive and have the roms on an attached portable HDD. Works very well. I know youve mentioned this in a previous vid but incase anyone missed it, checkout Batocera Nation yt channel, he has many tutorials on Batocera for PC.
I would definately consider this option, the big plus side is its portability, plus if you're using it on a big tv in your livingroom, you don't want a big clunky pc taking up all the space, a mini pc you can hide.
The BIOS on this one is wonky. Pressing F12 will show "checking media presence" a couple times and then boot into the primary partition anyway. I think there's something up with its configuration, because theoretically I should have been able to boot into the SD card or the USB drive too. Either way, this setup I showed is the only method that works with this Geek+ PC, which is a bummer.
You can pick up a Dell / Lenovo / HP mini business PC - slightly larger, but an i5 rather than a J chip for less than that. Admittedly it would be a used PC rather than a new one - but it would generally be better built (built for business use rather than home use), and faster as well as cheaper. i.e. I picked up a Dell 3050 micro with an i5-7500t last year for £112 (delivered) on Ebay - with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD (2.5" SATA one oddly - rather than NVMe), but if I add an old NVMe drive (I upgraded the one in my main PC), I can use one for Windows and one for Batocera - and both would be SSDs.
Yeah, those little older T model Tiny PC's are awesome little machines. Whether it be the Lenovo, HP or Dell ones. Yeah they might be used but if you are using them for retro machines with Batocera I think they are well worth it for the price. Even as a PC as long as they are in decent condition. I actually started with a Lenovo M73 i5 4570T 2.9ghz 2 cores 4 threads. For Batocera only and was. great for the price. Then I bought a HP800 G2 i7 6700T 2.8ghz 4 cores 8 threads. Again for Batocera only, nice bump in performance. Run a reg 2TB HDD with Batocera running internally off that. And I actually use the older Lenovo i5 as my main PC now, still plenty for what I use it for,I just put in a 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD, installed Windows and all good.
Brilliant stuff as per usual Russ, I was gonna rebuild my pc and have an emulator running through it. Decided against that and have just got a chrombook. Runs dreamcast like a dream, as well as N64 and psp. Everything else works fine so far.
Thanks for the video! I have a Steam Link box in my desk drawer and was wondering if Batocera could be installed onto that? I understand that the Steam Link is running a modified Linux.
This is soooo cool. Just wow. It was always in my peripheral that I could do something like this, but your videos explain so well, it just blows peoples minds what is really available nowadays. I have a Teclast F5 that would be perfect for this kind of tinkering around. Love your videos. Also...please consider following up your usb game drive, mini pc game setup idea with a super cheap Chinese ultraportable laptop. Having a portable screen and battery with this idea, seems like the next level of 'holy sh*t that's cool'. Again not regular laptop, something very light and cheap, maaaaybe as heavy as a Teclast F7, both of them around 260 USD. Edit - Crap. Doesn't work. Teclast budget ultraportables don't allow USB boot from the bios. It could have been sweet :(
If you're comfortable setting it up yourself, I would grab the HK1 box for about $50. It'll play those systems with plenty of headroom for other stuff too. I have a video on it! If you're looking for a pre-loaded setup, then the Super Console X Cube might be a good choice (I also have a video on that one!).
PS1 and Sega CD runs well on a 4k firestick. Most likely you have one and can use it until you buy your real retro device. I successfully ran marvel vs Capcom 2 on a firestick. Didn't think it was possible but it is. A bit of tweaking playing with RetroArch settings to get the full 60fps. PS1 and Sega CD is no problem with 60fps on a firestick. Emulation up to Dreamcast is the limit on a firestick. The core I use to play mvc2 in RetroArch is Flycast emulator.
Great video as always. I however would prefer a portable USB option as it's easier to manage the windows side and just plug in the usb when opting to game My rig is pretty beefy so I'm sure it can manage all the way up to PS3
Your videos are wonderfully informative and I'm actually thinking about buying one of these sometime in the future. Just a few questions 1.) Can you hook this up to your flash screen HD TV? 2.) If so, can you just simply plug and play with a controller or do you need to do a comprehensive setup before starting?
Super clear and helpful DIY guide! I really like the idea of building my own retro gaming station. BTW: What kind of screwdriver set are using in the video to open the cube? It looks super organized, i love it! :)
Hi Russ, do you have NAS? if yes, can you guide us on how to setup the connection between device and NAS in batocera? i just cant get it work, i am using Synology NAS DSM, if this can be set up, i can just get my rom and saves file using any device with batocera system within my wifi coverage area.
ALoha ! Howz it! I love your channel and all your cook books!!! I have a quick question about the mini pc bundle.... there has been so issues in trying to upgrade batocera on the MINI PC bundle . When trying to upgrade BATOCERA it gives me the error "boot drive is full" Ive tried to read and search on the topic there is a video in french but honestly you are the best at explaining how to fix things. IT would be wonderful if you could walk me through it or make a video on this issue hence it seems is a new issue with batocera 31. Im here in oahu and wish you best with the rest of your uploads. Hope you can help those of us who needs help with this issue. MAHALO!
I've been really enjoying your clips, and I'm just getting to the point of modding my arcade1up cabs. I like the idea of a MiniPC set up, that boots directly to the gaming OS so its pretty transparent. Do you have a follow up clip to this one where you actually hook that MiniPC up to the Arcade1up controls and such? Thats the step that confuses/worries me. Thanks again for providing so much good information, your channel is a great resource.
I'm doing this exact process with a brand new mini PC (Intel, J4125) and an internal 320GB SATA 2.5 that I flashed Batocera too. When I load up, I get audio out of the mini PC's audio connection, but no video after the splash screen. Almost seems like it's defaulting to something other than HDMI or VGA video outs, which are the only things the MINI PC has....
if your having trouble booting from the batocera installation usb, make sure UEFI boot option is enabled in BIOS (mine was in advanced tab). I made this mistake myself!
With passive cooling, it might be better to use ssd drive to reduce heat. This is pretty much what I did recently, I bought a usff PC on ebay used for about $30 and upgraded ram and cpu from parts I had laying around and loaded up batocera. Works great and it can play just about everything I want to play on it, including ps2 and Dreamcast. Fantastic little machine and now I can pack away majority of my consoles.
My Samsung T5 SSD is actually hotter than my other portable HDDs, not sure is it because Samsung uses the external metal casing for heat dissipation. So, yeah, SSDs may not be cooler than HDDs, it all depends on the manufacturers' designs..
@@acejon2162 or to cut their cost, a heat sink with thermal paste at the very least. 90degrees is simply too high to work with. On another hand it's not meant for gaming so...
Great video! I’m interested in taking apart the tape cassette looking hard drive and installing it into this PC. At the 4 min 30 sec mark you say “and you can hook it up with this connector.” Could you provide a link to what kind of connector that is? Thanks!
I personally like having stuff on windows, I find myself gaming more when it's just a few clicks away from what I'm already doing, I can keep podcasts running etc., but the presentation is awesome here, and easily beats my messy windows folders. I wonder, is there maybe a compromise? For one, I could make a folder with just shortcuts so there's no layers of folders to go through or save files cluttering the games folder, but before I do that, there might be something even better. It's okay for now as I'm busy with just a handful of GBA games, I right-click the emulator taskbar icon and the drop-down shows my games, but this won't hold up. (Cheap power-efficient laptop for low reqs, bulky tower otherwise)
Very nice, thinking of building a mini console but waiting for a RDNA 2 APU so you can do PS3 no probs, till then my 351V and big PC is more than enough.
You can get better hardware, if you don't mind going used. I just bought a Lenovo M73 mini pc for $200. You can usually get one with R5 2400ge 8gb ram, and 256gb ssd for $200-$275. Runs gamecube games at 1080p without much issue. In my experience Batocera/Lakka is hit or miss, setting up gamecube or non-standard controllers is not always easy. You also seem to have less settings overall. Dolphin on PC/Linux has more features. At some point, I realized I'd rather set up my own emulators and make sure everything works.
I've been a fan of your channel for a while now and have even started my retro gaming adventure because of your channel. I've been looking for a way to play games on PC and after seeing this video, I have my hopes up! Just wondering though, if I use a mini PC, am I able to 1. Still play Steam games other than retro games through Batocera and 2. Still use it as a PC, using programs and apps such as Adobe, Docs, and such? Thanks!
Awesome video, thanks for that ! Do you know what would be the PS2 / Gamecube games performance using the same emulation process on an Batocera Mini PC ? Would that be good/playable ?
I wanna try the usb/hard drive thing but my laptop can't even play dress up games without screaming at me and running hot. So I'm scared to try it on there.
Hello how are you,it been 2 weeks now I'm trying to flash batocera on sd card but no success,I have tried on 4 different PCs 1 desktop 3 laptop but no success Everytime balenaEtcher says failed any help,I have with 32gb,64gb,128, and 256 gb but nothing
So he can boot into Batocera from that instead, and all games would be on that hdd as well then. That way he can leave the included M.2 drive storage with windows on as is, incase he ever wants to boot from that instead and use it as a regular PC. He tried booting Batocera from a flash drive but it wouldnt boot from there for some reason.
I’m stuck at the balenaetcher part… it’s not detecting my ssd drive. Windows detects it, it has a drive letter, I can use it, but balena can’t see it… I’ve tried messing around with bios settings but nothing is working… I have a beelink sei8 i5
An update for anyone struggling with flashing the 2nd drive… Look up ETA prime‘s video about installing Batocera onto a hard drive… make a USB flash drive of Batocera, plug it into the computer with the spare hard drive, access settings menu of Batocera and download Batocera to new drive.
Thank you for your video. It is helpful. So now my question will be when it comes to buying a mini pc to run batocera, how powerful does it need to be to run emulators? I guess that anything can run 16-bit systems. But what if someone wishes to run flawlessly PS1, Saturn, N64? What if someone wishes to run Naomi, Dreamcast, GameCube and PS2? Could you recommend some specs for each console?
I have tried setting up Batocera on my MSi Cubi 5 via. USB hard drive, but it keeps failing to boot up the OS, as I get an error message every single time when booting directly, or a blank screen after doing it manually. Is this possibly because of an issue with my 5TB external hard drive I'm trying to install it on?
I noticed with the latest batocera that it limits ya drive to 6gb and won’t expand as I know that’s fat32 limit could you do a video on expanding the size of either usb or ssd thank you again !
The boot partition is in fat32 and is reserved at 6GB. Once you boot Batocera for first time it will create the folder structure and expand the rest of your storage as the share partition, this is for your roms, theme etc. Its automatically formatted to ext4 by default so windows will not see that ext4 partition.
Russ, I have an old raspberry pi I got about 7 years ago. I tried to install Batocera into it, and it works, but there are a few hiccups. Maybe you can look into making a guide on installing these standalone frontend emulators into the weakest machine you can find? Just for the kicks.
Why can’t there be hardware switches on PC that let us boot straight into whichever system we want? 1st power button for the first preference. 2nd power button for second pref. and so on.
Is CPU under that yellow gum-like thing? I don't see any passive, either. That will make a cooling upgrade a wee more difficult. It will probably involve drilling a holes on a top plate in order to fit a passive cooler and fan somehow.
hey man, good vid! Taking this chance to ask something a bit offtopic: been considering getting the Razer Kishi for emulators on my phone as well as some Android games. I saw you got one and said you were gonna make a review of it but you didn't post one yet. Could you recommend it? I don't mind the size of it personally, but would like an opinion from another retro gamer, thanks!
Hi, so I ended up not doing a review because I really didn't care for it, and I don't like doing negative reviews like that. So I ended up focusing on the controllers I liked (like the GameSir) and then I gave the Kishi away in my last big giveaway. I think a lot of people like it, and if you don't mind the bulk I think it should be fine!
@@RetroGameCorps amazing, thanks for the heads up! Ended up getting it after reading some other reviews and will be here soon. One last thing, did you have any issues using it on emulators like ReDream, PPSSPP, M64 or Dolphin? Read some users had issues with the DPAD but a firmware update fixed it, so just making sure. Need to speedrun SA2 on the go, lmao
Hi I have a question if you can please answer, if i only want to use the mini as a dedicated batocera console and I dont care about using or having windows, what would be the best way to set it up? I would like for it to just always boot on to batocera and again dont care about windows. I would have the games on an SD card saved so i could transfer them over but can you please explain the process
Can someone please help??!! I have a Kin Hank 2tb Batocera drive and a Kamrui Mini Pc. This MiniPc has onboard Bluetooth which doesn’t seem to be available in Version 33 or Batocera 35. I’ve tried Bluetooth dongles from the compatible list but they also don’t work. I’ve hit the “pair Bluetooth device button” and nothing happens. Something faint appears next to the Wi-Fi signal at the top right of the screen but quickly disappears.. I’ve also tried XTerminal to enable Bluetooth commands and nothing works. This is driving my friend and I crazy the past 2 weeks. Controllers: Gulikit King Kong pro Power A Bluetooth Controller
Can windows still read the drive that has Batocera on it? Mainly, can I access the roms I put into Batocera from windows for the emulators that run on Windows or do I need to have 2 copies of the roms?
Just bought this about a year ago, it's been sitting in it's box waiting for me to finally get around to setting it up. The 2tb hd is installed and I just need to follow this guide. Thank you for making such a guide!
Love your videos Russ, wish I had your gaming brain for about 3 hours! Man I would create the baddest gaming PC! Again thanks for all you do man you're very appreciative in the community!!!
I love these mini PCs, I introduced my boss to them a while back and he's stoked as hell "you can put em up for everything!"
I won't stop till you see this lol. If your lights are warm, set the camera's WB to 3200 and if you're lights are closer to daylight/outside light; 5600 for you WB. NO MORE AWB, YOU'RE A PROFESSIONAL RUclipsR NOW!!! Love your content as always :)
Haha, I get you man, but I use an iPhone for my video. No WB settings :(
@@RetroGameCorps for $8 you can get the app REC from the same guys who made Camera+. It has manual focus, white balance, shutter speed, etc.
Amazing! I love the whole setup process I know many don't but I love the whole process of building something from scratch to making it functional it's satisfying. Hope the weekend is going well for you mate.
I am STILL on the lookout for that storage case they use for the Super Console X mini pc they had EVERYTHING sold independently except that! Great video as always one of the BEST RUclips channels to feature mini pcs and Batocera,etc
I'm a bit late but you can buy that HDD loaded with games on Amazon for around 130$
Thank you for this video. Really informative. And it helped with the audio issue on my batocera PC. Now to just figure out why I have no internet connection hahaha. Good work and please never stop!
Excally on the same page as you, thank god im not alone
This one is cool too. You have a gift for setting things up and explaining the nuances of each device. Outstanding as usual !
I like tinkering stuff so id go this route, I’ve been hooked in retro games because of watching you Etaprime and taki udon. Please Keep making these videos.
After your review of the Super Console X Mini PC, I seriously considered it. Then I opted instead to try putting Batocera on a 2TB external USB drive and booting into that on my Lenovo Flex 5 laptop. I had trouble getting it to even recognize my 8BitDo controller. I tried to access the main menu to see if I could map the buttons, but I had no idea how to access the menu with my keyboard (discovered later it's the spacebar). Finally I plugged it in via USB and got it recognized and mapped and finally configured it wireless. Some of the game systems didn't look good to me, so I've been tinkering with the RetroArch settings to get them to look better, with some results working better than others. I've found PS1 games in particular to look like garbage. PSP has been the best for me, because they look incredible on the screen and mostly perform much better than my Anbernic handhelds. N64 runs some games that don't even run on the Pi4 (I have one of those as well). I may do a dual comparison of the video setting in RetroArch on my Pi4 to see if I can get SNES, PS1, etc. to look better. I can't remember what I did, but Genesis looked bad until I did *something*. :) Thanks for the inspiration, and I'd love a video on getting the best settings (similar to what you did for the RG351P).
Try different cores for the ps1, I'm happy how duck station looks. Also, try running scan line filters. It can really change the picture a lot. Personally, I was surprised when I first tried this.
*Thanks for your detailed video.*
I'm a graphic designer (so I use computers a lot), but when it comes to computer handling and manipulations (installing a brand new OS, etc), I get overwhelmed pretty quickly and generally don't feel confident enough. I'll watch your video again and will probably try to buy a brand new PC and install Batocera on it.
One thing to note. You should have sprung for the J4125 variant rather than the J3455 variant. Those have more oomph for the same power draw.
Yes, and some J3455 models are also using cheap and slow DDR3 RAM in them, and the vendors aren't always telling. Some models (like the one used in this video) have faster DDR4, and I assume this has a huge impact on performance, as I had one of those DDR3 J3455 and DC games weren't even playable on it, and even PS1 was "barely ok". Forget N64 or GC. Anyone considering one of these mini PCs should spend just a little more and get a J4125. I think all J4125 use DDR4 too, on top of having a better CPU/GPU. So just get a J4125 folks.
I just bought a mini pc a little bit more powerful than this. Can play xbox and ps2 perfectly fine. Just waiting for the delivery.
I'm hoping this video will help me install batocera and everything else I need. Great video thank you.
Also a note, some PCs have a boot menu key, when you press it it does not go to bios just shows the boot options, and you can choose different boot device for this one boot time. Next time the default one will boot again.
The deeper I go into retro emulation the more I realize it's the PS2 specifically that I want to play the most. Just no clue what is the "best" "affordable" "smallest" option to get PCSX2 running smoothly with some upscaling.
Honestly the cheapest option is probably real hardware.
@@octorox_animation if you mean like an actual ps2, thats not my goal. No HDMi output and your stuck with 480i no upscaling. Looking for something that lets me run it via HDMI with 2k or 4k resolution upscaling. Similar to PPSSPP does for PSP games.
@@BrianMills198686 I would check out the Minis Forum catalog, they have the best selection at those higher performance rates, with a lot of variety.
@@BrianMills198686 i think thats why Keith said the real hardware might be cheaper. Upscalers that output hdmi are not terribly expensive. Now if you mean you want a device to also render at a higher resolution (meaning not just blow up the image but also improve detail), then thats going to require a decently powerful computer. Nothing too crazy, but probably not this type of sbc stuff you see on Aliexpress either.
@@Muffin_Stuffin
FFXII is on Steam now if you have a PC, grab it when a sale is on for a few quid/bucks
I would love to see you build a bartop arcade machine 💜
Thank you for showing us the optimized way to go about this man! Awesome stuff
I've recently ordered a barebones version of the Minisforum UM680 Slim Mini PC, and I'm currently waiting for it to arrive. After I install my own RAM and SSD, which I've already ordered ahead for my Mini PC's arrival, I'm going to be dual-booting Batocera and CachyOS. In other words, Batocera will be my go-to Linux distro for emulating my favorite PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games, and CachyOS will be my go-to distro for Web browsing, audio and video editing, retro PC gaming, and other daily tasks. I’ve already installed Batocera Linux on my 1TB NVME SSD via a USB-C NVME SSD enclosure kit. There’s still a matter of installing said SSD in my new Mini PC, along with my 2TB SSD, which will have CachyOS installed on it.
Nice vid 👍
I was originally going to get android box but in the end went the pre owned Lenovo Tiny PC route and never looked back. Didnt want to spend a great deal either so its good value too.
I just wanted a 'console' to run the systems that my PS Classic and the android boxes struggle with,namely N64,Dreamcast, PSP and so the Lenovo does that great..and these can also be upscaled and still run great. The bonus part is I now can also play Saturn as well and even a lot of gamecube, and many PS2 and some xbox and Wii even. Thats just a bonus.
I specifically bought the Lenovo for this, as a retro emulation console.
I did plan to have it all installed on the internal HDD but thought it handy to keep windows on it should I ever need a spare PC. (Which did come in handy once when I needed it)
And so I now boot Batocera off a flash drive and have the roms on an attached portable HDD.
Works very well.
I know youve mentioned this in a previous vid but incase anyone missed it, checkout Batocera Nation yt channel, he has many tutorials on Batocera for PC.
Any recommendations on specs for a Lenovo tiny PC?
It's a pleasure to watch! As aways, one more great video!
Cool tutorial! Thank's man! By the way, hello from Poland!!!!!!!
For more demanding systems like Saturn, try using European roms and isos. They'll probably run at full speed then.
I would definately consider this option, the big plus side is its portability, plus if you're using it on a big tv in your livingroom, you don't want a big clunky pc taking up all the space, a mini pc you can hide.
Can you use F12 to select which boot option you want to use from the available sources? Might be faster than switch WBM around in bios
The BIOS on this one is wonky. Pressing F12 will show "checking media presence" a couple times and then boot into the primary partition anyway. I think there's something up with its configuration, because theoretically I should have been able to boot into the SD card or the USB drive too. Either way, this setup I showed is the only method that works with this Geek+ PC, which is a bummer.
You can pick up a Dell / Lenovo / HP mini business PC - slightly larger, but an i5 rather than a J chip for less than that.
Admittedly it would be a used PC rather than a new one - but it would generally be better built (built for business use rather than home use), and faster as well as cheaper.
i.e. I picked up a Dell 3050 micro with an i5-7500t last year for £112 (delivered) on Ebay - with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD (2.5" SATA one oddly - rather than NVMe), but if I add an old NVMe drive (I upgraded the one in my main PC), I can use one for Windows and one for Batocera - and both would be SSDs.
Yeah, those little older T model Tiny PC's are awesome little machines.
Whether it be the Lenovo, HP or Dell ones.
Yeah they might be used but if you are using them for retro machines with Batocera I think they are well worth it for the price. Even as a PC as long as they are in decent condition.
I actually started with a Lenovo M73 i5 4570T 2.9ghz 2 cores 4 threads.
For Batocera only and was. great for the price.
Then I bought a HP800 G2 i7 6700T 2.8ghz 4 cores 8 threads.
Again for Batocera only, nice bump in performance. Run a reg 2TB HDD with Batocera running internally off that.
And I actually use the older Lenovo i5 as my main PC now, still plenty for what I use it for,I just put in a 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD, installed Windows and all good.
Brilliant stuff as per usual Russ, I was gonna rebuild my pc and have an emulator running through it. Decided against that and have just got a chrombook. Runs dreamcast like a dream, as well as N64 and psp. Everything else works fine so far.
Very nice! I have an old Chromebook that I've been meaning to tinker with.
Give it a go, I'm sure it would make for an excellent video.
I just got a Alienware Alpha R1 set up for $180 and loving the performance on Batocera.
Batocera is definitely getting good. Redream for Dreamcast is a big bump now.
I'm floored sir! 🤯
What is the name of the connector for the ssd at 4:39 ??? I want to by one
I know you've said that you will make a review on the gpd xd+, but im so excited about that one
What video card do you recommend to run yuzu on a batocera setup? Cheap to mid
Thanks for the video! I have a Steam Link box in my desk drawer and was wondering if Batocera could be installed onto that? I understand that the Steam Link is running a modified Linux.
This is soooo cool. Just wow. It was always in my peripheral that I could do something like this, but your videos explain so well, it just blows peoples minds what is really available nowadays. I have a Teclast F5 that would be perfect for this kind of tinkering around. Love your videos. Also...please consider following up your usb game drive, mini pc game setup idea with a super cheap Chinese ultraportable laptop. Having a portable screen and battery with this idea, seems like the next level of 'holy sh*t that's cool'. Again not regular laptop, something very light and cheap, maaaaybe as heavy as a Teclast F7, both of them around 260 USD.
Edit - Crap. Doesn't work. Teclast budget ultraportables don't allow USB boot from the bios. It could have been sweet :(
Very cool. Thanks for demonstrating and creating this video :-)
what if you are using a wireless keyboard. How would you get into system settings on Batocera.(10:11)
great video. I will just keep using my firestick
What's the best ps1 retro console or sega cd in your opinion? Looking to play Lunar the Silver Star again, had a hankering recently.
rpi4 handles both those consoles just about perfectly.
If you're comfortable setting it up yourself, I would grab the HK1 box for about $50. It'll play those systems with plenty of headroom for other stuff too. I have a video on it! If you're looking for a pre-loaded setup, then the Super Console X Cube might be a good choice (I also have a video on that one!).
PS1 and Sega CD runs well on a 4k firestick. Most likely you have one and can use it until you buy your real retro device. I successfully ran marvel vs Capcom 2 on a firestick. Didn't think it was possible but it is. A bit of tweaking playing with RetroArch settings to get the full 60fps. PS1 and Sega CD is no problem with 60fps on a firestick. Emulation up to Dreamcast is the limit on a firestick. The core I use to play mvc2 in RetroArch is Flycast emulator.
I order just the hdd drive and controller like a week ago. I will hook it up to my PC once I receive it in the mail ..cool video btw 😎👍🏽
Hope you enjoy it!
Thanks for the t shirt homie!
And how do we find these magical roms? I've tried a few places and after a very long boring DL they don't work!
I have to build a batocera setup next with a good mini pc. Just need to understand what is a good CPU or apu to start with.
Great video as always.
I however would prefer a portable USB option as it's easier to manage the windows side and just plug in the usb when opting to game
My rig is pretty beefy so I'm sure it can manage all the way up to PS3
Your videos are wonderfully informative and I'm actually thinking about buying one of these sometime in the future. Just a few questions
1.) Can you hook this up to your flash screen HD TV?
2.) If so, can you just simply plug and play with a controller or do you need to do a comprehensive setup before starting?
I think you should make a handheld collection now that u got a lot more handhelds than the collection video. It would be really cool
Super clear and helpful DIY guide!
I really like the idea of building my own retro gaming station.
BTW: What kind of screwdriver set are using in the video to open the cube? It looks super organized, i love it! :)
Ifixit bro
It's the iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit, it's super nice! It was my Father's Day present last year :)
Can wi fi be added
Hi Russ, do you have NAS? if yes, can you guide us on how to setup the connection between device and NAS in batocera? i just cant get it work, i am using Synology NAS DSM, if this can be set up, i can just get my rom and saves file using any device with batocera system within my wifi coverage area.
Batocera is using Linux. Try using samba via Terminal. :)
thank you i always like retro games
ALoha ! Howz it! I love your channel and all your cook books!!! I have a quick question about the mini pc bundle.... there has been so issues in trying to upgrade batocera on the MINI PC bundle . When trying to upgrade BATOCERA it gives me the error "boot drive is full" Ive tried to read and search on the topic there is a video in french but honestly you are the best at explaining how to fix things. IT would be wonderful if you could walk me through it or make a video on this issue hence it seems is a new issue with batocera 31. Im here in oahu and wish you best with the rest of your uploads. Hope you can help those of us who needs help with this issue. MAHALO!
You can copy a link to your roms from your hard drive with out loading up your other drive
I've been really enjoying your clips, and I'm just getting to the point of modding my arcade1up cabs. I like the idea of a MiniPC set up, that boots directly to the gaming OS so its pretty transparent. Do you have a follow up clip to this one where you actually hook that MiniPC up to the Arcade1up controls and such? Thats the step that confuses/worries me. Thanks again for providing so much good information, your channel is a great resource.
I'm doing this exact process with a brand new mini PC (Intel, J4125) and an internal 320GB SATA 2.5 that I flashed Batocera too. When I load up, I get audio out of the mini PC's audio connection, but no video after the splash screen. Almost seems like it's defaulting to something other than HDMI or VGA video outs, which are the only things the MINI PC has....
if your having trouble booting from the batocera installation usb, make sure UEFI boot option is enabled in BIOS (mine was in advanced tab). I made this mistake myself!
With passive cooling, it might be better to use ssd drive to reduce heat.
This is pretty much what I did recently, I bought a usff PC on ebay used for about $30 and upgraded ram and cpu from parts I had laying around and loaded up batocera. Works great and it can play just about everything I want to play on it, including ps2 and Dreamcast. Fantastic little machine and now I can pack away majority of my consoles.
My Samsung T5 SSD is actually hotter than my other portable HDDs, not sure is it because Samsung uses the external metal casing for heat dissipation.
So, yeah, SSDs may not be cooler than HDDs, it all depends on the manufacturers' designs..
think you could swap out or usb in this unit into a legends gamer ultimate cabinet?
how do you add programs and other systems and games in batocera? such as plex or nintendo switch?
I wish there was some connector in it to add a mini fan
Don't think there is space in it to add a fan else they would have done it.
@@acejon2162 or to cut their cost, a heat sink with thermal paste at the very least. 90degrees is simply too high to work with. On another hand it's not meant for gaming so...
Thats all great but where you get the games from :(
why not try it with a raspberry pi as that you can just install everything into an sd card and then put it inside it and run it as the main os
Please make a video on how to set Roms comparable with Batocera.. (When I am uploading any roms, no images or information comes).. Please guide me..
Great video! I’m interested in taking apart the tape cassette looking hard drive and installing it into this PC. At the 4 min 30 sec mark you say “and you can hook it up with this connector.” Could you provide a link to what kind of connector that is? Thanks!
I personally like having stuff on windows, I find myself gaming more when it's just a few clicks away from what I'm already doing, I can keep podcasts running etc., but the presentation is awesome here, and easily beats my messy windows folders. I wonder, is there maybe a compromise? For one, I could make a folder with just shortcuts so there's no layers of folders to go through or save files cluttering the games folder, but before I do that, there might be something even better. It's okay for now as I'm busy with just a handful of GBA games, I right-click the emulator taskbar icon and the drop-down shows my games, but this won't hold up. (Cheap power-efficient laptop for low reqs, bulky tower otherwise)
Which box do you recommend for playing Wii U games?
You'll need a much more powerful box, I would look at the offerings from Minis Forum: store.minisforum.com/collections/all-product
To run Wii U games comfortably will set you back at least $600 to $800 for a Ryzen based miniPC.
Wish you would do stuff on MisTER FPGA
How do you make this PC fit inside an arcade cabinet setup due to the on/off button on the pc?
Very nice, thinking of building a mini console but waiting for a RDNA 2 APU so you can do PS3 no probs, till then my 351V and big PC is more than enough.
Great video. How quick is boot time from starting up to playing a game?
First (and always), amazing content. Russ, thoughts on Batocera , RetroPie and Lakka? Easy to use and performance
Which mini PC would you recommend similar to this one that would give you full 60 fps in all gamecube games?
You would need to spend a lot more to get one with a powerful CPU. this is a good guy to keep an eye on... ruclips.net/video/2ifBjG6x9Dk/видео.html
Which has the least latency?: Retropie, recallbox, lakka, or batocera?
To get the audio working you don't have to reboot just switch to Kodi and then switch back.
You can get better hardware, if you don't mind going used.
I just bought a Lenovo M73 mini pc for $200.
You can usually get one with R5 2400ge 8gb ram, and 256gb ssd for $200-$275.
Runs gamecube games at 1080p without much issue.
In my experience Batocera/Lakka is hit or miss, setting up gamecube or non-standard controllers is not always easy.
You also seem to have less settings overall. Dolphin on PC/Linux has more features.
At some point, I realized I'd rather set up my own emulators and make sure everything works.
can you teach how to install batocera on s905x(super console x pro) i tried to install. it not boot. it not work. thank you.
Do you have a merchandise store, with items such as hoodies or t-shirts for sale?
What happens if I need more space than 500GB later? Will batocera allow me to store my ROMs on another drive?
I've been a fan of your channel for a while now and have even started my retro gaming adventure because of your channel. I've been looking for a way to play games on PC and after seeing this video, I have my hopes up! Just wondering though, if I use a mini PC, am I able to 1. Still play Steam games other than retro games through Batocera and 2. Still use it as a PC, using programs and apps such as Adobe, Docs, and such? Thanks!
Awesome video, thanks for that ! Do you know what would be the PS2 / Gamecube games performance using the same emulation process on an Batocera Mini PC ? Would that be good/playable ?
I wanna try the usb/hard drive thing but my laptop can't even play dress up games without screaming at me and running hot.
So I'm scared to try it on there.
What school computer would you recommend cause those things sell for dirt cheap.
do you have a copy of your games so that we can downlaod it?
Hello how are you,it been 2 weeks now I'm trying to flash batocera on sd card but no success,I have tried on 4 different PCs 1 desktop 3 laptop but no success Everytime balenaEtcher says failed any help,I have with 32gb,64gb,128, and 256 gb but nothing
Is this can be work to desktop or only in mini pc?
How are you able to screen record all of this!? Asking for a friend 😭
Is a Ryzzen 5 With AMD graphics good enough?? Or a i3core Gt 630??
I'm curious how this will compare to having an Odin docked with a hard drive in the dock. :-D
Yeah I think when it releases the sub-$200 gaming market may have a bit of a shakeup.
the geek mini pc does have a fan inside and is actively cooled, on a sidenote why do you need to add an hdd exactly?
So he can boot into Batocera from that instead, and all games would be on that hdd as well then.
That way he can leave the included M.2 drive storage with windows on as is, incase he ever wants to boot from that instead and use it as a regular PC.
He tried booting Batocera from a flash drive but it wouldnt boot from there for some reason.
@@fonzitheman ah I see I'd prefer to have all the games and batocera on the ssd
I’m stuck at the balenaetcher part… it’s not detecting my ssd drive. Windows detects it, it has a drive letter, I can use it, but balena can’t see it… I’ve tried messing around with bios settings but nothing is working… I have a beelink sei8 i5
An update for anyone struggling with flashing the 2nd drive… Look up ETA prime‘s video about installing Batocera onto a hard drive… make a USB flash drive of Batocera, plug it into the computer with the spare hard drive, access settings menu of Batocera and download Batocera to new drive.
Thank you for your video. It is helpful. So now my question will be when it comes to buying a mini pc to run batocera, how powerful does it need to be to run emulators? I guess that anything can run 16-bit systems. But what if someone wishes to run flawlessly PS1, Saturn, N64? What if someone wishes to run Naomi, Dreamcast, GameCube and PS2?
Could you recommend some specs for each console?
I have tried setting up Batocera on my MSi Cubi 5 via. USB hard drive, but it keeps failing to boot up the OS, as I get an error message every single time when booting directly, or a blank screen after doing it manually. Is this possibly because of an issue with my 5TB external hard drive I'm trying to install it on?
Where did u get your Roms from
I noticed with the latest batocera that it limits ya drive to 6gb and won’t expand as I know that’s fat32 limit could you do a video on expanding the size of either usb or ssd thank you again !
The boot partition is in fat32 and is reserved at 6GB.
Once you boot Batocera for first time it will create the folder structure and expand the rest of your storage as the share partition, this is for your roms, theme etc.
Its automatically formatted to ext4 by default so windows will not see that ext4 partition.
Russ, I have an old raspberry pi I got about 7 years ago. I tried to install Batocera into it, and it works, but there are a few hiccups. Maybe you can look into making a guide on installing these standalone frontend emulators into the weakest machine you can find? Just for the kicks.
Check out this build on a Raspberry Pi ruclips.net/video/pDMPBlagLAc/видео.html
Why can’t there be hardware switches on PC that let us boot straight into whichever system we want? 1st power button for the first preference. 2nd power button for second pref. and so on.
Xd
Is CPU under that yellow gum-like thing? I don't see any passive, either. That will make a cooling upgrade a wee more difficult. It will probably involve drilling a holes on a top plate in order to fit a passive cooler and fan somehow.
Don't think there's enough space to add anything other than the 2.5" drive inside.
The yellow thing looks to be the battery.
@@acejon2162 if the system cannot cool itself, then it's not quite a good buy 😕
hey man, good vid! Taking this chance to ask something a bit offtopic: been considering getting the Razer Kishi for emulators on my phone as well as some Android games. I saw you got one and said you were gonna make a review of it but you didn't post one yet. Could you recommend it? I don't mind the size of it personally, but would like an opinion from another retro gamer, thanks!
Hi, so I ended up not doing a review because I really didn't care for it, and I don't like doing negative reviews like that. So I ended up focusing on the controllers I liked (like the GameSir) and then I gave the Kishi away in my last big giveaway. I think a lot of people like it, and if you don't mind the bulk I think it should be fine!
@@RetroGameCorps amazing, thanks for the heads up! Ended up getting it after reading some other reviews and will be here soon. One last thing, did you have any issues using it on emulators like ReDream, PPSSPP, M64 or Dolphin? Read some users had issues with the DPAD but a firmware update fixed it, so just making sure. Need to speedrun SA2 on the go, lmao
Hi I have a question if you can please answer, if i only want to use the mini as a dedicated batocera console and I dont care about using or having windows, what would be the best way to set it up? I would like for it to just always boot on to batocera and again dont care about windows. I would have the games on an SD card saved so i could transfer them over but can you please explain the process
Can someone please help??!!
I have a Kin Hank 2tb Batocera drive and a Kamrui Mini Pc. This MiniPc has onboard Bluetooth which doesn’t seem to be available in Version 33 or Batocera 35.
I’ve tried Bluetooth dongles from the compatible list but they also don’t work.
I’ve hit the “pair Bluetooth device button” and nothing happens.
Something faint appears next to the Wi-Fi signal at the top right of the screen but quickly disappears..
I’ve also tried XTerminal to enable Bluetooth commands and nothing works.
This is driving my friend and I crazy the past 2 weeks.
Controllers:
Gulikit King Kong pro
Power A Bluetooth Controller
Can windows still read the drive that has Batocera on it? Mainly, can I access the roms I put into Batocera from windows for the emulators that run on Windows or do I need to have 2 copies of the roms?
I can use this setup for an arcade machine?
Absolutely. I'm working on a setup right now :)
Have you tried emulating games on Raspberry Pi? Lot of people recommend it and it's pretty cheap