Comments: PiRetrocade Assembly Guide

There are a few minor hardware issues the kit that have been mentioned. This is greatly overshadowed by the ROM file issue. I think the product description and guide for this should have more information regarding how to get ROM files. The product should be sold as a game emulator, because this is basically what it is. This seems to be the "hot potato" that the guide tiptoes around, and the product page barely mentions it. I've spent an afternoon discovering that I would need to do a research project on the games I own, and how to legally get ROM files for them. I'm guessing this one goes the way of "schedule overrun" for me.

Just set this up for my nephew, but the only games that re installed require a keyboard (Doom, Quake, Zork, etc.). DOS emulator requires a keyboard. Amiga and ScumVM doesn't seem to have anything actually installed and requires a mouse to exit. I thought this was supposed to work out of the box (once it was all wired together). What's the deal?

Mapping of keyboard link should point to: http://www.retrobuiltgames.com/porta-pi-arcade-help/advanced-assembly/arcade-gpio-mapping/

Love the kit - a few suggestions, though.

1) The breadboard wires provided are of marginal size for crimping in those connectors, particularly when you're putting only one wire in. If you double back the wire on itself (or twice) to increase the cross section for the crimp, it will hold better.

2) The SD card image is set up for UK standards, so it uses a UK keyboard by default. If you're here in the US, and try to sign into a wifi network, be careful if your password involves special characters, as you may have problems. For example, my password has a "#" character in it, but I didn't realize for a while that my keyboard was producing a UK Pound symbol (the curly L) instead... This caused some frustration :^) It's easily fixable in raspi-config, though (use the "internationalization options'.) Once the keyboard is "right" for your country, you should be able to log in as usual.

3) If you want extra length in the cables etc, see if you have (like me) an old Pi Wedge, Adafruit Cobbler or equivalentu lying around. Solder the cables into the "breadboard" side holes, and wallah, you've got plenty of extra length, and better cable management to boot!

Having fun playing Doom and Duke Nukem again... 20 years + later. A fun blast from the past for me!

I was very much hoping it would work out of the box. Unfortunately I got this message after powering the raspberry : "illegal instruction" afterwards I get a command line and I can choose with the joystick between emulationstation (which replies with "illegal instruction") and reboot (which reboots). What do I need to do now?

I really want this to work, but the guide is difficult. The raspberry pi pin guide doesn't explain the orientation of the pi, so you're not clear on which pin is really the starting place. Several minutes spent on google searches leads me to believe the USB connectors are at the bottom. Fingers crossed.

The buttons on the box are labeled SELECT and START, but the pins are labeled ESC and ENTER. I'm not sure which is which. Most importantly, we have 11 female pin connectors, but only 9 of the pins are labeled. The two ends of the daisy chains - where do those go? If we ever get beyond this, I may have more to say. I have spent three hours with my daughter putting this together - which is amazing quality time. But, it's frustrating to get to a place where we can't figure out what to do next.