Having trouble with OGST Console Kit LCD & controller issues

[ImLost]

So every time I try to follow the instructions to update/upgrade the image to get the secondary display to work, it freezes to the point I can't click on anything or change anything. I'm starting to think my board might be bad or 32GB sd card is too small. With the first image listed below, it didn't have any support for the secondary display. With the second, it did, but I only see the backlight turn on. It both cases, trying to update always feezes the system.

ODROID-GameStation-Turbo-3.9.5-20171115-XU3+XU4-Jessie.img.xz
ODROID-GameStation-Turbo-3.9.6-20180619-XU3+XU4-Jessie.img.xz

The other issue is more emulator related and has been an issue I've had with retro-pie too. I got a bunch of N64 usb controllers, but the emulator doesn't map correctly and changes to emulator station seems to have no effect. Also emulator station seems to not have the same options as the retro-pie in choosing video and audio options.

Anyone have any helpful pointers?

[meveric]

So every time I try to follow the instructions to update/upgrade the image to get the secondary display to work, it freezes to the point I can't click on anything or change anything. I'm starting to think my board might be bad or 32GB sd card is too small.

32GB is not to small 8GB is enough to run the image, but depending on how much ROMS you want to put on it you may need bigger cards.
The system freezing is rather uncommon, could be that the SD card is not supported, but then it would also freeze after a while if you do something else and not just on updates.
Have you tried logging in via SSH and do the system update?
Can you copy the output?

With the first image listed below, it didn't have any support for the secondary display.

Exactly that is why I did the update.

With the second, it did, but I only see the backlight turn on.

Could be that the display is broken/not working correctly. Have you tried starting an emulator from within Kodi or EmulationStation?
Does the display still shows nothing? If so then the display is probably not working correctly.

I got a bunch of N64 usb controllers, but the emulator doesn't map correctly

N64 USB controllers are often not very good, and are often "no-name" controllers and are found as Generic Dragonrise controllers. If that's the case there's nothing you can do the controllers are simply very bad.
HardKernel also wanted to use some N64 USB controllers first, but it turned out they were pretty much useless due to the above situation.
When you start the emulator retroarch should show for a short moment what controllers was found. If it says something about dragonrise, then there's nothing you can do.
If it says something else there might be a way to fix it (at least inside retroarch).

and changes to emulator station seems to have no effect.

EmulationStation is just a stupid frontend. The controller configuration in EmulationStation has NOTHING to do with any games you start.
All the configuration you setup inside EmulationStation only applies to EmulationStation (which also means most buttons you setup in EmulationStation are not even used at all).

Also emulator station seems to not have the same options as the retro-pie in choosing video and audio options.

Yes, as this is not RetroPie the options are different.
If you need something specific let me know.

[ImLost]

found as Generic Dragonrise controllers

Yup... that's what retroarch was reporting them as. The thing that I don't understand is why can't I just map it for the emulator, it's not like the analog stick or buttons don't work.

As for emulation:
*DK racing seems to work
*P-Snap just crashes (a little bummed since it 1/2 works on pie)

I also tried to get a util that tests the display...
$ sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev
$ git clone https://github.com/AreaScout/SDL2DisplayTest.git
$ ./build.sh

But when I try to do "sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev" it doesn't know what libsdl2-dev is.

[meveric]

Yup... that's what retroarch was reporting them as. The thing that I don't understand is why can't I just map it for the emulator, it's not like the analog stick or buttons don't work.

These are "generic" controllers, there are literally hundreds of controllers that have the same ID, and none has the same button layout, which means that you will never have one config that matches all controllers.
And this is why I can't help you hear. You can check under /usr/share/libretro/autoconfig/udev/ and delete all configs that have the vendorId=121 (which are dragonrise controllers).
and then use my add controller script to create a new config file, but on the next update of retroarch you have to do this all over again.
Once again, there is no "solution" for this issue, as these controller all have the same ID.

I also tried to get a util that tests the display...
$ sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev
$ git clone https://github.com/AreaScout/SDL2DisplayTest.git
$ ./build.sh

But when I try to do "sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev" it doesn't know what libsdl2-dev is.

libsdl2-dev is available:

Code: Select all

root@gamestation-turbo:~# apt-cache policy libsdl2-dev 
libsdl2-dev:
  Installiert:           (keine)
  Installationskandidat: 2.0.5-1
  Versionstabelle:
     2.0.5-1 0
        500 http://oph.mdrjr.net/meveric/ jessie/main armhf Packages
     2.0.2+dfsg1-6 0
        500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main armhf Packages

so my guess you've never done apt-get update and your package list is empty.

[ImLost]

so my guess you've never done apt-get update and your package list is empty.

As I mentioned before, it would always freeze and act up when I try to do that. I ordered another board that's coming in tomorrow. I'll let you know if that does the job.

but on the next update of retroarch you have to do this all over again.
Once again, there is no "solution" for this issue, as these controller all have the same ID.

I don't mind jumping through the same hoops if I can get these controllers to work. I don't care how hackish it is to get this work. I'm already annoyed with how things aren't working.

use my add controller script to create a new config file

Got a link for that?

[meveric]

use my add controller script to create a new config file

Got a link for that?

It's part of the image, either start the "Setup ODROID GameStation Turbo" link from the Desktop or start it from terminal with "sudo add_joyconfig"

[ImLost]

So I just tried the new board, now it's failing a different way. I'm starting to think it might be the SD card. When it freezes is inconsistent, but upon feezing after sudo apt-get upgrade, it no longer boots, but I can pop it into SD to usb dive and see the partitions. X_X WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO GET WORKING!!! I'll get an SD card tomorrow and see if it's the true trouble maker.

OH! and in all cases (then and now), the first boot always complains about the boot partition.

Any of this look wrong when getting the image onto an SD card:
xzdec -d ODROID-GameStation-Turbo-3.9.6-20180619-XU3+XU4-Jessie.img.xz > GS.img
sudo dd bs=4M if=GS.img of=/dev/sdc

Also! I was able to get that git hub project to build, but nothing shows on the LCD after running the command.

[tobetter]

Any of this look wrong when getting the image onto an SD card:
xzdec -d ODROID-GameStation-Turbo-3.9.6-20180619-XU3+XU4-Jessie.img.xz > GS.img
sudo dd bs=4M if=GS.img of=/dev/sdc

I would add conv=fsync to the command dd and run fsync after dd for sure.

[meveric]

So I just tried the new board, now it's failing a different way. I'm starting to think it might be the SD card. When it freezes is inconsistent, but upon feezing after sudo apt-get upgrade, it no longer boots, but I can pop it into SD to usb dive and see the partitions. X_X WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO GET WORKING!!! I'll get an SD card tomorrow and see if it's the true trouble maker.

The ODROID XU4 is known to have some issues with certain SD cards, in the past it was even worse and the wrong SD card could already at boot damage the filesystem.
Changing the SD card can help, I prefer SanDisk Ultra (not Ultra Plus, or Extreme) as they seems to be very compatible.

OH! and in all cases (then and now), the first boot always complains about the boot partition.

What do you mean with "complains about the boot partition"?

Any of this look wrong when getting the image onto an SD card:
xzdec -d ODROID-GameStation-Turbo-3.9.6-20180619-XU3+XU4-Jessie.img.xz > GS.img
sudo dd bs=4M if=GS.img of=/dev/sdc

You can also put everything is one line:

Code: Select all

xzcat ODROID-GameStation-Turbo-3.9.6-20180619-XU3+XU4-Jessie.img.xz | sudo dd bs=4M of=/dev/sdc

also I always run "sync" after I flash a SD card to make sure all write operations are finished, before removing the SD card.

Also! I was able to get that git hub project to build, but nothing shows on the LCD after running the command.

As said before it could be that your LCD Kit is not working correctly and is damaged. Others reported issues with the LCD as well.

[ImLost]

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!

So either it was a bad SD card or using xzcat instead of xzdec.

Still need to figure out why pokemon snap doesn't work and get those N64 controller to work.

meveric, any useful threads on changing the default startup secondary screen or how to muck with it in general?

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!

[meveric]

you need a 320x240 source (picture or video) then you can use mplayer to put it directly on the display. Check /usr/local/sbin/draw-logo.sh to see how I do it.
pictures in raw format can be directly put on the LCD for example with cat picture.raw > /dev/fb1.
There are the easiest examples, but much more is possible.
AreaScout wrote a couple different applications that can access the display as well, even show 3D graphics with shaders on the display.

[ImLost]

It looks like the right button on the kit does nothing in emulator station. Is there a way to get that button exit out of the current rom? Also I loaded DK racing and it sounds choppy. Is that normal?

[meveric]

It looks like the right button on the kit does nothing in emulator station.

That's right the right button has currently no function.

Is there a way to get that button exit out of the current rom?

This would be a possibility, but it has to be programmed in a way, as this button is connected through GPIO, you would write a program/code that checks if the program is pressed and if so do "something".
It's nothing where you just set a checkmark and it's working.

Also I loaded DK racing and it sounds choppy. Is that normal?

Not sure.. not all games work perfectly and especially N64 games can be hard to emulate.
I haven't tried DK racing yet so I can't say if that's normal or not.

[AreaScout]

It looks like the right button on the kit does nothing in emulator station. Is there a way to get that button exit out of the current rom?

Sure i wrote a tool to access the right user button and fire up a script if it's pressed viewtopic.php?f=156&t=31376#p227123 if you have questions ask

[ImLost]

So I'm getting close to fixing the controller issue. So using jstest-gtk, I found that A is 6 and B is 8. However in the config file, whatever I assign to B is set to A and B button never works. Does the config files use a special name for A and B button?

[meveric]

for some reason retroarch reverses A and B button, no clue why, but yet the buttons are called input_b_btn or input_a_btn and so on.

[ImLost]

It gets weirder! y is b!....... WHY!!!!!!!

On a side note I can't install mupen64plus-video-all... any clue when the dependencies are addressed for odroid?

[meveric]

you don't need to install the mupen64plus-video-all package, there's already a custom mupen64plus package for ODROIDs installed with the video backends that are working (rice, glide64mk2, and GLideN64)

[ImLost]

How do I select between them? Retro-pie usually allowed me select which one before starting the rom.

[meveric]

Currently you need to change the video core manually in the config file.
Although there's rarely a reason not to take the glide64mk2 core.

[ImLost]

So the two roms I got are P-snap and DK racing. DK racing works slightly better than retro pie and P-snaps can semi-work on pie but crashes on Odroid. I was hoping with the extra power, it would blow the pie out of the water. I know retro pie has had more time to perfect things, so I know there's a good margin to improve on.

[meveric]

I tried your games and you're correct. These are some of the "harder" to emulate games.
Diddy Kong Racing has quite some lags, not sure why it's so hard, but if you reduce rendering resolution to 320x240 in retroarch it's mostly lag free.
I tried mupen64plus standalone instead and it's A LOT faster and has better resolution, but depending you the controller you use you might have button mapping issues.

Pokemon Snap on the other hand I had no issues, it was running out of the box, no crashes. Speed was fine except from when you send pictures to the professor there it was a little laggy but I don't think that's a big issue.
Using mupen64plus instead of retroarch had a negative effect as performance went down to be unplayable at 3 FPS.
As your game crashed, maybe you have a "bad rom" or something happend while you copy it. I suggest downloading the ROM again. I used the EU version of the game.

[ImLost]

Yup, looks like the US version of snap doesn't work. Is there a way to over clock the board? I got the quiet version with 2 fans to blow on the side.

[meveric]

Yup, looks like the US version of snap doesn't work. Is there a way to over clock the board? I got the quiet version with 2 fans to blow on the side.

overclocking is currently not supported, as the board is already running very hot as it is. But it should be possible once it's added to the Kernel.

[ImLost]

If overclocking will get this thing to work as well as the actual N64, I don't mind fitting in a mini water cooling setup . I don't plan on cramming in a hard drive. I just want a decent mini-N64. On a side note, I just replaced the OGST gif that shows at boot, any way to point at a video instead of a gif?

[meveric]

you can use video or pictures/gif doesn't matter as long as it's 320x240. It uses mplayer which is a video player anyway.