The Raspberry Pi 4 has just been released, and of course us retro gamers first thought is “hows the N64?” , “will it play Killer Instinct ?” , “will Dynamic Duos(or any existing) image work on there?” …. Its exciting times here at Arcade Punks HQ, and below we hope to share what we know so far!
Pi 4B |
Pi 3B+ |
Pi 3B |
Pi 3A+ |
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| PROCESSOR | 1.5GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A72 CPU ( ARM v8, BCM2837) | Broadcom BCM2837B0, Cortex-A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.4GHz | Quad Core 1.2GHz Broadcom BCM2837 64bit CPU | Broadcom BCM2837B0, Cortex-A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.4GHz |
| MEMORY/RAM | 1gb / 2gb/ 4gb (LPDDR4) | 1gb (LPDDR2) | 1gb (LPDDR2) | 512mb (LPDDR2) |
| WIFI | On-board Dual 802.11 b/g/n/ac |
2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac wireless LAN | BCM43438 wireless LAN | 2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac wireless LAN |
| BLUETOOTH | On-board v 5.0 (BLE) | On-board v 4.2 (BLE) | On-board v 4.1 (BLE) | On-board v 4.2(BLE) |
| LAN | Gigabit (true speed!) | Gigabit | 100 Base | N/A |
| VIDEO |
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Things you need to know before making the “upgrade”
- Its MICRO HDMI – so make sure you have micro HDMI Cable
- USB-C Style adaptor
- Its UNLIKELY your current image will work or be plug and play
The ultimate Raspberry Pi! Raspberry Pi 4 has up to 4GB RAM, a faster quad-core CPU, support for dual displays at up to 4K resolution, Gigabit Ethernet, USB3.0, wireless LAN, Bluetooth 5.0, and USB-C power. That’s desktop PC performance!. – The Pihut
WHATS NOTABLY GREATER!!
See that right there? 4gb RAM (also available in 1 and 2gb versions!) – thats 4x the current amount of available RAM. Also noticeable is the USB 3 support, gigabit ethernet (as per the 3b+) and of course the 64bit 1.5GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A72 CPU ( ARM v8) processor, meaning you would be a fool NOT to get a fan if you intend to push this to the limits!
RETROGAMING ON THE PI4
Its going to happen, without a doubt, give it 10 minutes or so!
Like when the PI3b+ dropped none of the 3b images were compatible, (yet you can play any 3b+ image on a 3b device – weird huh??) so expect some killer images from some of your favourite image creators – and at this point, assuming the emulator is more than happy with it, we are going to say expect these images to include (and have fully playable) the N64 library and who knows maybe some better Dreamcast emulation, we can but hope!
Retropie (currently version 4.4 public) will no doubt release a v5 (or step up from 4.4) (and we are hoping to see more from BLAST 16)
MadLittle Pixel is just as excited as us!!
AS OF RIGHT NOW…
Toms Hardware reports :-
It’s important to note that, at launch time, some important Raspberry Pi software doesn’t yet work on the Pi 4. To run Pi 4, you’ll need to download a brand new build of the Raspbian OS, Raspbian Buster. And not everything runs in Buster yet. During testing, we found numerous Python libraries or other required packages that weren’t compatible with the new OS.
As of this writing, you also can’t install Retropie, the very popular gaming emulator software, in Buster (believe us, we spent hours trying), nor can you use an existing Retropie image. Undoubtedly, developers will make adjustments in the days and weeks ahead, but if you’re reading this at launch and need to build an arcade machine in the near future, you might want to get an older model. Third-party Raspberry Pi operating systems will also need some changes in order to work with the new hardware. For example, we were not able to boot Windows 10 on Arm, as we have with the Pi 3B+.
Who said there was no Pi 4 in 2019?
So many people said it , from the Retropie forums themselves, to Toms Hardware and even DrewTalks took an investigative look…..
WATCH THIS SPACE!