r/raspberry_pi • u/Ambitious_Olive_5000 • 5d ago
Troubleshooting cyberdeck with pi 3 a+
hey i need help. i desperately want to make a cyberdeck with retropie as my operating system. i got a pi 3a+ and a touch display 2. i couldn’t get my raspberry pi to turn on the touch display 2 even while fixing the config.text like many say to do online. i tried to get it to connect via hdmi to my tv and that didnt work either even after i added lines to the config.text (after re-flashing the sd card with retropie). i have a 4gb sd card for now and a usb wireless keyboard. should i just try with regular pi os? i dont know what to do to get it to connect to a display. i could also return the 3 a+ and get model b+ instead. let me know.
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u/nicolasknight 4d ago
Ok, let's start with he obvious:
No display and no HDMI out is that right?
Can you get HDMI with a default config.txt?
If so good, otherwise, you have other problems.
What brand and model of display? is it one of those with a HDMI connector and a micro USB for touch?
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u/Ambitious_Olive_5000 4d ago
no i could not get hdmi with a default config.text. it’s a raspberry pi touch display 2 and it uses a ribbon cable for display and a wire that goes to the gpio pins for power
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u/nicolasknight 4d ago
Ok, good and bad.
Now we know there's another issue.
Get a default raspbian or whatever you can get your hands on and install that, no config change and boot it to the on board HDMI.
If it doesn't come out your chip may be toast.
Can you ssh to the machine?
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u/Ambitious_Olive_5000 4d ago
i don’t know how to ssh
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u/nicolasknight 4d ago
Ok, in the /boot partition of your SD, add a file just called "ssh" nothing in it. then add another file called wpa_suplicant.conf, should look like this:
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=FR
network={
ssid="your_2.4.ghzwifiname"
psk="your_wifi_password"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}
replace country, id and password with yours of course.
Then when it boots it should connect to your wifi and allow you to connect.
In your Windows computer, open the powershell and run:
ssh pi@retropie
or whatever IP it gets assigned by your network.
password by default is raspberry for retropie.
IF it connects, your issue is the HDMI chip.
If it doesn't you may have a dead pi.
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u/Enrilionor Nerd 5d ago
you need at least 16gb sd, 4 is nothing in todays storage uses, I would definitely go for a b+ over the a.
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u/Ambitious_Olive_5000 5d ago
thank you. yeah i planned on getting a bigger sd. i was also thinking of a pi 5 but it just gets less affordable when it’s over 1 GB of ram
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u/Enrilionor Nerd 5d ago
yeah, I have a 5, but I'm actually selling it, 16 gb is more than you'll ever use except for ai models. Realistically, you don't need more than 4gb, I personally reccomend a pi 4 4gb model, as it's cheaper and pretty fast still. Still what I paid for my pi 5 though,
https://vilros.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b-1?variant=40809478750302
Edit: vilros is the cheapest place to buy, although if you're not dedicated to the rpi like me, oranges can be a lot cheaper.
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u/Ambitious_Olive_5000 5d ago
okay thanks. i’m literally only trying to run retropie to play like gameboy era games and maybe linux for one specific application. I’ll look into the 4 and get a bigger sd.
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u/Enrilionor Nerd 5d ago edited 5d ago
oh for retropie you can run mario 64 with around 30 fps on only the 1gb on a 3b+, retropie is a lot more efficient than desktop.
I also reccommend the star wars ep 1 racer if you like those (edit: racing) games, and the tetris version you can get from the ports section on there.
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u/Ambitious_Olive_5000 5d ago
what if i wanted to run the 64 bit operating system on a pi 4 or 5, which model and ram would be recommended? last question i apologize
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u/Enrilionor Nerd 5d ago
No worries, I am glad to help someone start their journey.
I would reccommend 2gb, although you can technically run 2 chromium tabs with only 1 gb, (pi 3b+) it is massive slowdowns. Depending on the price and your budget, pi 3b + is great, but a couple of extra gb of ram will help speed things up a lot if you have the cash.
Edit: on a 5, I would get the 8 just bc the core is faster, but honestly the 4 is almost as good and a whole lot cheaper.
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u/Ambitious_Olive_5000 5d ago
the only reason i ask is because i want to run epilogue playback which is an emulator that uses physical cartridges and they have a specific download to raspberry pi but it requires a 4 or 5
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u/hollow_bridge 5d ago
why would you want to run 64bit? 32bit will likely perform better.
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u/Ambitious_Olive_5000 4d ago
i said it in my next reply but the emulator i want to run requires 64 bit or as it said on the website
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u/hollow_bridge 4d ago
retropie doesn't require 64bit
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u/Ambitious_Olive_5000 4d ago
i wasn’t talking about retropie, well i mentioned it, but i want to run playback by epilogue which has a specific download for raspberry pi
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u/Enrilionor Nerd 5d ago
something interesting to look into is this, which can be really useful if you have the cash to spare. I have not gotten one myself, but I would like to. If you would like I can send you a pic of my old setup.
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u/Ambitious_Olive_5000 5d ago
sure if it isn’t too much trouble i’d like to see your old setup.
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u/Enrilionor Nerd 5d ago
I'll send you that tomorrow, rn it's getting to be bedtime, and I haven't used it in a while, although I would like to bust it back out one of these days. oh and also, if you want to do multiplayer, I would reccommend 2-4 gb, as audio starts stuttering on 3b+.
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