Batocera on HP Mini 210-1027TU

I have ~15 years old Netbook, HP Mini 210-1027TU given by colleague. It was broken, unable to power up, none of the LED lightup. It is standard crack capacitor issue. I manage to repair it, it is able to power up although there is some problem with the keyboard, the caps lock cannot be turn off. Other than that everything still working, boot-up with Windows 7 starter (Starter is a limited version of Windows 7 with a stripped-down feature) and suprisingly the battery still charging. It comes with Intel Atom N455 (hence WIndows 7 stater ), 10.1" LCD 1024x600, 1GB DDR3.

What should I do with it? Windows 7 nowadays is practically useless, many if not all of the website cannot be open. I try to install puppy linux, which is working, I can browse internet even watching low resolution youtube 😁but who gonna use that when you have better laptop. Anyway, retro game station come in mind. With Atom N455 processing power, at least it should be able to run SNES which not that bad. There are couples of SNES RPG game that I would like to re-play.

The installation is very easy:

  1. Download Batocera img file from "https://batocera.org/download". Initially I try latest version, Batocera v41, aparently it does not work on Atom processor. Its boot-up until Batocera animation logo but then it stop and switch to linux terminal. After some googling, there is special version for Atom and old low powered devices. On batocera download site, scroll all the way down and you will see the "intel Atom" logo, download that .img file.
  2. Use balenaEtcher to make bootabe Batocera USB drive. I tried using Rufus but it does not boot-up, not sure if I have to change some setting to make it work. You can download balenaEtcher from "https://etcher.balena.io/". It is prety straight forward to use, click "Flash from file" -> "Select target" -> "Flash!", wait until it complete and done.

  3. Boot up the Eeepc with the Batocera USB drive you just created. You can actually start playing using the USB drive. By default it come with 1 or 2 legal game. 
  4. You might want install batocera to HDD or SSD, to do that from "MAIN MENU" select "SYSTEM SETTINGS" then scroll down and select "INSTALL BATOCERA ON A NEW DISK", select the disc and wait until it complete.
  5. You need to copy game roms to batocera roms folder. You can copy from another USB drive or you can transfer via network. SNES game file is pretty small average around 1MB. The biggest i ever see is around 3.5MB. It is a 1990 game console, at that time we still using flopy disk 😁. Newer game console like Switch or PS3 can be couple of GB, it take too long to transfer via network. Even not so new PSP roms is about 1GB which is fater to copy via USB.
    1. Via USB: plug-in you USB drive, pressed "F1" key then it should open file manager. The rest is straight forward right click copy and paste.
    2. Via Network: connect to your home network first either using cable or wifi. To use wifi, open the "MAIN MENU" by pressing space bar. Scrool down and select "NETWORK SETTINGS", pressed "enter" key to select. The rest is straight forward, SSID and KEY. Once connected, note the IP ADDRESS. You can conect from other PC using the "\\BATOCERA\share" or "\\IP ADDRESS\share". Default user name is root and password is linux, you can change it at security setting. 

                    Select "roms" folder, there where the game roms are located.

                    Inside the roms directorry there are multiple directory of the game which are supported
                    although not neccesarry to work depending on your system. Copy your roms file
                    inside, make sure correct directory.

                    Inside each directory there is "_info.txt", open the text file, it tell you which extension
                    is accepted. Some game can be leave as .zip some cannot. I'm quessing small roms like
                    ATARI, NES or SNES can be leave it as .zip. Big size roms like for PSP, you have to
                    unzip first.
                    Once copied, go to "MAIN MENU", select "GAME SETTINGS", scroll down and select 
                    "UPDATE GAME LIST". If  you did not do that, your new roms will not be show on the 
                    game list.

Surprisingly PS1 and PSP emulation is working 😮but very slow on those 3D game, so it is not playable.


Working:
    ATARI 2600 (released 1977)
    GAME BOY ADVANCE (relesed 2001)
    NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM (release 1983)
    SUPER NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM (release 1990)
    SEGA MASTER SYSTEM (released 1985)
    SEGA MEGA DRIVE (released 1988)
    SONY PSP (released 2004) working but slow especially 3D game like 1-2 fps
    SONY PS1 (released 1995) working but slow especially 3D game like 1-2 fps

Not Working:
    C64 (released 1982)
    NEO-GEO (released 1990)
    NINTENDO 64 (released 1996)

Not Tested yet:
    GameBoy (released 1989)
    GameBoy Color (released 1998)
    GameBoy Advance (released 2001)
    Nintendo DS (released 2004)
    Nintendo 3DS (released 2011)


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