Raspberry Pi 3B+ (Plus) - Compatible?

[gkralicek2]

We received a bunch of new Pi3 B+ this morning at job. No luck installing Recalbox though :=(. When inserting a prepared SD card, all i could get at boot was a rainbow coloured screen with red and green leds on the board constantly lit. I'm not that surprised though as some of the chips on the board have been replaced (the network/wifi one for sure as it now supports 5Ghz Wifi, Gigabit Ethernet and PoE). The main CPU has been upgraded too as the old BCM 2837 is now replaced with a 2837B0 which embeds a different feature set (it's not only an overclocked version of the previous 2837 but should rather be considered a different processor even though it's still powered by the same quadcore unit and GPU). Just my 2 cents anyway.... :=)

[lhari84]

@gkralicek2
Thanks for info, even though I was hoping for better news

[gkralicek2]

@lhari84 It's just a matter of time until noobs gets an update and new drivers for the network chips are made available ;=)

[Substring]

@gkralicek2 it's not a noobs problem, it's a firmware + kernel problem. Recalbox img most probably can't boot for these reasons. And for noobs : we're not yet compatible as we need the new board's id

[MarcDK]

Hi, other distributions already have support for the new Pi3b. OSMC for example: https://osmc.tv/2018/03/osmcs-march-update-is-here-with-pi-3-b-support/

So, when can we expect support in recalbox? How did the guys from OSMC implement the support ?

Oh, they had preproduction units:

"OSMC would like to thank Raspberry Pi for pre-production units which allowed us to support the device on launch day."

[voljega]

@marcdk said in Raspberry Pi 3B+ (Plus) - Compatible?:

So, when can we expect support in recalbox? How did the guys from OSMC implement the support ?

with code. the team is waiting for your commits.

[voljega]

Well we wan already expect very big trouble for those of us using external hdd only powered through pui's usb : https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Raspberry-Pi-Benchmarks-Power-Draw.jpg

[Substring]

@voljega the pi lighnting icon strikes back ^^

[SkullGrin]

Is this unit even worth bothering with? It seems like it's barely more powerful than the Pi 3. Exact same GPU and Ram type and speed. No changes. WiFi and ethernet is supposed to be better but this changes nothing on actual performance. Only the CPU speed is slightly better at 1.4GHZ but, having played around in overclocking Pi 3 to 1.37Ghz in Recalbox, i saw very little improvement. 200Mhz just isn't a substantial change.

Is this even a true 1.4Ghz? Or just a stock overclock of the previous CPU? Any word on heat and increased power draw? AKA: Will our good ol' buddy, the lightning bolt icon be making a comeback?

[gkralicek2]

@skullgrin Upgrading is only worthy for someone who hasn't invested yet in a pi 3 but for those already using "standard" pi 3 with a stable overclock @1350 or 1375 it doesn't seem relevant at all.

[lhari84]

@skullgrin
As mentioned above, maybe it would make sense for people (like me) using bluetooth game controllers. (As the internal BT of "old" Pi 3 is not the best choice and the Pi 3B+ seems to have a new controller).
Anyway, if the power consumption stays on the level of first tests report, I think it's not worth at all.

[Substring]

@lhari84 said in Raspberry Pi 3B+ (Plus) - Compatible?:

Anyway, if the power consumption stays on the level of first tests report, I think it's not worth at all.

Have you read what @voljega posted ?

[Ratte]

@substring
I placed my amazon-order yesterday (40,90€ not the best price, i know ...).

[Dragu]

@Substring
"Production lifetime: The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ will remain in production until at least January 2023."
C'est quand-même osé dans le contexte actuel. La concurrence ne dort pas nonplus et 1400Mhz avec un GPU pas plus performant, c'est loin d'être un scope.

[tikiandskull]

@dragu en même temps la fondation Raspberry Pi n'a pas les impératifs d'une société commerciale... le fait que le pi soit utilisé pour du retrogaming c'est pour eux de l'accessoire.

[Substring]

@dragu le pi est la seuke board à ma connaissance qui est capable de te cracher quasi n'importe quel signal analogique grace au gpio. Alors même si à notre niveau de recalbox ce n'est pas encore très exploité, personne d'autre ne peut faire ça. Et ca vaut de l'or. Tout comme le changement de résolution à la volée en framebuffer, aucune autre carte que j'ai sous la main ne peut le faire (et je commence à en avoir)

[Dragu]

@Substring
D'accord, mais pour Recalbox cela représente du travail pour vous, de nouvelles versions qui ne vont pas forcément apporter des avantages sensibles au niveau des jeux. Et avec tous ces intermédiaires, combien de versions différentes de Recalbox y aura t'il en 1923 ? Et à un certain moment il faudra obligatoirement prendre la décision quelle platforme encore maintenir.

[barbudreadmon]

@skullgrin said in Raspberry Pi 3B+ (Plus) - Compatible?:

having played around in overclocking Pi 3 to 1.37Ghz in Recalbox, i saw very little improvement. 200Mhz just isn't a substantial change.

Is there any announcement about the fact rpi3b can't be overclocked ? Going from 1.37 to 1.4 is certainly not a big deal for most game, going from 1.37 to 1.57 is a big deal though.

Btw, pi2 to pi3 was only 100Mhz improvement, 64bits was useless for emulation, and a lot of people have issues with onboard bt/wifi (which is no big deal either for emulation).

[voljega]

@barbudreadmon I read someone wondering if pi3b+ weren't just stabilized pi3 with overclocking activated by default...

[barbudreadmon]

@voljega Perhaps @gkralicek2 could confirm if this new version accept OC ?