[RG351MP] A Few Questions

[Graham1]

Hi Support

Received the RG351MP today and I'm currently taking a backup of the 64GB SD card. I have a few questions before powering on.

1. Can the device be charged directly from the usb cable supplied (connected to pc) or does it require a usb mains adapter?
2. Regarding the INT & EXT sockets. Does the 64GB go in the EXT (as it contains games) and should there be another SD card for the OS in INT? (or is that just for changing/updating firmware?).
3. Should I decide to clear (delete) all the games on the SD card (I will have a backup) and add my own manually, is it just a case of copying into the same named folders? (for each system). I'm familiar with RetroArch. Do I just need to re-scan the folders again?

Thanks, Graham

 

[Graham1]

UPDATE:

I've managed to find a 16GB card and have put RG351MP_INT_20210923.img on it and now booting into EmulationStation. As it seems to be running an older version of RetroArch (1.8.9), is it safe to use the image (for RG351MP) from Lakka's website?

The disk partition on the 16GB cards has a GAMES partition. Is it possible to put games here as well as the 64GB card?

 

[BenDroiX]

1. It can be charged via connecting the cable to a PC, although it probably won't be very fast.
2. The INT slot is mandatory, and is where the device explicitly looks for the operating system. The EXT slot is optional and is used exclusively for media (games, etc.).
3. It's just a matter of copy/pasting the files into the right folders, yes. You might need to run a rescan depending on the firmware, but that just takes a few seconds at most.

4. It's "safe" to use the vast majority of custom firmware on the device because you can just switch out the microSD card if something gets messed up. But ultimately it is done at your own discretion as it's third party software etc etc etc
5. Yes, you can use the GAMES partition on the internal card if you only wish to run a single-card setup.

 

[Graham1]

1. It can be charged via connecting the cable to a PC, although it probably won't be very fast.
2. The INT slot is mandatory, and is where the device explicitly looks for the operating system. The EXT slot is optional and is used exclusively for media (games, etc.).
3. It's just a matter of copy/pasting the files into the right folders, yes. You might need to run a rescan depending on the firmware, but that just takes a few seconds at most.

4. It's "safe" to use the vast majority of custom firmware on the device because you can just switch out the microSD card if something gets messed up. But ultimately it is done at your own discretion as it's third party software etc etc etc
5. Yes, you can use the GAMES partition on the internal card if you only wish to run a single-card setup.

Thanks for the quick response. I like the idea of INT & EXT (keeping OS and games seperate), that's quite a neat idea to be able to swap out OS's (frontends). Are there many for the RG351MP?

 

[BenDroiX]

Are there many for the RG351MP?

I highly suggest 351ELEC. Outwardly it's very similar to the stock firmware, but it has a bunch of under-the-hood optimizations and user-focused enhancements that just make the overall experience so much better.

 

[Graham1]

I highly suggest 351ELEC. Outwardly it's very similar to the stock firmware, but it has a bunch of under-the-hood optimizations and user-focused enhancements that just make the overall experience so much better.

Yes, tried 351ELEC last night. Visually, amazing frontend. Regarding SD cards, are microSDHC cards compatible or are the microSDXC cards preferred for this device? Can these cards be used with standard card reader?

 

[BenDroiX]

SDXC cards are preferred, but I can't say with 100% certainty since that's all we've ever used here.
If you have an SDHC card lying around you might as well give it a shot (the twin-SD-card design makes this delightfully easy).

 

[Graham1]

Planning on using 32GB for the OS (SDHC) and if successful, may get a couple more. 256GB (SDXC) for games which should be plenty. Is it possible to transfer files using the USB cable? Currently using the Lakka firmware. Have been using SAMBA over wireless but plugged in wirelessly would be useful or any other firmware that may support this.

 

[Graham1]

Anyone in the same position, Sandisk SDHC cards seem to work fine with this device. Tested with 16GB.

 

[BenDroiX]

Is it possible to transfer files using the USB cable? Currently using the Lakka firmware. Have been using SAMBA over wireless but plugged in wirelessly would be useful or any other firmware that may support this.

I remember that the 350 worked like this (you'd use an FTP client after connecting the unit via cable), but I'm unsure if the 351's do.
You'd need to check the firmware that you're using to see if that feature is supported (probably poke the devs through their github, discord, or wherever they're located).