Classic Gaming Quarterly - How to build a MiSTer

[Xbytez]

A MiSTer build guide, shows how to put together a basic, but fully-functional MiSTer setup that will play everything the platform currently has to offer. The guide offers easy-to-understand, step-by-step instructions.

Check out the build guide here!

http://www.cgquarterly.com/2020/04/28/b ... a-console/

[flynnsbit]

Very clean, the now go to Guide for anyone.

[CGQuarterly]

Someone just linked me to this thread today. If anyone has any suggested edits or updates for my guide, please let me know. I am by no means a MiSTer expert.

[Txamin]

That's the guide i used as a reference when buying parts for mine, very useful.

[akeley]

@CGQuarterly - thanks for actually writing a guide, instead of making another video

Few points I wanted to point out though, which could be useful when writing a basic guide, and these are sorely needed becasue lots of people are put off by the imagined high price and allegedly difficult assembly.

-the board itself costs 130USD from Terasic or other shops like Mouser.
-I'd stress a bit more that 128MB Sdram is only needed for a very small fraction of games at the moment. And the price difference vs 32MB is more than a half.
-ditto the size of SD card - I'm struggling to fill my 64GB one. For completionists HDD will always be a better option.
-if you buy a decent powered USB hub to start with there's no need to add the USB board later and you can safely use HDD drives and the like

Apart from SDRAM, these might seem like small things, but will add up to substantial price difference vs the 250USD you quote. And you still will be able to utilise 99% of what MiSTer has on offer.

Also, about connecting to CRTs: you don't need the I/O board for that, these days you can achieve the same result using Direct Video function and buying a much cheaper DAC converter. You can also output to CRT TVs and PC VGA monitors, not just the super expensive PVMs.

As a side note, I think that MiSTer is actually easier to handle than RPi. Yes, RPi has cute frontends, but setting it up to get everything working properly can be a long, ardous journey. Here, everything just works.

Hope you consider these points. I'd love to have a written guide I could recommend to people, without mentioning these caveats.

[Hodor]

@CGQuarterly - thanks for actually writing a guide, instead of making another video

Few points I wanted to point out though, which could be useful when writing a basic guide, and these are sorely needed becasue lots of people are put off by the imagined high price and allegedly difficult assembly [...]

Nice summary, akeley. Easy to follow and straight to the point.

[owlnonymous]

Nice guide. Thanks for sharing.