I already commented in two parts (the first one is here, and the second one here) how you can give life to an old laptop to play old games that you have abandoned in your room and give it a good use, specifically, with a USB and downloading Recalbox. Now, I propose you almost the same but with a specific distribution created by a group of people, which also includes the best games from different consoles and platforms, all well prepared and stylish to enjoy your favorite games of yesteryear, and above, give use to a computer or laptop that you had in disuse or abandoned in your room and give it a good use.
Bobcera
Without a doubt, I have to comment that I came to the Telegram group @BOB_retropie_windows_dudas that is in charge of this project by chance, but they have versions for different versions of Raspberry, exclusive distribution on Linux and even the best, a portable distribution for Windows, so you don’t even need to prepare anything: just download, unzip and run a file that takes care of everything.
In addition, there are different versions for 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 Gigas, but if you want much more: more than 1 Tera ready to download..
Everything (games) but simple
Although I started with Recalbox, as I explained in the two posts about giving use to old computers, in the end I chose to use Bobwin (the Windows distribution) and Bobcera (recorded on a USB, a self-running Linux). The reason is that in Recalbox I had problems to load different games, or I had to do it myself, while in the BobWin or Bobcera they already come pre-loaded, and of course, you do not waste time.
The project is being updated both with problems reported by users and with system updates, or with new proposals, solving problems, …..
On top of that, the vast majority of games come with pre-mapped controllers, which makes everything very simple ….: all ready to play.
The slogan is “just play”
Here are some of its virtues:
- You have the BIOS that they for legal reasons cannot put. And not any BIOS pack of those that roll around, they are special BIOS that skip the intro or that improve some incompatibility with some region.
- You have example games of each system that also can not put by the same legal problems, with the systems already adjusted.
- You also have some files to quickly force the video output in case it doesn’t work, or micropcs games already mapped so that you only have to enter and play with the controller.
- Modified cores for chd games on dreamcast, mapping and instant loading on c64 and some extra cores for certain N64 games.
- Help in videos.
- And being a sample version you don’t see the best of all: the game collection.
- Games sifted and sorted starting with the best of each system; enjoy that console you never had without wasting time in an infinite list. Goodbye to uncontrolled collecting or digital Diogenes.
Characteristics of the selection of games
CONTAINED COLLECTION. Avoid uncontrolled collecting: do not enter a game if it is not very good.
OBJECTIVE RANKINGS: thorough and exhaustive made from dozens of reputable Webs and specialized magazines. Hours of Excel to make Top collections with some extras for being famous or having something special (the best arcade adaptation, Sabrina for Spectrum for a couple of reasons, one that was well known in Spain but unknown to Americans/Japanese, etc).
PROVEN. No games that do not work or are not playable.
IINFO, VIDEO and GAME SCREEN on all games to make it easier to see if it is the game you are looking for or if you feel like trying it from the menu itself.
One version per set, you won’t see anything in the names JAP/USA/KOR/World, hack, Set 1, Euro 951024, Ver 2.3, FD1094 317-0169b, etc). No need to specify the version: it’s the best one available..
CATEGORIES in Arcades and ZX Spectrum to make it easier to find the game
Oriented to games in Spanish. Spanish version preferred if available. There are also hundreds of games that have been translated by fans. You will recognize them by the [S] at the end of the name.
Exclusive collection for microPCs, ZXSpectrum, Amstrad, Commodore 64, MSX, Amiga.
Play with your controller on microPCs. More than a thousand games have been pre-mapped one by one so that you only have to choose it and play without taking out the keyboard. Chinese work. You put a Spectrum/Amstrad/C64 game and to start you press START, to play you use the controller, jump with A, shoot with B… you don’t have to configure anything. It’s as easy as that, as if it were a console.
EXCLUSIVE: Commodore Amiga and 64 games with instant loading, no waiting minutes to start playing.
TRICKS pre-assigned to each game. No need to search through files
MINIMUM SPACE. Use the best solutions to occupy only what is necessary: 7zip instead of zip, CHD instead of PBP/ISO… achieving compression records.
Technical characteristics
Usability above all else: the videos and photos are large and prominent, the font is clear, the important thing is the game information, not the menu ornaments. No guitar music that prevents you from hearing the videos.
Visual: maximum prominence for games and their images/videos
It is designed to make everything easy and PLAY, not to make a showcase for friends and family.
Go and have fun!!!