Using MiSTer

Using MiSTer

So, you've got your MiSTer, followed the "Setup Guide", now what?
Let's get you more familiar with what you can do!

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Important MiSTer Menu Keys

F12 - brings up the Menu in a Core.

ALT F12 - brings up the Core Menu

F1 - changes the background

F11 - bluetooth pairing menu (for supported BT adapters)

F9 - Linux prompt (Press F12 to switch back to the MiSTer menu as necessary)

Left Shift + Left Ctrl + Left Alt + Right Alt - Reboot

Windows + Print Screen - Screenshot

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You'll need a USB keyboard, and internet for the MiSTer

Make sure both are plugged in, and power on the MiSTer. The red, orange and green led lights should start pulsing, and you should see the MiSTer menu onscreen after a second or two.

Staying Updated by using the update.sh script

We'll need to download the "update.sh" script from Github, so lets login to Linux and do so.
Press F9 to bring up the Linux prompt.
(Login with user "root", and password "1", then copy / paste the below)

cd /media/fat/Scripts

wget --no-check-certificate https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MiSTer-devel/Updater_script_MiSTer/master/update.sh -O update.sh

exit

That will download the updater for you in the correct folder. Once thats downloaded, it should exit back to the prompt, and we can now update the system from within MiSTer.
We only need to download that script once. Once its installed, you can simply run the updater from the Scripts menu.

Tip - Press F12 to bring up the System Menu (if you press F12 again, it will show the core menu).
Use the up and down arrow keys and enter to navigate the menu.

Fixing missing certs

The default system comes with no cert files, which is a bit annoying, as you need to add --no-check-certificate on wget to download anything https. Lets fix that.

ssh into your mister.

cd /etc/ssl/certs

wget --no-check-certificate https://curl.haxx.se/ca/cacert.pem

Assuming it downloaded correctly, you can now use wget as nature intended!

Updating our system

Open up the System Menu (F12)
Navigate to Scripts, then run "update" (use the cursor to move and press enter to select).
It will download all the latest cores for you and keep your MiSTer updated.
MiSTer cores are regularly updated - sometimes daily, so run "update" regularly!
Ok, you're updated, now what?

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Samba Sharing Setup

Lets setup samba sharing. By default the samba script is disabled, so we need to rename it.
From your MiSTer -

Press F9 to go to the linux prompt.
(The default user is "root", and the default password is "1")
Type or paste the following to enable samba, this will enable samba, and reboot MiSTer

cd /media/fat/linux

mv _samba.sh samba.sh

/media/fat/Scripts/samba_on.sh

reboot

If you press F12 again once rebooted, you can see the ip address of your MiSTER in the setup menu.
You can now navigate to your mister via \\IP ADDRESS on windows or smb://IP ADDRESS on Mac.
Check your ip address, and navigate to it.

eg if your ip address is 192.168.0.210

Windows

File, Run

\\192.168.0.210

to open the share.

Mac

Press APPLE K (cmd K)

smb://192.168.0.210

Click connect

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You'll want to start copying appropriate file backups of your cartridges - i.e. roms to the appropriate locations.
I usually stick my Console or Computer roms in a folder called roms under the root folder, then sort by name under there.

eg;

/roms/Megadrive/... /roms/SNES/... /roms/NES/... etc

Arcade roms, Computer BIOS and Core system rom's will need to be put elsewhere in a folder called bootrom.

/bootrom/ [ BIOS / Arcade Roms / Core roms go here ]

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Important Folders or files - what goes where!

Note - If the folders or files don't exist make them!

If you are connecting over SSH or over Linux (F9) on the MiSTer then use the full folder name '/media/fat/...'

If connecting over SMB, then remove the /media/fat/ below as you are already in that folder! eg /media/fat/menu.jpg would simply be a file called menu.jpg in the root folder

/media/fat/menu.jpg or /media/fat/menu.png

Background menu image for MiSTer (Press F1 to cycle through when in the MiSTer menu). Needs to be a jpg or a png format file. MiSTer will resize it for you.

/media/fat/fonts

Fonts folder. Get your fonts here

Edit /media/fat/MiSTer.ini and edit font=fonts/xxx.pf to your choice of font

/media/fat/screenshots

Screenshots taken with Windows Key + PrintScreen will go in here

/media/fat/bootrom

Place your rom files in this folder. Cores will look in this folder first. Note that Arcade cores need to be built specially for MiSTer and copied in here. Instructions to build roms are in the core menu per core.

eg Asteroids, you will need to acquire the rom's from, uh, your PCB, and download the files from here - then run the build_rom.sh or bat file to create the MiSTer compatible file - a.asteroid.rom and finally copy that into to /media/fat/bootrom.