Some help with NFCs?

[picard999]

My Mister PI came with an NFC reader. No instructions, but a reader. I've battled through and downloaded the Mister Pi Zaparoo script. I've connected the NFC reader to the device

I see lots of folk use a mobile phone, but I think that defeats the purpose of the reader? And in any case my Mister is saying I have no WiFi, so I can't connect it to a phone...?

So I'm ploughing on with the reader. I've run the Zaparoo script and I've asked it to search for a game on the 'write an NFC' menu (5: Manage tags, read and write nfc tags)

It then asks me for a search parameter...I've typed 'bubble bobble'. Now what?

Can anyone tell me the key to press to perform the search? I've tried space, enter, F1, control...I have a flashing cursor after my bubble bobble text. Pressing some buttons causes that to disappear, but nothing else...

It's always the simple things!

[picard999]

Brief update...found a WiFi dongle...enabled WiFi...used a phone app to write a game to an NFC card...the phone and the Mister FPGA NFC reader both work and load the game

My original query remains...in the Zaparoo script, what key do I press to enter the game name?!?

[picard999]

Clearly there's a hard drive /SD card conflict. Turning off the external hard drive means that if I type a letter, all the games starting with that letter now appears in a pull down menu.

For instance, typing Bomb, gives me the below:

Search param: Bomb
Bomb Jack (E)

Still can't select it or write it or do anything with it, but progress, at least!

Whoever is designing this software needs a course in design!

[FPGA64]

Clearly there's a hard drive /SD card conflict. Turning off the external hard drive means that if I type a letter, all the games starting with that letter now appears in a pull down menu.

For instance, typing Bomb, gives me the below:

Search param: Bomb
Bomb Jack (E)

Still can't select it or write it or do anything with it, but progress, at least!

Whoever is designing this software needs a course in design!

Or you could be grateful that someone has given up their time to write it for you

[picard999]

Indeed. But it doesn't work!

I've been a retro gamer for decades

What fascinates me is the creative bent of the authors of these programs - their work IS inspiring, but, and I guess it's because I'm a writer, I find the lack of user friendliness and documentation baffling

I've just spent £400 on a device and accessories and it arrived with no documentation. Nothing. As it stands it's a glitchy horrible mess. I'm sure some of that is by design / quirk, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to differentiate between an actual fault and designer jank?

Certainly, it arriving rattling was just poor production...but the software has proved just as challenging...plug something in to usb slot 1, works fine. Dare to use slot 2? No go. The picture jumps and glitches like a demented ghost. Jank or design? Who knows? SD contents appearing and disappearing at will. Same as the external USB drive. The NFC reader, will read, but won't write. The VGA output, well, doesn't. I could go on, but it's all very frustrating. And it shouldn't be this hard....if that upsets people, imagine my dismay. I'm £400 down

[dickhardpill]

https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/

https://zaparoo.org/docs/

Maybe contact the seller for a replacement or return/refund?

[picard999]

I've spoken to the software author today. The script is a WIP and 'doesn't work'

Sorry, but I think that's hilarious.

Why anyone would release something that doesn't work and then not advertise that or doesn't work baffles me

I shall await an update whilst I concentrate on other fixes!

I appreciate the help provided here. I'm up and running in other areas

I've bothched a fix to the graphical glitches in-menu by forcing the mister.ini to display at 1080p 50 which seems to calm things down!

[FPGA64]

The zaparoo is an open source project. No one has been paid to produce it. You purchased it from a 3rd party. The author is under no obligation to you and should he choose to could simply discontinue the project.

Its also not part of the Mister Project, Its an independent addon that works with the Mister.

[picard999]

? What a bizarre take! He's under an obligation under the Sale of goods act and any other national or international law that states goods should be fit for the purpose for which they are sold...which this isn't by his own admission.

An NFC read / writer, defins itself by it's name. If it can't write, that's a fail...

[FPGA64]

? What a bizarre take! He's under an obligation under the Sale of goods act and any other national or international law that states goods should be fit for the purpose for which they are sold...which this isn't by his own admission.

An NFC read / writer, defins itself by it's name. If it can't write, that's a fail...

No you have purchased an open source device, The seller has supplied it to you, The guy who wrote the software is nothing to do with the guy who sold you the Mister. As such the Author of Zaptoo has no obligation to you at all. He simpy put out a device as open source/ Open HW.

Then someone bundled it and sold it to you. Your issue is with the seller. The guy who wrote zaptoo is under no obligation to you at all.

[Bas]

? What a bizarre take! He's under an obligation under the Sale of goods act and any other national or international law that states goods should be fit for the purpose for which they are sold...which this isn't by his own admission.

An NFC read / writer, defins itself by it's name. If it can't write, that's a fail...

Nope. You bought a piece of physical kit that should be physically functional according to what it's supposed to do. That's what you bought. Take it up with the seller if your device is broken. Same with the NFC reader. If you bought it as a reader, it should read. Writing? If that wasn't an agreed upon spec, you're lucky if it can do that but you probably have no standing if it can't.

Software is hardly ever sold in this sense. In the commercial software world you pay for a license, not for ownership. For GPL and many other free software licenses you don't need to pay, but it also doesn't give you any standing with regards to fitness for purpose. Same for lots of commercial software that you do pay for, in fact. You only pay for the privilege to use such software under strictly stipulated conditions, you don't get to own anything.

You won't get far with a claim of entitlement in an open source community built on the efforts of volunteers. You bought and paid for a physical piece of kit. Not for any of the software. Nobody owes anyone anything when it comes to the software in the MiSTer ecosystem. Nevertheless we are in fact here to help you out and get you going.

While I personally agree that a seller of MiSTer kit could save themselves some hassle by including at least a sheet of paper with a few helpful URL's on it that point to the docs, that's all quite beside the point. In an open source environment you are expected to do your own research and read the fine manuals, and then you'll find that community more than willing to help where things are unclear. If you don't know where the docs are, that's also a legitimate question.

[Flandango]

You mentioned that you found a wifi dongle and connected your mister to wifi then used a phone app to write a game to the NFC card.
Do you mean you wrote to the NFC card using your phone itself instead of the reader?
If so, then the wifi don't to your Mister wasn't needed for that purpose.
But since you now have wifi connectivity to your Mister and assuming you ran the Zaparoo script and enabled the service....
You can use either your phone's web browser or another device (tablet/pc/mac/etc...) to access the Zaparoo interface on Mister via the
http://[your Mister's IP address]:7497/app, and on first use, go to settings and click on "Update Media Database" (also do this when you add new games to your mister).
Then from there click on the "Create" button down below and search for your game and use the NFC device to write the information to the NFC card.
If you are trying to search straight from Zaparoo script, it's very slow at the moment and that's why you are having issues. Which, from the looks of it, Wizzo (aka "The Author", aka the Developer) was made aware of the issue and will be looking into it (he opened a ticket/issue himself).

On a side note. I can understand your frustration when it comes to spending a good bit of money and things don't work right out of the box, but you have to understand, as others have mentioned, most, if not all the software is not commercial produced. It is written by folks on their free time and on their dime/expense and provided to a community for free. Some may accept donations of some sort but their work is not sold to you nor do they make it a requirement to donate to them in order to use their work and effort.
Attacking these people discourages them from continuing any more work. And there have been such developers who have made large contributions not only to the Mister scene but to the whole retro community that have been attacked in such ways and have left the community that they served only to have those very same attackers come back and cry on why work has stopped.

[picard999]

Thanks for the suggestion re the app. But I have an app on my phone that reads and writes these NFCs, so not sure I want to repeat that via a web interface.

In any case, I bought an NFC reader AND writer and I don't think it's a big ask for it to read AND write.

That's a physical piece of kit that needs software to work with it. Whoever sold it, did so either with their software, which I'm unaware of, because it came with nothing, or they sought to rely on well intentioned third parties

If I bought a TV, I wouldn't be happy just because it turned on. I'd want the software to give me an OS and a picture

I'm not attacking anyone. I'm pointing out the whole scenario is so obtuse as to be ridiculous. Sending out a box of electronics with no instructions of any sort is complete madness, whatever way it's presented

Selling a read / write NFC card that doesn't write, IS, in the UK, selling goods that are not fit for purpose. I don't know if that's because the seller hasn't written software (god forbid he should put firmware on it, or a piece of paper in the box linking to where it can be downloaded)

So I don't know if the issue is his or because he's relying on open source volunteers. If he is relying on open source volunteers (and god bless them all) then he shouldn't be selling the kit until it's fit for purpose.

I spent a lot of money on this kit. I supported the community as I have done for decades and this feels beyond amateur hour. I'm on my third day of trying to get this kit to work and the results are embarrassing

1: The menu is glitching horribly again. Despite having settled down earlier.

2: The USB slots are working randomly but conflict horribly with each other. Plug something in to port 1 and it nukes port 2 and so on. The USB slots HATE hard drives and will randomly turn them on and off and disappear data at random (up to and including 200gb of it). It comes back, I think with the cycles of the moon, but thats no help when it's gone...

3: The conflicts between the SD card and external USB are frankly ridiculous

4: The design of the SD card slot I presumed was a practical joke. I expected Jeremy Beadle to pop out from behind my sofa. I'm currently using the blunt end of a tea spoon to eject it and the side end of a sharp screwdriver to push it back in. Apparently this device has been through numerous revisions and metal kitchen utensils are still the best way of accessing the SD card. I know the Rog Ally was melting SD cards and this hasn't done that yet, so I'll take that win

5: Despite being the turbo edition and coming with WiFi software, there's no WiFi on the unit, though that's fixable with a USB dongle, or would be if the USB would read the dongle reliable, which, spoiler...

6: There's two power USB ports, but no description of what they actually do. I'd guess you could power a USB device via them, but not successfully so far

7: The device works with a huge range of controllers, except of course they're USB and, well, you get the picture...my wired Xbox controller, a veteran of my retro gaming, worked seamlessly for 10 minutes. Then Mister PI murdered it. I don't know how, but it did..DOA. Gone. Defunct.

8: I still have no idea if the power supply I bought could be an issue. They won't sell you one with the device, so you have to source your own. The internet is great for research, but everyone is an expert. Something recommended by one is laughed at by others. I know it's a trend to save the planet, but call my old fashioned, if I buy something, I want it to come with the means of powering it on

9: Presuming HDMI might be the source of my woes, and no lead was provided, I had to guess the spec of the lead required. Giving up on that, I switched to VGA. Again, no lead, no specs and the 5, yes 5 leads I've tried don't work anyway. Shame you can't get a picture via USB. Oh, wait, that wouldn't help

10: Speaking of USB. They're all clearly labelled. Except 1. That's a mystery and will remain so...I won't be pluggin anything in to it

I could go on. I could discuss that it rattled when it arrived. That there was a nut and screw moving freely though the board. I could mention the fan doesn't, well fan, that the HDMI socket is tighter than something very tight but the power socket is so loose I could be due a shock

Somehow this is all fine?

I think not

I'm not new to this caper. I have a house full of retro stuff. My own arcade. I've modded arcade machines with Pis, I've hacked the hell out of various consoles new, old and handheld, I've just never come across such a 'mature' device in such a state

What's REALLY interesting is all the YouTube stuff surrounding the Mister. I've not seen a A SINGLE negative comment and I've watched hundreds of hours of commentary

For balance, there is ample upside potential... I've had a few things working. The snac interface is a work of genius and the input lag virtually eliminated. The signed off cores are, by all my scientific measurements, as near as damn it to the original hardware. Those are the things that have impressed me, but if I can't get to them...it's a bit like seeing a Super model but knowing you'll never make her company.

But it comes back to 'the scene' being so obtuse, so blinded by their achievements that they always fail to take the last step in considering the end user experience. Mister Pi faked it with gorgeous boxes and lovely physical presentation, but they royally, absolutely, and unforgivably screwed the pooch with the rest of it, sending out poorly built, poorly designed, poorly Q A'd hardware and software WITH NO INSTRUCTIONS. If I was asked for a recommendation, this would fall in to the 'dont touch it with a barge poll' category

Presuming most of my woes relate to poor build quality and dodgy USB connectivity it might be that a replacement bit of kit solves 85% of the problems and tips the balance, but I'm told RRs customer service is catastrophicslly bad, which given the kit I've had sight of isn't really a shock. They've undercut the market and now I know how...

Still got some round stickers. No idea at all what they are. I have 4 small metal plates. I think they're NFCs, but nowt I've done, app, script, web will read or write to them and the NFC read / non writer is scaring me know because it hums loader and louder as time passes

I remain disappointed beyond belief

[akeley]

Consider this:
-if you bought a TV, it'd be from a large corporation, not a small manufacturer
-the "instructions" are online. If you bought a modern TV, you'd most likely be told the same
-some of your woes stem from not reading said instructions
-if, like you say, you're "not new to this caper" why are you making rookie mistakes and also complain about a hobby-level device not meeting some lofty standards?
-why haven't you contacted the Mister Pi seller if you have a problem with the product?

So, ok, maybe you got really unlucky and got a borked MiSTer Pi. These things happen, though admittedly yours is the first horror story in regard to this product I have seen so far (and there’s a whole subforum here dedicated to MiSTer clones).

The thing to do now, though, is to calm down, establish whether your USB/Pi is really busted, and get in touch with the seller.

[picard999]

I have contacted the seller. I haven't heard back.

The 'instructions' may be online. A small piece of paper in the box might have told me where those instructions were....

And when you find the instructions and it still doesn't work? You come to a forum seeking answers, which I've done here.

What rookie mistakes have I made other than wasting my time trying to fix this?

Re no other issues.... I had one reply when I said mine was defective. That one reply said his has similar issues, so 2 for 2 from the same batch from the same supplier.

It's not unlucky when stuff is shipped broken. It's poor design, poor build and poor Q A

Something shouldn't go in the post office it's rattling...

I'm told I won't hear back from the supplier..that's hardly a ringing endorsement, is it?

Hobby level, doesn't come in to it. It's is being sold so it HAS to meet the required standard of the country of purchase. This doesn't. It'll be a chargeback unless it's replaced and I'd urge anyone considering purchasing Mister Pi to think long and hard about their purchase.

Which 'lofty' standard should this device not have to meet? Please be specific

Nfc not working
Usb slots conflicting
Borked my controller
Keyboards won't work
WiFi won't work
Screen glitching
SD slot laughably inept
VGA not working
Hard drives being wiped

Lofty indeed expecting ANY of that to work?!

[fogbank]

Mister Pi faked it with gorgeous boxes and lovely physical presentation, but they royally, absolutely, and unforgivably screwed the pooch with the rest of it, sending out poorly built, poorly designed, poorly Q A'd hardware and software WITH NO INSTRUCTIONS.

I purchased a batch 3 MiSTer Pi and could not be happier with it. Yes it came with the acrylic top and some screws loose, but I would need to remove the top to install the extra SDRAM anyway, so I wasn't too upset. Otherwise everything works great.

I also purchased a complete MiSTer kit from MiSTer Addons two years ago. I paid twice as much for it as I did for the MiSTer Pi. It came fully disassembled with no instructions in the package. I had to build it and learn how it works. The MiSTer project is a hobbyist project and requires some effort on the users part to learn the hardware and software that supports it.

Certainly, it arriving rattling was just poor production...but the software has proved just as challenging...plug something in to usb slot 1, works fine. Dare to use slot 2? No go. The picture jumps and glitches like a demented ghost. Jank or design? Who knows? SD contents appearing and disappearing at will.

This is not normal behavior from the MiSTer Pi, or any MiSTer for that matter. I would contact Retro Remake about your issues. You wont' find much support on this forum if your MiSTer hardware is not working correctly in the first place.

If it were me I would probably disassemble the MiSTer Pi and reassemble it, making sure that all connections are secure. I would also try a fresh MiSTer install on a clean SD card.

Just out of curiosity - did you purchase a second 128MB SDRAM module? If so, how did you install it?

[Bas]

From what you're writing here, you have a broken unit and you need to take that up with the seller. You're never going to get decent results from software that tries to run on a bad unit. I get your frustration, but you have a problem with the party who sold the device to you. No use antagonizing the wider community here.

[tdelage]

Nfc not working
Usb slots conflicting
Borked my controller
Keyboards won't work
WiFi won't work
Screen glitching
SD slot laughably inept
VGA not working
Hard drives being wiped

Lofty indeed expecting ANY of that to work?!

With so many stuff not working, i would start with questioning the power supply you use..... Try using a very steady, beefy one +5 volts / 4Amps or more and start from there... Avoid by all means the crappy cheap chinese power supplies or phone chargers promising you 2 or 3 amps on the paper and barely giving 0.5 in real life when measured. All the boards in the units rely on this one and only power supply to feed the FPGA, the USB ports and all the I/Os, so select it with care. I've seen countless "out of this world" behaviours from unit improperly powered so i wouldn't be surprised if this is what's happening to you

[picard999]

I have the very power supply recommended by RR. 5v, 4amp as you describe purchased from Misterfpga as their recommended 'go to'

I suppose it could be faulty, but so could any other component. But, yeah, random glitching did give me that vibe....

[picard999]

Mister Pi faked it with gorgeous boxes and lovely physical presentation, but they royally, absolutely, and unforgivably screwed the pooch with the rest of it, sending out poorly built, poorly designed, poorly Q A'd hardware and software WITH NO INSTRUCTIONS.

I purchased a batch 3 MiSTer Pi and could not be happier with it. Yes it came with the acrylic top and some screws loose, but I would need to remove the top to install the extra SDRAM anyway, so I wasn't too upset. Otherwise everything works great.

I also purchased a complete MiSTer kit from MiSTer Addons two years ago. I paid twice as much for it as I did for the MiSTer Pi. It came fully disassembled with no instructions in the package. I had to build it and learn how it works. The MiSTer project is a hobbyist project and requires some effort on the users part to learn the hardware and software that supports it.

Certainly, it arriving rattling was just poor production...but the software has proved just as challenging...plug something in to usb slot 1, works fine. Dare to use slot 2? No go. The picture jumps and glitches like a demented ghost. Jank or design? Who knows? SD contents appearing and disappearing at will.

This is not normal behavior from the MiSTer Pi, or any MiSTer for that matter. I would contact Retro Remake about your issues. You wont' find much support on this forum if your MiSTer hardware is not working correctly in the first place.

If it were me I would probably disassemble the MiSTer Pi and reassemble it, making sure that all connections are secure. I would also try a fresh MiSTer install on a clean SD card.

Just out of curiosity - did you purchase a second 128MB SDRAM module? If so, how did you install it?

I have contacted the supplier. Without response...

[tdelage]

I have the very power supply recommended by RR. 5v, 4amp as you describe purchased from Misterfpga as their recommended 'go to'

I suppose it could be faulty, but so could any other component. But, yeah, random glitching did give me that vibe....

In that case have you tried to replace it with another PSU just for the sake of it and to discard the possibility of a malfunctioning power supply.
If you get the same crappy result with a different PSU then for sure it would mean that your stack of boards is faulty... In that case you could either seek for a replacement with the retailer or if you feel a bit ballsy you can try unmounting the whole stack and mount it back just to check if something wouldn't be connected properly

[picard999]

The power supply was near £30 and took weeks to arrive. At this stage it sounds like throwing good money after bad on the off chance

I've spent over 20 hours on this. In the absence of co-operstion from the retailer, it's time to charge back and learn the lessons

I appreciate people's time

I suspect disassembling would be reasonable enough for them to block a chargeback...

[fogbank]

You didn't answer my last question: Did you purchase a second 128MB SDRAM module? If so, how did you install it?

I purchased a second 128MB SDRAM module and installed it into the accessible GPIO port on the FPGA board. I had all kinds of issues with cores not loading, corrupt menus/screens, etc.

I then realized that the batch 3 MiSTer Pi units are sold with the first 128MB SDRAM built in. I had to remove part of the analog board to expose the other GPIO port, install the second SDRAM module there, and set the appropriate dip switch on the FPGA board:
To enable extra SDRAM on a MiSTer FPGA, you need to set SW3 on the larger DIP switch array to the ON position.

I suspect disassembling would be reasonable enough for them to block a chargeback...

I doubt it.

[picard999]

I keep hoping someone will reveal a simple solution, but sadly this isn't it...

I bought the Turbo pack. I understand it has 128 soldered to the board. I didn't buy anything that wasn't included in the turbo pack, so no additional memory...

Otherwise, it would explain the issues.

Problem is several things do....faulty ram, faulty USB stack, faulty power supply...any and all of the above.

To be fair venting has got it out of my system. I've tried repeated contact with no reply...that's why we have debit / credit card charge back!

Glad to hear you got yours sorted.

I suppose asking will only be a kick in the gonads, but I take it that a working unit is as good as they say?

I had twenty minutes yesterday when the arcade core behaved and I banged out some classics. I couldn't believe the sharpens of the pixels and the fluidity / response times. It was, all too briefly, transformational

Trouble is, it's put me right of emulation and left me retro game homeless!

That said, back in the day I was a gaming journalist, so might contact my old ED at Retro Gamer and do an opinion piece...

[fogbank]

I suppose asking will only be a kick in the gonads, but I take it that a working unit is as good as they say?

Depends on what "they say".

Aside from a minor issue with HDMI audio output, my MiSTer Pi works exactly as well as my DE10-Nano build from MiSTer Addons (which cost twice as much). The MiSTer Pi tends to make the audio cut out on my Morph 4K more often than my DE10-Nano build, however that is more of an issue with the Morph 4K. Both devices work identically when connected directly to my OLED monitor.

You've only had your unit for a couple of days, and it seems you may have faulty hardware(?). Others, including myself, have been working with the MiSTer project for years. There were lots of things I had to figure out myself by reading forum posts, skimming Discord channels, and watching Youtube videos. A working unit is great. There is a LOT more to MiSTer than playing arcade and console games, should you decide to explore further. The computer cores offer a great challenge when it comes to curating software and learing the operating systems.

Regarding your apparent hardware issues - I would definitely disassemble and reassemble the unit. There may even be a loose piece of metal causing shorts. A clean reassembly might correct loose connections or shorts.

And I still recommend trying a fresh installation of MiSTer on a new SD card. If your USB devices still don't work after reassembly and a fresh install on a new SD card then I would say your USB board is faulty.

[Flandango]

Thanks for the suggestion re the app. But I have an app on my phone that reads and writes these NFCs, so not sure I want to repeat that via a web interface.

In any case, I bought an NFC reader AND writer and I don't think it's a big ask for it to read AND write.

I still don't think you are understanding what I am trying to tell you so let me say it as simple as possible.

1. The Zaparoo script you run from the Scripts folder currently has an issue with searching for games and displaying results properly. This is causing you issues with "What button do I press and what not".
2. Zaparoo once installed on Mister, enables a WEB Interface that allows you to use it from a browser.
3. Using the WEB Interface, you can, once all is properly configured (you told it to update the games database), you can search for the game you want to ADD/WRITE to the NFC card and you can USE the NFC Reader that you bought with the Mister Kit to WRITE to the NFC card.

If you STILL want to run it from the console script, then you'll have to wait till it gets fixed.

[picard999]

If the web interface is runnable in Mister that would be something, I suppose, but Mister is script based and that's how I want to run it, ideally.

I'll have another go today and see if the web interface is within Mister and if it's a viable alternative to the script.

If it's not within Mister I may as well just use my phone...I have an app on my phone that I did use to read and write NFCs, but I wanted to avoid using a PC or a phone under the principle of 'why have a script and then use a phone or PC'...

Thanks for the suggestion.

[akeley]

Which 'lofty' standard should this device not have to meet? Please be specific

Nfc not working
Usb slots conflicting
Borked my controller
Keyboards won't work
WiFi won't work
Screen glitching
SD slot laughably inept
VGA not working
Hard drives being wiped

Lofty indeed expecting ANY of that to work?!

My "lofty expactations" remark was in regard to your general complaints about lack of instructions, the SD slot card design (pretty much the same on on all MiSTer designs), expecting some sort of insta-reply to your query, etc...

This was aside from the fact that your MiSTer might be indeed broken. If so, then this is obviously wrong and should be rectified by the seller. Even so, you should allow at least some time for them to reply before issuing chargebacks, declaring them a fraud, and so on.

Another problem is that it's really hard to say how many items out of your list are indicators that something is really broken and how many could be down to good ol' "user error".

I think it's probable that your USB board has an issue, becaue these usually work out of the box without any user input needed. If that's the case then obviously WiFi/keyboard/etc won't work.

It is also possible that visual "glitching" and "VGA not working" are caused by hardware not working properly, although here the scope for this being a result of not following instructions or getting something wrong with the setup is much bigger and quite normal. The latter also seems to be the case with your NFC complaints.

As for "Hard drives being wiped" and "Borked my controller" this really sounds a bit too apocalyptic. As in, in 5 years around here I've never heard about anything like that happening, and so I suppose it's very unlikely to have been caused by a faulty MiSTer Pi.

Please note that I'm not saying this to argue with you, just to clarify things for outside people who might happen to be reading this thread.

[picard999]

1: I haven't declared anyone a fraud. Clearly they are not. They're a startup. It looks like they've grown too quickly and their Quality Assursnce and customer service has suffered

2: The author of the Zaparoo NFC software has confirmed it's broken and is working on a fix. So there's that.

3: My hard drive is glitching. It's USB. I suspect that's because the USB board is fried. Same as my controller - USB... Same as my keyboard...USB. I'm not sure I need a course to plug a HDMI cable or a VGA cable in, but if you can link me to an online one I'd happily sign up to it

4: The fact remains this isn't working. The fact remains I've emailed them and contacted them via social media with no response. What can I do now other than consider chargeback and seek advice on public forums?

That's a serious question. What would you do? I'm on my third day of trying to make this work. I'm now burning a new image to a new card and seeking another power pack and additional controllers and keyboards. The £400 I've spent is now well over £500.

5: I hope my comments would give EVERYONE considering a purchase of Mister Pi from Retro Remake pause for thought. If you buy something that one way or another is clearly broken and they won't respond to customer service requests, they shouldn't be top of anyone's list to be buying from....

Very happy to post videos of these faults, but not sure it would move anything forward.

[FPGA64]

Most USB problems like you describe are caused by an inadequate power supply.

Trying to get VGA working before you have a working HDMI is a wrong move. CRT setup requires editing of the Mister.ini file and until you have a working machine its best left for another day.

try

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbppuWmukw0

Its the setup video from your seller