Multiple gamepads for Pi

[rambopie]

Hello

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum.

I have successfully installed the retropie image and have multiple emulators working (fantastic!).
I have managed to get 3 gamepads working for arcade games (mame4all-pi) and I've ordered a fourth gamepad.

1st question: can I run my games using a passive (no external power) 4-port USB hub with 4 connected USB gamepads (2 SNES replicas, 2 Logitech generic) or will this be too power hungry for my Pi? If it matters, my Pi ARM is overclocked to 900 MHz (think it's called Medium setting in raspberry OC menu) and I'm using a 1 ampere USB charger. Do I need to buy a powered USB hub or is my passive sufficient?

2nd question: is it safe to unplug and plug gamepads while EmulationStation/Games are running or do I need to shutdown my Pi everytime I switch my gamepads around? I don't want to harm my Pi or corrupt any data.

[welshy]

1st question: can I run my games using a passive (no external power) 4-port USB hub with 4 connected USB gamepads (2 SNES replicas, 2 Logitech generic) or will this be too power hungry for my Pi? If it matters, my Pi ARM is overclocked to 900 MHz (think it's called Medium setting in raspberry OC menu) and I'm using a 1 ampere USB charger. Do I need to buy a powered USB hub or is my passive sufficient?
Answer. Depends on the current draw from the Joypads, as long as you dont have the 1st hardware revision (where the polyfuses may blow) I would just try it, if they don't work, you need a Powered Hub! (I run 2 XBox360 Pads straight from the RPi USB's with no issues using just a 1A HTC Phone Charger).

2nd question: is it safe to unplug and plug gamepads while EmulationStation/Games are running or do I need to shutdown my Pi everytime I switch my gamepads around? I don't want to harm my Pi or corrupt any data.
Answer. It should create no issues (the latest Wheezy kernels are much more stable and less prone to corruption), but obviously if you change Joypads they may not work when you plug others back in (depending on the driver loading configuration).

[rambopie]

My Pi is the 512MB rev B version so I guess I'll just try then and see what happens

Thanks.