Purchasing:
If you want to build it yourself to save yourself some cash, get a DE10-Nano Kit which is the brains of this whole thing. Direct from the source is your least expensive (but still expensive) bet.
For the MiSTer itself as well as enclosures, check out Ultimate Mister for your choice of either a compact but "squid" look (which is what you'll get once you actually connect stuff to it) or a bigger case that doesn't have wires coming out of its eyes, ears, and mouth. Retro Frog via Stone Age Gamer has some good stuff too, including an attached hard drive enclosure that works with his cases (more on that later).
I went for a full JAMMIX kit from Ultimate Mister with a Jasen's Customs ITX case.
You're still gonna need stuff with your enclosure if you get the JAMMIX kit (check the Jasen's Customs link again). This includes being able to crimp Dupont connectors (I think they're 2.54mm). Get a cheap kit on eBay with the headers.
If you don't want a hard drive to store games, you're done. If you do (and this is the correct answer), also get a Pico power supply and power brick. I used these:
- OCESTORE 24Pin ATX Switch Pico PSU Car Auto Mini ITX High Power Supply Module DC 12V 160W ATX Power Switch Cable
- ALITOVE AC 100-240V to DC 12V 10A Power Supply Adapter Converter Transformer 12 Volt 10 Amp 120W with 5.5mm x 2.5mm 2.1mm DC Output Jack for 5050 3528 LED Strip Light CCTV Cameras 3D Printer
Update before doing anything else:
Plug in a USB keyboard into the MiSTer.
Make sure you have the Update All script which will give you everything you need. If you bought a pre-assembled MiSTer, you may already have it on your micro SD card.
Might want to grab some of wizzomafizzo's scripts too. I particularly like the BGM script which lets you play whatever music you want from the menu.
Power on your MiSTer and run the script from the menu. The first time you run it from you, it'll take about 45 minutes to an hour. When you're done (should be back at the MiSTer main menu, I think), power off.
As for navigating with a controller:
- DualShock 4: Circle is "confirm" and X is "back."
- Saturn-style retro-bit: A is "confirm" and B is "back."
Storage:
Get a 128 GB micro SD at a minimum.
I added an additional 1 TB SSD, which is best powered externally or your Pico power supply.
The JAMMIX kit provides mounting holes for 2.5" drives, and for Retro Frog cases, there is the MASE.
What do you actually want to put on the hard drive? Just games. After formatting to exFAT, create a folder on the root called "games" (in lower-case, as it's case-sensitive). Then just cut and paste whole folders from your SD card (in media/games) into the games folder on your hard drive, e.g. move the whole "GBA" folder.
FTP:
Enable FTP on the MiSTer with a script and plug in an ethernet cable.
Your micro SD is in media/fat.
Your external hard drive is in /media/usb0.
If you did what I did, the actual cores are still in /media/fat.
PSX saves are in media/fat/saves/PSX and named after your game folder names in .sav format. These cards are entire memory cards with the one save file on them. Cards are in raw .mcd format according to the Github, and MiSTer can read your own .mcd files by going to PSX > Mount Memory Card and choosing the .mcd file.
This means to get saves from your real PlayStation memory card (or other sources), grab the save somehow with MemcardRex and do any conversion with this online save file converter. Note that MiSTer expects memory cards, not just saves; if you backup your PSX saves as single saves (which is the way to go, in my opinion), open up MemcardRex, right-click in the free slot area and choose Import Save. then click the Save icon to save as a memory card in .mcd format. Name the .mcd file the same as your game, FTP it over to media/fat/saves/PSX, and you should be good.
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