How to install CrossMix-OS on the TrimUI Smart Pro
In this tutorial, I’ll teach you how to install CrossMix-OS on an empty MicroSD card, where to add BIOS files, ROMs, Images, Setup achievements, and so on that you can set yourself up for success without failure. Remember, these are steps, and if you ruin your setup, that’s not my fault.
Prepare & Buy
The first thing you need to do is find a TrimUi Smart Pro. You can find them pretty much anywhere, which I talk about it here: https://destructiveburn.com/trimui-smart-pro-is-amazing/
- Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=TrimUI+Smart+Pro
- Amazon Com: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=TrimUI+Smart+Pro
- Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=TrimUI+Smart+Pro
- AliExpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-TrimUI-Smart-Pro.html
- Sandisk 128GB Extreme PRO (Official Sandisk Supplier): Amazon.ca / Amazon.com
Note: When it comes to storage, choose official suppliers. This is one of them, and I have two of these, so I know they’re official. - SD Card Reader: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0779V61XB
I am posting that link, but I have not bought it, but I do have UGREEN products like my LAN to USB, which works great, so I don’t see that one being a problem.
Another search for it here: https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=USB+3.0+UGREEN+SD+Card+Reader
Do note that wherever you get the TrimUI Smart Pro can vary as these are not official sources but a middleman seller for TrimUI themselves. As an example, I bought mine from an Amazon seller that won’t ship the box but shipped it in a nice case by CredevZone with generic crappy MicroSD with CredevZone name on it. Which leads to the next part. I recommend you get an official SanDisk MicroSD card from official sources. The MicroSD cards that come with it are junk and will fail. Also, the ROMs are not that good.
If you want more for your TrimUI, I have more links on my other blog page: https://destructiveburn.com/trimui-smart-pro-is-amazing/ Under the title: Where Did I buy everything?
You can look at other places for the TrimUI Smart Pro as well: https://searchthat.net/search.html?q=Buy+TrimUI+Smart+Pro
Setup CrossMix-OS
Format MicroSD Card
Recommend you make a fresh copy to a blank MicroSD card. You’ll need to format it to FAT32. You can choose Rufus but for this tutorial will use FAT32Format which is what I used.
Windows Instructions
- Download Fat32Format Mirror: https://github.com/anzz1/DotUI-X/files/11605079/fat32format.zip
- Extract the folder “fat32format” to your desktop
- Plug in the MicroSD card you are going to use for Crossmix OS
- Open “fat32format-gui.exe”
- Check your drive letter to make sure you are going to be formatting the correct MicroSD card.
- In the FAT32 Format, Choose
– Correct Drive letter
– Volume label: CROSSMIXOS or CrossMix-OS
– Quick Format
– Press “Start” - Done
NOTE: If it says the drive is being used, just right-click on the MicroSD card in “This PC” and Format to exFAT. If it shows FAT32 in the selection, just use that. But if not, continue to format to exFAT and try the tool again.
Mac OS Instructions here from CrossMic OS Github: https://github.com/cizia64/CrossMix-OS/wiki/Installation
Download & Extract Crossmix OS
- Download the latest version of CrossMix Os here: https://github.com/cizia64/CrossMix-OS
- Open the “CrossMix-OS-main.zip” and CrossMix-OS-main folder inside the .zip and copy all of its contents right to the MicroSD card. (Might take a bit. Be patient.)
To extract, you can use 7zip if you like: https://www.7-zip.org/
Understanding Basic File Structure
- Folder “Roms”: In this folder, you will see folder names where the ROMs will be added. Example: The PS folder is where the PlayStation 1 (PS1) “.PBP” ROMs will go. .cue and .bin will not work. They need to be “.PBP”.
This folder will also contain your saves and the save thumbnails under folder names that end with libretro. - Folder “Imgs”: In this folder, you will see folder names where the ROM thumbnails will be added. Note: Thumbnail names must be the same exact name as the ROM name and must be in .png format. Any other image extension names will not show on the TrimUI Smart Pro. Example: Imgs\PS\Crash Bandicoot.png | Roms\PS\Crash Bandicoot.PBP
When you have CrossMix OS set up, you can also scrape the ROMs for thumbnails online if you don’t want to add your own. - BIOS: Here is where you dump your BIOS files. Just put them in the folder. If some BIOSs have their own folders, put them in there too.
- Screenshots: If you have taken screenshots from Retroarch advanced menu, these screenshots are found in: RetroArch\.retroarch\screenshots
- Screen Rec App: If you have recorded video from this app, your videos will be found in: Apps\ScreenRecorder\output
If you have used RestroArch before, it’s pretty much the same layout. Some things might be ordered differently, but are simple to navigate. For the ROMs and Imgs folders containing the system names, if they are confusing, I recommend going here to see what the folder shortcut names are: https://github.com/cizia64/CrossMix-OS/wiki/Emulators. I have noticed a lot of names have changed from what I am used to on my Raspberry Pi, for example Nintendo folder would be NES, and Super Nintendo is SNES, but on CrossMix OS, it’s FDS for Nintendo and SFC for Super Nintendo. So this Emulator page is very helpful to place the ROMs and images in the right locations.
Update Firmware
Make sure you have the latest firmware that works with CrossMix OS. cizia64 did post remarks about the required firmware “CrossMix-OS doesn’t require any firmware update before installation”. Here: https://github.com/cizia64/CrossMix-OS/wiki/Installation.
Either way, it’s best to update it to whatever version it shows there.
How to update your firmware version
- Go here: https://github.com/trimui/assets_smartpro/releases
- On your TrimUi Smart Pro go to Settings / System / Device Info
You’ll see Version number and UI Version are the current fixes of that version. You can match that up with the latest firmware. - Download the tg5040 version. If it’s a hotfix, grab that one.
- Turn off your TrimUi Smart Pro and plug your MicroSD card into your PC.
- In the .7z file you’re looking for the trimui_tg5040.awimg file. That will need to go on your MicroSD card with the CrossMix files in the main root directory.
- Plug the MicroSD card back into your TrimUi Smart Pro
- Press and hold the Volume – and POWER keys at the same time.
When you see a green boot logo appearing on the screen, release the POWER key. - Then release the Volume – key, and it will automatically restart after successful installation.
You can later on remove the trimui_tg5040.awimg file from your MicroSD card.
Where to get the ROMs / BIOS files from
I am sorry, but I cannot provide links that endorse piracy. I am sure you can look for some https://searchthat.net/search.html?q=download+roms
There is an app for the Trim down below called EmuDrop that could help.
RetroAchivements
Not all games you add will work with RetroAchivements. But a good majority of them will. To get started this is what you’ll need to do.
- Head to https://retroachievements.org/ and create an account.
Note: Don’t make a super extremely complex password that will be annoying to enter, but something simple. On my search engine, you can choose a generated pass here: https://searchthat.net/search.html?q=pass, which is perfect to use. - On your TrimUi, head to Settings / Wi-Fi and enable your Wi-Fi.
- Next, head to Apps / System Tools
- Go to EMULATORS / RETROACHIEVEMENTS / Retroachievement_setup and press A to start
- In the Terminal, it’s kinda a pain but usable as you can see with the image above.
Controls
– Y button will bring up the Keyboard
– L button will give you caps, “Hold”
– A button to enter the selected
– B button is to delete the last selected
– When done, press Enter - Press A to start Token Generation
- Press A to launch a game to temporarily generate the token.
If done correctly, it will say “RetroAchivements connected and enabled in RA, PPSSPP and Flycast.” If not, try again.
Remove Overlay and Shaders
Remove Overlays
- On your TrimUi, head to Apps / System Tools
- Go to EMULATORS / OVERLAYS
- Select No overlays – max ratio
Remove Shaders
- Launch a game
- Click the menu button and go to the Advanced Menu
- Scroll down to Shaders / Video Shaders and toggle it off.
- Now scroll up a bit and go to Overrides / Save Core Overrides
If you somehow don’t see that and see Quick Menu, click that first
Display Framerate
In Retroarch: Settings -> User Interface -> On-Screen Notifications -> Notification Visibility -> Display Framerate.
UI Navigation
- Recents: This will show you your recent games, apps or whatever you opened.
- Best: Is a cluster of things you can set in the Best folder on the MicroSD card
- Emulators: Show you a list of emulators you can select.
Note: If you want to hide the emulators you’re not using, press the menu button / Edit / and uncheck the ones you’re not using. Then press B, then A for OK - Apps: Gives you more control over the TrimUI Smart Pro
- Netplay: If you have another TrimUi, you can set up a local network where you and another person can play together. This can be set up in Apps / System Tools / Network
- Settings: A list of system settings like Display / Volume / Wi-Fi / Hotspot / Bluetooth, and more.
Buttons
- Select Button: will show you a search to find games or files on your MicroSD card.
- Start Button: Changes a single row to two rows.
- Menu Button: Gives you Edit / Search and Refresh Roms
- Enter Emulators
– Hover over a ROM and press the X button will show a list of Emulators to choose from if needed.
– Hover over a ROM and press the Menu button will show Open / Add Favourite / Delete & Search - B Button is Back
- A – Y Button is Enter
Setting Up Moonlight
- Download Sunshine on your PC.
– By going here: https://github.com/LizardByte/Sunshine
– Click on the latest releases to the right and download the sunshine-windows-installer.exe - I downloaded the sunshine-windows-portable.zip
– Extract the Sunshine folder from the sunshine-windows-portable.zip - Click on sunshine.exe
- It will give you a local host URL example https://localhost:47990 Enter that into your browser.
- Create an account
– Username: sunshine or whatever you’ll remember
– Pass: Choose a pass or generate one here: https://searchthat.net/search.html?q=pass - Now log in with your new username and pass.– Note if you get an error like I did about “Fatal: ViGEmBus is not installed or running. You must install ViGEmBus for gamepad support!”
From what the devs said, the installer is meant to install this too, but in my case, it did not. To solve this,
A. Go here: https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEmBus/releases
B. Download the ViGEmBus_1.22.0_x64_x86_arm64.exe
C. Install it.
D. Quit Sunshine in the taskbar and close out of the Sunshine terminal
E. Reopen sunshine.exe and launch the page again. The error should now be gone. - On the TrimUI Smart Pro, type in your PC’s IP address.
To get your local IP, do the following.
A. Search for CMD on your PC
B. Type in ipconfig
C. Look for IPv4 Address similar to the following…192.168.1.444
That is your IP that you enter into the TrimUI - It will say Please enter the following PIN on the target PC: ####
That will be this page: https://localhost:47990/pin
and give it the name: TrimUI Smart Pro, and press send.
Now, on your Trim, you will see Steam and Desktop. I clicked on Desktop to get the necessary drivers and things automatically set up with Windows 10. After that, I restarted Sunshine.
In Moonlight, press the Menu button and you’ll see your settings. Defaults are:
- Resolution: 720
- Frame Rate: 60
- Bitrate: 3.0 Mbps
Change to the following:
- Resolution: 720
- Frame Rate: 30
- Bitrate: 3.0 Mbps
If you still experience issues, move the Bitrate down, but lower ends up with more pixels.
Multiplayer Gameplay
Local LAN Play
To play with another TrimUI Smart Pro, you must have both connected to the same internet network and using the same ROM. To set it up is simple.
Host TrimUI (First Player)
- Launch the game of choice, which is two-player.
- Open the menu
- Click on Advanced Menu
- Go to the right with the icon that looks like a mic on a head.
- Click on Host
- Press Start Netplay Host
Slave TrimUI (Second Player)
- Launch the same game that is two-player.
- Open the menu
- Click on Advanced Menu
- Go to the right with the icon that looks like a mic on a head.
- Click on Refresh Netplay LAN List
- Click on Local: CrossMix-OS
Both systems should now be in sync.
Issues I noticed:
- PS1 Game performance is poor
- PS1 Speed Punks kept freezing at bootup
- Zelda: A Link to the Past Four Swords would not work as there is no actual link cable.
- Donkey Kong Country would just freeze the system.
Games I noticed that work.
- SNES: Mortal Kombat
- SMS: Sonic 2
EmuDrop App
EmuDrop is a simple ROM downloader focused on the TrimUI Smart Pro. This app works well with Crossmix OS and is very easy to install.
Instalation
- Go here: https://github.com/ahmadteeb/EmuDrop/tree/main
- Under “Installation,” click on the latest release link (sign in) or from here: https://github.com/ahmadteeb/EmuDrop/releases
- Download the EmuDrop.zip
- Make sure your TrimUI is off. Unplug your MicroSD card and plug it into your PC.
- Navigate to the “Apps” folder of your TrimUI MicroSD
- Open EmuDrop.zip and drag the “EmuDrop” folder to the “Apps” folder.
- Eject the MicroSD card and plug it back into your TrimUI.
- Navigate to the Apps folder, and the last option should be EmuDrop
Info
When selecting a console/game, it will download to the correct folder and scrape the artwork as well. If the game does not show in the game folder, just press back out of the folder and press “Menu” Refresh Roms and look again.
Game Systems (Maybe more sometime)
- 3DO, Amiga, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari Lynx, Atari ST, Capcom CP System 1, Capcom CP System 2, Capcom CP System 3, Dreamcast, Game Boy, Game Boy Advanced, Game Boy Color, MAME, MS DOS, NEC TurboGrafx-16, Neo Geo, Neo Geo Pocket, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, PC Engine SuperGrafx, PSP, Playstation, ScummVN, Sega CD, Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, Sega NAOMI, Super Nintendo, Virtual Boy, WanderSwan, WonderSwan Color, X68000, ZX Spectrum
- Not all systems have every game, and the larger the ROMS, the slower they are to download.
Images
