The SD card#

Your GIFs live on the microSD card in the display. OpenDMD plays a card made for DMDoS exactly as it is: no conversion, nothing to rename. The card also keeps working with DMDoS.

OpenDMD doesn't come with any GIFs. A card you set up for DMDoS works as it is, and the DMDoS GIF pack (DMDos GUI v1 + GIFs) is in the Software section of dmdos.net: copy it onto a FAT32 card as dmdos.net describes, or let Set up a card write it to the card from your browser, every GIF ready to play from the first boot. You can also add your own GIFs from the Library, or make some with Create Art.

What's on a card#

gifs/
  Consoles/
    SNES_Super_Metroid_01.gif
    MD_Streets_of_Rage_2_03.gif
  Arcade/
  Pinball_Short/
  ...
filelist.txt
filelist.hall
filelist.xmas

• gifs/ holds the animations, one folder per category. The Library shows the same folders. Make a new folder and you have a new category.
• filelist.txt is the list the panel plays: All files in the web app. It doesn't have to list every GIF on the card. When you add GIFs from the web app, it offers to add them to the playlist that's playing.
• filelist.hall and filelist.xmas are the Halloween and Christmas playlists, if your card has them.

Playlists you make in the web app are saved on the card too, so they move with it.

How names become details#

The web app reads each GIF's platform, title and author from its file name:

The pattern is PLATFORM_Title_Words_01.gif: the platform first, then the title with underscores between words, then a number so several GIFs of the same game can sit side by side. An author name, in lower case, can go at the end.

The first word only counts as the platform if it's one the player knows: the usual short names such as SNES, NES, MD, N64, GBA, PS1, ARCADE, PINBALL, AMIGA, C64, SPECTRUM and PICO-8, and the rest of the list in the Platform menu of Add GIFs. Any other first word isn't a platform: the GIF has no platform, and its whole file name becomes the title, so THE_END.gif is titled "THE END".

If a platform you need is missing, it can't be added from the web app yet: the list is part of the player's software, and new platforms arrive with updates.

You rarely need to type these yourself. + Add GIFs, Edit details… and Create Art ask for a title, platform, category and author and build the name for you. If you copy GIFs onto the card from a computer, name them this way and they'll sort into the right platform.

Using a new card#

The player reads cards formatted as FAT32. Most cards up to 32 GB come that way. Bigger cards usually come formatted as exFAT, which the player can't read: put one in and the web app's Now view says it needs FAT32 and offers Format card…, which sets it up for you. Formatting erases the card, so do it before adding GIFs.

On a computer, a tool such as Rufus (Windows) can format a card as FAT32 too, as dmdos.net suggests for its pack.

To move a DMDoS collection to a new card, copy the gifs folder and the filelist files from the old card to the new one with a computer.

Take your time when you first fill a card: the player makes a lighter copy of each GIF in the background, mostly while the panel is off at night, so a big collection plays at its smoothest after a night or two.

If a card starts failing#

Cards wear out. If the player keeps hitting read errors it slows the card down to keep going, and Settings says "Card running at reduced speed after errors", or shows a count of card errors. Either message means it's time for a new card.