Skip to content

Odroid XU4

This is a guide on how to build RetroPie on the Odroid XU3/XU4. This is assuming you are starting with a prebuilt image of Ubuntu 16.04 Minimal from HardKernel's Website:

Download Ubuntu 18.04.2 Minimal Image for Odroid XU3/XU4:

The XU4 is fully software compatible with XU3!

Installation images for Odroid are found at https://odroid.in/?directory=.%2Fubuntu_18.04lts%2F
Direct link to the Ubuntu 18.04 image - here.

Extract the .xz file with a program like 7zip.
Write the .img file to your SD card or EMMC module with something like Win32DiskImager

Install RetroPie:

Preliminary steps:

  1. As the fresh install of Ubuntu Minimal includes only the root user (password: odroid) a new user has to be created: 
    adduser NameOfYourChoice
  2. Add new created user to the sudo group: 
    usermod -a -G sudo NameOfYourChoice
  3. Upgrade system: 
    sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt full-upgrade
shutdown -r now
  4. Set the locale settings. Below you can find an example for American English: 
    apt install language-pack-en-base
update-locale LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"
update-locale LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
update-locale LANGUAGE="en_US.UTF-8"
shutdown -r now
dpkg-reconfigure locales
  5. Check if all locale variables were correctly set by using the "locale" command. Below you will find an exemplary output: 
    LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
  6. Update visudo editor: 
    sudo update-alternatives --config editor

  7. Enable NOPASSWD for the new created user: 

    sudo visudo
    This will open up /etc/sudoers file in editor you configured in first step. Add the following line to the end of the file: 
    NameOfYourChoice ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
    This tells sudo that the NameOfYourChoice user doesn't need a password. Save and quit.

  8. Remove password for the new created user: 

    sudo passwd -d NameOfYourChoice
    Test it all worked: 
    sudo date
    Should give you the date without asking for a password.

  9. Edit the startup of our tty1 (replace with any tty of choice): 

    sudo systemctl edit getty@tty1
    Add the following text, save and exit 
    [Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty -a NameOfYourChoice --noclear %I $TERM
    Finally, restart the whole mess: 
    sudo systemctl restart getty@tty1

  10. Disable Screen Blanking in Console and set the CPU Governor Setup:

Edit /media/boot/boot.ini with your editor of choice and add before "setenv bootargs": 

setenv RetroPie "no_console_suspend consoleblank=0"

# --- CPU Governor Setup ---
# Uncomment only one line. New governor is set after 90secs after boot.
# ------------------------------------------
# - Performance (Keep all the CPU's at Maximum frequency)
# setenv governor "performance"
# ------------------------------------------
# - Ondemand (recommended)
setenv governor "ondemand"
and add the value of the new created variable to "setenv bootargs": 
setenv bootargs "${bootrootfs} ${videoconfig} ${hdmi_phy_control} ${hud_quirks} smsc95xx.macaddr=${macaddr} ${external_watchdog} governor=${governor} ${RetroPie}"
11. Reboot and log in as the new created user (NameOfYourChoice): 
sudo reboot
12. Install libsdl2-dev and xorg 
sudo apt install libsdl2-dev xorg
13. Install the RetroPie Setup Script (logged in as NameOfYourChoice) 
cd
sudo apt install git
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.git
14. Run the Setup Script: 
cd RetroPie-Setup
sudo ./retropie_setup.sh

Note if you have issues while compiling modules and it freezes up on you, then you need to tell it to only compile with one core by running the setup script with this:

sudo MAKEFLAGS="-j1" ./retropie_setup.sh

Optional steps:

A. Adjust your time and timezone: 

sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
B. Upgrade the kernel: 
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo apt install linux-image-xu3
shutdown -r now

Installing Modules

All modules can be installed from the RetroPie Setup Script. First and foremost the two main packages you need in order for the majority of your system to run are RetroArch and EmulationStation:

Installing EmulationStation:

  • Option 5: Install EmulationStation

Killing X sudo service lightdm stop

open new terminal ctrl+alt+F1

Install EmulationStation Theme

  • Option 3: Install Themes

Installing RetroArch:

  • Option 5: Install RetroArch

Installing Emulators:

  • Option 5: Choose your emulators

Advanced Configuration

AutoStart EmulationStation

  • Option 3: Autostart EmulationStation

Rom Transfer

  • Option 3: Enable USBRomService

Samba Shares

  • Option 3: Enable Samba Shares

Fix sound not working/stuttering

If you have troubles with no sound or sound stuttering badly in menu or game, try disabling pulseaudio:

mkdir ~/.pulse
echo "autospawn=no" >> ~/.pulse/client.conf
pulseaudio -k

Then reboot, or restart emulationstation.

If the audio still isn't great, stutters or pops or echos, try the following:

Go to: RetroPie -> RetroArch -> Settings -> Audio

And set: Audio Latency (ms) = 192

Then don't forget to save! Configurations -> Save Current Configuration

Feel free to play with the value until it sounds right for you.

Fix games running too quickly or inconsistently

Go to: RetroPie -> RetroArch -> Settings -> Frame Throttle

And set: Maximum Run Speed = 1.0x

Then don't forget to save! Configurations -> Save Current Configuration

Back to top