building on ubuntu server 16.04

esmith13

I am currently trying again with the minimalCD and doing a minimal lubuntu install which has a minimal x11 desktop. I'm hoping to then get it to boot straight to emulationstation and remove x11, once I figure out how to autologin to terminal and auto run ES instead of x11 that is... ;-)

esmith13

I think I may have run into your controller issue (not that you mentioned exactly what it was).

I got everything installed and running and I used your additional steps above. when xinit launches ES for me instead of X11, keyboard, mouse and USB input devices don't register. If I allow LXDE to load and RetroPie's built-in autostart runs ES immediately thereafter - everything is fine.

Unfortunately, I am only slightly better than a beginner with linux-based OSs, so I'm not sure where to go from here...

damanbaird

@esmith13 I'm sorry my controller issues is the same as yours, i should of been more clear. To be technical, it does see that im using a USB game controller but wont let me set it up.

damanbaird

@esmith13 i also dont understand why there hasnt been a bootable image for x86 made there has been one made for Lakka but that s**t is horrable looking!

damanbaird

@esmith13 I've also looked up on how people build Internet kiosk thinking all i had to do was replace their Firefox & or chrome install with retropie.... that has NOT worked out for me.

Kokomo

@damanbaird said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

@esmith13 I'm sorry my controller issues is the same as yours, i should of been more clear. To be technical, it does see that im using a USB game controller but wont let me set it up.

Hello,

I know it's an old topic, but have you got any news about it? I have setup Ubuntu 17.10 with your "configuration" but have the same problem with the controllers. I can't configure them at the emulationstation startup.

Best Regards
Kokomo

esmith13

This issue has not been resolved. That said - this concept was modified and continued in another thread HERE

May I suggest looking at that for my post (#29) that begins with "BACK FROM THE DEAD!!!!! :-)"

Basically, using the lightest weight full *buntu install (Lubuntu 17.10) I got the system to appear as if it booted directly to emulationstation after a 'home grown' retropie splashscreen. It doesn't waste any resources, just the 200mb of so of disk space used by lxde and a few apps being installed.

Give it a shot.

WARNING: Do NOT use *buntu 18.04. (Tested releases are 16.04 and 17.10) libretro has issues with xorg/gl/video drivers in that release and the temporary fix is to switch to wayland on the login screen but a bunch of lightweight distros like Lubuntu don't support wayland.

mitu

@esmith13 said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

WARNING: Do NOT use *buntu 18.04. (Tested releases are 16.04 and 17.10) libretro has issues with xorg/gl/video drivers

Do you have any reference of this, besides the posts in the forums ?

esmith13

I have no reference, but I have confirmed via personal experience of upgrading two existing dedicated PCs that ran 17.10 (a dell optiplex 3020 and a surface pro 3) and a clean install from scratch of 18.04 on a dell optiplex 3020 that the video freezes within about 30 seconds or less of a game rom running while sound/input/etc all continue to work fine behind the frozen image.

mitu

@esmith13 Have you reported this to the RetroArch devs ? Maybe providing some logs will help diagnose and fix the issue - whatever that is. Is it the same game/rom or happens with every libretro core ?

praetorian55

Hi all - I'm a bit late to the party, but I learned a good deal on my quest to get an x86 retropie box on Ubuntu server.

@damanbaird - Thanks for the writeup on the things you tried, as it saved me a ton of time!

Anyway, I was successful in building out Ubuntu server 16.04.4 and 18.04 with both Xorg and Wayland. I settled on Wayland since it allows me to run the games in DRM/KMS mode which can help a bit with input lag.

Where I got stuck (and it looks like where @damanbaird got stuck as well) was getting emulationstation to launch, which requires X. I tried the recommendations I saw in the various kiosk tutorials mentioned above and ran into the same problem - It appeared as though emulationstation could not find X or the input drivers.

The key I found was to run a window manager that allows for an autorun. This allows X to load fully and then the window manager launches emulationstation without issue.

Steps I followed 1-3 from @damanbaird's writeup, plus:

Once openbox is installed, create and edit ~/.config/openbox/autostart
```
gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar -e emulationstation 
```

(Running emulationstation under a terminal emulator allows the runcommand program to shell out and retroarch)

Edit (or create and edit) the ~/.xsession file
```
exec openbox-session
```

Edit (or create and edit) the ~/.bash_profile file:

if [[ -z $DISPLAY ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]]; then
  startx
fi

edit /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --noissue --autologin username %I $TERM
Type=idle

With that I got exactly what I wanted, an x86 ubuntu server build that loads right into Emulationstation with full functionality. (The one other thing you'll probably want to do is to enable your retropie account to sudo without a password)

The setup for wayland is a bit different but similar - I was able to use the .15.2 version of the swaywm and configure it similarly to openbox's autorun

praetorian55

I had a few more notes to help make it pretty:

SET OPENBOX BACKGROUND TO BLACK
---edit openbox autostart file
---used script example below from https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=226139
---set to black before calling emulationstation
-------->setting it after causes gray -> black transition

SET A BACKGROUND COLOR

    BG=""
    if which hsetroot >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then
      BG=hsetroot
    elif which esetroot >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then
      BG=esetroot
    elif which xsetroot >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then
     BG=xsetroot
    fi
    test -z $BG || $BG -solid "#000000"

CHANGE GNOME-TERMINAL BACKGROUND
--open gnome terminal in openbox
--go to profile preferences and set color
--go to profile preferences and uncheck scrollbar in "Scroll" area

johnodon

EDIT: I found an article that shows the same and instructs to create the '/etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d' folder. Trying that now.
EDIT#2: Confirmed. Both the 'getty@tty1.service.d' folder and 'override.conf' file need to be created.

@praetorian55 said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

edit /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --noissue --autologin username %I $TERM
Type=idle

Is this part correct? That path does not exist for me on Ubuntu Server 16.04.

johnodon

UPDATE: I was able to get rid of the two errors below (menu file and dbus-launch) by installing 'menu' and 'dbus-x11.

OK. @praetorian55 I performed the first 3 steps of @damanbaird 's post followed by your steps. Server is auto-logging in but all I get is a black screen with the mouse pointer.

FYI...not sure if it helps but I see this in the ~.xsession-errors file:

Xsession: X session started for pi at Sat Jul 28 08:37:17 EDT 2018
localuser:pi being added to access control list
Openbox-Message: Unable to find a valid menu file "/var/lib/openbox/debian-menu.xml"
Error constructing proxy for org.gnome.Terminal:/org/gnome/Terminal/Factory0: Failed to execute child process "dbus-launch" (No such file or directory)
Failed to launch bus: Failed to connect to session busError constructing proxy for org.gnome.Terminal:/org/gnome/Terminal/Factory0: Failed to execute child process "dbus-launch" (No such file or $
Failure: Module initialization failed

Any ideas?

TIA!

John

johnodon

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johnodon

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johnodon

I now have ES starting as expected. I am on to adding roms and testing RA and controls.

FYI...I am capturing the things I had to do to get this all to work (at least for me) and I will post a comprehensive guide.

John

johnodon

Added a few roms and vids play nice...no need for OMX since my laptop has accelerated HW. However, there is no sound. I'm guessing I will need to play with pulseaudio a bit.

Also, RA is having issues. It either launches to a black screen, or, starts to load the rom (ROM checks) and freezes.

I'll continue to play.

mitu

@johnodon said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

Also, RA is having issues. It eitehr launches to a black screen, or, starts to load the rom (ROM checks) and freezes.

Use the Configuration Editor and set the video_threaded configuration to false for all Libretro cores. This should solve the video issue.

johnodon

@mitu said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

@johnodon said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

Also, RA is having issues. It eitehr launches to a black screen, or, starts to load the rom (ROM checks) and freezes.

Use the Configuration Editor and set the video_threaded configuration to false for all Libretro cores. This should solve the video issue.

Thanks @mitu but the choppy vids I was referring to are the video previews in ES. Wouldn't this change only be for gameplay using RA?