Please explain user rights to me!

gizmo90 · 4 Apr 2020, 14:53

I'm a complete noob at Raspbian and am finding it really difficult to get my head around a few core concepts. Hopefully someone can take pity on me and explain what is probably a very very basic thing!

File structure and admin verses user access. There seems a disconnect between files I can see and files I cannot due to my access rights. I'm accessing my pi via my pc but I can only see the following folders,
bios,
configs,
roms
splashscreens.
I'm currently attempting to get Amiberry to work and it requires me to place items in folders I know exist, yet can't see on my pc. It's maddening! How do I get access to these files via my pc??

I presume it's to do with only being able to see user allow folders and not other system folders which need admin rights. If so, how do I give myself admin rights?

Any advice really greatly appreciated.

mitu · 4 Apr 2020, 15:25

You shouldn't need admin access to configure the emulators. If you want to understand how rights and filesystems work in Linux - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/File_permissions_and_attributes.

gizmo90 · 4 Apr 2020, 16:05

@mitu Thanks for the reply. I'll check the link out.

If the emulators don't need admin rights, how are you supposed to get something like Amiberry working? For instance, the instructions state that I need to have the following paths,
System ROMS: /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/
Configuration files: /opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/conf/
Controller files: /opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/controllers/
RetroArch configuration file (retroarch.cfg): /opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/conf/retroarch.cfg

Only I don't. In the case of Configuration Files, I'd need to create a conf folder in amiberry. But I can't do that because I can't see that folder on my pc. Any idea how I do that?

mitu · 4 Apr 2020, 16:12

The file paths you mention are the ones on the Linux filesystem, they're exported via file shares like this:

/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/ is mapped to \\retropie\bios.
/opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/conf/ is in \\retropie\configs\amiga\amiberry\conf

You have 4 fileshares available

ROMs (/home/RetroPie/roms) -> accessible through \\retropie\roms
BIOS (/home/RetroPie/BIOS) -> accessible through \\retropie\bios
Configurations (/opt/retropie/configs) -> accessible through \\retropie\configs
Splashscreens (/home/RetroPie/splashscreens) -> accessible through \\retropie\splashscreens

Controller configuration and RetroArch configuration files are in \\retropie\configs\all\retroarch, but I advise against modifying them directly.

gizmo90 · 4 Apr 2020, 17:54

@mitu Thanks so much for your help trying to demystify this for me.
So right now I have the following set in my Paths section:
System ROMs:
/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/
Configuration files:
/opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/conf/
Controller files:
/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/
RetroArch configuration file (retroarch.cfg)
/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg

I can now see 2 configurations in the Configuration section, which would tally with the 2 kickstart roms in /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/
However, I don't understand where the Controller files are? Would you know where they are hiding? All I get in my custom controls is,
Input Device: Not a valid input controller for joystick emulation.

mitu · 4 Apr 2020, 18:01

@gizmo90 said in Please explain user rights to me!:

However, I don't understand where the Controller files are? Would you know where they are hiding? All I get in my custom controls is,
Input Device: Not a valid input controller for joystick emulation.

Maybe you don't have a controller ? You didn't add any info about your system.

gizmo90 · 4 Apr 2020, 18:06

@mitu Sorry, I'm using a Picade. So a joystick and 10 buttons. It works perfectly in Mame and I can assign all the buttons within RetroPie.

mitu · 4 Apr 2020, 19:07

Is the input for the Picade a gamepad or a keyboard ? Because if it's a keyboard, then it's not going to have any controller auto-configuration files.

gizmo90 · 4 Apr 2020, 18:20

@mitu Tbh I'm not sure? Going by this page,
https://github.com/pimoroni/Picade-Sketch/blob/master/Picade/README.md
it's just connected up via USB and you can bind any input keyboard or gamepad.

If it doesn't have any auto configuration files, why can't I use the custom controls to bind some?

mitu · 4 Apr 2020, 18:25

@gizmo90 said in Please explain user rights to me!:

https://github.com/pimoroni/Picade-Sketch/blob/master/Picade/README.md
it's just connected up via USB and you can bind any input keyboard or gamepad.

This says it can be programmed as gamepad or keyboard. It should be easy to check by looking in /proc/bus/input/devices.

If it doesn't have any auto configuration files, why can't I use the custom controls to bind some?

Are you referring to Amiberry ?

gizmo90 · 4 Apr 2020, 18:41

@mitu said in Please explain user rights to me!:

This says it can be programmed as gamepad or keyboard. It should be easy to check by looking in /proc/bus/input/devices.

I don't seem to have a /devices folder inside /proc/bus/input

Are you referring to Amiberry ?

Yes. Isn't that what will allow me to bind joystick and button controls to Amiga games?

mitu · 4 Apr 2020, 19:11

@gizmo90 said in Please explain user rights to me!:

I don't seem to have a /devices folder inside /proc/bus/input

That is a file, not a folder. To get it's contents, just run cat /proc/bus/input/devices.

Are you referring to Amiberry ?

Yes. Isn't that what will allow me to bind joystick and button controls to Amiga games?

I don't know, don't have any experience with Amiberry.

gizmo90 · 4 Apr 2020, 20:30

@mitu Ahh I see. Running that I get a long listing. Which seems to be divided into 3 segments.
The first has a name=Logitech USB mouse. That would correspond with my mouse.
The second is name=Scissors keyboard. Which would be the keyboard.
The third is name=gpio keys. So I guess that would mean the arcade controls of the picade are wired up via the gpio pins?

Would any of that help with getting Amiberry to recognise my controller?

mitu · 5 Apr 2020, 03:00

@gizmo90 said in Please explain user rights to me!:

The third is name=gpio keys. So I guess that would mean the arcade controls of the picade are wired up via the gpio pins?

Well, yes - but the question was if it's detected as a keyboard or as a gamepad. I'm guessing it's a keyboard if it doesn't have any auto-configuration generated.

Would any of that help with getting Amiberry to recognise my controller?

Try to use the Wiki page for Setting up a Keyboard Controller.