Autostart Kodi on Retropie

soggypete

I have been using my RP1 with kodi/osmc media player.
I have just bought a RP3 with the intention to use it primarily as a media player (using kodi) with the ability to switch to retropie (emulationstation).
At the moment I have figured out how to autoload kodi on startup (though the ugly command prompt text on slow start up is a bit annoying - any way to change that? - my main concern now is being able to QUIT kodi and have it load up emulationstation - at the moment it just quits to the command prompt bit where I can type emulationstation to load it up. I'm setting this up in the house for myself and my gf who has no tech expertise.

In a nut-shell:

Can someone tell me how to make the switch to emulationstation from kodi seamless (using either the QUIT option or a "Emulator" button in my kodi menu)
Any suggestions on how to make the load up a little more seamless so that there isn't any text on screen when it loads?
Any ideas about a good way to transfer my kodi library from raspberry pi 1 to 3 - I've tried the backup ADD-ON but it stopped exporting at around 20%

Rascas

1 & 2 - Not tested but in a normal RetroPie installation, with Emulation Station autostart enabled, you can try to edit /etc/profile.d/10-emulationstation.sh and add a line with:
[ "\`tty\`" = "/dev/tty1" ] && kodi-standalone
before
[ "\`tty\`" = "/dev/tty1" ] && emulationstation

3 - You can just copy your ~/.kodi folder from the Raspberry Pi 1 to the 3, this folder is /home/pi/.kodi in RetroPie. It has all of your Kodi configurations.

soggypete

Hi Rascas, thanks for the reply!

Can't seem to find the /etc/profile.d/10-emulationstation.sh file anywhere on my retropie

similarly, can't find the kodi files anywhere either

which leads me to believe I'm lookig in the wrong place?

Rascas

@sphirst /etc/profile.d/10-emulationstation.sh is only available if you have Emulation Station autostart enabled. /home/pi/.kodi is a hidden folder, but is certainly there if you have Kodi installed. The kodi folder path can be different depending on your OS but it should be in your home folder, ~/.kodi.

soggypete

@Rascas thanks for your patience - I've reactivated emulationstation on startup and on Windows 10 I've gone to Network - > RetroPie, and I can only see "bios" "config" "roms" and "splashscreens"

Rascas

Access via SFTP or via terminal, either directly or via SSH.
You can edit the file in terminal with something like:
sudo nano /etc/profile.d/10-emulationstation.sh
Edit the file and then do CTRL+X to save and exit.

soggypete

I feel like I'm so close. I downloaded filezilla, found 10-emulationstation.sh and edited the file as you said then it told me I didn't have permission and the file couldn't be transfered. Any thoughts?

Rascas

@sphirst Edit the file via terminal.

soggypete

Again, just as I thought I was on to gold - error writing ..... permission denied

Rascas

Did it work via terminal with the command I said or not ?

soggypete

I'm using putty. Typed edit /etc/profile.d/10-emulationstation.sh and got the file up, put your added line of code in, saved it, permission denied

Rascas

@sphirst Just run the command I said with sudo, it will work:
sudo nano /etc/profile.d/10-emulationstation.sh

soggypete

duh! Totally forgot to put sudo nano and was just putting "sudo" to no avail. I tried the code you gave me and it didn't seem to work, so I tried:

" # launch kodi then emulationstation (if we are on the correct tty)
if [ "tty" = "/dev/tty1" ]; then
kodi-standalone
emulationstation
fi "

and now it seems to work. Thanks a million for your patience with someone who is a little new to SSH and what not.

Can't quite figure out part 3 at the moment - I've found the kodi file by using FileZilla on my new pi but for some reason I can't connect to the old pi using pi / raspberry

Rascas

It is pretty much the same thing.
You have to find out if your old OS/installation has openssh server installed. If yes, use the correspondig credentials to login. Check the old OS documentation, there are many ways to do that.

soggypete

Thanks again for all your help Rascas! This little victory has created quite a lot of happiness!