It works! TBH this project required a little more than that. Had to uncomment a line in a config file to make the screen come to life. Had to change default keyboard layout (I'm using US keyboard, couldn't type "|"). Had to localize system. Had to install gamepad driver and configure input. Mount system on my network. And of course install a romset in the proper directory. Still... WORTH IT. Thanks for your help.

@mitu I don't know why that error occurs, I don't think RetroArch uses directly this env var - may be a Wayland/screensaver warning. So I fixed that error regarding XDG_RUNTIME_DIR, maybe RetroArch does use it after all. I was mistaken when I said it flashed up when launching, it actually flashes up when exiting! Same for the CD-ROM warning. To solve it, I did the following: run: sudo sudo -V scrolled up a bit to see which environment variables are preserved. XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not one of them. I then had to edit the sudoers file (sudo visudo) and add the following in: Defaults env_keep += "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" Save and exit, you can then run 'sudo sudo -V' again and you'll see XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is in the list of environment variables to preserve. Reboot the system and the error should go away when quitting Retroarch. For whatever reason, sudo does not preserve this environment variable, and i'm guessing because Retroarch launches from the Retropie menu with root privileges, it cannot see or have access to this environment variable. Adding the above in preserves it, suppressing the error (after a reboot). The CD error still pops up though, but not much that can be done about that at this time it seems. FYI, this error only pops up when you quit Retroarch after launching it on its own from the Retropie menu - it doesn't come up when quitting out of a game. I guess this is because games are launched as the 'pi' user, rather than with root privileges. My question would be, is there a reason Retroarch needs to be launched with root privileges from the Retropie menu? Maybe I am misunderstanding how it launches, but that is what it looks like to me. Cheers!

@grant2258 Hi Grant - yes I think I've realised that this is the problem. The default RetroArch setup creates a virtual gamepad and binds both virtual gamepad and keyboard. I think the problem with Defender is that these mappings overlap - so the virtual gamepad is triggering as well as producing a keypress, and these are both bound to different things (eg thrust AND fire). Thanks for your help!

@tinybilbo Take a look at https://retropie.org.uk/docs/RetroArch-Configuration/#example-default-per-system-retroarchcfg. You'll need to edit the /opt/retropie/configs/atari2600/retroarch.cfg file (also available via file shares at \\retropie\configs\atari2600\retroarch.cfg) and change the mappings for input_player1_<button_name>. The defaults are input_player1_a = "x" input_player1_b = "z" input_player1_y = "a" input_player1_x = "s" input_player1_start = "enter" input_player1_select = "rshift" input_player1_l = "q" input_player1_r = "w" input_player1_left = "left" input_player1_right = "right" input_player1_up = "up" input_player1_down = "down"

@gizmo90 you could also put them in the arcade folder. The arcade folder let's you select from multiple different arcade emulators (libretro mame, advmame, fba etc) it's used for organizing if you have multiple romsets and you want to keep them all in the same place.

@Run-the-Jewels If you have the Pimoroni controller (X Hat) then you should do what I did, see above. Some additional information is on the Pimoroni forums, see https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/x-hat-retropie-coin-button-exits-game/9633. If you have another controller, then this might not be the same problem. If this is the case, then I suggest you start a new thread, with detailed descriptions of your hardware, software versions, log file entries etc.

@alphatoanant By the looks of it, I am running emulationstation 2.9.0RP. I am going to try and see if I can try to downgrade to a previous version... I can't remember what I was on before, but I had a sinking feeling I'd break something when I updated things.

Update: changing the advmane.rc from alsa to sdl fixed the no audio problem right away. Tested it by loading some games into the advmame folder, reloading emulation station and firing up the emulator with a game. Yes! Success! Thank you all. :-)

As said by @mitu , what you're asking is not possible the way you want it. I'll just add that, taking into account what you're saying about your technical knowledge, using your laptop with retropie will be IMHO far more complicated than downloading and using an official retropie image for the raspberry pi.

@mitu Nothing , i only put my usb stick in the raspberry. But i had it and install it from new now its working like u said . Thanxx Mitu :)

Hi, I've recently put together a Retropie kit with RPI 3 and SN30 Pro controllers. I realise that these are not your controller and I'm pretty sure that this information came from this site, but in order for the controllers to be recognised as js0 and js1 they needed to be started in macOS mode (START+A), when used with the USB cables on a RPI. I also updated the firmware on the controllers. There is a command line tool (jstest) that can be used to test them. Again there is are youtube videos on this (checkout Floob's vids)

That is definitely something I want to build in the future

haha, you would be suprised, as a kid we enjoyed listening to the music and loking at the splash screen while it loaded, I loaded one game up the other day, and the splash screen actually brought back vivid memories that I had fully forgotten up till that point.

The scaling artifacts arguments makes a whole lotta sense, thanks for the quick reply! I'll just go for a 1024x768 then if it doesn't really affect GPU performance much.