building on ubuntu server 16.04

johnodon

Sound is now working in ES and RA. I had to install 'alsa-base' so I could launch alsamixer to unmute Master and Speaker.

I have also successfully tested Zaxxon and Battletoads (mame2003) and Metal Slug (fbalpha).

@mitu On this latest attempt I did not set video threading to false. I'm actually wondering if the issue may have been on folder permissions...meaning RA was not able to write to the mame2003 or fba subfolders (I use the arcade folder). I ran 'resetromdirs' in Configuration/Tools and everything is working as expected so far.

The last thing to do is just cleanup...change background color of the terminal window, etc. So far this is running exactly as I wanted.

johnodon

First, I would like to sincerely thank the contributors of this thread for getting me to this point!

As promised, he is MY step-by-step to get this working.

Disclaimer...

I tested ONLY on Ubuntu Server 17.10.1.
I tested ONLY lr-mame2003, lr-mame2003-plus and lr-fbalpha.
I tested ONLY from the 'arcade' folder.
I did not test HDMI or external controls as my testbed is a laptop.

Now, on to the meat...

Install Ubuntu Server 17.10.1
a. I performed a VERY vanilla install
b. I used pi/raspberry for user/password so I can transfer settings easily from a Pi install
c. I install only the openssh server package

I perform all steps below in a remote SSH session so I can copy/paste. NOTE: You will need to provide your password for the first command. After reboot it will no longer be required.
2. Add the 'pi' user to sudoers

sudo sed -i -e '$a\pi ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' /etc/sudoers

Update/Upgrade Ubuntu

sudo apt-get update -y && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Install dependencies

sudo apt-get install xorg openbox pulseaudio alsa-utils python-xdg at-spi2-core menu dbus-x11 git dialog unzip xmlstarlet --no-install-recommends -y

Get the Retropie Setup script

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.git

Configure Openbox

mkdir ~/.config && mkdir ~/.config/openbox && echo 'gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar -- emulationstation' >> ~/.config/openbox/autostart

Create a xsession for Openbox

echo 'exec openbox-session' >> ~/.xsession

Create a bash profile

echo 'if [[ -z $DISPLAY ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]]; then' >> ~/.bash_profile && sed -i '$ a\  startx' ~/.bash_profile && sed -i '$ a\fi' ~/.bash_profile

Enable autologin for 'pi' user

sudo mkdir /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d && sudo sh -c 'echo [Service] >> /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf' && sudo sed -i '$ a\ExecStart=' /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf && sudo sed -i '$ a\ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --noissue --autologin pi %I $TERM' /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf && sudo sed -i '$ a\Type=idle' /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf

Start the Retropie Setup script

sudo RetroPie-Setup/retropie_setup.sh

OK at the Retropie Setup script disclaimer

NOTE: All steps below assume that you are at the main Retropie Setup screen

Basic install >> Yes
Configuration / Tools >> samba >> Install Retropie Samba shares
Configuration / Tools >> resetromdirs
Perform reboot

At this point you should be able to test some roms to make sure everything is running as expected.

If you are having issues with EMUs freezing/hanging or getting a black screen, try running 'resetromdirs' from the Configutation / Tools section of the Retropie Setup script. This has worked for me as I think it was a permissions issue when trying to write to the configuration folders. (just a hunch)

If you are not getting any sound in ES or RA, run alsamixer and unmute channels

alsamixer

Press F6 to select the correct sound card (if not already selected)
Use the arrow keys to move left/right
Press the M key to mute (MM) or unmute (##) the selected channel
Use the arrow keys to move the volume slider up/down
Press the ESC key to exit

If you are not getting sound in ES or RA via HDMI, you may need to make HDMI your default device for Pulseaudio:

Get full list of pulseaudio properties:

pacmd list

Scroll to bottom and look for Profiles (active profile is shown in blue below):

profiles:
input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Input (priority 60, available: no)
output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (priority 6000, available: unknown)
output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (priority 6060, available: unknown)
output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (priority 5400, available: unknown)
output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5460, available: unknown)
output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown)
output:hdmi-surround+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 360, available: unknown)
output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown)
output:hdmi-surround71+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 360, available: unknown)
off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
active profile: output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo

Decide which is the proper profile to use (for me it is 'output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo')
Run the following command tailored for your profile:

sudo sed -i -e '$ a\set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo' /etc/pulse/default.pa

Reboot and test

sudo reboot

Additional tasks...

Make the terminal window "invisible"

ALT+TAB to the 'Terminal' window.
Right click anywhere on it and select Profiles >> Profile Preferences.
Go to the Colors tab and uncheck 'Use colors from system theme'.
Set the Default color for Text and Background to black for each.
Go to the Scrolling tab and uncheck 'Show scrollbar'.
Click the 'Close' button and ALT+TAB back to the ES screen.
Launch a rom to see how it looks.

Any/all feedback is welcome!

John

johnodon

@praetorian55 said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

Once openbox is installed, create and edit ~/.config/openbox/autostart

How are you installing openbox on 18.04? When I try using apt-get, there is no package:

E: Package 'openbox' has no installation candidate

John

mitu

@johnodon said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

How are you installing openbox on 18.04?

The previous post mentions 17.10, not 18.04. But it's also available in Bionic - https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/openbox.

BuZz

@johnodon either you haven't done apt-get update or you are missing some repositories that come with 18.04

johnodon

@mitu said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

@johnodon said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

How are you installing openbox on 18.04?

The previous post mentions 17.10, not 18.04. But it's also available in Bionic - https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/openbox.

@praetorian55 does mention 18.04 in his testing.

"Anyway, I was successful in building out Ubuntu server 16.04.4 and 18.04 with both Xorg and Wayland."

johnodon

@buzz said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

@johnodon either you haven't done apt-get update or you are missing some repositories that come with 18.04

EDIT: I'll admit that this was my first exposure to the new installer. I pretty much just 'continued' through each screen and did not select any of the predefined packages that are available. Could this be the issue?

I have now tried 3 different builds on 2 different pieces of hardware and each has told me that openbox is not available in the repos. I always do an apt-get update prior to trying to install from the repos. I don't know what to make of it.

Following the same exact process listed above, I do not have the issue on 16.04 or 17.10.

FYI...it also tells me that 'menu', 'dbus-x11' and 'dialog' are not available.

johnodon

Updated the steps above:

Added some additional dependencies to cleanup some errors logged to ~/.xsession-errors
Changed the switch in the openbox autostart file to launch ES for '-e' to '--' (-e and --command are deprecated)

mitu

@johnodon do you have the universe repo I'm your list of sources for apt ?

johnodon

UPDATE: I have tested this in both ES and RA (lr-mame2003, lr-mame2003-plus and lr-fbalpha) and sound is working across the board. I'll update the step-by-step above to include.

Like a lot of others, I had a bear of a time getting HDMI audio to work. All sounds were still coming through the analog speaker even though I was connected via HDMI.

'aplay -l' displayed all cards/ports as expected:

pi@m92:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC662 rev3 Analog [ALC662 rev3 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Card 0 Device 3 is what I want. However, 'alsamixer' only saw the analog port (card 0 device 0) and I could not switch to HDMI:

0_1533033172606_3b9492c6-5ab2-4c8e-8513-cf958ff8be52-image.png

After a LOT of trial and error, I found the answer on this page: https://askubuntu.com/questions/294512/setting-the-default-alsa-device-for-pulseaudio

Specifically this answer:

After the update to 13.10 Pulseaudio defaulted to HDMI, probably because I have an extra monitor attached to my laptop (Lenovo T430S) thru my mini-display port. The archlinux website provided a sweet and short answer to reset or set the default:

login and change the default output to analog

Run

$ aplay -l

and find that analog is card 0

Run

$ pacmd list

and find the line:

active profile: output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo

"output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo" is my profile name, so add

set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo

in /etc/pulse/default.pa and save

restart pulseaudio

In short, what I did was run 'pacmd list' and scrolled all the way to the bottom of the output where the profiles are listed:

profiles:
                input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Input (priority 60, available: no)
                output:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Output (priority 6000, available: unknown)
                output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (priority 6060, available: unknown)
                output:hdmi-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output (priority 5400, available: unknown)
                output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5460, available: unknown)
                output:hdmi-surround: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown)
                output:hdmi-surround+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 5.1 (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 360, available: unknown)
                output:hdmi-surround71: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output (priority 300, available: unknown)
                output:hdmi-surround71+input:analog-stereo: Digital Surround 7.1 (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 360, available: unknown)
                off: Off (priority 0, available: unknown)
        active profile: <output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo>

As you can see above, my active profile is set to 'output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo'.

To fix this, edit the default.pa file:

sudo nano /etc/pulse/default.pa

And a new line to the bottom of the file to make the HDMI port the default (I used the Stereo profile for now):

set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo

I haven't FULLY tested this solution yet (family still sleeping) but I at least have HDMI sound in ES. I'll report full results later. If successful, I'll add this to the step-by-step above as a 'gotcha'.

johnodon

@mitu said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

@johnodon do you have the universe repo I'm your list of sources for apt ?

I'll need to check this later. I have since installed 16.04 and 17.10 on my test machines.

johnodon

I think I figured out how to undecorate all windows in Openbox. This will prevent the terminal title bar from flashing when launching a rom.

I'll add to the step-by-step once I test a little more.

johnodon

Proof is in the puddin'. :)

Here is a quick video to show the 'almost' final product (no mouse pointer, no terminal windows, etc.). I just need to hide the boot dialog with a splashscreen and she will be done. I plan on creating a new thread that will be dedicated to this build so I can support.

johnodon

@mitu said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

@johnodon do you have the universe repo I'm your list of sources for apt ?

Just circling back to this...

You guys were right.

For some reason, the Universe repo is not included in a basic install on 18.04. This is the first version I have ever run across this.

John

mitu

@johnodon said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

This is the first version I have ever run across this.

Did you configure a network connection during installation or installed from CD without configuring one ? I've done a few desktop installs recently using a minimal/net iso and it was enabled automatically for me.

johnodon

@mitu said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

@johnodon said in building on ubuntu server 16.04:

This is the first version I have ever run across this.

Did you configure a network connection during installation or installed from CD without configuring one ? I've done a few desktop installs recently using a minimal/net iso and it was enabled automatically for me.

Yep. I can connect via SSH and update/upgrade and install packages immediately after the build is done. I'm really not doing anything out of the ordinary.

johnodon

RE: Universe repo not enabled...

This is exactly what I am seeing: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1062984/sources-list-broken-missing-universe-multiverse-etc-in-18-04-1-server

John

Used2BeRX

@johnodon Hey bud. Thanks for the guide. I was able to boot directly into ES with it after trying to do that for days now before I found this thread.

I can't seem to control anything once I'm in there though. The controller and the keyboard are not responsive at all. (Not sure if the controls aren't working or if everything is just freezing up once it's loaded, honestly).

Do you have any ideas what I might be missing that would cause this?

EDIT: For sure it's just that the controller isn't working. I rebooted without the controller in and now it gives the "No gamepads detected" message, but when I plug it in and hold a button down it's unresponsive.

johnodon

FYI...this is the how-to I put together for install on Ubuntu Server 18.04: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/18810/retropie-installation-on-ubuntu-server-x64-18-04-1

John

Used2BeRX

@johnodon Ah... thanks. I did get it working on 18.04 using your instructions in this thread. I see there are some differences in the new thread. Anything in particular there that would make me want to re-do it now that I've got it working with your old instructions? I think I've pretty much maxed out the power of this old laptop and I doubt anything is going to make PSX games run without an audio lag.

BTW... the controller/keyboard not working seemed to be some sort of residual from following your instructions on a system where I'd already installed a minimal Lubuntu with EmulationStation before I did your write up. After I nuked the partition and started over it worked flawlessly.

Thanks :)