Suggest simple Linux distro for RetroPie use only?

construkt

@bloodykean I've been looking around for the best way to install Retropie on x86.

Is that distro going to let me have everything structured as it is on my RPi4? Like, I can basically run the thing headless, keep my video splashscreen and theme that I want to run? I just don't want to get something that will leave me bogged down with a desktop environment that will never get used. I'm waiting for my Intel NUC to arrive on Saturday, and I want to use it to replace my RPi4. My 4 runs great, but there are a lot more options with a more powerful machine. Would this script allow me an identical experience?

construkt

@mitu

Is it possible with that OS to set it up in such a way that it is identical to my Pi 4?

mitu

@construkt RetroPie on a PC uses the desktop environment, so you need to have one installed (a minimal one would suffice). Video splashscreens are not supported, but you can enable the Plymouth splashscreen to show during boot.
Other than that, enable auto-login to desktop and setup EmulationStation to start automatically at login and it should be pretty identical to a Pi4.

construkt

@mitu

I was waiting til I gathered more information and got my NUC to reply to this since I didn't know what to expect. I followed this guideto set everything up. I wanted to use something newer than 16.04 but I was told that Ubuntu 20 had some Python compatibility issues, so I went with Ubuntu 18.04. Everything runs pretty great on it. I did everything you were talking about with the auto-login. I disabled lock screens and adjusted all the power settings so it wouldn't turn off on me and what not.

There are just a few things I'm still struggling with. Every time I start a game, I see the desktop, and if runcommand needs to ask me anything the desktop shows the whole time. Is that something I can do away with? I'm trying to dial it all in so it doesn't actually look like it's a functional PC, just a console. I was looking at this script, and while there is a lot of stuff in there I'm not sure is necessary, it looked like some things would get me closer to a true pi experience.

Since I have Ubuntu 18.04 desktop and this script was written for Ubuntu Server, I don't think I need XWindows autostart and I think I already have autologin setup from the Ubuntu settings menu. Adding plymouth and hiding boot messages could be useful. Also in the Xwindows autostart script it calls to hide the cursor. When Ubuntu is starting up, I can still see it. Is it possible to hide that? The big thing is the terminal window being small in the background. I have launch images for each system, but before I see those it goes out to the desktop for a second. Is there a way to stop that from happening? Or maybe a way to make the terminal window full screen so when it does flash out of ES, you can't see anything?

Thanks for any info you have provided and can further provide. I really appreciate it.

mitu

@construkt said in Suggest simple Linux distro for RetroPie use only?:

The big thing is the terminal window being small in the background.

The autostarting command should make the terminal fullscreen and borderless, with the command

gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar -e emulationstation

Are you using the the default autostart configuration or are you starting emulationstation differently ? What window manager are you using ?

construkt

@mitu

I'm using the default autostart configuration. I don't know anything about a window manager. I haven't installed anything additional outside of Ubuntu 18.04 and the stock Retropie script for it.

mitu

In this case, you can configure the desktop background to be dark (black) and also modify the default Gnome-Terminal settings to also start with a black background.

The big thing is the terminal window being small in the background.

But I don't understand why the gnome-terminal doesn't boot full screen. Can you open a gnome-terminal (after you exit EmulationStation) and then run:

gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar

does it go full screen or not ?

construkt

@mitu

Yeah, with that command it does go full screen except for an orange bar on the right hand side for some reason. After I put in that command and restarted again, it actually is going full screen now (no clue why). There's still that orange bar, but that's not a terribly large concern. Thanks for that. Don't get why it would work after putting that it, but its the first time I've seen it go full screen.

Any idea about hiding the mouse when its not being used? Is there any part of those scripts that I can use to make that happen? I think once that's dialed, I have to figure out how to install Daphne and OpenBOR and this rig is good to go.

mitu

@construkt said in Suggest simple Linux distro for RetroPie use only?:

Any idea about hiding the mouse when its not being used? Is there any part of those scripts that I can use to make that happen?

Do you have a mouse/touchpad connected ?

construkt

@mitu

I do. Will it go away when it's unplugged?