Using Retropie Setup inside SteamOS

Twitch0815

Alienware Steam Box
RetroPie Version Used: (3.6, 3.8.1, 4.01 etc..) 4.0.6
Built From: Attempting Retropie X86 Install
USB Devices connected: Steam Controller via dongle
Controller used:Steam Controller
Error messages received:
Unsupported OS

Distributor ID: SteamOS
Description: SteamOS 2.0
Release: 2.0
Codename: brewmaster

How to replicate the problem:
Starting with a fresh SteamOS install
launching Retropie Setup

desktop@steamos:~/RetroPie-Setup$ uname -a
Linux steamos 3.18.0-trunk+steamos1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.18.17-1+steamos2 (2015-07-11) x86_64 GNU/Linux

desktop@steamos:~/RetroPie-Setup$ cat /etc/issue
SteamOS GNU/Linux 8 \n \l

Is there edits or something that can be updated to allow for the Retropie SEtup to proceed on SteamOS?

Twitch0815

Best I can tell version 2.0 of Steam OS is Debian Jessie

meleu

@Twitch0815 is steamos ubuntu based?
Edit: oh. I see your next post right now. It's Debian based...

meleu

@Twitch0815 can you paste here the output of lsb_release -sidrc?

BuZz

for testing

cd ~/RetroPie-Setup
wget http://malus.exotica.org.uk/~buzz/steam.diff
patch -p1 <steam.diff
sudo ./retropie_setup.sh

Twitch0815

@meleu

desktop@steamos:~/RetroPie-Setup$ lsb_release -sidrc
SteamOS
SteamOS 2.0
2.0
brewmaster

Twitch0815

@BuZz

On first try

Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package dialog is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'dialog' has no installation candidate
E: Unable to locate package xmlstarlet
Unable to install packages required by /home/desktop/RetroPie-Setup/retropie_packages.sh - Could not install package(s): dialog g++ build-essential unzip xmlstarlet.

meleu

@Twitch0815 does SteamOS have apt-get?

Twitch0815

Yea absolutely. Its got a full desktop mode, terminal and apt-get

meleu

@Twitch0815 for some reason retropie_setup failed to install the following packages: dialog g++ build-essential unzip xmlstarlet.

Try to install it yourself via apt-get and then try again.

Twitch0815

Going to try adding

add "deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ main contrib" to the end,

but will need to rekick as I had switched to Ubuntu

Twitch0815

Solution thus far is to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file

adding the following to the bottom
deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian jessie main contrib non-free

then sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Follow normal x86 install instructions and applying exos patch above will then allow retropie setup to launch correctly.
Currently running basic install will report back on progress

Twitch0815

@BuZz

Alright progress

Basic Install builds successfully
NDS builds successfully
Reicast Builds Successfully
PSP Builds Successfully
Kodi will install if you add
deb http://http.debian.net/debian jessie-backports main
to the /etc/apt/sources.list

Dolphin does not install from Retropie Setup but Debian Jessie 8 allows for simple sudo apt-get install Dolphin but none of the special sauce is done like the rom directory or ES integration and the dolphin exeuctable i cant seem to find, even via the program search where something like retropie or emulation station could be found and launched manually

http://pastebin.com/2bptLVed
Is the installation log.

backstander

Thanks for keeping us updated on this @Twitch0815

Another way you can search for files from the command prompt by using sudo find / -name "<filename>” You could do something like sudo find / -name "dolphin". I don't use this find function that much.

I personally like to use Locate instead!
To install Locate type:
sudo apt-get install locate

To update the database that Locate uses to find files and directories:
sudo updatedb

Now all you have to do is type this to find something:
locate <filename>

Example:
locate dolphin

The only downside to Locate is that you sometimes have to update the database (sudo updatedb) to make sure you get all the newest files in your search. Updating will also remove newly deleted files.

Twitch0815

Looking into this further,
probably the simplest and cleanest option is installing SteamOS Tools
https://github.com/ProfessorKaos64/SteamOS-Tools

After a clean install, and only adding SteamOS Tools
Basic Install compiles cleanly
Dolphin compiles cleanly
lr-desumme compiles cleanly
kodi installs cleanly

Twitch0815

Next major step was to get Steam OS to load, emulationstation from its native menu.

to do this you need to create a file called
emulationstation.desktop
in the
/usr/share/applications

directory and paste in the following

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=EmulationStation
GenericName=EmulationStation
Comment=Manage and play your games
Exec=emulationstation
Icon=emulationstation
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=AudioVideo;Video;Player;TV;

Actions=Fullscreen;Standalone;

[Desktop Action Fullscreen]
Name=Open in fullscreen
Exec=emulationstation -fs
OnlyShowIn=Unity;

[Desktop Action Standalone]
Name=Open in standalone mode
Exec=emulationstation --standalone
OnlyShowIn=Unity;

Just documenting here for now, will update in wiki going forward.

Twitch0815

Only problem now is
that when you launch EmulationStation from within SteamOS it seems to manage the application.

I mapped controls which is awesome because when Steam is managing it overlays the controller profile allowing the steam controller to be configured semi-correctly. Button triggers I need to manually mess with inside the controller config.

It also gets the advantage of having the Steam Button be able to bring up the xmb of steam allowing for hot swapping controller settings and exiting the shortcut.

Problem is that when launching say a genesis game, it shows the steam thinking icon really fast then reverts back to emulation station

/dev/shm/runcommand says

parameters: 0 SYS megadrive /home/desktop/RetroPie/roms/megadrive/3 Ninjas Kick Back (USA).md
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-picodrive/picodrive_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/megadrive/retroarch.cfg "/home/desktop/RetroPie/roms/megadrive/3 Ninjas Kick Back (USA).md" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg

So I know it does try to launch it just Steam seems to stop if.

Tried as well with Kodi and it did the same thing.

I know were out of the normal support matrix i posted on /r/steamos to see if any users have found a way to allow a steam managed application to launch another application in the same profile which I guess is what I am hoping for, just documenting where I am at and if anyone has any ideas on something to try let me know.

Twitch0815

http://pastebin.com/jfKLrumc

Pastebin of the STD out file

This is the output of tail -f /tmp/dumps/steam_stdout.txt
When attempting to launch lr-picodrive from inside emulation station that is launched from SteamOS.