Retropie on Debian/Ubuntu/Mint
Apr 24, 2020 If you have slow or inconsistent internet, you can find the torrent downloads at the alternate download page (scroll down a bit). Step 2: Create a live USB. Once you have downloaded Ubuntu’s ISO file, the next step is to create a live USB of Ubuntu.
- Using your flash drive, you can boot into Ubuntu instead of Windows and may have a chance to copy all your important files on a separate drive before completely re-installing Windows or still be able to catch the girl you like online on Facebook through the Firefox app within Ubuntu.
- After a moment the installation will begin with the welcome screen. Click the Continue button. Ubuntu Welcome Screen. Choose the keyboard layout then click Continue.
A guide to build the RetroPie setup on Ubuntu (16.04 LTS or later) x86 and Debian based distros.
Installation
First, install Ubuntu (16.04 LTS or later) or a related Debian based distro such as Linux Mint 18 / 19. ISO images can be used to create a bootable DVD or a USB stick.http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
To run RetroPie-Setup, you must be a member of the group root/admin.
Download RetroPie
Update and upgrade the existing APT packages:
Install the needed packages for the RetroPie setup script:
NOTE: if you get any errors about any package not being found and you're using Ubuntu, make sure the
universe
APT repository has been added and enabled on the system by running sudo add-apt-repository universe
and then starting again with the previous step. Download the latest RetroPie setup script:
Enter the folder with the setup script:
The script is executed with:
The screen should look like/similar this at this point:
Install RetroPie
Basic Install
This will install the main packages which are equivalent to what is provided with the RetroPie SD image. Note that this will be the 32-bit version of RetroPie. That means that some emulators such as Daphne (Dragon's Lair) will not work out of the box on this version. That is because Daphne and a few other emulators only have a 64-bit version released for use while this install is for the 32-bit CPU family.
Now, you have to copy your rom files into the correct associated rom directories. If you followed the steps above the main directory for all roms is
~/RetroPie/roms
(or /home/pi/RetroPie/roms
, which is the same here). In this directory there is a sub-directory for every supported emulated system, e.g., NES, SNES, Sega Megadrive, etc. Attention has to be taken for the extensions of the rom files. Some emulators use .zip while some use a custom file extension associated with the emulator in question. For example the Atari 2600 emulator may use .a26, .bin, and .rom.
All the information needed for each system is detailed in this wiki. See the wiki home page or sidebar for systems.
Configure RetroPie
EmulationStation can be run from the terminal by typing
emulationstation
in the terminal.You can go into Setup / Configuration and enable autostart as you like.
FAQ
Emulationstation hangs if shutdown/restart was selected
It is not possible to restart/shutdown if a sudo requests a password. To disable sudo password request add the line
at the end of
/etc/sudoers
. Replace <user> with the name of your current user.Cannot Install PS3 driver
Ubuntu has an builtin PS3 bluetooth driver. There is no need to install sixad. Make your bluetooth dongle discoverable. Connect your controller over usb. Now open 'bluetooth system settings/add device'. Select PS3 controller and click ok. Your controller should pair now if you press PS button.
sidenote: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2736/ubuntu-16-04-install-genuine-ps3-controller-issue
Screen blanks after some minutes
Open Ubuntu system settings menu disable screensaver and screen lock timeouts.
Ubuntu does not autologin
Open Ubuntu system settings menu and select user accounts. Enable autologin for current user.
How to setup a splashscreen
Use Plymouth to setup a splash screen. See the Plymouth Ubuntu wiki or use this simple ES theme.
My NUC or Intel Baytrail/Braswell powered device hangs
The default kernel 4.1 of Ubuntu 15.10 tends to hang. It is a know bug:https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=91629
Update to higher kernel version solves this problem:http://sourcedigit.com/18333-how-to-install-linux-kernel-4-3-3-on-ubuntu-15-10-ubuntu-15-04/
No audio
Open Ubuntu System Settings menu and select correct audio output device.
No HDMI audio
Ubuntu 16.04 uses PulseAudio 8 which has issues with HDMI if you suspend your device or change display resolutions at runtime. This problem will be solved with Ubuntu 16.10 and PulseAudio 9. You can disable PulseAudio auto output selection. Open
/etc/pulse/default.pa
and comment out the line:https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=93946#c36
No audio in Mupen64Plus
EmulationStation's use of PulseAudio will conflict with the SDL driver in Mupen64Plus, disabling sound in N64 games. If you are using lr-Mupen64plus, you will not have this conflict.
From a terminal:
Example output:
Make a note of which card and device you use for audio. For example, for HDMI audio, consider the line
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
. In this case, we would want card 0 and device 3.Create the file
/etc/asound.conf
with the contents:Make sure to change the values of card and device to the values found by running
aplay -l
above.The SDL driver in Mupen64Plus will now use the proper audio device, but it will still conflict with PulseAudio in EmulationStation. Open
/opt/retropie/emulators/mupen64plus/bin/mupen64plus.sh
in your favorite editor. Find the following lines at the bottom of the file:Change them to:
This will stop PulseAudio from running while Mupen64Plus is running, but turn it back on when you quit it.
XBOX 360 Controller mappings not working
The X86 version of Retropie install does not have the xboxdrv installed correctly. Please launch Retropie-Setup Manage Packages - Drivers and install xboxdrv and remap your inputs.
SteamOS hack to allow installation
While SteamOS is not based on Ubuntu 16.04 it is based on Debian 8 which is supported.Currently you can install it and it will set everything up properly. EmulationStation has issues launchingroms just like through a manual installation. However the samba share setup and all other parts of RetroPieappear to function normally.
To start follow the same instructions of doing a git clone of the RetroPie repo. Then you have to edit
In the get_os_version() function the work-around is to change:
To
This will obviously override any platform checking done by the script and is very hacky, but it will let the retropie setup continue properly until actual support exists.
Contents
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The general procedure to install Ubuntu (or Ubuntu flavour, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, ...) from a USB flash drive is:
- Get the correct Ubuntu installation file, 'the iso file', via this link or Ubuntu flavour via this link. Download the iso file into your running computer (for example into the directory Downloads in the internal drive, not into the USB flash drive that you want to make into a USB boot drive).
- Check with md5sum (or another checksum tool) that the download was good.
- Put Ubuntu onto your USB flash drive alias 'stick' alias 'pendrive' alias 'thumb'. Tools for this purpose are described in this help page.
- Configure your computer to boot from USB flash drive and boot from it.
- Try Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, ...) before installing it.
- Install Ubuntu to your internal drive (hard disk drive or solid state drive or external drive).
See also: Installation/FromUSBStickQuick for beginners starting from Windows.
Ubuntu can be installed from a USB flash drive. This may be necessary for most new portable computers without DVD drives and is handy for others because a USB flash drive is so convenient. Also, you can configure Ubuntu on the USB flash drive to save changes you make, unlike a read-only CD/DVD disk.
Booting from a USB flash drive created with usb-creator alias Startup Disk Creator and mkusb will behave just as if you had booted from the install CD. It will show the language selection and then the install menu, from which you can install Ubuntu onto the computer's hard drive or launch the LiveCD environment. Other utilities, e.g. UNetbootin, may create slightly different boot drives or if on UEFI might not work at all with Debian iso files due to a bug
Note: This article uses the term 'USB flash drive' alongside USB stick, USB drive, USB device, USB pendrive and thumb drive.
To create a USB installation device, you will need:
- a 4 GB USB flash device/drive/stick. If the iso file is smaller than 2 GB, it is possible to use a 2 GB USB device, at least with some of the methods. Files on this USB device will be erased, so backup the files you want to keep before making the device bootable. Some of the tools require that this USB device is properly formatted and mounted while other tools will overwrite whatever is on the target device. Please follow the instructions for each tool.
- an Ubuntu flavour ISO file downloaded from an official web page, ubuntu.com/download or http://releases.ubuntu.com, stored in your running computer (for example in the directory Downloads in the internal drive, not in the USB flash drive that you want to make into a USB boot drive).
- Check with md5sum (or another checksum tool) that the download was good. In Linux there is the tool 'md5sum'. In Windows you can do it with Rufus: click on the circle with a tick mark (more about Rufus here.)
Dummy headlines
After a major remake of this help page the following headlines are kept here because they may be linked to from other web sites. Several other headlines further down in the page are also kept for this reason.
Notes about speed
Notes about size
Notes about bootability
The flash hardware
There is a detailed description at the sub-page /pre |
There are various methods available for Windows to create a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive.
NEVER try to use one of your hard disk drives or partitions in this process unless you really know what you are doing, as data will get erased.
Rufus
Rufus is the tool in Windows that is recommended officially by Ubuntu. A tutorial is available from here.
Download Rufus.
balenaEtcher
Download balenaEtcher
Pendrivelinux's Universal USB Installer
Download Universal USB Installer
UNetbootin
Download UNetbootin
Win32 Disk Imager
Download Win32 Disk Imager
There is a detailed description at /fromWindows including Rufus, balena Etcher, Universal USB Installer, Unetbootin and Win32 Disk Imager. |
Install and run Startup Disk Creator alias usb-creator
- The Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator is dedicated to creating USB boot drives for Ubuntu and Ubuntu family flavours (Kubuntu, Lubuntu ... Xubuntu).
- Use another tool (e.g. 'UNetbootin' or 'mkusb'), if you want to create a USB boot drive with another Linux distro (alias Linux operating system).
You can find usb-creator-gtk by typing 'Startup Disk Creator' (Ubuntu Desktop) or usb-creator-kde in K-Menu-->Applications-->System-->Startup Disk Creator (Kubuntu). If it is not there, then you can install it using the Ubuntu Software Center.
- Insert and mount the USB drive. Inserting the USB drive should auto-mount it.
- Start the Startup Disk Creator
- In the top pane of the Startup Disk Creator, pick the .iso file that you downloaded.
- If the .iso file isn't listed, click 'Other' to locate and select the .iso file that you downloaded.
- In the bottom pane of the Startup Disk Creator, pick the target device, the USB flash drive. If more than one choice, please check carefully, until you are sure that you will be writing to the correct device.
- After checking that you are pointing to the correct target device, the USB flash drive, you can start the action.
- You must enter a password because this is a risky operation. Use the password of the current user ID (the same as for login and running tasks with 'sudo'. Password is not required when installing from a 'live' system (booted from a DVD disk or another USB flash drive).
The Startup Disk Creator clones the iso file, which means that you need neither erase nor format the target drive. It will be completely overwritten anyway by the cloning process. The Startup Disk Creator looks like this in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS:
Screenshots: Startup Disk Creator - to SSD or pendrive
Notes
- NEVER try to use one of your hard disk drives or SSDs or partitions in this process unless you really know what you are doing, as data will get erased.
- There are bugs that affect the Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator, when you run it in old Ubuntu versions in BIOS mode and try to create USB boot drives with other versions. In the Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator version 0.3.2 in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, these bugs are no longer a problem, so you can install any version of the Ubuntu flavours from 16.04 LTS and newer versions.
UNetbootin
- Download UNetbootin
- UNetbootin works in and with most Linux distros.
- It is an extracting tool (not a cloning tool).
- It can make a persistence file up to 4GB in size to save data and defaults.
mkusb - dd image of iso file to USB device safely
- Install mkusb via PPA
- If you want to clone from a general image file to a drive, you can use mkusb. It lets you clone to any drive that is not busy, also an internal drive, and there are very obvious warnings to prevent mistakes.
- mkusb can also
- run in Debian and many linux distros that are similar to Ubuntu and Debian,
- clone from iso files of most Linux distros to create USB boot drives,
- create persistent live drives of the Ubuntu family and Debian, using all available drive space for persistence and/or data storage,
- restore a USB boot drive to a standard storage device.
There is a detailed description at /fromUbuntu including the Startup Disk Creator, UNetbootin and mkusb. |
See How to install Ubuntu on MacBook using USB flash drive and this Ubuntu Forum thread by Quackers
There is a good wiki page about booting with UEFI, and a good tutorial thread, UEFI Installing - Tips.
Test if running in UEFI mode
You may want to test if your Ubuntu flavour is running in [U]EFI mode. An installed system and a live system too is using the directory /sys/firmware/efi, so you can run the following command line,
The following command line is more robust and also easier to understand, so you may prefer it (if you copy & paste and are not bothered by typing a long command line),
Boot and install
Stable portable systems - good for USB sticks
Creating an EFI-only image
Ubuntu single boot in UEFI mode
'Do it yourself'
When the boot structure is modified in Ubuntu or the booting software, there can be problems until the extracting tools are modified to manage the modification. It is worthwhile to find a method that is as simple as possible and to learn how to use it in order to manage the extraction also when the boot structure is modified.
- For an UEFI only boot flash drive you need no installer
- Make the drive boot both in UEFI mode and BIOS mode
See this link: Installation/iso2usb#Do_it_yourself
Portable installed system booting from UEFI and BIOS
Multiboot pendrives
Booting ISO files on internal drive
Booting USB drives with grub2 and iso files 'grub-n-iso'
How To Install Ubuntu Using Usb
![Linux Linux](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126495256/324075070.jpg)
There are more details at the sub-page /alt |
Remove all unneeded USB items, but keep the network cable attached.
Boot menu
How To Install Ubuntu On Ps3 From Usb Adapter
Instead of editing BIOS settings, you can choose a boot device from the boot menu. Press the function key to enter the boot menu when your computer is booting. Typically, the boot screen displays which key you need to press. It maybe one of F12, F10, F9.
Edit the BIOS settings
Insert the bootable USB flash drive that you just created in your target computer and restart it. Most newer computers can boot from a USB flash drive. If your computer does not automatically do so, you might need to edit the BIOS settings.
Restart your computer, and watch for a message telling you which key, hotkey to press to enter the BIOS setup.
- It will usually be one of F1, F2, F9, F10, DEL, Enter or ESC.
- The hotkey should be described in the user manual provided by the manufacturer of the computer (a printed or electronic document).
- You can also search your hardware on boot-keys.org.
Press this hotkey continuously or tap repeatedly (different between computers) while your computer is booting to edit your BIOS settings. (On HP Mini Netbooks, the correct key is usually F9.)
Select 'hard disk/USB-HDD0'
Note: with some motherboards you have to select 'hard disk/USB-HDD0' to choose the USB flash disk. It may work like this because the system sees the USB drive 'a mass storage device' as a hard disk drive, and it should be at the top of the boot order list.
So you need to edit the Boot Order. Depending on your computer, and how your USB key was formatted, you should see an entry for 'removable drive' or 'USB media'. Move this to the top of the list to make the computer attempt to boot from the USB device before booting from the hard disk.
Chainloading
PLoP Boot Manager
- For old computers that cannot boot from USB
Flow chart for trouble-shooting
- See this link: Why Doesn't a Bootable USB Boot
- There are problems with the versions of the Startup Disk Creator alias usb-creator in versions of Ubuntu older than 16.04 LTS. There are similar problems with old versions of Unetbootin. Until these problems are solved other tools work, for example mkusb and Win32DiskImager described in the following links, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Win32DiskImager/iso2usb
- The version 0.3.2 (and newer versions) of the Startup Disk Creator alias usb-creator in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (and newer versions) clones the iso file and creates a read-only file system. This method is very robust, but if you want to re-use the USB stick as a storage drive, you must restore it. Two methods are described in the next paragraph.
'Postrequisites' - after installation: how to restore the USB stick to a standard storage drive. The standard is an MSDOS partition table (MBR) and a partition with the FAT32 file system.
gparted
Disks
mkusb
There is a detailed description at the sub-page /post |
- FromUSBStickQuick for beginners starting from Windows
- USB Installation Media: custom, manual, older versions, and technical instructions and troubleshooting. There are also network installation options available.
- Why Doesn't a Bootable USB Boot: flowchart and lists of possible causes to help troubleshooting
- MinimalCD alias mini.iso
- booting with grub2
- booting with UEFI
- Ubuntu Forums tutorial 'Howto make USB boot drives'
- Ubuntu Forums tutorial 'Howto help USB boot drives'
- Ubuntu Forums tutorial 'How to create an external USB bootable Linux hard drive (without dual-boot)'
- Unetbootin for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X
- Paul Sutton's Unetbootin how to
- Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way (from Windows)
- Pendrivelinux about Multisystem
- Pendrivelinux about grub2
- YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator
- Choosing between Live USB and Full USB Installation
- Try Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, ...) before installing it
- LiveCD/Persistence
- Dual Boot with Windows
- Discussion about tools to create USB boot drives at the Ubuntu Forums 'http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2291946'
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