Libretro PPA for Ubuntu

RetroArch Linux devices
#1

Hello,

The RetroArch and libretro Cores are now in their own PPA:

Stable Libretro PPA

hunterk PPA is deprecated for libretro, you should install this stable PPA and update your system, it will replace almost all your cores. This PPA will only have the stable RetroArch version and non-WIP Cores. It will have MAME core too, but only the official releases from upstream, i.e., we will get the Git snapshot after the merge from upstream in the release day or later and freezes it in 0.155, 0.156…

For who does not know how to install a PPA in the system:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libretro/stable
sudo apt-get update

And then you can install RA + cores + other stuff (like joypad autoconfig files and assets):

sudo apt-get install retroarch libretro*

This will install all the Cores in the PPA, maybe you want to install few of them, so:

sudo apt-get install retroarch libretro-genesisplusgx libretro-snes9x libretro-gambatte libretro-nestopia libretro-mgba

This is just an example. You can see all the Cores using Synaptic or Ubuntu Software Center, and install then from there.

If you like to test new stuff, you can try this Nightly/Testing PPA. It will have the Git version of RetroArch, plus WIP cores like Fuse and Virtual Jaguar. It will have too the Git version of MAME core.

NOTICE: RetroArch now comes with an Online Updater, so you can download/update Databases, Overlays and Shaders there. The testing/nightly PPA automatically update Cores and other things when there are changes in the source. Or you can use the stable PPA, the cores and others are updated periodically.

There are packages only for Ubuntu 12.04, 14.04, 16.04 and 16.10 (precise, trusty, xenial and yakkety respectively), as well Linux Mint 17/18 and other derivatives.

If you are coming from hunterk ppa or if you are having problems with new releases you should delete the config file in ~/.config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg before open RA:

rm ~/.config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg

Instruções/suporte em português aqui :wink:

There are ARM packages in the PPA, if someone have these boards like Odroid, Wandboard, BeagleBone Black, Jetson TK1 or others (ARMv7 and up), please test RetroArch and the Cores from this PPA and give me a feedback, as I do not have all this kind of board yet to test the packages (I own only an Odroid U3 and C1, and I don’t have much time to test all stuff). Ubuntu for these boards here.

PS: due to debian/ubuntu use libav instead ffmpeg, the recording feature is disabled in the build of Ubuntu 12.04 and 14.04.

For who liked the PPA, I’m accepting donations now :wink:

Bitcoin address: 1KcBt7JTjKyqEwGnPEkKRiyVYgq56bgidT

Litecoin address: LQiJyvviF9hQocGgcJr4SJgZ94RAyTRrj5

It’ll help to maintain the PPA & send the packages to Debian repo eventually

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#2

BIG THANK YOU for this! I noticed the new PPA’s today at work and was itching to test when I got home. I actually added the testing ppa and installed the bleeding edge stuff which is working great. Glad to see the core path is pre-filled in :slight_smile: Will make it easier for newcomers that do not know where they are located :slight_smile:

1 Like
#3

Stable PPA has MAME 0.155 now.

If you are using both PPA, you need to downgrade and lock to this version. Maybe it’s a good idea to stay with this ‘stable’ version, since mame from testing PPA updates very often and sometimes breaks because of mame upstream development.

#4

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll hang on to the previous version and test this. So far I have had no breaks with other cores in testing, so it has been quite good!

#5

We have RetroArch for ubuntu armhf now. There are some cores in the testing ppa.

Schnabeltierchen help us testing the packaging.

#6

Im new to Linux version of RA, cant this be used on OpenElec (XBMC)??

#7

No, OpenElec is other distro not related to Ubuntu. PPAs are only for Ubuntu and derivatives.

1 Like
#8

The libretro-common-shaders package for ARMhf has now compiled GLSL shaders for the OpenGL ES.

#9

New 1.0.0.3 release is already in Stable PPA !

#10

Is there a reason why snes9x-next is missing from the ppa?

#11

I’ve noticed cores have been scaled back (removed) from this PPA as well. When you built from the github sources, you end up with quite a few more cores…including Snes9x Next. My best guess is that the PPA maintainer does not feel there is a need for multiple cores that perform the same function. I however like having different emulator cores for a particular system as sometimes things work better in an alternate core. I do commend him for including MESS Git however, as this is a core that is not on the libretro github.

#12

MESS and UME are the dame source as MAME. There is no separate MESS repo. To build MESS or UME you need to specify TARGET=MESS when you are invoking MAKE

#13

There was no big reason :slight_smile:

It’s already in ppa, I published right now, take a look.

#14

I was having trouble with constant crackling/popping sound in Xubuntu 14.04, in other laptop I have. Alsa plug-in in Ubuntu is probably buggy. I switched from Alsa to PulseAudio in Settings > Driver Options > Audio Driver and now it’s better (but not perfect, sometimes I can hear some noise yet).

The default Window Compositor in Xubuntu has screen tearing… disable it in the Settings of xfce.

#15

Change it to “alsathread” and turn off the default XFCE compositor as previously suggested. The compositor built in to XFCE is horrible. If you want a nice compositor for XFCE that does wonders for Retroarch, look into Compton. Or better yet, use kwin (KDE) which seems to perform the best for Retroarch (and just about everything else) from my testing.

#16

There was no big reason :slight_smile:

It’s already in ppa, I published right now, take a look.[/quote] oh wow! thanks for the quick update

#17

Hi Sergio,

I would like to know if you can add vba next too in the ppa?

Thank you very much.

#18

Have you tried VBA-M core? VBA Next is a fork of VBA-M with some speed hacks.

Edit: VBA Next is already in PPA.

#19

For the ARM users, after install RetroArch you have to create a symlink for libOpenVG:

sudo ln -s  /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libOpenVG.so  /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libOpenVG.so.1

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mesa/+bug/1384522

Edit: For now RA does not need OpenVG, I change it in the ./configure in the package. You don’t need this tip.

#20

Recent testing issue:

Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/libretro-core-info_0.1+r633~1~ubuntu14.04.1_all.deb E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)