[Release] Lakka + KODI Dual Boot Images for Raspberry Pi

slakka · 15 January 2017 08:39

[QUOTE=mattrix;51450]This dual-boot already uses NOOBs

@slakka What roms cause RetroArch to quit?

I assumed if there are no faults, RetroArch shouldn’t quit…[/QUOTE] I spend a lot of time browsing through thousands of roms trying them so I have run into many that cause RetroArch to crash, sometimes requiring a reboot but usually RetroArch restarts on it’s own.

To make sure what I am seeing is actually a crash and not just the screen “resetting” or something I SSH’d in and ran retroarch manually to watch it. I tried to recall some roms that would crash it to test with. In some cases when I try to run retroarch again it segfaults, which is what must be happening when I mentioned having to reboot above. Oh and I checked with ps to make sure it’s not somehow still running. The roms are from the No-Intro sets, I have not tested them individually on standalone emulators, nor have I searched online to see if they are known to be not working.

Rayman (World) - Atari Jaguar Robocop (US Version 1) - FB Alpha

Those are the only ones I can remember right now because I tried them recently, but there are many more I have encountered over the months I’ve been playing with Lakka and trying various games. Note that when I say many more, it’s still a relatively small number considering I’ve probably tried hundreds of roms by now. For a person who is looking to play specific games it might be very rare actually, but since I am mostly “browsing” I have run into it many times.

mattrix · 18 August 2017 20:38

It’s tricky due to that being a fault somewhere else. Retroarch ideally shouldn’t crash.

Anyway, a work around for you would just use the NOOBS autoboot to always boot into KODI (default behaviour of my dual-boot) Then remove the autostart.sh from Lakka.

Then simply use the Reboot menu item to get back to KODI.

UPDATE (19/08/17):

The new boot-back method shouldn’t now reboot to KODI if Retroarch crashes (only on a clean exit).

slakka · 15 January 2017 08:43

[QUOTE=mattrix;51535]It’s tricky due to that being a fault somewhere else. Retroarch ideally shouldn’t crash.

Anyway, a work around for you would just use the NOOBS autoboot to always boot into KODI (default behaviour of my dual-boot) Then remove the autostart.sh from Lakka.

Then simply use the Reboot menu item to get back to KODI.[/QUOTE] That sounds like a good solution, but would a USB controller work in the NOOBS boot selection screen?

mattrix · 15 January 2017 08:46

I don’t think so…

But, NOOBS can be setup to always boot into an OS. Just have it always boot into KODI (default) Then once in KODI, boot into Lakka as normal.

slakka · 15 January 2017 08:46

[QUOTE=mattrix;51653]I don’t think so…

But, NOOBS can be setup to always boot into an OS. Just have it always boot into KODI (default) Then once in KODI, boot into Lakka as normal.[/QUOTE] Sounds pretty simple, didn’t think of that :), thanks.

Tosnic · 15 January 2017 09:05

Thank you, mattrix. You are my hero! This is exactly what I wanted to do with my Raspi 3.

phil · 18 August 2017 18:43

is there a version with the latest lakka included?

mattrix · 18 August 2017 20:35

This simply uses NOOBS / PINN which will automatically use the latest stable version (currently 2.0).

Then you can easily update to RC builds if you like

phil · 5 March 2018 22:58

still working like a charm in 2018. my raspi3 b+ switches from kodi to lakka in 20 seconds. and Lakka -> Kodi in 27 seconds.

thanks man!

steff · 8 July 2018 11:43

Hi @mattrix,

I used your NOOBS Companion addon so far for my Raspi 3 and of course it’s a great addition

Now I replaced the Pi with an Odroid C2, where multi boot is not as simple as with NOOBS. If you are interested, there is my thread about it: Odroid C2: Dual Boot CoreELEC (eMMC) and Lakka (SD)

I just want to ask you about the Boot-Back, that gets installed on the Pi to Lakka. Can I do something similar for my Odroid. It should remove the file /storage/roms/COREELEC/boot.ini and then it should copy the file /storage/roms/COREELEC/boot.ini.elec to /storage/roms/COREELEC/boot.ini

That should be triggered, when I hit the “Quit Retroarch” in the Lakka gui, as you did with your NOOBS Companion. What is the easiest way to set this up?

Many thanks in advance! Stefan

mattrix · 11 July 2018 01:27

Hi @steff,

Something like the below should work (havn’t tested)

/storage/swap_boot.sh

#!/bin/bash
rm -r /storage/roms/COREELEC/boot.ini
cp /storage/roms/COREELEC/boot.ini.elec /storage/roms/COREELEC/boot.ini
reboot

/storage/.config/system.d/retroarch.service.d/10-kodi-boot-back.conf

[Service]
Restart=on-failure
ExecStopPost=/bin/bash -c '[ $SERVICE_RESULT = "success" ] && /storage/swap_boot.sh'

You may need to restart for the service drop-in to take affect.

Based on what my NOOBS Companion Add-on does:

github.com

matthuisman/plugin.program.noobs.companion/blob/master/resources/lib/install.py#L141


finally:
    util.partition_umount(partitions[1])


## Remove kodi at startup config ##
try:
    dst = util.partition_mount(partitions[2], 'rw')
    util.cmd("(sed '{0}' -i -e 's|kodi.atstartup.*|kodi.atstartup=0|' || true)".format(os.path.join(dst, 'system', 'recalbox.conf')))
except: pass
finally: util.partition_umount(partitions[2])


def lakka(partitions):
try:
    dst = util.partition_mount(partitions[1], 'rw')


    content = """[Service]
Restart=on-failure
ExecStopPost=/bin/bash -c '[ $SERVICE_RESULT = "success" ] && reboot {0}'
""".format(util.my_partition_number())


    file_path = os.path.join(dst, '.config', 'system.d', 'retroarch.service.d', '10-kodi-boot-back.conf')
    util.cmd("mkdir -p '{0}'".format(os.path.dirname(file_path)))

steff · 11 July 2018 13:08

@mattrix It works very well. Now my dual boot is complete

Shockwave · 18 July 2018 04:26

Just curious, got any of those images for an Odroid XU4 with eMMC built in?

steff · 19 July 2018 10:23

@Shockwave There is nothing ready to use for Odroid, which meets my requirements, so I decided to go the boot.ini-switching-way. You can find some ready to use berryboot-images for the C2 here https://berryboot.alexgoldcheidt.com/odroid-c2/ , but not for the XU4

Shockwave · 19 July 2018 13:14

It’s all good, no worries, i was merely curious, I don’t have a C2, just XU4s handy.

Hamdat1337 · 3 February 2019 01:11

I want to dualboot Raspbian and Lakka. Does this method apply?

Shockwave · 3 February 2019 02:09

In the case of that, just use NOOBS, Lakka is part of that package as well as Raspbian, Raspbian Lite, Recalbox, Lakka, OSMC and LibreElec.

Hamdat1337 · 3 February 2019 03:45

I tried it, but when I set the default OS to run be Lakka, I suddenly lose access to Raspbian. Was I supposed to set Raspbian as the default OS, but then what about starting Lakka?

I used PINN which is an enhanced version of NOOBS.

Shockwave · 3 February 2019 15:35

PINN literally stands for Pinn Is Not NOOBS! PINN usually will boot into your default OS first and not give you the option to boot out of the other one. I do believe you have to “exit” instead of power down, but don’t quote me on that one.

mattrix · 3 February 2019 20:30

In PINN you can set a “sticky” boot. That will default to boot, but you can also switch when it’s booting.

My KODI add-on is what does the “boot-back” stuff, so if your not using that, you would need to do it all manually.

You can see what it does for each os here:

github.com

matthuisman/plugin.program.noobs.companion/blob/master/resources/lib/install.py

import os, shutil, re
from xml.dom.minidom import parseString

from . import util
from . import config

def retropie(partitions):
    try:
        dst = util.partition_mount(partitions[1], 'rw')

        path = os.path.join(dst, 'home', 'pi', 'RetroPie', 'roms', 'kodi')
        util.cmd("mkdir -p '{0}'".format(path))

        content = """#!/bin/sh
sudo su -c '(echo {0} > /sys/module/bcm270?/parameters/reboot_part && reboot) || reboot {0}'""".format(util.my_partition_number())

        util.write_file(os.path.join(path, 'kodi.sh'), content)
        util.cmd("chmod +x '{0}' && chown -R 1000:1000 '{1}'".format(os.path.join(path, 'kodi.sh'), path))

        with open(os.path.join(dst, 'etc', 'emulationstation', 'es_systems.cfg')) as f:

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You’d want to copy the raspbian method and Lakka method to set them to boot to each other. You’d also need to figure out your correct partition numbers. If your running two OS’s, then one partition should be 6 and the other will either be 8 or 9.