Why Lakka is based on Just Enough OS, and not typical Linux distro?

Libretro Lakka
#1

I am have been wondering why Lakka is based on the Just Enough OS like LibreEELC, and not something Like Debian.

It does seem make sense that you “just want to have enough an OS” to run Lakka / RetroArch. To minimize overhead. But once you start consider things like more up to date graphic support like Vulkan, latest Mesa, or typical dedicated graphic driver support and etc. A typical OS seems works better for Emulation. Not to mention that you are lock down on a specific RetroArch Version and Core.

But I guess one can always argue, you can always install retroArch on any OS you like, but that’s not point of my curiosity.

What do everyone thinks?

#2

You pretty much said it. In a “just enough” OS, there’s less overhead but also fewer ways for users to monkey with the system, which helps with support.

If someone wants to have a full OS to tinker with, they can always install the distro of their choice and install RetroArch there.

#3

I do like the idea of having a emulator os instead of just running it on top of your distro. 1. I believe the resources and management of the emulator/cores are dedicated solely for your emulation needs and not other OS resources like your printers, start up apps, programs and other background running processes.

#4

A leaner and more barebones OS simply uses less RAM, this is critical when you want to support many lower end devices, which is essentially what Lakka is geared for.

A lot of other ‘single app’ based distros could learn a thing or too switching to a JeOS type model (I’m looking at you SteamOS), as it’s generally easier to manage front to back.

1 Like
#5

For me Lakka is excellent solution as separate OS on multi-boot USFF PC machine - Lakka starts extremely fast from SSD and I have isolated ‘gaming machine’ from Debian/W10 desktop OSes.