• 8 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • Very nice. Also thanks for reporting back. Yes, in Linux filenames and extensions are case sensitive, unlike in Windows. Most programs (including Windows itself) treat lowercase and uppercase in filenames as the same thing. And because most developers and users are on Windows, they are used to it this way. So on Linux we have to take extra care and in some cases rename files.

    Next would be to learn how to swap a Disc when the game asks to. I mean for games that are multi-disc, in case you play other games too: https://docs.libretro.com/guides/disc-swapping/

    And I also recommend the official forum of RetroArch too, to ask questions if you have any (I am there too ;-)): https://forums.libretro.com/ Because there are lot of engaged users who know RetroArch pretty good and even developers of RetroArch and some cores respond and help there too. Have fun with Final Fantasy Tactics (one of my alltime favorites). BTW the game was announced to have a remaster.





    • get a dock
    • attach keyboard and mouse on the dock and connect the dock to a monitor
    • go into desktop mode on your Steam Deck
    • open up Discover and install applications

    Basically a full fledged PC. There are some limitations, but for the most part you are able to code on it. You can write text and source code files, edit videos, edit images, browse the web with regular Firefox and so on. I can’t say if the Steam Deck works well creating games with Godot, but technically it shouldn’t stop you from trying.









  • I started with RetroPie long time ago too. :-) RetroPie is an operating system that is build to be a Gaming distribution basically. It uses RetroArch on its backend for the emulators and Emulation Station for the UI. When you select and run a game in Emulation Station (the UI on operating system level), then it runs RetroArch with a core and a game. While ingame, you can open the RetroArch menu as well.

    In short: RetroPie is an operating system setup to use RetroArch for the emulation.



  • I’m a huuuge fan of RetroArch and have setup over 80 cores :D. I only use standalone emulators for cores that are not available in RetroArch (such as Yuzu and RPCS3).

    The article itself is a bit bare bones though. Here is the official installation documentation for Linux: https://docs.libretro.com/guides/install-gnu/ I personally have it installed through the official Archlinux package, but they are slow on updating it. Its more than a month now and they still are on an older version. Bleeding Edge? Who says that! It’s the reason why I think to switch to the Flatpak version, maybe, maybe not.

    When you install it through the official package in Archlinux, you have to change some paths in the settings where cores are saved. That way you can use the RetroArch internal update, so it can download and install cores in the directory you want. Because if you install RetroArch from official package, its managed and installed in a directory the normal user have no access without sudo. I changed the cores path to “~/.config/retroarch/cores”. Note, Flatpak has its own file structure and paths, so do not do this with that.

    There is also an official RetroArch version for Steam. I use that on my Steam Deck. The good thing is, its always up to date on day one release of RetroArch. And it has Cloud Save support for save files of games. Negative is, that not all cores are supported. However you can install them manually in the cores directory, but then you have to update it manually too if you do that. I also have my own custom controls and menus for RetroArch on Steam Deck, but not uploaded it yet. Really really need to do this…

    Last but not least, some shameless plug of a post I made about RetroArch Shaders: https://thingsiplay.game.blog/2024/10/19/showcase-for-retroarch-shaders-2024/



  • Yes you can and should upgrade, which is what I was trying to say really. It’s less set and forget as in “just let it update and it will keep on trucking for 10 years”.

    At least with rolling releases this is not needed. You only install once, and only update this one version basically. EndeavourOS and Arch based distributions are like that. So its basically support without end, which beats Windows in that regard. :-) These are normal desktop systems BTW, not Enterprise.

    The typical LTS support in Linux distributions are 5 years, but some have longer support available. With Ubuntu you can get additional 7 years by using the free for Home users “Ubuntu Pro” subscription. Which brings it to 12 years. Professionals have to pay a little bit (its not expensive) to get that support. For anyone who really considers using the same distribution for 10 years, they should consider Ubuntu Pro.


  • A particular version of Linux Mint, the example you mentioned, is supported for 4 years, whereas Windows 10 was supported for 10 years.

    True, but often the distributions have an upgrade plan (for free). In example you can install an Ubuntu LTS and upgrade 4 years later to the next major LTS release. However, sometimes this has problems, because so much time and changes are in between. This is for sure.

    There are distributions with longer support period. Debian comes to my mind. But I don’t know how long and there were 10 year supported distributions too.