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Alastair Drong

    Setting Up RetroArch on My Living-Room Linux Box (Classic Computing - Ep. 0x001)

    Table of Contents

    Description

    A trip to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo left me itching to play the games I grew up with, and I already had a Linux box sitting under the TV. So this one is the full setup: get RetroArch running on Pop!_OS, dial it in for the hardware, and actually play something.

    But first, a detour into the garage. You’re only supposed to emulate games you own, so I went digging for my cartridges… and found a lot more than I was looking for.

    Then it’s down to business: the libretro PPA, installing the cores, getting the menu and fullscreen sorted, and tuning video and audio until Mario 3 runs the way it should. Stick around for the part where getting N64 going turned into a little permissions puzzle on the core directory.

    Fair warning: I hit a pile of recording gremlins on this one and the audio is a bit rough in places. I did what I could. The bloopers at the end are free.

    Chapters

    0:00 A whim, an expo, and some inspiration 1:20 Digging through boxes for games I actually own 2:36 Jackpot: the cartridge haul (and some old family notes) 3:57 Adding the libretro PPA and installing everything 5:27 First launch: fullscreen and a friendlier menu 7:00 1080p60, Vulkan, and PipeWire 8:47 Scanning in a game for the first test 9:15 Mario 3, buttery smooth 10:12 The core-install permission fight 13:11 Unlocking the Core Downloader (and N64 lives) 13:59 Wrap-up and what’s next 14:53 Bloopers: naming that Zelda game

    What’s in the box

    Your turn

    What was the first game you’d reach for if you dug your old console out of a box? Tell me in the comments.

    If you like scrappy homelab and old-hardware builds, subscribe. I’m genuinely close to 1,000 and every one helps.

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    #RetroArch #emulation #Linux #PopOS #retrogaming #homelab #libretro #NES #N64