Install RetroArch Emulator via PPA in Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.04 | UbuntuHandbook

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Install RetroArch Emulator via PPA in Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.04

Last updated: May 9, 2015

RetroArch is an open-source multi-system game emulator that is designed to be fast, lightweight, and portable. It is formerly known as SSNES.

Currently supported cores include:

bNES, a NES / Famicom emulator.
bSNES, a SNES / Super Famicom emulator.
Final Burn Alpha, a multi-arcade system emulator.
FCEUmm, a NES / Famicom emulator.
Gambatte, a Game Boy / Game Boy Color emulator.
Genesis Plus GX, a Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear and SG-1000 emulator.
iMAME4All, a multi-arcade system emulator.
Mednafen PSX, a Sony PlayStation emulator.
Meteor, a Game Boy Advance emulator.
NXEngine, a Cave Story / Doukutsu Monogatari engine.
Prboom, a DOOM engine.
SNES9x Next, a SNES / Super Famicom emulator.
VBA Next, a Game Boy Advance emulator.

Install RetroArch Emulator:

For Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04 and their derivatives, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command below one by one to install RetroArch:

add-apt-repository ppa:hunter-kaller/ppa

apt-get update

apt-get install retroarch libretro*

UPDATE 2015-05: For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 15.04, there’s now an official PPA for RetroArch. Use below commands instead:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libretro/stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install retroarch retroarch-* libretro-*

In Howtos game emulator, RetroArch

Ji m

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12 responses to Install RetroArch Emulator via PPA in Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.04

How to? December 8, 2013 at 4:35 pm

How to load a core? How can I possible knew the DIR?
Ryan April 4, 2014 at 11:10 pm

when i enter “add-apt-repository ppa:hunter-kaller/ppa” it returns “bash: add-apt-repository: command not found” does anyone know whats wrong?
- Ji m April 6, 2014 at 1:24 pm
  Try this command:
  
  sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
  - kenan ismael January 31, 2015 at 8:39 am
    
    hey you forgot to add sudo to every single command
Gabriel Ordoñez June 7, 2014 at 9:49 pm

I have installed in your menu retroarch but no core product I use ubuntu 14.4 64bit
gadgetboi May 9, 2015 at 6:30 am

can i install this on 15.04 64 bit?
- Ji m May 9, 2015 at 5:43 pm
  RetroArch now has an official PPA for all current Canonical supported Ubuntu editions (include 15.04):
  
  https://launchpad.net/~libretro/+archive/ubuntu/stable
  
  So run below commands one by one instead:
  
  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libretro/stable sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install retroarch retroarch-* libretro-*
Pheonix June 6, 2015 at 12:40 am

RetroArch [WARN] :: config_load_file :: system_directory is not set in config. Assuming system directory is same folder as game: “”.
RetroArch [ERROR] :: gfx_ctx_wl_init :: Failed to connect to Wayland server.
The UMP devicedriver is version: 3, UMP libraries is version: 2.
UMP: ump_arch_open() failed to open UMP device driver
RetroArch [ERROR] :: gfx_ctx_xegl_init :: [X/EGL]: Unable to initialize EGL.
RetroArch [ERROR] :: egl_report_error :: [X/EGL]: #0x3003, Unknown
RetroArch [WARN] :: gfx_ctx_drm_egl_init :: [KMS/EGL]: Couldn’t get device resources.
RetroArch [WARN] :: gfx_ctx_drm_egl_init :: [KMS/EGL]: Couldn’t get device resources.
RetroArch [ERROR] :: gfx_ctx_drm_egl_init :: [KMS/EGL]: Couldn’t find a suitable DRM device.
libGL error: MESA-LOADER: malformed or no PCI ID
libGL error: dlopen /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/dri/mali_drm_dri.so failed (/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/dri/mali_drm_dri.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
libGL error: dlopen ${ORIGIN}/dri/mali_drm_dri.so failed (${ORIGIN}/dri/mali_drm_dri.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
libGL error: dlopen /usr/lib/dri/mali_drm_dri.so failed (/usr/lib/dri/mali_drm_dri.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)
libGL error: unable to load driver: mali_drm_dri.so
libGL error: driver pointer missing
libGL error: failed to load driver: mali_drm
RetroArch [WARN] :: sdl_ctx_set_video_mode :: [SDL_GL]: Failed to set video mode: Couldn’t find matching GLX visual
RetroArch [ERROR] :: init_video_input :: Cannot open video driver … Exiting …
RetroArch [ERROR] :: rarch_main_init :: Fatal error received in: “init_video_input()”
happened to me
Goldug June 15, 2015 at 1:03 pm

When doing sudo apt-get install retroarch retroarch-* libretro-* it fails because “libretro-mednafen is in conflict with libretro-mednafen-psx”
So I went into synaptic and selected all but libretro-mednafen-psx (because it breaks libretro-mednafen). Just so you know of the problem.
- Goldug June 15, 2015 at 1:11 pm
  
  Ah, found the issue.
  I accidentally added the hunter-kaller ppa before the libretro one. Nevermind me :P
  - Andy January 3, 2016 at 4:43 pm
    
    You just saved me many more hours of frustration. Thanks.
Matt February 5, 2016 at 2:36 am

Followed the provided commands but I get the following error:

E: Unable to locate package libretro-stable-trusty.list
E: Couldn’t find any package by regex ‘libretro-stable-trusty.list’
E: Unable to locate package libretro-stable-trusty.list.save
E: Couldn’t find any package by regex ‘libretro-stable-trusty.list.save’

Any thoughts?