[psxstudio]

Thanks for the write up!!! I do have 1 question though... what video card do you guys recommend to run steam? I'm currently using an old nvidia geforce gt 610 and using kodibuntu. I chose 610 for silent operations when i build the HTPC few years ago. I'll be switching over to this setup when time permits.

[sveni_lee]

I try to get it work with the Advanced Emulator Launcher... it works so far but I have problems with the resolution...
KODI has the right resolution 1920x1080 but when I start the dolphin-emu I always get the wrong resolution...
I don`t know how to solve it...

any ideas?

[solbero]

Thanks for the write up!!! I do have 1 question though... what video card do you guys recommend to run steam? I'm currently using an old nvidia geforce gt 610 and using kodibuntu. I chose 610 for silent operations when i build the HTPC few years ago. I'll be switching over to this setup when time permits.

I have heard good things about the Zotac GTX 750 Ti, or perhaps one of the new 10xx series from Nvidia. AMD could also be a good choice, there is a lot of work going into their open-source driver these days. You could also post your question to LinuxHardware sub-Reddit.

My box is only running an Intel Skylake CPU with the integrated HD-530. Works well for emulators and most indie games.

I try to get it work with the Advanced Emulator Launcher... it works so far but I have problems with the resolution...
KODI has the right resolution 1920x1080 but when I start the dolphin-emu I always get the wrong resolution...
I don`t know how to solve it...

any ideas?

What resolution have you selected in Dolphin? Have a look at the Dolphin documentation on how to change your resolution.

[Joontje]

Hi There, appreciate the writeup.
Unfortunately the link to https://github.com/angelscry/plugin.prog...d.launcher appears to have broken.

If you have a chance to fix this link i have a question for you:

Can i use in-home-streaming(client) when i run steam with this method?

Thanks!

[Nickelino]

Hi Folks,

first of all i want to thank you for this great Tutorial!
I use Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop on a Zbox nano CI320 and it works fine.

@Joontje: I tested In-Home-Streaming and it works.

My Question now is how to get it work with only one Kodi session.
If I start an application with the "kodi-openbox-runprogram", the current kodi-session doesn't quit and if I quit the started application, a second Kodi-Session appears.

How can I make it, that only one Kodi-Session is running, no matter how many applications I start and quit?

Greetings

Nicke

[gammelobst]

Hi there,

i have a solution for the pulseaudio-thing: (my user is named kodi!)

Code:

cp /etc/pulse/client.conf /home/kodi/.config/pulse

edit it:

Code:

nano /home/kodi/.config/pulse/client.conf

and change:

Code:

; autospawn = yes

to

Code:

autospawn = no

so pulseaudio won't start automatically and you have to start it before starting a program which need it.
This means Kodi uses ALSA for passthough-mode and bit-perfect-playback, but you can also start pulseaudio and use it for other applications.

cya

edit:

for Steam:

we need a startscript:

Code:

vi ~/steam_starter.sh

paste the following:

Code:

sleep 5
pulseaudio -D
sleep 5
steam -bigpicture

now edit:

Code:

vi  ~/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/plugin.program.advanced.launcher/launchers.xml

and change the <args> from Steam from:

Code:

<args>steam -bigpicture</args>

to:

Code:

<args>bash /home/kodi/steam_starter.sh</args>

[ProfFrink]

Hi all,
Thanks to OP for this guide. I'm a newb running into an audio issue. Basically, Kodi autostarts and everything seemingly runs fine, but the audio doesn't work (i.e., no menu clicking sounds or anything). However, if I go to [System > System > Video output > Resolution] and change the resolution setting, then the audio suddenly magically starts working. Alternatively, I can get the audio to work by exiting Kodi, logging into Lubuntu, and then re-running Kodi (but then I assume Kodi is no longer running in Openbox, right?). In case it's informative: I'm running Lubuntu on an Intel NUC connected to a TV via HDMI.

Anyone got any guesses on how to fix this? Many thanks in advance.

[ProfFrink]

Hi all,
Thanks to OP for this guide. I'm a newb running into an audio issue. Basically, Kodi autostarts and everything seemingly runs fine, but the audio doesn't work (i.e., no menu clicking sounds or anything). However, if I go to [System > System > Video output > Resolution] and change the resolution setting, then the audio suddenly magically starts working. Alternatively, I can get the audio to work by exiting Kodi, logging into Lubuntu, and then re-running Kodi (but then I assume Kodi is no longer running in Openbox, right?). In case it's informative: I'm running Lubuntu on an Intel NUC connected to a TV via HDMI.

Anyone got any guesses on how to fix this? Many thanks in advance.

Solved.
Solution found here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/545616/wh...dn2820fykh

It's just a matter of changing an option that's buried in the Pulse settings. Sorry to have cluttered this thread with this issue, but I'm posting this solution in case it helps others.

[Nickelino]

Hi guys,

I found an acceptable solution for my "Multiple-Kodi-Sessions"-problem:

The file /usr/bin/kodi-openbox-runprogram.real shall contain the script for "Closing Kodi -> Run program -> Start Kodi again", but it doesn't

In my case on my Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop it does "Run program -> Start second Kodi", so two Kodi-sessions run now.
You can test it with ALT+TAB on a usual keyboard after you started and closed a program.

To make it act like I want, I changed the /usr/bin/kodi-openbox-runprogram.real a little bit:

Code:

sudo cp /usr/bin/kodi-openbox-runprogram.real /usr/bin/kodi-openbox-runprogram.real.bak

sudo nano /usr/bin/kodi-openbox-runprogram.real

Code:

#!/bin/bash
mkdir -p ~/.kodi-openbox
mkdir -p ~/.kodi-openbox/tmp
display=$(echo "${DISPLAY}" | tr ':' '_')
echo $$ > ~/.kodi-openbox/tmp/program-running.$display
kpid=$(cat ~/.kodi-openbox/tmp/session-pid.$display)
        echo "closing kodi"
        ps axf | grep kodi.bin | grep -v grep | awk '{print "kill -9 " $1}' | sh
echo "running program"
eval "$@"
eval_result=$?
echo "finished running program"
exit $eval_result

Now it works like I want it.

Thanks again for this great tutorial!

Greetings

Nicke

[Nickelino]

@solbero: I have the same issue as asphixmx. If i want to start any entry of the emulationstation, it doesn't start.

I installed EmulationStation with RetroPie for x86-systems to get a better emulation environment. RetroPie x86

There are some executable command line scripts, for example the retropie_setup.sh, that don't start. It doesn't matter which entry I try to start.

I tried to activate logging in Kodi, but there is no entry with emulationstation.

You suggested to add > ~/es-log.txt at the and of a command, so I tried for the SNES section as you see in the following code box. The file appears in my home directory, but it has no content.

Code:

<system>
    <name>snes</name>
    <fullname>Super Nintendo</fullname>
    <path>/home/htpc/RetroPie/roms/snes</path>
    <extension>.bin .smc .sfc .fig .swc .mgd .zip .BIN .SMC .SFC .FIG .SWC .MGD .ZIP</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ snes %ROM%  > ~/es-log.txt$
    <platform>snes</platform>
    <theme>snes</theme>
  </system>

The problem seems to appear only in die kodi-openbox-session.
If I start EmulationStation from Unity Desktop and start a rom, everthing works fine.

Do you have some more suggestions to find a solution?

I really want to use the openbox-session because I'm using a Zbox Nano CI320 with very bad graphics hardware and running other graphical applications like Unity Desktop wouldn't be well.

Greetings

Nicke

[gammelobst]

@Nickelino

the content from /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh would help to analyze, as we don't have it in our guide here.
Or try to start the emulator directly without the use of runcommand.sh...
Oh and not to forget: do you have passwordless sudo already activated?

cya

BTW: I also use a Zbox Nano CI320 and please don't use "very bad graphics hardware" - as "low-end" is a much better term...
There is unsupported graphics hardware out there and this is "very bad graphics hardware" - at least for our use

[Nickelino]

@gammelobst: This script is very long and I'm not really good in shell scripting. So i cannot say where could be the issue with it.

I do not post the file here because it's too long.

Here is the Link to the file in the developer's git repository. I think it's basically the same:
runcommand.sh

EDIT: ...and thanks for your litte hint I said very bad because Steam says running in big picture mode that the graphics memory is too low and I found no way to increase it.... That's bad

Greetings

Nicke

[gammelobst]

@gammelobst: This script is very long and I'm not really good in shell scripting. So i cannot say where could be the issue with it.

I do not post the file here because it's too long.

Here is the Link to the file in the developer's git repository. I think it's basically the same:
runcommand.sh

EDIT: ...and thanks for your litte hint I said very bad because Steam says running in big picture mode that the graphics memory is too low and I found no way to increase it.... That's bad

Greetings

Nicke

ok, this script is a little longer - but it will install itself to /opt and i hope it will not break my system so i'll install and play with it a bit...

for the Steam - graphics memory to low thing - as far as i noticed this is only important if you want to start a game locally - for in-home-streaming only va-api and pulseaudio is required.
I stream with 1920x1080@60Hz without any problem that is not also happening on my steam-link in the bedroom and in the bathroom. (like green-screen in Castlevania) But as i said - this is also happening on my steam-links so not a specific BayTrail-Issue.
I also tried different things to make steam recognize the video-ram correctly - until i tried streaming, which is perfectly smooth and no noticeable lag - so i can live with the laggy steam-ui for selecting a game as i am here for streaming not for being idle in big-picture-mode. Real bad graphics hardware would leave us alone with cpu-decoding the stream which could need a little more CPU-power as we have in our boxes...

cya

[Nickelino]

Thanks for your try. I really appreciate it.

I destructed my Linux several times so I decided to do backups before changes.

I recommend you to do the same (clonezilla is really nice to do it) and you have to install Retropie with the setup script. Retropie x86

Code:

cd ~

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.git

cd RetroPie-Setup

sudo ./retropie_setup.sh

Hope you're able to get it working.
In my opinion RetroPie is the best emulation solution and it's a must-have in the Kodi-Openbox-Environment.

Greetings

Nicke

[gammelobst]

@Nickelino

Thanks, but you already linked to it in your First post and i am compiling ATM.