antiX Live USB + RetroArch

antiX.txt

Video guide: https://youtu.be/HJkN_Ngdzq0


MINIMUM RECOMMENDED SETTINGS:
- 8GB USB pendrive
  * Live system: 1.1GB
  * rootfs: 500MB
  * homefs: 3GB


Create bootable pendrive using Rufus and prepare it:
- Use antiX ISO, set the filesystem as NTFS and the label as: antiX-Persist
- At first boot, press F5 and select 'persist_all', press F8 and select 'Save'
Note: To prepare pendrive in VMware, you must use Plop Boot Manager to boot from USB.

--------------------------- ANTIX TIPS & TRICKS --------------------------
- Particularly in notebooks, disable 'Fn' always enabled behaviour by pressing: Fn + NumLK
- Enable and connect to Wi-Fi using 'Conman UI Setup': Menu > Internet > Conman UI Setup | Wireless
- If loading a ROM on any particular core outputs sound but not image, try switching the video driver


--------------------------- ANTIX INSTRUCTIONS ---------------------------


1. (optional) CHANGE REGIONAL SETTINGS:
* Start Menu > Control Centre > System
- Set keyboard layout (advanced > Numlock state: On)
- Set time settings


2. CHANGE DROOPY WORKING DIR:
- Run in terminal: geany ~/.config/droopy/droopy.conf
- Change line 5 to: FOLDER=$HOME/Live-usb-storage


3. (optional) RUN DROOPY AND UPLOAD THIS FILE TO YOUR ANTIX SYSTEM:
* Start Menu > Applications > Internet > Droopy


4. (optional) CHANGE DEFAULT USERNAME:
* Start Menu > Applications > antiX > antiX User Manager:
- Add temp user
- Logout from demo user and login with new temp user

    4.1 SET TEMP USER:
    * Start Menu > Applications > antiX > antiX User Manager:
    - Add temp user
    - Logout from demo user and login with new temp user

    4.2 RENAME DEMO USER:
    * Start Menu > Applications > antiX > antiX User Manager:
    - Rename demo user to you intended username
    - Logout from temp user and login with renamed user (previously named 'demo')

    4.3 DELETE TEMP USER:
    * Start Menu > Applications > antiX > antiX User Manager:
    - Delete temp user and its home folder
    
    4.4 CHANGE SESSION USERNAME:
    - Run terminal: sudo geany /etc/slim.conf
    - Change default_user name to the new user name

    4.5 SAVE ROOTFS CHANGES AND REBOOT:
    * Main Menu > Logout > Reboot
    - Click 'Yes' when it asks to save persistence, be patient...


5. (optional) CHANGE SESSION DEFAULTS:
* Set default time format to 24 hours:
- Edit file windows manager (assuming iceWM): geany ~/.icewm/preferences
- Add line: TimeFormat="%H:%M:%S"
* Change user settings:
- Run terminal: sudo geany /etc/slim.conf
- Change numlock to "on"
- Change focus_password to "yes"
- Change auto_login to "no"


6. INITIALIZE APT:
echo "# Software Sources" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install software-properties-common -y


7. INSTALL FLATPAK:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak -y && sudo apt install flatpak -y && sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak -y


8. INSTALL RETROARCH FROM TERMINAL THROUGH FLATPAK:
flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo && flatpak install --user flathub org.libretro.RetroArch -y


9. (optional/future) UPDATE RETROARCH FROM TERMINAL THROUGH FLATPAK:
flatpak update --user org.libretro.RetroArch


10. CREATE DESKTOP SHORTCUT FOR RETROARCH:
- Open shortcut folder from terminal: rox ~/.local/share/flatpak/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/current/active/export/share/applications/
- Drag the shortcut to the desktop and rename it 'RetroArch'


11. RUN RETROARCH ONCE THEN CLOSE IT:
- Use the Desktop shortcut you just created to open RetroArch (takes a bit longer on the first run)
Note: Can also be run from terminal: /usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=retroarch org.libretro.RetroArch
... or just: flatpak run org.libretro.RetroArch


12. MOVE RETROARCH USER FOLDER TO LIVE USB VOLUME:
mv ~/.var/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/config/retroarch ~/Live-usb-storage/ && cd ~/.var/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/config && ln -s ~/Live-usb-storage/retroarch retroarch


13. PREVENT SYSTEM HIJACK OF JOYSTICK AS MOUSE:
Create file 50-joystick.conf: sudo geany /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-joystick.conf
...with content below:

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "joystick catchall"
    MatchIsJoystick "on"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Driver "joystick"
    Option "StartKeysEnabled" "False"   # These Two Lines Disable
    Option "StartMouseEnabled" "False"  # The mouse emulation
EndSection


14. (optional) RUN RETROARCH WHEN SESSION STARTS:
- Open startup file: geany ~/.desktop-session/startup
...and add content below after the last line:

# Run RetroArch
/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=retroarch org.libretro.RetroArch


15. (optional) DISABLE SECONDARY MONITOR WHEN SESSION STARTS:
- Open startup file: geany ~/.desktop-session/startup
...and add content below after the first line:

# Disable secondary monitor
result=$(xrandr --current | grep -v "connected primary" | grep " connected" | cut -d " " -f1)
xrandr --output $result --off


16. (optional) CUSTOMIZE LOGON THEME FOR DUAL MONITOR USAGE:
- Theme customization: sudo geany /usr/share/slim/themes/BlueLines/slim.theme
- Change the X axis to the values below:
msg_x                   25%
session_x               25%
input_panel_x           25%


17. (optional) SAVE ROOTFS CHANGES AND REBOOT:
* Main Menu > Logout > Reboot
- Click 'Yes' when it asks to save persistence, be patient...


18. (optional) REPLACE PATHS IN PLAYLISTS GENERATED ON WINDOWS:
playlists=~/.var/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/config/retroarch/playlists && path=/home/$USER/.var/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/config/retroarch && find $playlists -type f -name "*.lpl" -print0 | xargs -0 sed -i -e 's|\\\\|/|g; s|.dll|.so|g; s|path": ".*cores/|path": "'"$path"'/cores/|g; s|path": ".*roms/|path": "'"$path"'/roms/|g'



INFO - RETROARCH DEFAULT FOLDERS:
- Default home location (relative): ~/.var/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/config/retroarch/
- Default home location (full): /home/$USER/.var/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/config/retroarch/

- Main appshare location (relative): ~/.local/share/flatpak/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/
- Main appshare location (full): /home/$USER/.local/share/flatpak/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/

- Default appshare location (relative): ~/.local/share/flatpak/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/current/active/files/share/libretro/
- Default appshare location (full): /home/$USER/.local/share/flatpak/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/current/active/files/share/libretro/
- Default appshare location (flatpak sandbox): /app/share/libretro/

- Default applib location (relative): ~/.local/share/flatpak/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/current/active/files/lib/retroarch/
- Default applib location (full): /home/$USER/.local/share/flatpak/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/current/active/files/lib/retroarch/
- Default applib location (flatpak sandbox): /app/lib/retroarch/


INFO - RETROARCH.CFG - AUDIO DEVICE:
audio_device = "hw:0,0"

INFO - RETROARCH.CFG - INPUT JOYPAD DRIVER:
input_joypad_driver = "linuxraw"