Retro Arch API Is Small & Unresponsive on LM 21.1 {Solved}

[Alexzee]

After installing Retro Arch via the LM Software MGR it's so small that I can't read the sections in the Menu.
Clicking on each section in the Menu doesn't respond or open to that section I select. Instead, clicking on a section in the Menu just moves down to the next section and repeats.


How do I fix this?

 

[Alexzee]

Tried installing the AppImage of Retro Arch too.
Can't work with it as the letters are missing and where letters should be it's all blocks.

 

[Alexzee]

One last try was to install Retro Arch by flatpak. And that only produced the same results as my other post's.

Anyone else having this much trouble?

 

[Alexzee]

Leaving this alone for the weekend and taking a break I returned to it today.

One last attempt of installing RetroArch via the Software MGR in LM 21.1 failed again.
The API is either broken or my LM installation is missing libaries in order for this application to launch properly to show the font.

Looking at the configuration file (/etc/retroarch.cfg) I found that the Menu Driver is set to xmb which is what one would want. So that's set correctly. However; and (I'm not sure if this is correct) the image isn't set. It says in the config file that a default will be used if not set.
Further looking through the configuration file I didn't find 'display' or any thing close to that. At best I found image as I mentioned above.

Do I need to set this image manually?
If so what would the argument be so that the font displays correctly?

 

[wizardfromoz]

Beyond my paygrade, Alex but I wonder if @f33dm3bits might have some inpppImage might be hampered by packages already there, and confuse the issue.

Good luck.

Chris

 

[Alexzee]

Installed the PPA and tried editing the retroarch.cfg file and changing the video driver from 'gl' to 'vulkan'.
Still unreadable text--

I'm confused as how to fix this. Anyone, any ideas?

 

[Alexzee]

With assistance from hunterk, the Libretro PPA maintainer I was able to get Retro Arch installed. Tweaking the retroarch.cfg file many times over two days paid off.

Installing the PPA went well.

Libretro Stable : “Libretro” team

This PPA holds stable release packages of RetroArch and libretro core libraries. For unstable, testing packages, and MORE CORES, use the libretro-ppa/testing repository (https://launchpad.net/~libretro/+archive/ubuntu/testing) instead. For support with these packages, you can register at the...

launchpad.net

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libretro/stable
sudo apt update
Check your software sources first to ensure the PPA is there, then run the next command
sudo apt install retroarch

With this Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon installed on a Nvme, setting the menu-driver to "xmb" would not display all the font's and icons on the Main Menu. Nor would it show the rest of the sections or sub-sections either.
So, editing the retroarch.cfg and setting the menu_driver to "rgui" was a success.
I had to change the video_driver = from "gl" to "vulkan"

The frame count kept running for an hour so I had to stop that too. To do that I followed this path.
Settings> On Screen Display> On Screen Notification> Visibility> Display Frame Counter and turn it OFF.

The PPA maintainer stuck with me for several days and was incredibly skilled & helpful, kudos to: hunterk!

I'm off to find the Bios and Rom files I need:-

Cheers,
Alex

 

[f33dm3bits]

Beyond my paygrade, Alex but I wonder if @f33dm3bits might have some inpppImage might be hampered by packages already there, and confuse the issue.

@Alexzee what were you having a problem with and trying to find a solution for, I wasn't quite following a long(even though I see that it is solved now)?

 

[Alexzee]

@Alexzee what were you having a problem with and trying to find a solution for, I wasn't quite following a long(even though I see that it is solved now)?

When I installed Retro Arch via the LM pkg, via the flatpac pkg, AppImage <or> by snap pkg, the API's display was broken. The text and the icons failed to display correctly.
So basically, just a jumbled bunch of white blocks that were unreadable.

FWIW, the PPA maintainer shared with me that with the snap pkg version installed there are issue's with the usb game pad not being recognized and users have to go through unplugged/replugged after every game.

 

[f33dm3bits]

the PPA maintainer shared with me that with the snap pkg version installed there are issue's with the usb game pad not being recognized and users have to go through unplugged/replugged after every game.

Probably has to do with that Snaps have some sort of sandbox built into them. Glad you got it solved though, I was just late to the party but thought I would ask what was up.

 

[Alexzee]

Probably has to do with that Snaps have some sort of sandbox built into them. Glad you got it solved though, I was just late to the party but thought I would ask what was up.

Can you give details on what sandboxing could be built into the Snaps?

BTW, Retro Arch launches but I still can't use "xmb" interface only "rgui" works. Hey that's ok I don't have to have a fancy menu.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Can you give details on what sandboxing could be built into the Snaps?

I really don't know anything about it except for that both Flatpaks and Snaps have a sandbox implementation and I haven't really used snaps. Probably best to read the documentation or a post where someone else explains it.

Security policy and sandboxing | Snapcraft documentation

Snaps are containerised software packages that are simple to create and install. They auto-update and are safe to run. And because they bundle their dependencies, they work on all major Linux systems without modification.

snapcraft.io

Snap (software) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Why are Snap packages marketed as "sandboxed" when they are not sandboxed in actual usage

I can open the default chromium snap on my Ubuntu 20.04 computer. I then right click on the defualt homepage, click Save As, navigate to my ~/home directory, and can proceed to save the .html file

askubuntu.com

 

[Alexzee]

I really don't know anything about it except for that both Flatpaks and Snaps have a sandbox implementation and I haven't really used snaps. Probably best to read the documentation or a post where someone else explains it.

Security policy and sandboxing | Snapcraft documentation

Snaps are containerised software packages that are simple to create and install. They auto-update and are safe to run. And because they bundle their dependencies, they work on all major Linux systems without modification.

snapcraft.io

Snap (software) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Why are Snap packages marketed as "sandboxed" when they are not sandboxed in actual usage

I can open the default chromium snap on my Ubuntu 20.04 computer. I then right click on the defualt homepage, click Save As, navigate to my ~/home directory, and can proceed to save the .html file

askubuntu.com

Thanks:-

I'll have a look when I can. Have to go to work.

 

[Alexzee]

I really don't know anything about it except for that both Flatpaks and Snaps have a sandbox implementation and I haven't really used snaps. Probably best to read the documentation or a post where someone else explains it.

Security policy and sandboxing | Snapcraft documentation

Snaps are containerised software packages that are simple to create and install. They auto-update and are safe to run. And because they bundle their dependencies, they work on all major Linux systems without modification.

snapcraft.io

Snap (software) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Why are Snap packages marketed as "sandboxed" when they are not sandboxed in actual usage

I can open the default chromium snap on my Ubuntu 20.04 computer. I then right click on the defualt homepage, click Save As, navigate to my ~/home directory, and can proceed to save the .html file

askubuntu.com

Good reading, thanks for posting the links.

 

[Alexzee]

Found out how to fix the interface.
Press F5 to get the desktop menu and go to View> Settings> Drivers>
and change "gl" to "glcore" exit and then re-launch Retro Arch.