RetroArch Snap Packages Now Available

hizzk

Adding to our existing FlatPak packages for distro-independent installation, RetroArch is now available as a snap package, as well. We’re using Canonical’s SnapCraft.io build service, which produces i386, x86_64 and armhf builds. Canonical’s official instructions for installing snap packages on a variety of distros are available here:

https://snapcraft.io/docs/core/install

If you already have the snap package manager installed, you can download the snap package directly from uApp Explorer:

https://uappexplorer.com/snap/ubuntu/retroarch

and Ubuntu users can search for and install RetroArch directly from the Ubuntu Software store:

If you run into any issues with the snap package, please report them at the retroarch-snap meta-repo, located here:

https://github.com/libretro/retroarch-snap

This package includes assets, database, cheats, joypad autoconfig, info cores, overlay and shaders. After installation, you’ll also need to connect 2 interfaces to get joysticks working:

sudo snap connect retroarch:raw-usb

sudo snap connect retroarch:joystick

If you’re going to use any cores that require BIOS files, you’ll probably want to stop by settings > directory and select a system/BIOS directory, as well. Other than that, you should be good to go!

Atari800 Core Improvements

hizzk

Thomas Cherryhomes has been hacking on the atari800 libretro core. Atari800 is an emulator that supports the Atari 8-bit computers and game systems. Much needed core options have been added to improve the overall user experience, including:

* System type (400/800, 800XL, 130XE, and Atari 5200)
* Video Standard (NTSC or PAL)
* SIO Accelleration (while this improves boot time, many copy protected games will fail to load if this is enabled)
* Internal BASIC (so that games that need BASIC can be played)
* Hi-Res artifacting (for NTSC games that utilize the high-resolution faux color artifacting, such as Choplifter!, and Drol)
* Boot from Cassette (needed for bootable cassette titles)

State saving is coming soon, not quite debugged yet, as well as trying to find the best way to add the keypads for the Atari 5200 controllers, with an eye to extending such support for other game systems of the same vintage that also sported keypads on their joysticks. Also, some build targets are not compiling (e.g. Wii, PS3, etc.), and this needs to be fixed.

The changes thus far, with the exception of the preceding paragraph have been merged upstream and accepted.