emuELEC Alpha version for the N2 * UPDATED*

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Sat Mar 30, 2019 6:04 pm

This is the first alpha release of my project, emuELEC (very temporary name until I can think of a better one) based on CoreELEC.

An emulation image that can let you run retro games, Atari, NES, SNES, TG16, PSP, PSX, N64, Genesis/Megadrive, etc. etc.

It includes:

Emulationstation
advancemame
PPSSPP
Reicast
Retroarch with a lot of included cores
Support for background music (it reads mp3s in /storage/roms/BGM/)
Easy external USB roms (just put a file named emuelecroms inside your /roms folder in the USB)
Theme downloader

Known Issues:

When you exit an emulator sometimes the frame buffer does not refresh and the image stays frozen, but you can still control it and hear sound. I think this is something with the kernel or the mali blobs.
After returning to ES from an emulator (if the first issue does not happen), the screen has a lot of tearing, again I think this is an issue with the FB.
If you use video snaps, after booting it takes a bit to load the videos, but once loaded it works as it should.
some times (very rare) you can hear white sound for a fraction of a second.
Some of the included RetroPi scripts do not fully work.
If you have BGM enabled and ES goes into the screen saver, the music will continue to sound

To install, just burn the image to a microSD using etcher (or your favorite program)

Hope you like it, and please let me know of other issues you might find and also keep in mind this is alpha and some things might not work as they should or maybe not at all.

Github: https://github.com/shantigilbert/CoreEL ... uelec.next

EDIT: Official release

https://github.com/shantigilbert/emuELE ... muELECv2.5

mad_ady · Unread post by **mad_ady** » Sat Mar 30, 2019 8:38 pm

You do know that temporary names have a habit of sticking around

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Sun Mar 31, 2019 1:26 am

mad_ady wrote: ↑
Sat Mar 30, 2019 8:38 pm
You do know that temporary names have a habit of sticking around

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Mon Apr 08, 2019 2:20 pm

I updated the file and this issues are now fixed:

Fixed Issues:

When you exit an emulator sometimes the frame buffer does not refresh and the image stays frozen, but you can still control it and hear sound. I think this is something with the kernel or the mali blobs. - FIXED
After returning to ES from an emulator (if the first issue does not happen), the screen has a lot of tearing, again I think this is an issue with the FB. - FIXED
some times (very rare) you can hear white sound for a fraction of a second. - FIXED

Still Known Issues:

If you use video snaps, after booting it takes a bit to load the videos, but once loaded it works as it should.
Some of the included RetroPi scripts do not fully work.
If you have BGM enabled and ES goes into the screen saver, the music will continue to sound

download link is the same

grint · Unread post by **grint** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:55 am

Looks like the link is broken. File removed...

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 3:13 am

grint wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:55 am
Looks like the link is broken. File removed...

Sorry it seems it expired for some reason, here is the new link

https://mega.nz/#!fnozUCKQ!n7TgcbYOdBMP ... _P0UKO8vOU

grint · Unread post by **grint** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:15 pm

Will you be incorporating the CoreELEC recent fixes in your build?

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:54 am

Which ones specifically?

this is 100% based on the CE git, so all the fixes should be there.

but emuELEC does not include Kodi

nogareth · Unread post by **nogareth** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:18 am

Hi shanti,

Nice work you did there!!

Since today i am back in the Odroid realm when my n2 arrived after only 2 weeks.
I've installed Emu-Elec and it works pretty good for an alpha version.
But i just cannot figure out how to login over ssh.
Can you tell me what user/Password you used to login.

Edit: figured out myself : root:emuelec .

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 2:26 am

nogareth wrote: ↑
Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:18 am
Hi shanti,

Nice work you did there!!

Since today i am back in the Odroid realm when my n2 arrived after only 2 weeks.
I've installed Emu-Elec and it works pretty good for an alpha version.
But i just cannot figure out how to login over ssh.
Can you tell me what user/Password you used to login.

Edit: figured out myself : root:emuelec .

Yes sorry I forgot to mention that! I am glad you got it working

Please let me know of any feedback you might have

nogareth · Unread post by **nogareth** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:36 am

My experience so far is very positive. Never seen PSP games run this smooth. Not even on my PSP!

I did not encounter any major bugs until now , but i dont have much time to play with my new toy actually.
I have problems leaving Emulators sometimes even with correct configured Xbox 360 Pad, mostly PSP, the reboot to Retroarch does'nt work without real reboot, but aside that
I think this is one of the best working Alpha's i've seen so far.

Is there a way to enter Emu-Configuration while running emulation-station ? I have not much experience with Emulationstation and
I could not figure out how to alter PPSSPP settings or configure a insert coin key within FBa.

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 2:31 am

Thanks for the feedback I appreciate it!

You should be able to access the PSP menu with the middle button (Xbox logo) and quit from there. Most stand alone emulators user a different quit method unfortunately

I've been trying to set up joy2key to define a standard quit combo, but I am not quite there yet.

You can start Retroarch from the quit menu, that "Reboot to Retroarch" you are talking about its mean to choose what will start at boot, maybe I need to clear this one up.

The emu-config is a good idea, but it is currently not implemented, I am not sure how to approach that with the emulators having so different configs, but I will look into it!.

Thanks again I appreciate you taking the time to try it and leaving these comments

BTW: Insert coin for FBA should be mapped to "select" if not, I am going to need to check why, what controller are you using?

nogareth · Unread post by **nogareth** » Fri Apr 19, 2019 12:38 am

Hi, shanti,

How is emuelec progressing?
I am back from vacation soon, and hopefully my brand new (cheap a$$ China

) gamepads arrived, so i can do some testing with my friends.

Do you have any plans for Sega Saturn emulation?
There are (few but great) Saturn games I'd like to play again, and since it seems the n2 has the power to emulate it accurately this would be a great feature!

jerzeeloon · Unread post by **jerzeeloon** » Fri Apr 19, 2019 2:16 am

How do I add games all I see is the settings menu there's no way to navigate to different systems and I don't know where my games go

nogareth · Unread post by **nogareth** » Fri Apr 19, 2019 3:10 am

You need to open the Samba share "etc" from your emuelec server. There check the "systems.cfg" or something like that (i am not near my n2 and cannot check) file. This should be a text file where the rom paths for all emulators are stored. Just create those folders within the "roms" share, or change the path your way ,put your games there and you're set up.

The systems will show up when there is at least 1 rom available.

Don't forget to reboot after adding files.

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Fri Apr 19, 2019 8:59 am

The roms should go into /storage/roms or you can also use a USB with your roms just create a folder named roms on the root of your USB and place a file called "emuelecroms" (no quotes)

roms should go into their corresponding folder e.g. nes roms should go into roms/nes/ snes into roms/snes and so on.

you can look at all the available emulators and paths if you open the es_systems.cfg in /storage/.emulationstation/

Hope that helps

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Fri Apr 19, 2019 9:00 am

nogareth wrote: ↑
Fri Apr 19, 2019 12:38 am
Hi, shanti,

How is emuelec progressing?
I am back from vacation soon, and hopefully my brand new (cheap a$$ China ) gamepads arrived, so i can do some testing with my friends.

Do you have any plans for Sega Saturn emulation?
There are (few but great) Saturn games I'd like to play again, and since it seems the n2 has the power to emulate it accurately this would be a great feature!

I was looking into compiling the Saturn emulator but I could not get further with it :/

jerzeeloon · Unread post by **jerzeeloon** » Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:20 pm

Well I got the roms setup but the built in scraper is either dead slow or broken. I use skraper.net app for recalbox and it puts assets in media folder within ROMs folder and they're recognized. There is a retropie scraping method available but it's asking for configs folder. I found about three different folders with the word config but only one would take yet the assets didn't show up and it seems it just made media folders in my ROMs folder like recalbox. Sorry for the questions I tried Google but the folder structure seems different then whats described in retropie tutorials and I can't find much info on emuelec.

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:37 am

jerzeeloon wrote: ↑
Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:20 pm
Well I got the roms setup but the built in scraper is either dead slow or broken. I use skraper.net app for recalbox and it puts assets in media folder within ROMs folder and they're recognized. There is a retropie scraping method available but it's asking for configs folder. I found about three different folders with the word config but only one would take yet the assets didn't show up and it seems it just made media folders in my ROMs folder like recalbox. Sorry for the questions I tried Google but the folder structure seems different then whats described in retropie tutorials and I can't find much info on emuelec.

you can try this:

example for NES roms

ES need to be stopped for the scraper to work

Code: Select all

systemctl stop emustation
cd /storage/roms/nes
scraper -console_src ss -download_videos -output_file gamelist.xml -video_dir snap -image_dir boxart -image_path boxart -video_path snap -video_suffix "_video" -image_suffix "_image" -add_not_found
systemctl start emustation

the problem is either you are not generating the gamelist.xml (which tells ES where the media is) or you need to kill ES before you copy the files

eddiepropane · Unread post by **eddiepropane** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 3:17 am

Just wanted to say thanks for developing the N2 version

Been using this through my journey for s905x, s912 and now this awesome little box!!

jerzeeloon · Unread post by **jerzeeloon** » Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:33 pm

Ok so I finally have most everything squared away all my ROMs and assets are showing. I appreciate the support for this board I only have one issue left. I have speakers hooked up through the audio port in the front and I can't get any sound no matter what settings I put the audio on the system volume keeps reverting to 0%. Any ideas?

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Fri Apr 26, 2019 2:30 am

Don't trust the volume on ES, its picky, but the default PCM, Default combo should work. But I am not sure if the audio port in front is enabled, I never thought about that. I will check it out

jerzeeloon · Unread post by **jerzeeloon** » Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:12 am

shanti wrote: ↑
Fri Apr 26, 2019 2:30 am
Don't trust the volume on ES, its picky, but the default PCM, Default combo should work. But I am not sure if the audio port in front is enabled, I never thought about that. I will check it out

yeah unfortunately the monitor I had it hooked up to has no audio out so I had to use the front audio port but I did hook it up to my TV and it does get a audio fine through HDMI with the default and PCM settings like you said.

albanibr · Unread post by **albanibr** » Sat Apr 27, 2019 7:36 am

Is there any update forecast?

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Sat Apr 27, 2019 2:47 pm

There hasn't been much changes, but I am about to release an official version very soon, but it still has the FB bug

chrisdb · Unread post by **chrisdb** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 1:25 am

Thanks for sharing your image. I ran into some issues:

1. How to setup WiFi / Wlan? I can't find a menu option, only one for setting up Bluetooth Controllers.

2. How to exit EmulationStation (e.g. to run retropie-setup or scraper)? Usually it's "F4", but "F4" just restarts EmulationStation and does not exit it.

3. I'm not able to connect my 8BITDO SF30 Pro Bluetooth Gamepad. When trying to connect, I get a success message on screen, but the Gamepad stays in pairing mode and when displaying paired devices, there are none. Any advice?

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:02 am

chrisdb wrote: ↑
Mon Apr 29, 2019 1:25 am
Thanks for sharing your image. I ran into some issues:

1. How to setup WiFi / Wlan? I can't find a menu option, only one for setting up Bluetooth Controllers.

2. How to exit EmulationStation (e.g. to run retropie-setup or scraper)? Usually it's "F4", but "F4" just restarts EmulationStation and does not exit it.

3. I'm not able to connect my 8BITDO SF30 Pro Bluetooth Gamepad. When trying to connect, I get a success message on screen, but the Gamepad stays in pairing mode and when displaying paired devices, there are none. Any advice?

1.- Right now you can set up wifi on Retroarch, next version will have a very easy way to set it up
2.- Since this is a stand alone version, there is no way to quit Emulationstation, there is also no Retropie-Setup, altho it uses some of thescripts, it is NOT a port of Retropie. Next version will have 2 options for scraping ROMS, all easily run from ES
3.- AFAIK the n2 has no internal BT so I haven't tested any BT gamepads on the N2 as I have no BT dongle. So not sure how you are connecting it.

chrisdb · Unread post by **chrisdb** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:51 am

shanti wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:02 am
3.- AFAIK the n2 has no internal BT so I haven't tested any BT gamepads on the N2 as I have no BT dongle. So not sure how you are connecting it.

Thanks for the reply!
I am using a BT dongle (which works great with CoreElec, setup using the Kodi interface.

I'm currently compiling the emuelec-addon.sh script from your EmuElec branch and will try to use it within CoreElec, after completion.
(Compiling is quite slow though, as my Ubuntu runs on a virtual machine with limited processing power).

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 1:37 pm

There is a new and official release

https://github.com/shantigilbert/emuELE ... muELECv2.5

nogareth · Unread post by **nogareth** » Wed May 01, 2019 4:29 am

Hi @Shanti

Excuse my dumb question.
I am running Emuelec from a High-Performance 128GB Micro-Sd . Is there a way to update from within Emuelec without having to rewrite my SDcard and retransfer all my roms ?

albundy1959 · Unread post by **albundy1959** » Wed May 01, 2019 7:29 am

Greetings shanti,

impressive innovations, now i have only problems with my most liked game
"Gauntlet Legends". It works with PSX-Emulation and very fast on Dreamcast,
but my target is also to run it on N64 and naturally the origin Arcade Game.
Also, when i started skyscraper i wait for a menu like i used to see using
retropie for choosing scraping system, scraping source and so on.
But in the moment my SSD LED is heavylie flashing giving me time to
write this post.

Because i understood the development means permanent changes i have my
roms organized on an external SanDisk-SSD. So i can "burn" a new image from

Thank you (don't know how to give you an entry on your profile: Thanks from...)

Waiting very interested for your next release.

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Wed May 01, 2019 7:57 am

nogareth wrote: ↑
Wed May 01, 2019 4:29 am
Hi @Shanti

Excuse my dumb question.
I am running Emuelec from a High-Performance 128GB Micro-Sd . Is there a way to update from within Emuelec without having to rewrite my SDcard and retransfer all my roms ?

just drop the file in /storage/update (or network share called "update") and reboot

You might need to SSH and do

Code: Select all

rm -rf /storage/.emulationstation 
rm -rf /emuelec

to update the new scripts after the reboot and reboot again

but this will delete all themes and custom collections so be aware.

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Wed May 01, 2019 8:01 am

albundy1959 wrote: ↑
Wed May 01, 2019 7:29 am
Greetings shanti,

impressive innovations, now i have only problems with my most liked game
"Gauntlet Legends". It works with PSX-Emulation and very fast on Dreamcast,
but my target is also to run it on N64 and naturally the origin Arcade Game.
Also, when i started skyscraper i wait for a menu like i used to see using
retropie for choosing scraping system, scraping source and so on.
But in the moment my SSD LED is heavylie flashing giving me time to
write this post.

Because i understood the development means permanent changes i have my
roms organized on an external SanDisk-SSD. So i can "burn" a new image from

Thank you (don't know how to give you an entry on your profile: Thanks from...)

Waiting very interested for your next release.

Ahh I think there is still an issue with script ran from ES

Try this, from ES select Skyscraper from the retropie menu, once you see the emuelec logo move your gamepad up or down and see if it starts redrawing.

1917 · Unread post by **1917** » Wed May 01, 2019 4:05 pm

Hi shanti, thank you for your project, testing for a ~day at the moment, so far impressions are quite positive.

I understand your goal was to create an emulation-centric solution, but... what is the best option to embed Kodi into EmuELEC? I mean, is it simpler to start from CoreELEC build and add EmuELEC-specific source packages to it or add Kodi on top of EmuELEC?

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Wed May 01, 2019 4:18 pm

I am working on 2 projects at the moment, one is a emulator only build (my main focus) and one is an add-on for CoreELEC to be able to run Emulationstation and emulators and such, unfortunately the add-on will have reduced functionality since not all my changes are compatible with CoreELEC, but if your idea is to have Kodi and emuELEC this will be your best option

IgaBiva · Unread post by **IgaBiva** » Tue May 07, 2019 4:08 pm

Hi shanti, thank you for your efforts to create this project.

As I am waiting for my N2 to arrive, I have one question.:

In my current setup (Raspberry PI plus Retropie), all of my roms, images and skysraper cache files are on a NFS network share. Can I use NFS with emuELEC too?

If yes, how can I do it? In RetroPie, i had to edit fstab and autostart.sh - will it work here too?

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Tue May 14, 2019 12:43 am

IgaBiva wrote: ↑
Tue May 07, 2019 4:08 pm
Hi shanti, thank you for your efforts to create this project.

As I am waiting for my N2 to arrive, I have one question.:

In my current setup (Raspberry PI plus Retropie), all of my roms, images and skysraper cache files are on a NFS network share. Can I use NFS with emuELEC too?

If yes, how can I do it? In RetroPie, i had to edit fstab and autostart.sh - will it work here too?

Yes it is possible!
you just need to follow these instructions and mount it in /storage/roms

https://github.com/shantigilbert/EmuELE ... unt.sample

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Tue May 14, 2019 12:43 am

A new version has been released

https://github.com/shantigilbert/EmuELE ... tag/v2.5.2

BadPritt · Unread post by **BadPritt** » Tue May 14, 2019 4:29 am

Hi all. I've made a video about EmuElec on the Odroid N2.
Thank you Shanti for doing such great work.
Here's the video : https://youtu.be/ZPq0lt1XcI0

Greetings, NicoD

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Tue May 14, 2019 5:39 am

BadPritt wrote: ↑
Tue May 14, 2019 4:29 am
Hi all. I've made a video about EmuElec on the Odroid N2.
Thank you Shanti for doing such great work.
Here's the video : https://youtu.be/ZPq0lt1XcI0

Greetings, NicoD

Thank you for the video!

Dreamcast should be working, you need to place the bios in /storage/roms/bios/dc

There is a new version than the one you are using on the video that improves in a lot of places, please give it a try

BadPritt · Unread post by **BadPritt** » Tue May 14, 2019 6:46 am

shanti wrote: ↑
Tue May 14, 2019 5:39 am
Dreamcast should be working, you need to place the bios in /storage/roms/bios/dc

I'll try that, thank you. I've just copied my bios directory from my RecalBox image for my RK3399's. They're probably not well arranged.

shanti wrote: ↑
Tue May 14, 2019 5:39 am
There is a new version than the one you are using on the video that improves in a lot of places, please give it a try

Where can I find it please? I've used the V2.5 from here.
https://github.com/shantigilbert/emuELE ... muELECv2.5

Any idea on improving the image quality with Mupen64? Or is that the original quality of the N64 and are the other cores improved? I've never played on a N64.

I should have asked all this before making the video. I was planning to, but was already filming everything.
I can always make another video later.
Thank you, greetings.
NicoD

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Tue May 14, 2019 12:17 pm

The link for the new version is right before your post

https://github.com/shantigilbert/EmuELE ... tag/v2.5.2

BadPritt · Unread post by **BadPritt** » Tue May 14, 2019 4:56 pm

shanti wrote: ↑
Tue May 14, 2019 12:17 pm
The link for the new version is right before your post

https://github.com/shantigilbert/EmuELE ... tag/v2.5.2

I'm wearing glasses for someting

Thanks. I'l give it a ty.

Ize · Unread post by **Ize** » Tue May 21, 2019 6:47 pm

Hello shanti,

awesome project and the emulators run mostly great for an alpha... however i bought the n2 to replace my old pi 3 "mediaplayer" with osmc.
Is it possible to get kodi with hardware suppport running on your distro somehow? or can i get the binaries from coreelec and use them with your image somehow?

I need a mediaplayer AND emulation on the same image

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Wed May 22, 2019 5:18 am

Ize wrote: ↑
Tue May 21, 2019 6:47 pm
Hello shanti,

awesome project and the emulators run mostly great for an alpha... however i bought the n2 to replace my old pi 3 "mediaplayer" with osmc.
Is it possible to get kodi with hardware suppport running on your distro somehow? or can i get the binaries from coreelec and use them with your image somehow?

I need a mediaplayer AND emulation on the same image

Your best bet if you want to use Kodi and Emuelec is to wait a bit and you can use the Add-on version for CoreELEC which should give you what you want. The add-on version is a bit behind the current version and it has less features that are really not needed for the add-on. I am updating it at the moment, but it should be ready for the N2 pretty soon.

Ize · Unread post by **Ize** » Wed May 22, 2019 2:43 pm

OK, then i'll wait a bit. thanks

grint · Unread post by **grint** » Wed May 22, 2019 6:48 pm

shanti wrote: ↑
Wed May 22, 2019 5:18 am

Ize wrote: ↑
Tue May 21, 2019 6:47 pm
Hello shanti,

awesome project and the emulators run mostly great for an alpha... however i bought the n2 to replace my old pi 3 "mediaplayer" with osmc.
Is it possible to get kodi with hardware suppport running on your distro somehow? or can i get the binaries from coreelec and use them with your image somehow?

I need a mediaplayer AND emulation on the same image
Your best bet if you want to use Kodi and Emuelec is to wait a bit and you can use the Add-on version for CoreELEC which should give you what you want. The add-on version is a bit behind the current version and it has less features that are really not needed for the add-on. I am updating it at the moment, but it should be ready for the N2 pretty soon.

Let me know if you require any testers. I'd be happy to help out.

Ize · Unread post by **Ize** » Thu May 23, 2019 9:02 pm

grint wrote: ↑
Wed May 22, 2019 6:48 pm
Let me know if you require any testers. I'd be happy to help out.

I would ofcourse, also love to test the addon for you

shanti · Unread post by **shanti** » Fri May 24, 2019 3:56 am

Thanks, I will post it here as soon as I have it done. I am just working on some issued related to Framebuffer and it will be ready to test.

Ize · Unread post by **Ize** » Mon May 27, 2019 4:02 pm

Any updates?