Guide: Boot straight to PICO-8 on Raspberry Pi OS Lite (no desktop)

Sun, 25 Feb 2024 19:21:32 UTC

Read all steps before proceeding with the installation. Feedback is appreciated!

If you want to avoid the headache of Step 4, I recommend using a Pi or other Linux computer to write the installation image to the SD card! It can be the same Pi you use for the Lite installation, you just need to switch SD cards to change OSs.

Hello everyone,

I haven't seen any tutorials for doing exactly this so I thought it would be helpful if there was a guide for anyone who specifically just wants a little portable machine that launches PICO-8 after booting, and without using Retropie or a desktop environment. This installation won't have a super fast boot like PICOPi (https://github.com/keints/picopi) but it will have online functionality and will be a great starting point for a physical fantasy console project.

The whole process takes about 45 minutes to complete

Things you will need:

The latest PICO-8 for Raspberry Pi zip: https://www.lexaloffle.com/games.php?page=updates
Raspberry Pi (any model) setup with a display and keyboard
SD card or microSD card (depending on the model of Pi) at least 16GB
SD card reader
Windows/macOS/Linux computer with internet access (this can also be a Pi, in fact it can even be the same Pi if you have two SD cards!)
- Optional: USB thumb drive to transfer files from your PC to the Pi
- Optional: Second SD card to install a desktop version of Raspberry Pi OS to transfer files to your "Lite" installation

Step 1: Download & install the latest Raspberry Pi OS Lite image

Step 2: Setup Raspberry Pi OS

Step 3: Update Raspberry Pi OS and install PICO-8 dependencies

Step 4: Copy and extract your PICO-8 zip to your Pi user's home directory

The zip goes in the directory /home/[username]/ on the rootfs partition of your SD card.

There are several ways you can go about completing this step. Here are three:

1) SSH This is probably the most optimal way to copy your zip over if you don’t have a Linux computer or an additional Raspberry Pi OS Desktop installation, though it is a little more involved. You can find instructions for copying files to the Pi via SSH here: https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/remote-access.html#ssh
- The Pi is internet-connected at this point so ensure that your password can't be easily brute-forced! I recommend disabling SSH again after copying over the zip
2) USB drive You can learn how to access a USB thumb drive via the command line here: https://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2014/05/how-to-mount-a-usb-flash-disk-on-the-raspberry-pi/
3) Another Linux installation If you have a Linux OS with a desktop (or a second SD card for your Pi with Raspberry Pi OS Desktop), you can just insert your Raspberry Pi OS Lite SD card into a card reader and just click and drag the zip onto it using a file explorer.

You can use the unzip command on the Pi to extract the zip once you've transferred it.

Step 5: Create a startup script

Troubleshooting

No sound
If there is no sound, go back to the raspi-config tool and select System Options and then Audio and make sure audio is being routed to the correct output device.
The command line doesn't show the usual prompt or display PICO-8 after logging in
Usually this is because PICO-8 starts and bash runs in the foreground. Try pressing Ctrl+C and wait to see if the command prompt appears after a few moments. I've found that adding the sleep 15 command to the first line of the startup script avoids this issue. If anyone knows what causes it any info would be appreciated!
A number of SDL-related errors are displayed, but no PICO-8
Happens because PICO-8 starts too early after login. Press Ctrl+C to terminate the process and try adding the sleep 15 command before your echo "Starting PICO-8..." command in the startup script.

A few notes

While the goal is to effectively create a physical fantasy console, remember that the Raspberry Pi is still a real computer with an OS that is connected to the internet. It's good to upgrade packages every so often to fix issues and keep your system secure. If you've completed this tutorial, you should now know how to check for updated software packages and how to install them. If this sounds like a hassle, I would recommend considering keeping your installation offline. Or you can learn how to automate the process of keeping your system up to date. The world is your oyster!

Hope this was helpful! If this is your first experience with a Pi or Linux, I can promise you it isn't normally this much work to get an OS setup. You can always install the desktop version of Raspberry Pi OS (or any other OS) and use it just like you would use a Windows or macOS computer. I hope you'll continue to explore and learn how Linux works, maybe you can write a better guide than this one! See if you can figure out how to get the Pi to shutdown by itself after shutting down PICO-8 ;)

Would anyone be interested in a video tutorial to make a Pi boot into PICO-8?

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 22:31:20 UTC

EDIT: I made a text guide! You can read it here: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=140366

I learned how to make a minimal Raspberry Pi OS image for the Pi Zero W that boots up and goes straight into PICO-8, no desktop or anything. I could maybe upload a .img of it or just make a video tutorial. I can't find any current distro that does just this, only PicoPi, which isn't officially supported anymore. I don't make content or have an online presence or anything, I just thought maybe someone should do it. What do you all think?

EDIT: Feel like I should clarify that one would have to provide their own PICO-8 but once it's in the right place it runs it after booting. I wouldn't include it in my .img file

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