I’m messing around with my OrangePi5 again, gonna experiment with Armbian and DietPi again. As both offer a minimal installer, I’ll want to add a DE, or at least a graphical interface that can run at boot and let me control it with a bluetooth controller.
If not a full DE, just what packages should I experiment with?
An option to consider: LibreElec does this with Kodi, and Kodi itself can be used for this. LibreElec can be set up for a controller from boot.
The downside with Kodi is it’s a bit clunky to do anything other than play media, but it can be used to launch games reasonably well or even launch a dedicated gaming interface like RetroArch for a good interface for games.
I’m sure you could achieve what LibreElec achieves using Armbian and DietPi if you’re willing to spend some time configuring things.
Directly, not familiar with any (unless you’re willing to mess with SBC Android), but I would try using AntimicroX, a program to remap controller keys as keyboard keys and mouse commands, and then set it to auto-start.
bazzite can be installed in steam mode so it’s controller friendly console like experience
Bazzite is only for x86_64, orange pi has an ARM processor, RK3588S
KDE Plasma. TheBlackDon on youtube does this with KDE/his KineticWe setup using a Steam controller.
I’ve been following this for a while. When the bubble pops, I’m building a HTPC running this
When the bubble pops
If*
If it doesn’t, then it will be profitable to build fabs to break the cartel. The US greatly ramped up oil production the last oil crisis to become the most oil producing nation using fracking despite OPEC. We’re watching the beginning of the same with China with CXMT and likely others to follow.
It looks really nice, gonna give that one a try. Do you know how much RAM it takes while running?
no clue, sorry
I use ES-DE to access all my retro titles and such. You can use it with RetroArch and now you have an awesome emulation thing!
Looks like a good option, gonna give it a try
My steam controller will act as a keyboard and mouse. I wonder if theres just a cheaper, more available controller out there that does whatever it is the steam controller is doing. It seems to work regardless of the DE, shit even the OS as it does it on my Linux computer and my work windows computer. If there is something like that it might be the way to go.
That’s a function of the Steam client, not the controller itself. I doubt you’d want to have that running on an Orange Pi.
Its actually a fallback built into the controller, I am having trouble locating another like that.
retroarch, faugus & kodi might be worth a peek
Plasma BigScreen or Flex Launcher
kde can be controlled with a gamepad (tho it’s a setting you need to activate first), but in my experience it was pretty janky. maybe it’s better now? it’s an option to consider, at least
they also have plasma bigscreen which works better with a controller, but since it’s pretty recent (iirc it only got added in plasma 6.7, the latest major release) i doubt it will be in debian’s repos
It was in Debian 12 but removed from 13 because it hadn’t been updated in a while (was still Plasma 5). It’s been seeing quite a few updates for months now so it should be back in Debian soon I imagine.
*Recently revived. It was abandoned but thankfully it’s coming along now, just in time for the SFC v. Vizio lawsuit getting going so we can hopefully get builds for TV os’s running this soon.
Do you have an existing controller you’re planning to use, or will you be buying one? There are many small, inexpensive combination keyboards and track pads which work via Bluetooth or come with a 2.4 Ghz dongle. I picked one up for about $20 a couple of years back and it works great.
Already got a bunch I bought mainly for playing on PC and Switch, a “G6 Wireless Controller” which, despite being cheap, works great.
I do have a wireless keyboard with a builtin trackpad, but what I want is to be able to just turn the little board on, connect the controller and get going
I can’t tell you how to do it under Wayland off the cuff, but you can map a controller’s analog stick to act like a mouse. It’s a little clumsy, but that’ll let you use any mouse-oriented DE.
Some gamepads, like the PS5’s controller and I assume the Steam Controller, have touchpads built into the controller that work as pointing devices.
If you don’t specifically want only a gamepad, I’d probably use a trackball or touchpad and maybe keyboard, as a trackball can be used from a couch, lile a gamepad.
