Retrowave Linux for PS4 by triki1 with Mesa 20.2.20 & EmulationStation: Distro Release

Elive Retrowave Linux for PS4 with Mesa 20.2.20 is meant for your retro 80s lovers. It comes with multiple theming options & Emulation Station.

It’s so good to see forum members contributing to the scene with PS4 ports of various Linux distros. The latest in the lineup is Elive Retrowave for PS4, thanks to Forum member triki1. This is a distro based on Debian with a desktop-environment and comes with Mesa 20.2.20.

Elive Retrowave for PS4

Check out the forum thread for triki1’s announcement. So, what is Retrowave Linux? Here’s how the official page puts it:-

Elive Retrowave version is a unique fresh take on Synthwave designs, integrating colorful neon aspects built on Elive.
It will transform old computers into high-performance machines offering everything a modern system needs with simple interfaces and automated tools on a dazzling customized Desktop Environment.
So, in a nutshell, if you wanted to have a 80s or retro-looking distro on your modern or rather any other device, this is a very good option.

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Login details

  • User: tux
  • Password: tux

Elive Retrowave for PS4: Showcase Video

For more videos, check out the forum thread.

Installation: How to install Elive Retrowave Linux on PS4?

Since the distro archive is more than 4GB upon extraction, you will have to use the faster method for installation. But, before that you have to extract the downloaded files and get the distro archive. Follow these steps:-

  1. Download & install 7-Zip.
  2. Right click on Elive-Retrowave-ps4.7z.001 while making sure both Elive-Retrowave-ps4.7z.001 and Elive-Retrowave-ps4.7z.002 are in the same folder.
  3. Click on 7-Zip & extract it to a suitable folder. This will extract the distro archive (ps4linux.tar.xz).

Once extracted, you can continue with the faster method of installation, which has been explained in detail with a video tutorial here.

Setup Elive Retrowave Linux on PS4

Once the installation is complete, you can customise the distro to your liking. Here are a few things you might need soon after the installation.

Set up swap space (Optional, but recommended)

Setting up a proper swap space reduces the chance of crashes during gaming and other heavy tasks. So, I recommend you follow these steps to set up swap space before gaming on this distro.

  1. Open a terminal and type su. It will ask for a password. Enter ps4. You should now have root access.
  2. Next, type cd / and press Enter.
  3. Then, type touch /swapfile.
  4. Next, decide how much swap space you require. I suggest having 4GB to 8GB. But, this will depend on how much free space your USB drive has. Assuming, you want to have 8GB of swap, type fallocate -l 8GB /swapfile and press Enter.
  5. Then, type chmod 600 /swapfile and press Enter.
  6. Following that, type mkswap /swapfile and press Enter.
  7. Finally, type swapon /swapfile and press Enter.
  8. This swap will stick for the current session, but you will have to redo all these steps after a restart. To make this permanent, type nano /etc/fstab. This will open the file, fstab in a text editor.
  9. Use the arrow keys to scroll to the last empty line and type /swapfile none swap sw 0 0. Then, press Ctrl+X followed by Enter.
  10. Press Y when prompted with “Save modified buffer” and Enter.
  11. Confirm that the file name to write is /etc/fstab. Press Enter.

If this method doesn’t work, try this alternate swap creation method (second one in the section).

Change system language on Elive Retrowave for PS4

triki1 has shared the instructions in a pdf file downloadable from here.

To change language on E25, go to the main menu, then Configuration and then click on Panneau de controle. Click on the Langue tab and then on Parametrese dela langue to set your preferred language.

If on E16, go to main menu, Preferences and then click on Configurations de langue et de clavier. Then, choose your preferred language.

Conclusion

If you do like this distro, do not forget to subscribe to triki1’s YouTube channel. Also, if you are interested in building your own distros for the PS4, get started with our make your own PS4 Linux distro documentation.

3 Comments

  1. Many thanks Noob404, and to all the contributors, forum members….
    The swap is already installed, you don’t have to do anything.

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