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.
Download
- Elive Retrowave for PS4 (Download Elive-Retrowave-ps4.7z.001 and Elive-Retrowave-ps4.7z.002)
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:-
- Download & install 7-Zip.
- 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.
- 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.
- Open a terminal and type
su
. It will ask for a password. Enter ps4. You should now have root access. - Next, type
cd /
and press Enter. - Then, type
touch /swapfile
. - 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. - Then, type
chmod 600 /swapfile
and press Enter. - Following that, type
mkswap /swapfile
and press Enter. - Finally, type
swapon /swapfile
and press Enter. - 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. - 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. - Press Y when prompted with “Save modified buffer” and Enter.
- 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.
Many thanks Noob404, and to all the contributors, forum members….
The swap is already installed, you don’t have to do anything.
Can you tell me the size of the swap installed?
Swap=4G