I’m a newb Linux user still trying to wrap my head around how Linux works so please take that into account.
I did a fresh install of Ubuntu MATE 17.10 and ran all the updates I could possibly find for everything. Then I installed RetroArch from the Software Boutique. It installed version 1.4.something(I can’t remember the exact number). It detected my PS3 controller right away and I was able to bind buttons. I noticed that you can’t download cores from within the program. You have to install them with the Synaptic Manager or the terminal.
So I went to download Synaptic Manager and noticed there is also another software manager called just simply Software. I installed this too. RetroArch is available to download from this Software manager as well. RetroArch was not marked installed in this manager, even though I had already installed it from the Software Boutique. Apparently Software Boutique and Software don’t talk to each other?
So I installed RetroArch again from Software and got a second version of the program in the games menu, this one version 1.7.1. This version does not detect my controller. But I can download cores from within the menu.
After uninstalling both I attempted yet a third install by using the terminal with this command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libretro/stable && sudo apt-get update
This gave me version 1.7.1 with controller support and in-menu core downloading, but it would not detect any of my keyboard for some reason, and so was unusable.
My main question is why does the Software Boutique install a different version of RetroArch than the simply titled Software and why are these two installation managers inconsistent with each other? They seem to be installed in different places, because uninstalling one does not uninstall the other. But I do worry that they might be slightly breaking each other, and I wonder if much of the problems I’m having with controller and keyboard detection are to do with these conflicts. Why does a Software Boutique or a Software or a Terminal installation give me different results? It’s created a very messy situation on my computer that I’m tempted to do a clean installation to fix.
I’d like to use the newest version of the software but it doesn’t seem to work. Does Ubuntu MATE actually recommend just using the one from Software Boutique, the 1.4.something. And just install cores from Synaptic. Is that the standard? Even so, I’m still frustrated by why the Software manager has a different version than the Software Boutique.