Pixelcade for EmuELEC
EmuELEC allows you to run emulation on sub $50 Android TV boxes like this one for example. The experience is very similar to RetroPie running on a Raspberry Pi but more affordable given the current limited availability and high cost of Raspberry Pis and EmuELEC supports the powerful Odroid N2+ board.
You’ll need at least 1 GB free on your SD card for the Pixelcade LED installation and note that the Pixelcade dynamic game scrolling and screen saver updates requires EmuElec 4.4 or above. Pixelcade will be installed in /storage/roms/pixelcade. Also note that you can re-run the installer to get Pixelcade artwork updates and the installer will not overwrite any of your artwork changes.
From a computer on the same network (Ethernet or WiFi) as your EmuELEC, SSH into your EmuELEC using the username of root and the password of emuelec.
ssh root@emuelec or ssh root@<Your EmuELEC IP Address >
Then copy and paste the command below to run the Pixelcade LED Installer.
Pixelcade LED Installer Command
curl -kLO -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alinke/pixelcade-linux-builds/main/install-scripts/setup-emuelec.sh && chmod +x setup-emuelec.sh && ./setup-emuelec.sh
Pixelcade LCD
The LED installation script will take around 10-15 minutes to complete.
EmuELEC and Pixelcade Demo
RetroAchievements Integration
Pixelcade Companion Web Interface
Use the Pixelcade Companion Web interface to browse marquee artwork. From any web browser on the same network as your Batocera, go to:
http://emuelec.local:8080 or <emuelec IP Address>:8080
For example: http://emuelec.local:8080 or 192.168.1.198:8080
Browse Artwork
Browse marquee artwork by system /console type.
Update Artwork
Check for new artwork and click “UPDATE / INSTALL ARTWORK” when there is an update.
Also, an optional paid LED art pack is available for Pixelcade LED with additional animated marquees. Note this art pack is for Pixelcade LED only and not for Pixelcade LCD marquees.
After purchasing the LED art pack, you’ll receive a serial code and then enter it in the “Enter Art Pack License” box.
Widgets
While not in Arcade marquee mode, Pixelcade can display weather, act as a clock, display sport scores, and stock prices.
First click the “Widget Settings” box to configure your favorite teams, stocks, and zip code for weather.
Settings
Use Settings to access the Pixelcade log. This is a great tool when customizing artwork. For example, this line tells you that your arcade front end sent a request to Pixelcade for a file called mame/3stooges.png
Received request for arcade stream: Console: mame ROM: 3stooges
Customizing Pixelcade Behavior in EmuELEC
You can customize the Pixelcade behavior by modifying the scripts located in
/storage/.emulationstation/configs/scripts
Here are the scripts for reference which you can customize
https://github.com/alinke/pixelcade-linux/tree/main/emuelec/scripts
| Script | Description |
| System Selected | Launches each time a system/console/collection is selected. This script make this API call to display the system/console marquee:
|
| Game Selected | Launches each time a game is selected like for example while scrolling through games. This script makes this API call to display the game marquee:
|
| Game Start | Launches each time a game is launched. This script will check if the game has high scores and display high scores in cycle mode if yes. Cycle mode means cycling between the game marquee and the high score scrolling. If the game does not have or does not support high scores, then the text “Now Playing will scroll and then the game marquee will be displayed. You can customize these settings in this script: DISPLAYHIGHSCORES=yes If set to no, high scores will not scroll and the “Now Playing will scroll and then the game marquee will be displayed. NUMBERHIGHSCORES=3 The number of high scores to scroll, choose 1 for example to only show the top score. CYCLEMODE=yes Cycle mode continually cycles between the game marquee and scrolling high scores while a game is active. If set to no, then high scores will scroll only once on game launch and then display the game marquee. NUMBER_MARQUEE_LOOPS=1 For cycle mode, the number of times the animated marquee will loop before scrolling the high score text, this has no effect if it’s a still image game marquee. |
| Front End Restart or Shutdown | Launches when the EmulationStation front end is restarted or shutdown. This script will display the text “Bye” using this API call:
|
| achievements | Fires each time a RetroAchievement is achieved. Note that RetroAchievements are one time events. You must have RetroAchievement turned in the EmulationStation menu. |
Here are features available from the Pixelcade API which you can use in the above scripts https://pixelcade.org/api
Widget API Access
While not in Arcade marquee mode, Pixelcade can display weather, act as a clock, display sport scores, and stock prices. Please note this widgets are currently experimental.
Weather
http://batocera.local:8080/weather?location=x
x can be a zip code or a city/country name
Clock
http://batocera.local:8080/clock
Sports Scores Ticker
http://batocera.local:8080/sports/x
x can be: nfl, nba, nhl, mlb
Stock Ticker
http://batocera.local:8080/stocks?tickers=x,y,z
where x,y, z are ticker names
ex.
http://batocera.local:8080/stocks?tickers=aapl,googl,sbux
Pixelcade Command Line Parameters
Pixelcade will start automatically utilizing the custom.sh built in startup script of EmuELEC located at:
/storage/.config/custom_start.sh
The Pixelcade installer adds this line to custom.sh which will start Pixelcade automatically with these command line parameters:
cd /storage/roms/pixelcade && ./pixelweb -image "system/emuelec.png" -startup &
Pixelcade has additional command line parameters for customization. Use this command to see the possible parameters.
cd /storage/roms/pixelcade && ./pixelweb -h
Usage of ./pixelweb:
-b string
optional bind address (default “0.0.0.0”)
-check-artwork
check Pixelcade artwork for updates. Exits with code 0 if no update available, 1 if update is available, 2 if directory does not exist, 3 if unknown error.
-d string
path to pixelcade device. Set to auto to scan for device. On Windows use COM# (default “auto”)
-debug
debug log level
-delay int
time (in seconds) to delay device init
-devicescan
scan for device if not found or not specified with -d (default true)
-font string
default font for text (default “Arial Narrow 7”)
-fontcolor string
default font color for text (default “red”)
-fontcolorrandom
random default font color. Overrides -fontcolor
-fontsize int
default font size for text (default 28)
-fuzzy
enable fuzzy matching for images
-image string
optional image to display on startup (default “mame/pixelcade.png”)
-install-artpack string
install art pack with license code
-install-artwork
install Pixelcade artwork to pixelcade root. Exits with code 2 if artwork already installed.
-logfile string
optional log file
-nointro
skips playing the startup text and logo. Screen will be black on startup.
-p string
path to pixelcade root (default “/userdata/system/pixelcade”)
-port int
optional port to listen on (default 8080)
-progress-stdout
print progress output as stdout only
-startup
startup mode
-swapbluegreen
swap blue and green. Only needed for certain panels.
-system-image string
optional system image to display on startup. Overrides -image
-text string
optional text to display on startup (default “Welcome to Pixelweb”)
-trace
trace log level
-update-artwork
install Pixelcade artwork to pixelcade root
-version
display the version number