Accessing Lakka command line interface

Accessing Lakka command line interface is useful if you want to debug the system, or if you need to edit the configuration file manually. It is for advanced users only. For begginners, using the graphical interface should be enough.

There are 3 ways to access the command line interface:

• SSH
• Direct access with a keyboard
• Serial

SSH

The easiest way to configure Lakka is to connect it via SSH. SSH is a service running on your Lakka box, it lets you run commands on your box, such as editing configuration files.

To access your Lakka box through SSH, you need to connect your box to your router by an ethernet cable. Lakka will get an IP address via DHCP, so you need DHCP enabled on your network (it should already be the case if you don't know what DHCP is).

You will need an SSH client to connect to your box. You will also need to know the IP address of your Lakka box.

On Linux or Mac OS X

If you're using Linux or Mac OS X, there is already an SSH client on your system. Just open a terminal, and type this command:

ssh root@ip-of-your-box

SSH will then ask for your password, the default password is root.

On Windows

On Windows, you will need an SSH client like Putty

Use putty to connect your Lakka box, enter the IP of your box in the hostname field, set SSH connection type. The username is root and the password is also root.

Direct access

Warning: This doesn't work for RPi and RPi2

You will need to edit the cmdline passed to the kernel by the bootloader, in order to enable the tty service and disable the retroarch service. You will also need to plug an USB keyboard to switch to tty3 and type commands.

Editing the cmdline

You have to ensure that these options are present in the cmdline:

tty retroarch=0

• tty will enable the console service
• retroarch=0 will disable the retroarch service

Switching to tty3

Once the system is booting, you will not see RetroArch launching. It's normal, since we disabled retroarch service. You then need to switch to tty3 by hitting CTRL + ALT + F3. You will get a command prompt and be able to type commands.

Serial

On the development boards, using an USB to TTL cable can give you access to the serial console. The advantage of using this interface is that you can get the logs of the bootloader and the early kernel logs. It is useful if you plan to port Lakka to a new hardware.

TODO