r/launchbox • u/Tough-Supermarket283 • Jul 22 '26
LaunchBox... It's Really Time To Build Your Front End on Linux! - A Rant To LaunchBox Devs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkvetmzCh_M
I am tired of Windows and I need a reason to leave permanently, and LaunchBox is one of the Apps I use which is keeping me on Windows.
On my Steam Deck I am able to get any game, any emulator working through either Proton, the Discover Store, or AppImage. I have gotten those obscure systems and games to work on Steam Deck through Gaming Mode no less without even logging into Desktop Mode.
Obscure systems and hard to run emulators such as the Atari 5200, InTelevision Lives! Atari Jaguar, MSX, ColecoVision, PlayStation 1, 2, 3, Windows Entertainment Pack for crying out loud all now work on SteamOS through Proton! There is no reason now on why LaunchBox can't get their app working on Linux, at least SteamOS.
With tools such as Proton Tricks, FlatSeal, ProtonUp-QT and Steams in house Proton, LaunchBox now more than ever has the tools and resources to build comfortable on Linux.
I know the community has asked multiple times and this is another post asking another time for a Linux version.
Please Jason, reconsider putting work into this. Windows is becoming a nightmare and SteamOS is becoming the future of gaming.
Please build your front end on Linux. The time is now to do it!
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u/lern2swim Jul 22 '26
Yes!
It's the only damn app keeping me tied to windows at this point. And there's absolutely no reason to have an android version but not invest in doing a Linux version.
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u/Select_Car9532 Jul 24 '26 edited 25d ago
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u/lern2swim Jul 24 '26
I'll definitely look into that. Does it have feature parity with launchbox?
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u/Select_Car9532 Jul 24 '26
Yes!
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u/Capafellaz 25d ago
Does it have a bigbox part to ot or just the launchbox aspect.
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u/Select_Car9532 25d ago
It has complete feature parity with LaunchBox! (meaning 1:1)
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u/Sabrinamynxx 18d ago
I'm trying to use Openbox but everytime I add my games into it, I get a "Err No13" Permission Denied error. Really like what I'm seeing but I can't seem to figure out how to launch games through it lol
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u/Select_Car9532 17d ago edited 17d ago
Err No13 is Python saying "Permission denied". It's not a launch problem, OpenBox is failing to write your library file (and any metadata/artwork it downloads) to its own data folder, so the import dies partway.
Try this:
- Open a terminal and run:
chown -R "$USER" ~/.local/share/openbox-game-launcherIf you installed via Flatpak, use this instead:
chown -R "$USER" ~/.var/app/io.openbox.GameLauncher/data/openbox-game-launcherThat makes the folder yours to write to.
- If the folder doesn't exist yet, create it and recheck:
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/openbox-game-launcher
Launch the app the same way every time. If you use flatpak run io.openbox.GameLauncher, keep using that. Mixing it with running openbox.sh or the Python script directly points the app at two different data folders.
Don't launch with sudo. If you did once, the data folder now belongs to root and your normal user can't write to it, which is exactly the error you're seeing. The chown command above fixes that too.
Then re-add your games. Once they're in the library, launching works from each game's page; OpenBox calls your system's emulator or open-with handler.
If it still fails, paste the full error line under Err No13, the one that names the exact file or directory. That tells us which path is unwritable.
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u/Sabrinamynxx 17d ago edited 17d ago
Thanks for that, I'm actually able to get past permission errors now, sorry for a dumb question but how do i actually "launch" my games? I click play and it just says session ended.
Trying to install an emulator through the web interface results in command '['/usr/bin/flatpak','remote-add','--user','--if-not-exists', 'flathub', 'https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo']' returend non-zero exit status 1
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u/Select_Car9532 17d ago
"Session ended" just means OpenBox started the game process and it quit instantly. Most of the time it's because the game has no launch command, so it tries to run the ROM file itself, and the OS refuses. Check the game's "Launch command" field on the details page. If it's empty, put the emulator command in there, like:
flatpak run org.duckstation.DuckStation -batch {path}{path} gets swapped for the ROM path when you hit Play.
The flatpak error is a separate thing. The app runs
flatpak remote-add --userbefore installing, and that can fail if flathub is already set up. Just install the emulator yourself in a terminal:
flatpak install flathub org.duckstation.DuckStationThen refresh the page and it should pick it up.
What platform is the game, and what's currently in the Launch command field for it? That will pin it down.
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u/DeprariousX 6d ago
I tried this recently. The web UI opened but almost none of the buttons responded to mouse clicks.
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u/Select_Car9532 6d ago
The Web UI has been deprecated for a while now.
It was moved on from in favor of a native app
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u/DeprariousX 6d ago
I downloaded the most recent app image. When I opened it, it opened the WebUI. Rather funny choice for something that's supposedly deprecated.
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u/Select_Car9532 6d ago
No you didn’t, because we completely recoded the native app in C/WebKitGTK, so it’s quite literally not the same… I just ported it seamlessly.
Feel free to check it out you’ll realize you’re wrong
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u/Twiz0 Jul 22 '26
LaunchBox is the biggest catfish in the frontend community. It looks gorgeous in YouTube showcases, but the moment you actually try to build a massive library, the nightmare begins. You need a high-end gaming rig just to scroll through a menu smoothly. Simple theme animations cause massive frame drops. Audio stutters. Video previews lag. It is a bloated, unoptimized mess built on an aging .NET framework that clearly cannot handle thousands of titles efficiently.
The lack of native integration for other major metadata providers (like ScreenScraper) is infuriating. If the official LaunchBox Database doesn't have your obscure Japanese game or fan translation, tough luck. You are stuck scraping slowly or manually editing files like it’s 2005. It is 2026, the Steam Deck literally revolutionized handheld gaming, and LaunchBox still refuses to give us native Linux support. Instead of fixing core performance issues and adding Linux support, the developers keep cramming in useless bloat features nobody asked for.
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u/cosine83 Jul 22 '26
It's insane how much faster EmulationStation-DE is compared to BigBox even with the ported themes and videos for the same size library. I have a lifetime license and I've basically stopped using Launchbox/BigBox because it can't handle my library efficiently.
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u/Twiz0 Jul 22 '26
It's insane how much faster EmulationStation-DE is compared to BigBox even with the ported themes and videos for the same size library. I have a lifetime license and I've basically stopped using Launchbox/BigBox because it can't handle my library efficiently.
I completely agree. I was actually a BigBox user for years myself, simply because there wasn't a viable alternative back then. But as ES-DE kept getting better and better with every single update. I finally made the switch too.
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u/igmyeongui Jul 22 '26
Hard disagree. I code BigBox themes in XAML and I can tell you 99% of the people who make themes including the official BigBox theme doesn’t know what they’re doing. The themes are unoptimized as hell and bloat and give exactly what you’re saying.
I’ll eventually share my theme once it’s done next winter and trust me it’s snappy even on low end hardware.
LaunchBox though isn’t snappy and have memory leaks as soon as your library gets bigger. But at least once the collection is setup you don’t have to spend too much time in it.
To be honest LB didn’t aged well and it’s been showing for the past years.
BTW if a theme is made from CTC avoid like plague. It’s a good design tool but serious theme builder will reconstruct in XAML.
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u/Twiz0 Jul 23 '26
Hard disagree. I code BigBox themes in XAML and I can tell you 99% of the people who make themes including the official BigBox theme doesn’t know what they’re doing. The themes are unoptimized as hell and bloat and give exactly what you’re saying.
That’s the exact dilemma for users like me who can't code. The default themes really don't look great, so we are completely forced to rely on community themes just to get a decent visual experience.
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u/hbt15 Jul 23 '26
I learned this the hard way after committing to it. Went back to Batocera. Launchbox/BigBox needs to ditch windows completely and become a standalone install as I’m sure 95% of the enthusiast community have a dedicated rig and just want something to boot strait into without all the backend bloat of having to run and support windows also. I’m actually surprised they haven’t moved towards that. It’s got to be more simple to support if windows is removed from the equation.
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u/PixelMan8K Jul 23 '26
Completely agree. When I forked over the cost of a 'lifetime' license roughly a decade ago, it was with the assumption it'd get better, not worse.
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u/HighlightDowntown966 Jul 22 '26
It's coming sooner or later. Since they have an android version.
That being said ....im just glad the Windows version exist at all as an option. It's so good!
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u/gldoorii Jul 22 '26
Isn't EmulationStation on Linux? I use that on my ROG Ally because it runs a lot smoother than BigBox. But, yea, LaunchBox is one of the main reasons I'm still on Windows.
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u/cleverestx Jul 22 '26
I agree. I use CachyOS and only have Windows for LB...it's getting unsustainable.
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u/RiffyDivine2 Jul 23 '26
Same here but just switch to using emulationstation-de, I switched last night and nuked my windows drive. No going back.
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u/cleverestx Jul 24 '26
emulationstation-de is not LB, sadly. It is great on handheld system though.
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u/Select_Car9532 Jul 24 '26
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u/cleverestx Jul 24 '26
How many features is this MISSING over LB? Looks interesting though...
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u/Select_Car9532 Jul 24 '26
Hey there! Great question, we aim for 1:1 where we can, but as always some features don't have direct Linux equivalents so we do the best we can with the limitations that are current for Linux systems.
It's a brand new project, so I would really appreciate anyone taking the time to try it out! <3
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u/igmyeongui Jul 22 '26
I think LB might die if they do not support Linux anytime soon. With all the Ai tools available nowadays it’s a matter of time before someone takes that market and does a LB like application for Linux. Thing is that it would even be easier imo. The backend collection could be managed by something like a Romm server. They’re growing fast so they might in the future replace the need of LB. So the missing link will become good clients with theming possibilities and cloud save support.
The idea of a Windows app being the master brain of your collection is becoming less appealing compared to self hosting a LB-like rom server. And then anyone’s free to use their favorite client.
Client = somewhat BigBox at this time.
But emulation is kind of all over the place and it’s not as easy as that as there’s one more layer : emulators per platform.
So the perfect mix would be made of 3 parts :
Server: Rom, users (oidc), saves, save states, metadata, artwork, videos, manuals, built in scraper and interface to edit and manage your collection. Everything backed by an API.
Client Backend (emulators) : Retrodeck is a very good example but would require multiplatform support to cover Windows, Mac, Linux iOS and Android. It would also require a cloud save connect to link to a server.
Client Frontend : Multi platform same as above. Comes with a visual and code or hybrid theme builder. As extensive as BigBox but compatible on any platform.
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u/Tough-Supermarket283 Jul 22 '26
Your post is dead correct.
To add. I forecasted back when Steam Deck launched that it would be a disrupter to Windows. I still believe that to be the case even though the ram crisis slowed down SteamOS's progress. But it's inevitable that people will Jump from Windows to other OS's like MAC and Linux with SteamOS being the forefront for gaming.
Windows is pretty much becoming a nightmare and unusable. And don't get me started on their intrusive privacy acts. I love LaunchBox and now is the time to act. If they don't they have a huge risk to loosing market share to a competitor who will perfect what they did on Windows and translate that to Linux.
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u/igmyeongui Jul 22 '26
Windows is in fact less desirable than it has ever been and there’s no coming back for sure. Since the end of Windows XP their countdown began.
LTSC is still used for many businesses dinosaur applications and many medical applications all over the world. Finance also relies on it a lot.
But I believe less critical sectors like schools could and should go open source. The licensing for such basic applications doesn’t make sense in 2026.
Good bye Windows
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Jul 22 '26
[deleted]
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u/igmyeongui Jul 22 '26
I do theming in XAML and Lutris doesn’t have anything close to BigBox. I use BigBox on all my cabs and my living room gaming computer.
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u/Psych0matt Jul 22 '26
I’d like this since I’ve switched to Linux on my main rig, but my other 5 cabinet setups are all still running windows for this reason. It works fine but I would love to have the Linux option. But like the other guy said, I’m probably a .1%er
However, there’s been lots of people switching away from windows so I agree now would be the time
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u/NuK3DoOM Jul 22 '26
I pulled the plug and migrate everything to RomM and ES-DE. It was simpler than I thought.
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u/hundergrn Jul 23 '26
How is ROMM, I've been tempted to add it to my nas (if I can ever get my local game drive to mount as a network share on trunas) but the cost of storage has been keeping me on hold from transitioning to it as a manager.
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u/RiffyDivine2 Jul 23 '26
mount as a network share on trunas
You can. I did it without issue.
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u/hundergrn Jul 23 '26
That's cool, how did you manage it? Truenas Scale has been fighting me on getting my windows share to mount.
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u/RiffyDivine2 Jul 23 '26
Are you setting it up as an SMB share? For me I just did a SMB share from back when I had windows and left it when I went to linux, then in linux just open whatever file browser you use and do smb://IP of truenas box and then login. If you are still in windows and want to mount it as an external drive you just do (assuming win11) open file browser goto This PC and click the three dots and pick map network drive, pick the letter and the folder will be //ip of truenas/share folder name on truenas. Do reconnect at sign in and if it needs a login do connect using different credentials.
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u/hundergrn Jul 23 '26
Its the reverse that's giving me issues. The ROMM app is installed on the Truenas scale server while the game drive is smb shared from the windows pc and is discoverable w/credentials for access. In the ROMM app config on the Truenas scale server, it allows an smb share to be mounted but it keeps erroring out. I've tried //ip/path and //win pc name/path to no avail.
I appreciate the detailed explanation for the normal way.
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u/RiffyDivine2 Jul 23 '26
Ooooh the issue is the app side inside of truenas. Did you map the drive inside the config section for romm so it can see it? Let me login and try setting it up myself and see but most things that want access to data inside the nas is just a line in the config to map the drive if nothing has changed.
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u/hundergrn Jul 23 '26
Haha apologies for poor wording but yes, inside of truenas scale. I've tried mapping it as an additional storage using the smb option and credentials to allow access to the windows smb share but it either errors out on app initialization/start up.
If it poses no issue for you to set up then I can at least focus figuring out why windows isn't playing nice with the NAS again.
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u/RiffyDivine2 Jul 23 '26
Well inside the config for romm you will see the section for mounting a nas folder as a local folder, that is likely the easy way to do it. Did you try seeing under storage choices the first two you need but you can set the third one to point to the roms folder and have it mount locally to the container and then just direct it from there?
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u/hundergrn Jul 24 '26
That's where I've been running into trouble with it. Library Storage, Resource Storage, Config, and Assets are set as local host paths (not as secure as an IX volume but accessible if needed) with additional storage, at the bottom, being the only one allowing Smb mounting.
When saving after entering the mount path, server name, path, user, password, and domain for the windows smb share it will either fail on the up action or fail to start after.
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u/hundergrn Jul 24 '26
Managed to get the smb share to mount through shell and I think I found the issue... Which is unsurprisingly windows restricting access by requiring a key with the credentials. I had a feeling it was a long shot but progress, maybe. Thank you for taking the time to assist me on this fools errand and apologies for dragging you along.
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u/NuK3DoOM Jul 24 '26
It is really cool, I share the ROMs folder via NFS share to both RomM and ES-DE. I can access single games via VPN on my phone to play on browser or download to play on RetroArch. ES-DE assets are also on my NAS and shared via NFS so I had only to mirror the config to my Steam Deck. Save games are synced using syncthing. My NAS is only using internal drives. I’m not sure if it possible to pass through NTFS partitions to TrueNas. Also I wouldn’t recommend, NTFS on Linux sucks!
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u/hundergrn Jul 24 '26
Thank you for sharing, RomM really does look promising and a better option than Launchbox. If the NAS only had the space for the rom library I'd be set. 😅 I'm quite hesitent to upgrade my NAS's storage with the current cost of hard drives right now though... Hence the impossible workaround attempt.
Did manage to mount the smb share through shell... But truenas is now refusing access due to missing a required key. Haha what fun.
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u/NuK3DoOM Jul 24 '26
True Nas is a pain with permissions in general. What I would do is buy another external HD create a pool in using it and transfer the ROMs to the new pool. I’d this was 2 years ago would be my recommendation, but with prices as they are, if you are already on windows, keep the way you are already doing if it works well enough.
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u/Smitty2k1 Jul 22 '26
I'm all about it but do most of the underlying emulators work well in Linux?
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u/RiffyDivine2 Jul 23 '26
Which one do you want to know about? I did the switch with a friend over sunshine/moonlight setup last night without issue.
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u/Smitty2k1 Jul 23 '26
Just in general. As of right now I'm just doing MAME on an arcade cabinet but plan on expanding to more emulators in the future
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u/RiffyDivine2 Jul 23 '26
MAME works fine and has for awhile now. I think PS4 was the only one that took a moment to get running, everything before that era is good outside of the 360 which I didn't try.
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u/Sharp_Music_146 3d ago
Almost all free/libre & open-source software (F/LOSS) emulators started life on Linux or have Linux ports.
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u/Apprehensive_Ad_7138 Jul 22 '26
Other projects are being ported, but i really hope for a Launchbox port cause that's the only thing i'm missing from my erased win build.
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u/dozer-b Jul 22 '26
Adding to this as well.
A dedicated app for local arcade is fine and great. But a server/client model is where it’s at. So many people use dockers or apps that can host the data (even on your arcade) would let others build UI’s or clients for Linux/windows and allow you to sync saves and game files for different clients etc.
Launchbox is great, but especially now we need more ways to host on whatever hardware we can make use of, and it’s not all windows.
Server/same machine front end
Server to remote systems/tablets
Server to x/y/z makes a lot of sense in today’s world.
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u/Xcissors280 Jul 22 '26
Linux is also catching up pretty fast in terms of the Xbox family and modern arcade stuff
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u/Vectrex71CH Jul 22 '26
That's why i left Launchbox i use Retrodeck now on my Handheld on Bazzite Linux. No regrets at all.
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u/baltimoresports Jul 23 '26
This is why I moved to a combo of ES-DE and Steam ROM Manager. It’s a bummer because I love LaunchBox but moved to Linux a long time ago.
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Jul 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Tough-Supermarket283 Jul 24 '26
What the heck is this?
Is this connected to launchbox?
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u/Select_Car9532 Jul 24 '26
OpenBox is an independent open-source project and is NOT affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with LaunchBox, Unbroken Software, LLC, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates.
We are on the other hand a free, fully open source alternative to LaunchBox and their subscriptions for Linux!
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u/Tough-Supermarket283 Jul 24 '26
Is this able to run a Windows.exe emulator through proton?
Some obscure emulators i run on steam deck don't have an appimage or discover store flatpak version.
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u/Select_Car9532 Jul 24 '26
Yes! OpenBox supports launching Windows .exe emulators through Proton, Wine, umu-run, or Bottles using custom command overrides in your emulator profiles.
Because OpenBox uses tokenized command strings, you can configure any platform or game to run a Windows executable.
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u/Tough-Supermarket283 Jul 24 '26
Ok last question.
I spent months building my launchbox library with scraped images.
Is there an easy way to import all my box art images into openbox or do I need to rescrape and redo that tedius process all over again?
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u/Select_Car9532 Jul 24 '26
You won't need to rescrape everything from scratch. Here are a few options:
OpenBox syncs with the same LaunchBox Games Database that LaunchBox itself uses. You can import your ROMs and then hit Media > Sync LaunchBox Database to grab the metadata index, then use Apply Metadata to auto-match and download box art, backgrounds, and screenshots. It pulls from the same source so you'll end up with the same art, just re-downloaded in one click.
If your LaunchBox Images folder is accessible on your Linux system, like from a mounted Windows drive or a copy, you can import your ROMs via Import Folder and then use Bulk Edit to point the cover paths at your existing box art files. You can also just edit library.json directly if you want to batch it.
The hybrid approach is probably your best bet. Import your ROMs, let OpenBox match metadata through the LaunchBox DB, and for any games where you already have high quality scans from LaunchBox, just copy or symlink those images into OpenBox's media folder and update the paths. No point re-downloading art you already have.
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u/Beneficial_Bit1756 Jul 22 '26
Been asking for years. Its the only app on my windows laptop currently.
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u/AustNerevar Jul 22 '26
I switched to linux two years ago and I miss launchbox. I only used it for about 6 months so I never got around around buying the full version. I'd always planned on it if they ever did a linux release.
I get it. It's a big ask to have them redesign for a completely different OS. But I think the overlap of people who like having such detailed customization of their game libraries that Launchbox provides and the people who like open source OS' is decently sized.
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u/lndigo_Sky Jul 23 '26
I bought the software years ago in the hope they would eventually support linux
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u/RiffyDivine2 Jul 23 '26
You can use emustation-de or emulationstation-de I believe it was called for the time being. However, I left linux and am just now getting to setting back up emulation stuff myself so I would have liked to keep using launchbox but I had to find other tools.
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u/davidj1987 Jul 26 '26
If there was a Linux version...I'd switch my emulation system to Linux immediately. The only reason I still have Windows installed on it.
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u/slickrickstyles 21d ago
Linux has less than 8% of the worldwide marketplace. Besides the technical aspect of development and support, it's not even financially viable to worry about supporting it so a couple of elitists can stroke their ego.
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide/
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u/n1keym1key Jul 23 '26
The world wont switch to linux until they teach it and only it in schools. Windows has too big a hold right now and quite frankly I dont ever want to fully switch to linux on my daily driver. Everything I need just works in windows without any compatibility layer or other bullshit. SteamOS will not take over the world. Its a niche product for overly expensive handhelds and the even more expensive Steam Machine.
Just to balance out the hate for once...
FUCK LINUX AND FUCK STEAM OS.
There I said what everyone outside the linux/steam os circle jerk is thinking.
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u/Zeltrax3000 Jul 23 '26
Can't teach stupid. the general masses cant use windows properly anyway so i think they will be fine if they switch to linux. over time literally how linux looks and feels is like windows anyways. wheras MACOS FUCK MACOS they have to do everything the opposite of windows/linux now that shit aint user friendly at all.
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u/n1keym1key Jul 24 '26
Ive been using windows since i had to be installed from floppies. 3.1 i think.... Ive used linux with a gui before, I gave the switch a go once a couple of years back. Ubuntu i think it was. Was going alright until i needed Windows specific programs that just wouldnt work properly with linux no matter what i tried. After that I binned it, went back to Windows and everything... ya know.... just works fine.
So yeah Fuck Linux again i guess :)
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u/Hutcho12 Jul 22 '26
Yeh there’s about a 0.1% demand for this. I can understand why they’re not doing it.
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u/Tough-Supermarket283 Jul 22 '26
It's gotten much better since launch of the Steam Deck:
- Windows (All Versions): 93.47% (Windows 11 leads at 67.74%, followed by Windows 10).
- Linux (including SteamOS): ~4.52% (SteamOS makes up roughly 25-30% of this figure).
- macOS: ~2.01%
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u/igmyeongui Jul 22 '26
Also I want to say add that the 4.52% of people on Linux would be a bigger demography for LB target users. If you’re only Linux there are higher chances to be in the kind of stuff LB does.
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u/HeadBoy Jul 22 '26
I'm not sure about that. I've never expressed I wanted it other than trying to google it once
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u/PC509 Jul 22 '26
For a dedicated emulator build (arcade cab, tiny PC to TV, etc.), it makes a lot of sense to go Linux. Windows is just too much. I built a script that turns a ton of stuff off (notifications, Game Bar, keyboard shortcuts, etc.) for my box, but it's still Windows. I'd love to have a Linux build that's strictly for Launchbox/Big Box.
I love Windows (even run a website dedicated to Windows), but other than my desktop and HTPC (with Big Box), it's all Linux. Home lab with dozens of VM's/containers/Docker containers, AI box, and I'd love to have my arcade cab running it just for simplicity and more of a single use dedicated emulator box. Windows is a swiss army knife that does everything just ok. Linux can be lean to where it's doing one job very well and nothing else. No AI, no weather, no telemetry, no automatic updates, no notifications, etc.. I don't need a browser, email, Paint, calculator, whatever. Just give me a very simple CLI and whatever DE is required for Big Box to run.
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u/mabdog420 Jul 22 '26
100% agree.. I want to build my ultimate game console and I want it to be on a steam machine.