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Raspberry Pi Setup

Install and run Playback on your Raspberry Pi.

2 min read

Playback runs on Raspberry Pi, letting you build a dedicated retro gaming station. This guide covers installation on Raspberry Pi OS.

Supported models

  • Raspberry Pi 4 (recommended)
  • Raspberry Pi 5
  • Raspberry Pi 400

A 64-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS is required.

Installing Raspberry Pi OS

If you haven’t already set up your Raspberry Pi:

  1. Download Raspberry Pi Imager for your computer
  2. Insert your SD card into your computer
  3. Open Raspberry Pi Imager
  4. Click “Choose OS” and select “Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit)”
  5. Click “Choose Storage” and select your SD card
  6. Click “Write” and wait for the process to complete
  7. Insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi and power it on

Installing dependencies

Open a terminal and install FUSE, which is required to run AppImage files:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install fuse libfuse2

Installing Playback

  1. Download the ARM64 AppImage from our downloads page
  2. Make it executable:
chmod +x Playback.arm64.AppImage
  1. Run Playback by double-clicking the AppImage or from the terminal:
./Playback.arm64.AppImage

Setting up device permissions

When you first run Playback, it may not detect your Operator device. Run our setup script to configure permissions:

curl -fsSL https://www.epilogue.co/linux-setup.sh | bash

The script will automatically add your user to the correct group and create udev rules for your Operator device. After running, reboot for the changes to take effect.

For manual setup instructions, see the Linux setup guide.

Troubleshooting

Permission denied error

If you see an error like:

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'boost::interprocess::interprocess_exception'
what(): Permission denied

This usually happens if Playback was previously run as root. To fix it:

  1. Check if a shared memory file exists:
ls -l /dev/shm/deviceSharedMemory
  1. If it exists, remove it:
sudo rm /dev/shm/deviceSharedMemory
  1. Run Playback again (without sudo)

Operator not detected

Run our setup script to configure device permissions:

curl -fsSL https://www.epilogue.co/linux-setup.sh | bash

Then reboot, and reconnect your Operator device.

Performance tips

  • Use a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 for the best performance
  • Make sure your power supply provides adequate power (official power supplies recommended)
  • Close other applications while running Playback
  • For Game Boy® games, performance should be smooth on all supported models

Still need help? Contact our support team