Installing Your Own Programs

Installing your own programs

CouchLiteOS is a streaming appliance, and the programs it comes with are the ones it supports. You can still install other programs yourself and start them from the home screen. Programs you add yourself are not supported: if one misbehaves, delete it again (see Remove a program).

Before you start

• Install CouchLiteOS to the disk first (Install). On a live USB stick, a program you install is gone after a restart.
• You need an internet connection and a keyboard (or type on your phone) to type the commands.
• Commands run in the TERMINAL app: APPS > TERMINAL on the home screen.

Install a program from Flathub

Flathub is the app store for Linux, and CouchLiteOS already knows about it. Programs from Flathub install for the box's own user, so they need no administrator password, and they stay through updates and RESTORE PREVIOUS VERSION.

1. Find the program on https://flathub.org and note its application ID, the name with dots at the end of its address (for example com.valvesoftware.Steam for Steam).

2. Open TERMINAL and type, with your program's ID:

   flatpak install --user flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
   

   Answer y to the questions. The first program can take a while, because Flathub also downloads the parts it needs.

3. Try it once from TERMINAL: flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam. Close it when it works, then type exit to close TERMINAL.

Programs installed another way, for example with apt, are part of the system and are replaced by the next update. Use Flathub for anything you want to keep.

Add it to the home screen

1. Open Settings > APPLICATIONS > ADD COMMAND APPLICATION.

2. Fill in each step:

   Step	What to type
   NAME	The name for its tile, for example Steam
   ABSOLUTE COMMAND	/usr/bin/flatpak
   ARGUMENTS (OPTIONAL)	run and the application ID, for example run com.valvesoftware.Steam. Anything after the ID goes to the program itself.
   RUN IN TERMINAL?	NO for a program with its own window; YES only for a text program
   ENVIRONMENT KEY=value;OTHER=value (OPTIONAL)	Leave empty unless the program's own guide asks for a setting, as KEY=value;OTHER=value

3. The program appears in APPS on the home screen. Start it from there like any other app; Guide / PS or Home on a keyboard opens the quick menu while it runs, and HOME there goes back to the home screen.

In Settings > APPLICATIONS you can pick the app to ENABLE, DISABLE or DELETE its tile, or press Left/Right on it to move it. More about apps in Web Apps and Browsers.

A program that is already part of CouchLiteOS can be added the same way: type its full path as ABSOLUTE COMMAND (which <program> in TERMINAL shows it).

Example: Steam

Steam is not part of CouchLiteOS, and it is heavy for an older PC, but it installs from Flathub as above (com.valvesoftware.Steam). For the controller-friendly Big Picture look, set ARGUMENTS to run com.valvesoftware.Steam -gamepadui. To start one game or app from Steam directly, add a second tile with ARGUMENTS run com.valvesoftware.Steam steam://rungameid/<number>, where the number is the one in its Steam store address. Sign in to Steam once first.

For playing games from your gaming PC, Moonlight works better than Steam on the box itself.

Remove a program

1. Settings > APPLICATIONS, pick its tile, DELETE.
2. In TERMINAL: flatpak uninstall --user <application ID>, then flatpak uninstall --user --unused to free the space of parts nothing uses any more.

flatpak list --user shows what you have installed.