When comparing Batocera vs Ubuntu LTS, the Slant community recommends Batocera for most people. In the question“What is the best OS for gaming?” Batocera is ranked 15th while Ubuntu LTS is ranked 16th. The most important reason people chose Batocera is:
All options are right there in the EmulationStation menu and ready to be changed at the click of a button. No distorted configuration files all over the place, no permissions to mess with.
Specs
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Pros
Pro User-friendly
All options are right there in the EmulationStation menu and ready to be changed at the click of a button. No distorted configuration files all over the place, no permissions to mess with.
Pro FREE and plug and play
Pro Controller variety and working Bluetooth pairing
Pairing controllers for wireless operation are so much easier with Batocera. Also easily within reach in the ES menu.
Pro Great selection of systems available
Incorporates not only Retroarch-based systems, but other emulator packages as well (AdvMAME, Reicast, PPSSPP, etc.) integrated with the EmulationStation frontend.
Pro Easy to use
Batocera is much easier to use and configure than Lakka, especially for MAME and data transferring.
Pro With some effort you can share disc with other system
Good community, github is hot, the OS is permanently developed. You may witness a real spirit of open-source. You can make it coexisting with other system (debian in my case) but to do it you need to know linux and its bootloader.
Pro Wide array of features
Batocera supports more features (like nVidia streaming) that competitors do not.
Pro Optimized performance from having a smaller footprint
Like Lakka and Recalbox, the software is the OS, so it takes up much less space and has far less demands on hardware than other emulator-based packages which have an OS attached i.e. Retropie.
Pro Just works out of the box
Lots of support for hardware, lots of pre-installed software, and a smooth install process means less time downloading drivers, less time digging through configuration files, and less time deciding on software to use just to get up and running. It also means less time digging through forums looking for support.
Pro Good PPA repositories available
PPA repositories allow you to install the latest version of your preferred software while keeping the rest of the operating system "stable".
Pro Lots of support
As the most popular Linux distribution, there's a wide range of sources for support online if you ever need help, including the Ubuntu Wiki, Ubuntu Forums and the Ask Ubuntu Stack Exchange site.
Pro Great Long Term Support release schedule (2 years)
This allows for users to always have a new supported release available without long unkown wait times in between.
Pro Most users are already familiar with it
Ubuntu is the go-to Linux distro for most people, so there is a sense of familiarity and comfort in using something they have used before.
Cons
Con Not for customizers
You can mess with the underlying software and code, but it's not so easily accessed. Since it's designed for user friendliness and ease of use, the software is not easy to change based on configuration options.
Con Buggy
There are still many bugs.
Con Fomrat a disk doesn't always work
Can be buggy, sometimes you are unable to format your disk at any format under Batocera.
Con Hostile fork
It is an hostile Recalbox fork.
Con Needs the whole disk
There is no option to install the system in dual-boot with another OS on one hard disk drive.
Con Relatively high system requirements
The default Unity desktop environment is a resource hog which requires hardware accelerated graphics rendering in order to run smoothly, making out of the box Ubuntu unsuitable for low end systems and older hardware. Even mildly aged hardware, you'll get far better performance out of a lighter desktop environment like LXDE or XFCE.