Pre-Installation Questions

1st Official Post

    I've been a KODI/XBMC user for years running WinXP and now Win7x64. I tried to use Ubuntu once before, which worked, got KODI installed last summer... but then when it came to mapping network drives and getting my iR remote working, I wasn't able to find any help on the KODI site and gave up.

    I've switched the guts of my machine to a nice new case, looking to swap out my loud HDD primary drive for a small 16-32GB SSD drive, make it quieter and maybe a bit faster... but it still has 2 x 3TB HDDs for media storage.

    My remote is a Sony universal remote, with an HP iR receiver and EventGhost. Works in Win7 perfectly, no luck getting a similar setup to work in Ubuntu.

    Nice thing about swapping to a new drive is, I can work on it a bit more to make it work how I want... if I need a break from it, plug back the old HDD and media player works again.

    So... was hoping for a bit of feedback before I get started to see if I should even bother. I've heard a lot of LibreELEC being a good one to use for a media server, small and quick but, having 0 experience with Linux/Unix stuff I'm not sure if I can do what I need to do with it or not.

    I currently have the HP iR receiver, but, bought a FLIRC Streacom iR receiver to use instead for the new case with the Sony Remote (RM-VZ320).

    Drive wise, and this is a bit trickier...
    - my HTPC has a main drive for the OS/Kodi, and 2x3TB drives of media, one for TV series, one for movies. I have the two full drives shared, not folders. TV has sub folders for each series, and the movie drive has 0 folders, just files only.
    - I have remote HTPCs that connect to the main HTPC with read-only access. Very important because the family likes to press buttons and can mess things up fast.
    - I also have my PC, where I do all my edits/re-encodes from, which needs full read/write/delete access to the HTPC so I can add/delete/change files.
    - Everything is connected via ethernet... except 1 tablet over WiFi.

    Is this something I can set up with LibreELEC? Do I need full Linux? Stick with Win7?

    Thanks for any pre-help you can give... if it's something that's not too hard to do, could I get away with a 16GB SSD? 32GB?

    System specs are below

    Operating System: Win7 64-Bit Pro w/SP1
    System: Intel Core2Quad 2.67Ghz Q9450/ 4GB PC6400 DDR2 Memory/ MSI GT 710 2GB
    XBMC Build: KODI 16.1
    Remote: Sony Remote (RM-VZ320) and HP Receiver (5188-1667) - Replaced with FLIRC
    Display: 40" Sony Bravia HDTV

    • Official Post

    LE is not like the Kodi for windoze. It IS the operating system. So you should be able to install LE to a flash drive and boot from that - check it out and if you like it - and all works as expected, install it onto you HDD.

    My motherboard doesn't really work well with USB booting... older board.

    That said... even if it did work from USB, I still need to know how to make the shares and iR remote work. I could care less how the OS looks, I'd have it auto boot into KODI when the PC is turned on and never see the OS. I just need to know how to make the network shares and various access levels work and have the TV remote work as well.

    If I can't do that with LibreELEC, I'll retry Linux/Ubuntu... if it will work, I'd rather use LE... from what I've heard it's a stripped down version which is all I need since again, all I need on it is KODI for a media server.

    Ya... I think you're missing my point....

    I'm asking the forum for help/advise on how to setup shares/permissions on a network cross platforms, or if it will even work on a stripped down version of the OS. It may not be something that can be done with LibreElec, I may need the full Linux Mint/Ubuntu to make it work.

    Telling me to install it and if it works great, is not at all helpful.

    Quote from lrusak


    LibreELEC is *not* a media server. We do include the ability to share drives via SMB however the functionality is rather simple.

    I think your best option is to setup a file server that can share your files, then use LibreELEC on another device as a client.

    Thanks... so basically something like Linux Mint/Ubuntu on HTPC1... and on the remote HTPC's run LibreElec, and through Kodi access the shared drives.

    Quote from lrusak

    Yes, exactly

    If you want a file server I can recommend FreeNAS, otherwise people have success with unraid and mediavault.

    Never heard of those... I'll probably grab Linux Mint or Ubuntu because I've heard of those, and Kodi I know will install to them. The main HTPC is a server but, also attached to my main TV so, also a media player.

    The remote HTPC's are older Dell desktops, mid-range Quad-Cores I added low-profile GPU's to for HDMI... but small, fit on the TV stand well, and have given 0 problems. But if I can make them a bit faster and use less resources with LibreElec, I'll probably give it a try... once I sort out the main HTPC of course.

    Thanks.

    I think you can move to LE,
    The only issue to inspect is the Read only access from the secondary HTPC
    if i recall correctly when you specify a new video sucre you can prevent delete and change via the navigation.

    How ever if the users of the secondary HTPC will go into kodi's file manager they can gain write access (i dot think it is likely, but it's your call)
    As for the remote, i never used FLIRC so i can't say (i use simple HTPC IR remote / keybord like [url=https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-Good-USB-Wireless-Media-Desktop-PC-Remote-Control-Controller-For-XP-Vista-7/32314236906.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_6_10065_10068_433_434_10136_10137_10138_10060_10062_10141_10056_10140_10055_10054_10059_123_10099_10103_10102_10096_10052_10053_10050_10107_10142_10051_10106_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10078_10079_10073_10070_10122_10123_10124,searchweb201603_1,afswitch_1,ppcSwitch_7,single_sort_0_price_asc&btsid=e7d8e651-a2ce-4a07-a7b7-55e042e9f006&algo_expid=c217e8f4-d27b-48cf-add8-1132313b703b-36&algo_pvid=c217e8f4-d27b-48cf-add8-1132313b703b]this[/url])

    Good luck