"best" Rpi2 distro
#1
i just bought an rpi2 and now i am confused by the distro options i have. All i want is to play 1080p movies that i totally legally downloaded. I may play some music here and there.
if it is of any importance, i use a cheap edimax wifi dongle and an external hard drive (for storing the movies and songs).
what distro should i get. im able to install all of the advanced stuff, thats no problem for me, i just dont know which distro fits my needs the most/has the most functionality.

can anyone suggest something?
thanks



also, if it is in any way possible, i would really like to be able to do some basic controls of the device (music playbac for example) using my (rooted android 5.1.1) phone, but without an internet connection for the rpi or a screen connected to it. i dont know if i can use kore when using usb or wifi tethering, if not, is there any distro that supports smething like this in any way?
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#2
Does not really matter. Most Distros ship the code popcornmix is authoring. So kodi wise it does not matter at all.

For the rest, try them all and choose what you like best. The things you request are working on all of them.
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#3
Seems if all you want to do is play videos than Openelec is the way to go.
If you want to use other things linux has to offer, than the other distros let you do that. Openelec is quick and simple, but it really only does Kodi and does it well, but at the expense of not being able to use the Pi for other applications.
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#4
Check out OSMC ! Ive been using OpenElec but OSMC has a Linux shell so you can do editing with out doing all that SSHing lol
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#5
Yeah I use openelec on mine playing full HD no probs
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#6
Openelec is extremely mature and 'just works'.
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#7
(2015-07-09, 23:19)nickr Wrote: Openelec is extremely mature and 'just works'.

I agree. I loves me some Openelec. Great for media.
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#8
Another vote for Openelec.
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#9
And another here.

It depends somewhat on whether you want the Pi to do anything else, such as driving additional hardware or having other stuff installed in parallel.

If you want a pure media player, OpenElec is the most pared-down and streamlined player. But by the same medium it has very minimal stuff underneath it (no apt-get for example), so putting anything else there is difficult if possible at all. If you need something like that, then you may be better with a distro like OSMC or Xbian which have more OS underneath them, but potentially aren't as focused as a result.
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#10
Another vote for OpenElec, it just works.
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#11
(2015-07-10, 22:48)DarrenHill Wrote: it has very minimal stuff underneath it (no apt-get for example), so putting anything else there is difficult if possible at all.

The OpenELEC "package manger" is Kodi itself - if you want to install extra packages, command line utilities, services or applications you install them as Kodi addons from the pre-installed OpenELEC repositories.

It's a system that works and allows you to install OpenVPN, Transmission, rTorrent, Tvheadend and a pretty long list of the things you might normally want to install on a device running Kodi, or a device that sits on your network 24x7.

From the Isellens repo (installed via the Unofficial OpenELEC repository) you can also install SABnzbd, NZBGet, SickBeard/SickRage, Couchpotato, and Headphones (apparently "SickBeard for Music").

As long as what you want is already in one of the OpenELEC/Isellens repositories then you're good to go, but if not then one of the other distributions is probably a better bet.
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#12
Just to shake things up a bit, I'm going to say RetroPie or Recalbox + Kodi :D

I normally just use OpenELEC, but if you want game emulators the mix, check out RetroPie or Recalbox.
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#13
The Pi is pretty new to me but Linux is not. I do love OpenELEC but now I'm doing projects that need more. Mostly I've used Raspbian but I'm starting to play with MATE too. If I'm can't use OpenELEC, what more full featured Distro would you recommend? Raspbian has meet all my needs, so far. How mature is MATE and how is it vs. Raspbian?
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#14
Personally I would (and do) use two Pi2s - they are after all pretty cheap, and I divide the labour which allows me to use the tools (OS distribution) for the job that suits me best and gives the best user experience.

I use one RPi2 as a dedicated OpenELEC Kodi box and use the second as a headless Raspbian box for all the backend and "server" duties (Transmission, Sickrage, Squeezeboxserver, dnsmasq, plus various other odds and sods monitoring and network services available from the vast Raspbian repository).

This solution does add extra cost, sure, but it also simplifies maintenance/updating and if the headless RPi2 goes bonkers for an hour or two (eg. maxing out all the CPU cores while downloading, uploading, indexing/searching, etc., or saturating the network connection) it really doesn't matter as my media viewing is never impacted in any way whatsoever - I'm not sure I'd be able to say the same if Kodi and the kitchen sink were all running on a single RPi2.
Texture Cache Maintenance Utility: Preload your texture cache for optimal UI performance. Remotely manage media libraries. Purge unused artwork to free up space. Find missing media. Configurable QA check to highlight metadata issues. Aid in diagnosis of library and cache related problems.
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#15
(2015-09-07, 02:51)Milhouse Wrote: Personally I would (and do) use two Pi2s - they are after all pretty cheap, and I divide the labour which allows me to use the tools (OS distribution) for the job that suits me best and gives the best user experience.

I use one RPi2 as a dedicated OpenELEC Kodi box and use the second as a headless Raspbian box for all the backend and "server" duties (Transmission, Sickrage, Squeezeboxserver, dnsmasq, plus various other odds and sods monitoring and network services available from the vast Raspbian repository).

This solution does add extra cost, sure, but it also simplifies maintenance/updating and if the headless RPi2 goes bonkers for an hour or two (eg. maxing out all the CPU cores while downloading, uploading, indexing/searching, etc., or saturating the network connection) it really doesn't matter as my media viewing is never impacted in any way whatsoever - I'm not sure I'd be able to say the same if Kodi and the kitchen sink were all running on a single RPi2.
Hi mate sounds like a good setup Smile
I'm confused what all them things do for you though lol
I've just looked on that squeezebox server for instance and looks good but I can't actually work out what I would use it for.
I have a Pi2 running fine an DC also a original pi 256mb do you think that would be up to any if them you listed?
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