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I was thinking about replacing my Apple Tv 2 with a Raspberry Pi 2 as a Kodi dedicated box. I'm new to the whole Raspberry Pi thing so I'm not exactly sure what equipment I should get to build it. It seems like there are a lot of options...
Are are certain SD cards, power adapters, or wifi adapters that work better than others or should I just stick with the official adapters? Also, do people use any of the add-on boards? Like the RemotePi Board Plus for shutting it on and off?
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2015-07-28, 05:05
(This post was last modified: 2015-07-28, 05:06 by ZwartePiet.)
1) If you're near a Microcenter, you can pick one up for $30.
2) Get the thickest, shortest micro-USB cable you can find/use (e.g. 3ft. 24awg).
3) Get a quality power supply, such as an iPhone charger. 5W is passable. 10+W is better, especially with peripherals.
4) Samsung EVO microSD cards had a corruption problem that was fixed. Personally, I'd still go for a Sandisk Ultra in the cheapest size available.
5) Buy the MPEG-2 and VC-1 codecs if you plan to watch live TV or certain Blu Ray rips.
6) Edit the config.txt file to overclock (1000Mhz Arm, 500Mhz SDRAM, 500Mhz GPU) and enable turbo mode (voids warranty).
7) If your TV doesn't have CEC, buy a $0.99 IR chip and wire up a receiver using the GPIO pins.
8) Leave it on 24/7 and pay the extra $3 in yearly power costs.
9) Wired ethernet >> 5Ghz WiFi > 2.4Ghz WiFi
10) Thank popcornmix, Milhouse and the rest of the Raspberry Pi/Kodi/Openelec organizations for their work... then enjoy.
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Some corrections:
- You NEED a 5V/2.0 Amp power Supply. An iPhone charger is definitely inadequate once you add usb perhipherals.
- Samsung micro SDHC cards have been proven over and over to be the fastest, these ones:
Samsung 16GB EVO Class 10 Micro SDHC with Adapter up to 48MB/s (MB-MP16DA/AM)
Samsung 32GB PLUS Micro SDHC with Adapter - up to 48MB/s - UHS-1 Class 10 Memory Card (MB-MPBGCA/AM)
- FLIRC usb Infra Red Receiver is very user friendly and can be used with any spare IR remote control lying around the house.
- Don't go anywhere near a cheap 2.4Ghz usb WiFi. Reason too much interference. Get 5Ghz or better still dual band usb WiFi.
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2015-07-28, 11:03
(This post was last modified: 2015-07-28, 11:14 by Ned Scott.)
Don't use an Apple charger. It will change output dynamically.
EDIT: the rest is great advice, though :)
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2015-07-28, 17:51
(This post was last modified: 2015-07-28, 17:56 by wrxtasy.)
OpenElec on the RPi supports a wide range of usb WiFi chipsets straight out of the box. I would think you will not find much wrong with something very popular like this:
Edimax EW-7811UTC AC600 Dual-Band
or in the UK:
Dual Band 2.4Ghz 5Ghz Wireless N USB Adapter Dongle Wi-Fi 300Mbps 802.11 a/b/g/n
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2015-07-28, 18:12
(This post was last modified: 2015-07-28, 18:13 by Shazb0t.)
Know that 5ghz on raspberry pi2 can be a pain to get working. I would definitely research into finding a known good wireless adapter that works over 5ghz with whatever OS you want to run before buying one first. Personally I use a mimo 2.4ghz adapter and get good enough speeds to stream HD content over wireless through that.