[tinpanalley]

Ok, forgive me if this makes you go like this...

1. I've read tonnes about the raspberry pi 2, excited to run Kodi on it. And then it hits me.. how will Ipower it on and off? 'Off', I figure, happens through the menu in Kodi but what about 'on'?
2. Remote-wise, if I don't want to use a keyboard or mouse or a mobile device like a phone or tablet, is there some way to use my Boxee Remote?

Thank you!

[DarrenHill]

1) Off - from the Quit menu as you expected. On - from the powered off state, just pull the micro-USB power cable out and put it back in again.

Unless there's a reason to though most people don't normally turn the Pi's off, as they take so little power when idle it's not worth the effort usually.

2) Can't help there I'm afraid, although if your TV supports CEC and you're connected by HDMI you can maybe use its remote, as the Pi supports it. It's how I run my Pi (via my LG dumb TV) and it works a treat, after a minor keymap change to assign a key to the context menu.

[Bosse_B]

I have used a USB FLIRC receiver plugged into the Pi2 USB connector.
Then I can use any IR remote for Kodi. There is a setup program for Windows that is used to program the FLIRC for your remote and it has a function for programming for the Kodi interface.
Very simple and quick to do. I used an old Motorola set-top box remote and it works just fine.
You will want to use one that has the play type buttons.

[tinpanalley]

You will want to use one that has the play type buttons.

Ok, cool. I found a device called FLIRC (same one?) that allows you to program any remote. It even has pairing profiles for different things including Kodi. Perfect. Just want to look at other manufacturers to see if there's one that's better than others.
When you say, "play type", you mean play pause, fast forward, rewind, etc, right?

[jweaver]

Just built my Pi and am using a FLIRC and its perfect.. Really impressive.

I have a lot of history with programmable remotes (Philips Pronto and then Logitech Harmony) and this was by far the easiest to setup.. I upgraded from a WDTV to the Pi/Kodi, so I just kept my Harmony configured as the WDTV and simply taught the FLIRC my IR codes. I was actually surprised how easily/cleanly the FLIRC 'learned' keypresses.. Anyone who has used a Pronto/Harmony will know how fickle they can be at learning remotes.. But the FLICR did it first time, every time...

On thing to be aware of is that many remotes (like the WDTV) have a Play/Pause button.. Where as Kodi supports a Play... And a Play/Pause button.. So if you want full functionality, you need to use a remote which has boht the Play and the Pause button.. But in truth, if you only have a Play/Pause, it works just fine and pressing it toggles between play and pause.

If you want to control your Pi/Kodi using IR, I doubt if there is anything better.. Its not cheap.. But worth every penny.

[Bosse_B]

Agreed!
I have used the Android and iPone Yatse and other remote apps to control Kodi, but nothing comes close to a real remote especially when dealing with the grandkids and their viewing.
That is why I switched to the FLIRC receiver and the spare Motorola remote.
And my remote has a Play/Pause button which works perfectly good.

[tinpanalley]

Thanks for the advice. Any thoughts on the on/off power thing?

[DarrenHill]

Thanks for the advice. Any thoughts on the on/off power thing?

1) Off - from the Quit menu as you expected. On - from the powered off state, just pull the micro-USB power cable out and put it back in again.

Unless there's a reason to though most people don't normally turn the Pi's off, as they take so little power when idle it's not worth the effort usually.

If you really must have a button, there are a few options:

* USB Cable with switch
* Pi Supply switch
* The DIY option

...and probably plenty of others, a Google search will give options. But as I said before, most people just don't unplug the thing, or pull and replug the USB cable to go from powered down to boot-up.

[tinpanalley]

1) Off - from the Quit menu as you expected. On - from the powered off state, just pull the micro-USB power cable out and put it back in again.

Typically it's really bad to unplug an adapter from a wall when it's connected to a device and constantly plugging and unplugging a microUSB isn't great for the cable or the port. I've read in a few forums that the "just unplug it" way of turning off the rpi2 is bad for it and also doesn't suit the way the onboard software shuts itself down and can cause errors on the microSD card.

Unless there's a reason to though most people don't normally turn the Pi's off, as they take so little power when idle it's not worth the effort usually.

The thing is, it's still on. And around here we don't like leaving things on if they're not in use. Just a personal choice. When people say very little power, do we mean the kind of power a DVD player or cable box uses in standby mode? Does it get overly hot?

[DarrenHill]

My kit doesn't get too hot at all, plus in most usages it's in a case anyway. I've certainly never had any issue to directly pick up either my Pi1 or my Pi2 when they've freshly been turned off.

In terms of power usage, there are some examples on the web (e.g. here). Ballpark figures are in the region of 1 watt, so to run it would cost about £2-3 per year, or thereabouts.

For pulling cables etc, I of course mean having shut down the Pi first, not just pulling it randomly when things are running. With proper shutdown there's no risk of SD card corruption (that can come if you just pull the power without shutting down and interrupt I/O to the card), but you are correct that it would over time wear out the USB port (I wasn't envisaging pulling out the socket end). That said the only time I shut down my Pi is if I'm swapping over uSD cards (going from OpenElec to Raspbian so the kids can Minecraft/Python/Scratch or vice-versa), and there I just pull and replug the micro-USB connector after shutting the Pi down and swapping cards.

But there are options that I linked to above which can fit a physical switch into the power supply line if you so desire.

[tinpanalley]

My kit doesn't get too hot at all, plus in most usages it's in a case anyway. I've certainly never had any issue to directly pick up either my Pi1 or my Pi2 when they've freshly been turned off.

In terms of power usage, there are some examples on the web (e.g. here). Ballpark figures are in the region of 1 watt, so to run it would cost about £2-3 per year, or thereabouts.

For pulling cables etc, I of course mean having shut down the Pi first, not just pulling it randomly when things are running. With proper shutdown there's no risk of SD card corruption (that can come if you just pull the power without shutting down and interrupt I/O to the card), but you are correct that it would over time wear out the USB port (I wasn't envisaging pulling out the socket end). That said the only time I shut down my Pi is if I'm swapping over uSD cards (going from OpenElec to Raspbian so the kids can Minecraft/Python/Scratch or vice-versa), and there I just pull and replug the micro-USB connector after shutting the Pi down and swapping cards.

But there are options that I linked to above which can fit a physical switch into the power supply line if you so desire.

I'm only running this new rpi2 for Kodi. For power off, I'm happy going to the shutdown option in Kodi. But if I could have some wake function tied to a button on the remote, like the way the Boxee wakes by pressing the "menu" button, that would be fine. In fact, what I'd really love is to be able to keep using my Boxee remote because it has a full keyboard on the back. Can't find any info on anyone else successfully doing that though. I'm probably the only one still using a Boxee Box.

[DarrenHill]

I'm only running this new rpi2 for Kodi. For power off, I'm happy going to the shutdown option in Kodi. But if I could have some wake function tied to a button on the remote, like the way the Boxee wakes by pressing the "menu" button, that would be fine. In fact, what I'd really love is to be able to keep using my Boxee remote because it has a full keyboard on the back. Can't find any info on anyone else successfully doing that though. I'm probably the only one still using a Boxee Box.

Something like one of these - Pi Remote Board (with a little more info here)?

I don't have one or have any affilitation etc with them, but I've seen them on the web before and they may fit your need? Or else I think you can get remote control power plugs these days that do something similar.

[tinpanalley]

Something like one of these..

I'm concerned that if I just leave mine on all the time, I'll have to constantly be manually switching to my other HDMI devices because I'll have the rpi2 ANd my other devices on an HDMI splitter.
When yours is not in use, it just sits on the Kodi homescreen until you use it again?

[DarrenHill]

Yes. It normally just sits in the top level menu bar.

My TV has 2 HDMI inputs, one fed by the Pi and the other by my PVR.