[jhpaul]

Dear KODI-enthusiasts,

i am going to set up some refurbished linux-boxes to be used as "classroom-media-centers".

I wonder, if i can/should use KODI as the main graphical user interface (i.e. main application) to be used by my colleagues
to present stuff to our students.

Technically, i plan to prepare some folders for PDF-, ODT-, Video, Pictures and Sound-files on some mobile storage media (USB-Stick).
Whenever a colleague plugs-in her USB-Stick (that maybe holds a full linux-on-a-stick-system),
KODI runs automatically and by an IR-Remote-Control one is able to choose a file from one of these folders (...).

The available PDF-Add-ons are from my perspective no option.
PDF-, ODT-, (...)-files should be opened with stand-alone-applications such as okular, evince and libreoffice.

The "Advanced Launcher" is a great add-on that is able to launch such applications and also is able
(as far as i understood) to open files *manually* added to KODI with some user specified application -- but:

Is it also possible to use KODI as a "file manager" that shows and opens a file based on a file-extension with
some suitable application? If so, how can i achieve this? Is there another (lightweight) "MediaCenter" around
that i should investigate instead of KODI?


I played around with KODI and searched the web, but think i should asked experts and collect some other opinions and ideas on this ...

Thanks a lot for any hints!

Paul

[PatK]

No expert here by any means, but this message does deserve a timely response in some fashion and I do qualify as an enthusiast. The real experts are busy with the next iteration of the worlds best media player.

Your boxes; are they just with o/s and media material or do you want the o/s + media + software on a stick, both are do-able. Kodi has been used as presentation software, but it excels at handling video, images and audio would be secondary. As far as PDF's are concerned I use stand-alone software. Kodi can be run remotely, it's moto is the ten foot interface. KODI as a "file manager" that might be more of an issue, media players are not known for file manipulation, but from what I gather, you do have some understanding of how Kodi works and if what you see can fit into your configuration, there's plenty of people in the forum that will assist.

Flesh out what you want to do with Kodi operational tools in mind, e.g. slideshows can be mixed with video, playlists can be setup to run most, using something like one of the theatre presentation add-ons would allow short videos, question and answer sessions before a movie and post movie. The ease of putting all this together will depend on the skill of the person doing it. Kodi can do what you want it to be, it just takes the will and determination of the user.

Truly, there is nothing like Kodi and it's flexibility, but looking at most o/s and how they're designed to handle media, I would feel more comfortable with a desktop and a few software tools unless I was looking at many controlled installations.