HOW TO - Test driving Kodi without ruining your daily driver
#1
I have written this as there are people that want to test drive Kodi, but are using methods (VM's) that will cause issues, because they are have inherent bottlenecks – that have issues outside of Kodi.
 
So you want to test drive a Kodi Instance (these include Alpha, Beta, Release Candidates, and for the ones that like to live dangerously – Nightlies!) but do not want to mess with your daily driver, or much worse, there is The Significant Other Acceptance Factor!

You do have a few options available:
 
For Windows, use Portable Mode, which can be found here:

https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_Ko...table_Mode
 
 
For Raspberry Pi users use a separate SD Card, there are:

Milhouse builds for Libreelec

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=298461

OSMC test builds

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=298775
 
For Linux, Dual booting might be a better option, and install by following this:

https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_Ko...ment_build
 
Android

Will add this if someone can tell me how to install a development build next to a stable build!
 
VM Machines

TL; DR Don’t it’s not worth it! It won’t work, or if it does, you will have issues!

Now for the long bit.

There are those that want to do this in a virtual machine, where it’s VMware, Hyper-V or some other hypervisor or virtualised environment. There are also those that want to do this through remote desktop.  For other software this is an ideal way to test drive things without upsetting your setup – HOWEVER, this doesn’t hold true for media players such as Kodi.

In a virtual environment, no matter how good/great/awesome your computer/device is, there are going to be a number of bottlenecks.

Firstly, ALL hardware is virtual, including the GPU. As Kodi skins can be GPU intensive, this can make Kodi painfully slow, or even crash before you can think of playing video. The soundcard is going to be to, so let’s forget about surround sound – let alone a stereo mix.

The network ‘card’ in a virtual environment works perfectly – UNTIL you try and play video via the internet. There are two bottlenecks here. Firstly – the GPU, and secondly, you are trying to pump through the GUI (Kodi/Windows etc) AND a high bit stream video (let’s say YouTube) through your internet connection, it’s going to be choppy or not play at all.

Even the hard drive is virtual, so this to can cause issues when playing video.

So although it sounds like a great way to test, it is resource intensive and virtualisation at present is not built for this type of application.
Server: Ubuntu Server 22TB HDD running SAMBA
Kodi: 4 Raspberry Pi 3 running Libreelec -  on the main PC - running Linux Mint
My Setup thread |
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#2
If possible, can this be moved to the 'How to' section of the forum?
Server: Ubuntu Server 22TB HDD running SAMBA
Kodi: 4 Raspberry Pi 3 running Libreelec -  on the main PC - running Linux Mint
My Setup thread |
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#3
(2018-12-10, 16:43)tjay260476 Wrote: If possible, can this be moved to the 'How to' section of the forum?
Done.
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#4
Android - depends on someone building stable or nightly with a different package name.  Wrxtasy has a leia rc2 build  here, which means it can be run alongside krypton (or a nightly).  Which is great.
Routinely providing a stable build with a different package name here would mean people could test android nightlies to their hearts' content, but it seems there's no interest in doing that.
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#5
Tengo una duda /curiosidad. Tengo el kodi 17 en una tableta y quiero verlo en la tv con la ayuda de un cable HDMI. Cuando conecto la Tablet a tv, en las conexiones (hmdi de la tele) no me aparece nada (esta desactivado el Setup-Pantalla, conexión HDMI de la tablet). Enciendo kodi en la tablet y en las conexiones hdmi me aparece directamente kodi. Pero no me da la opción de ver los addons. Solo Películas, Vídeo ,Fotos. Sabe alguien como se puede poner solo addons,y así que no me aparezca las demás? O en este caso como se podría ver el contenido de todo el kodi en mi tvHuh La transmisión seria buena en este casoHuh Gracias
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#6
This an English forum. You need to translate.
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#7
Can this be split as I’ve done a translation and has nothing to do with this thread?

Cheers
Server: Ubuntu Server 22TB HDD running SAMBA
Kodi: 4 Raspberry Pi 3 running Libreelec -  on the main PC - running Linux Mint
My Setup thread |
Reply
#8
(2018-12-10, 16:50)trogggy Wrote: Android - depends on someone building stable or nightly with a different package name.  Wrxtasy has a leia rc2 build  here, which means it can be run alongside krypton (or a nightly).  Which is great.
Routinely providing a stable build with a different package name here would mean people could test android nightlies to their hearts' content, but it seems there's no interest in doing that.
 That would explain why I couldn't find much on the subject!! (well nothing of any use that is!)

I'm also assuming this is down to the lack of Android devs too.
Server: Ubuntu Server 22TB HDD running SAMBA
Kodi: 4 Raspberry Pi 3 running Libreelec -  on the main PC - running Linux Mint
My Setup thread |
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