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Hi,
Sorry, my first post and I'm sure one that will highlight my lack of awareness etc.... My apologies now, as I'm surely breaking several codes, practices and conventions.
I had a Acer Revo running Ubuntu and XBMC for quite a while, but the hardware is a little long in the tooth and doesn't really support the newer versions of Ubuntu. Plus, I wasn't wise enough to buy the 3600 so I never had an Optical Output, needed because my DVD player (5.1 sound device) doesn't support HDMI. So yes, I could buy a new TV, sound system and PC, but I'm old and mean and tight and would like to avoid that.
So if I were to ask what a modern equivalent of an Acer Revo would be, something that I can install an OS on licence-free, and then install the latest version of Kodi under that that comes with a HDMI and optical out as well as >3 USB ports, where should I start looking?
Many thanks,
P
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DaVu
Team-Kodi Member
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If you dont need hd-audio I would spend some money on a raspberry Pi and a Hifiberry for the optical out.
It might depend on what else do you want todo with it. Do you will need the device as a full blown PC as well? Internet browsing, little bit of office etc.... or will it only be for using Kodi?
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I don't need it for anything at all except using hdd based ISO files to watch DVDs that I've ripped.
The kids aren't sympathetic to DVDs and their cases, so Kodi works beautifully but I have no use for any computing power over and above that (indeed I want to avoid it).
A raspberry Pi and Hifiberry? Sounds sane, is there a spec I should head for?
(Many thanks for helping a silly chap out; this info is almost certainly out there, but it's such a nightmare sifting through things; enujnely appreciated)
P
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It doesn't solve your optical dilemma, but we've got a couple of Revos (I forget which models) in daily use with LibreELEC on them. Both run like the proverbial watch.
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Moving to hardware while I'm at it, as this isn't strictly a Linux query.
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Sorry for the wrong location for the post, my bad... I guess I was so in bed with Ubuntu I had t really considered much else.
The external drives I'm using are mains powered so the USB cable is data only. Here's hoping it all works because I've ordered it all from hifiberry now.
I'm pretty stupid most of the time so if it all does go together as suggested above, it's a damned good vindication of the simplicity of it all.
Thanks all,
P
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Well, there's me learning a thing or two this week:- moved away from Ubuntu and put LibreELEC on my old Revo box and lo! It seems to have gotten over its recent unhappiness. The Raspberry Pi is on its way anyway (I want the 5.1 noise after all) but nonetheless, LibreELEC was a doddle for my ageing mind to install and just simply worked.
So the RPi perhaps might not have been the very best choice of hardware but if it's as easy as this installation was, then I'm happier than a happy thing. Many thanks for your help so far.
P
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I used a USB sound card/adapter thing to get optical digital audio out on my Revo, this was under Windows but I'd imagine there are some that work under Linux.
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I've tried a couple of 5.1 sound cards with the Revo and I could never get them to work. I wasn't that fussed until the most recent build was dog-slow and Kodi used to crash after watching more than about 2 minutes of any film. It would watch the movie just fine, but it would always crash when it went back to the menu. (I'd assumed it was a cache problem....)
I was kind of sick of it 'nearly' working and figured that would be reason enough to bite the bullet and replace the hardware. The Revo box has a 160gb internal drive, so I can still use it entertain the kitchen TV so there's no wastage. Just wish I'd known about LibreELEC earlier.....
Again, thanks to all for the continued help,
P
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An SSD makes a worthwhile upgrade as well.
I've got optical out on one Revo, which feeds my amp - the other one is only feeding stereo speakers, so that's fine. I thought about HDMI-to-optical and similar, but never really convinced myself of the need.
I'm just gonna link to the manufactor pages:
