2018-12-10, 16:43
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.
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.
