Kodi on the Raspberry - spillerphoto

Kodi on the Raspberry

Kodi is a free and open source media player application developed by the XBMC Foundation, a non-profit technology consortium. Just recently I purchased a raspberry to use it as a media server. I was searching for something small to install KODI on it, originally developed for the xbox as XBMC - Xbox Media Center. Since I couldn't get any further updates of KODI for my old MacMini it was time for a change.

I ordered a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B set via Aliexpress for about 58$ including shipping. The set contained the Raspberry Pi 3 model B, acrylic case, cooling fan, SIC heat sink, 5V2.5A power charger and a 2.4G keyboard. Some days later I ordered a proper Kodi FLIRC case to avoid a permanent running fan. The FLIRC case has a build in heat sink where the processor gets cooled through the surface of the aluminum case.

The Kodi Raspberry Set from China

As expected, the set from China arrived prior to the FLIRC case from the US. Assembling of the (temporary acrylic case) and mounting of the fan was easy and fast done. I downloaded openELEC which is a very light weighted operating system build around Kodi.

OpenElec

After the installation of OpenELEC, the system is almost ready to go. Hundreds if not thousands of additional free add-ons are available on the internet. One add-on which I highly recommend is the VPN manager for Open VPN to control the open VPN within Kodi. Configuring this VPN manager is easy and enables an automatic connections to different countries depending on the add-on currently used.

Going Small - The FLIRC case

The FLIRC case is amazing small and frees a lot of space which has been previously used by my SAT receiver and MacMini. The case itself looks beautiful and the openings are matching exactly the connections on the board.


Kodi on the Raspberry
Kodi on the Raspberry
Kodi on the Raspberry

Repositories

If you want to install further apps and plugins you need to download so called repositories. One of the best known and already covering most of the available and best addons is SuperRepo. The webpage of Super Repo is offering a complete installation guide. More Kodi Repositories are available on the internet and can be found easily. I recommend youtube if you need more information regarding the installation and add-ons.

RASPBERRY PI 3 MODEL B Specifications


  • A 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU
  • 802.11n Wireless LAN
  • Bluetooth 4.1
  • Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
  • 1GB RAM
  • 4 USB ports
  • 40 GPIO pins
  • Full HDMI port
  • Ethernet port
  • Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video
  • Camera interface (CSI)
  • Display interface (DSI)
  • Micro SD card slot
  • VideoCore IV 3D graphics core

I'm using Kodi on the small Raspberry now almost 4 weeks. I can highly recommend the setup especially if you want a small media server.


Kodi on the Raspberry

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