I have a server that is also plugged into my TV. It’s running Ubuntu server, but then I installed the DE when I started trying to use it with the TV as well.

For the TV I’m using Kodi synced with Jellyfin. Unfortunately it’s not very stable. Most of the time it’s fine, but with specific files Kodi will crash, often bringing down the whole system. I expect this is at least partly because the DE was an afterthought and it’s not running a full DE.

I’m looking at doing a full refresh of the server, and am wondering if there is a distro that is particularly good for this use case. I also want to be able to play games on occasion with xbox controllers.

TL;DR: Can you suggest a distro to run on a PC connected to a TV, used mainly to run Kodi and as a server via docker containers, but also for games via wine/proton with controller support?

  • deadbeef
    2·
    25 days ago

    I used to run kodi on linux on intel NUC’s connected to all our TV’s a while ago. I don’t remember it being particularly unreliable. The issue that made me change that setup was hardware decoding support in 4k for newer codecs.

    What I’ve had doing that frontend function ( kodi, jellyfin, disney plus, netflix etc ) for the last few years is three Nvidia shield TV pro’s which have been absolutely awesome. They are an old product now and I suspect Nvidia are too busy making money to work on a newer generation version of them,

    The biggest surprise improvement was how good it was being able to ( easily ) configure their remotes to generate power on / off and volume up and down IR codes for the TV or the AV amp they were using so you only need a single remote.

    Separating the function of the backend out from the frontend in the lounge has reduced the broken mess that happens around OS upgrades drastically.

    • The Zen Cow Says Mu@infosec.pub
      1·
      24 days ago

      Separating the function of the backend out from the frontend

      this is the way.

      home server in basement running almalinux, which provides mythtv, plex library, homeassistant, calibreweb, podcast management

      desktop/gaming pc in home office

      chromecast/google tv in living room with kodi, plex, other streaming apps, steam link for streaming games from downstairs and using bluetooth xbox controllers

    • DaveOPA
      1·
      25 days ago

      I like the idea of separating fontend/backend. I’m not looking to do a hardware change but currently I have a desktop PC and an old laptop both connected to the TV. I was thinking of having the desktop take over as server/HTPC/everything, but I could move the server/games to the desktop and keep Kodi on the old laptop. Refreshing the OS on the laptop will be a lot easier once the server is not tied to it.

      I have a PC remote that does TV stuff as well as acts as a keyboard/mouse/Kodi controller. It’s a pretty great setup, I just need to stabilise it a bit as it was hacked together in a hurry.

      • jnk :InfinityVerified:@masto.es
        2·
        24 days ago

        @Dave @deadbeef for the gaming part you don’t even need the second pc connected to the tv. I’ve been trying sunshine and moonlight (a server and client for game streaming) and it’s been running really great in the same network. The client can even run on an old nintendo 2ds, so your laptop should do more than fine to try, that way you’d only have a media and a gaming clients on the laptop, everything else to the server in another room.
        I’m currently using a similar setup but with Jellyfin instead of kodi, working great for a few months.

        • DaveOPA
          1·
          24 days ago

          Thanks for the suggestion! That sounds really cool, I got my hopes up for a second, but it looks like 5Ghz wifi is required. It makes sense, for speed/latency reasons, but unfortunately the old laptop plugged into the TV is quite old. At least 10 years old, probably more.

          I am expecting to replace my current laptop in the next year or so, so maybe I’ll look at this setup at that point.

          • jnk :InfinityVerified:@masto.es
            2·
            23 days ago

            @Dave well that’s a shame. To be fair, the only time i tried so use it over wifi was on the 2ds, which was pretty slow. It worked only with low resolution, so just a cool experiment, not really practical.

            That said yeah if you replace the laptop I’d focus on the best wifi card possible and leave the power to the server. I’m actually planning to switch an old laptop to an orange pi for this reason.

      • deadbeef
        2·
        25 days ago

        Yeah, I reckon having a split of the frontend and the backend results in about half the complexity in each. If you have multiple frontends you can upgrade whatever the least important one is to see if there are any problems

        I didn’t really answer your original question.

        When I was using NUC’s I was using Linux mint which uses cinnamon by default as the window manager. Originally I changed it to use some really minimal window manager like twm, but then at some point it became practical to not use one at all and just run kodi directly on X.

        If I was going back to a Linux frontend I’d probably evaluate libreELEC as it has alot of the sharp edges sorted out.

        • DaveOPA
          2·
          25 days ago

          Thanks, I’m thinking I might go with Linux Mint on the desktop PC for running the server, and playing the games. Then once that’s set up, test out libreELEC on the laptop for running Kodi. My only concern would be that the laptop is (old) wifi only, so if it’s streaming across the network instead of on the same machine it might be slow. But if it doesn’t work out I should be able to easily switch to running Kodi on the desktop and retire the laptop.