Kodi is a very popular media center distro from Britain, developed under
Ubuntu. It was originally called xbmc, the "X-box media center," but
when Microsoft acquired X-box, a new name was required. RPMs are
available in the repos, but they are for the latest release, Kodi 19,
which was the first release to use Python 3, and many add-ons have not
yet been updated. There are two variants available, OpenELEC and
LibreELEC. The latter seems more popular. LibreELEC is available as an
ARM version for the RaspberryPi, and as a "generic" version for x64.
There is an add-on for those using MythTV.

I have had ongoing difficulty with adding Kodi to my Grub2 menu. Kodi
is meant to be the only OS present, but quite a few users want to
dual-boot it. I was looking at chainloading it using syslinux, but
nothing worked. Today I tried again, and got there. How I did it is
probably not of general interest, but I used a method set out at
https://go.janleow.com/2021/02/libreelec-grub2-menu-entry-for-booting.html

--which worked first time, once I had eliminated my typos.

On Sat, 12 Jun 2021 08:21:13 -0400, Doug Laidlaw <laidlaws@hotkey.net.au> wrote:

> Kodi is a very popular media center distro from Britain, developed under
> Ubuntu. It was originally called xbmc, the "X-box media center," but
> when Microsoft acquired X-box, a new name was required. RPMs are
> available in the repos, but they are for the latest release, Kodi 19,
> which was the first release to use Python 3, and many add-ons have not
> yet been updated. There are two variants available, OpenELEC and
> LibreELEC. The latter seems more popular. LibreELEC is available as an
> ARM version for the RaspberryPi, and as a "generic" version for x64.
> There is an add-on for those using MythTV.
>
> I have had ongoing difficulty with adding Kodi to my Grub2 menu. Kodi
> is meant to be the only OS present, but quite a few users want to
> dual-boot it. I was looking at chainloading it using syslinux, but
> nothing worked. Today I tried again, and got there. How I did it is
> probably not of general interest, but I used a method set out at
> https://go.janleow.com/2021/02/libreelec-grub2-menu-entry-for-booting.html
>
> --which worked first time, once I had eliminated my typos.

Just fyi, kodi can be run as it's own desktop environment from the login menu via
$ cat /usr/share/xsessions/kodi.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Kodi
Comment=This session will start Kodi media center
Exec=kodi-standalone
TryExec=kodi-standalone
Type=Application

Kodi can also be run as an application from within another de such as kde. It takes
over the keyboard so it's highly recommended to save all work and close other
applications before starting it.

It's been a while since I tested it. IIRC getting it to exit was a pain and
required restarting X.

I don't think it's intended to be run directly from grub.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org to davidwhodgins@teksavvy.com for
email replies.

On 13/6/21 2:58 am, David W. Hodgins wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Jun 2021 08:21:13 -0400, Doug Laidlaw
> <laidlaws@hotkey.net.au> wrote:

> Just fyi, kodi can be run as it's own desktop environment from the login
> menu via
> $ cat /usr/share/xsessions/kodi.desktop
> [Desktop Entry]
> Name=Kodi
> Comment=This session will start Kodi media center
> Exec=kodi-standalone
> TryExec=kodi-standalone
> Type=Application
>
> Kodi can also be run as an application from within another de such as
> kde. It takes
> over the keyboard so it's highly recommended to save all work and close
> other
> applications before starting it.
>
> It's been a while since I tested it. IIRC getting it to exit was a pain and
> required restarting X.
>
> I don't think it's intended to be run directly from grub.
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>

Thanks, Dave, I installed Calculate OS (based on Gentoo) on my second
HD. It took over one whole disk, wiping my Kodi directories, then
couldn't work as well as Mageia.I I had an old version, which should
have updated, since Calculate is a rolling release. But there is one
particular update that butts in after about 8 packages, and there is no
machinery to skip that one; it simply exits the updater. The package
manager is Portage, of which I know nothing.

As my supermarket advises (changed to suit): "That is why I choose Mageia!"