I have an old laptop that I want to use to replace the “smart” features on my living room TV. Can anybody recommend a distro and setup which could act like a dashboard / remote control setup?
I want the PC to auto launch to a menu where I can use something like a remote to keep it convenient for lower tech people in my home. Are there remotes controls for this purpose? Distros?
I appreciate any guidance!
Not a distro but maybe Plasma Bigscreen is in the ballpark of what you’re after?
Wow this is actually just what I was looking for.
You should make a post after you get it setup. Plasma big screen is one of those things that’s not quite mature yet.
Going to be a weekend setup for me this weekend. I’ll make a post when it’s running with any weirdness I find.
Cool, however I don’t think your experience is going to be that great as the ecosystem is not mature.
I guess I’ll find out on Monday. Good luck!
Love the look of this, thank you for sharing! Surprised I haven’t heard about this before and I’ve been Linux HTPC’ing for years
Use a wireless combined keyboard+touchpad as the remote
The phone app Kore works pretty decent as a remote.
Kodi seems like the best all around option. Alternatively you should setup a VNC connection for remote control of the desktop
Depends a bit on what features you want to have. I use LibreELEC to run Kodi (and nothing else). Previously I used OSMC to run Kodi and some other things (steam link among others). You can use an app (kore) control kodi, which is very conveniant. RF remotes work well too, apparently.
Piggy backing to ask how one could play video from streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, etc in full HD under such a setup? My assumptions are that videos would be played in a web browser, and most if not all streaming services like Netflix limit video playback to 720p in a web browser, although I’d love to be wrong about that.
There is a browser extension called “Netflix 1080p”, but in my experience the quality isn’t the same as Netflix’s native 1080p - the quality with the extension is visibly lower (but still better than 720p). And of course, it can’t do 4K at all. It also occasionally breaks, which is annoying.
If you really want to play streaming services at full quality, it’s better to just get a streaming stick like a Fire TV Stick, or a Roku or similar.
I’ve been using a htpc for TV content for years, and I’ve finally given up and just gonna pirate all my shit now. The hoops I’ve had to jump through to get 1080p on Linux, and Netflix/prime video working on my rooted lineageos phone has pissed me off too much. Researching all the *arr software packages and which sources to get content from, this weekend.
I use a remote called the “Pepper Jobs W10 Gyro” and I love it. All the keys are set up for Windows (🤢) shortcuts, but other than that it’s awesome. It would be great for Kodi.
Media keyboard and auto launch website jellyfin at start up
Check out if KDE connect works for you. You can launch any scripts you make, and control the input from your phone.
If it does, any stable distro like Debian should work fine for that purpose.
Auto launch depends on the DE
Any distro should do it, you just need to set your media centre software to run at startup. I’ve done it with Plex and Kodi, and I think Jellyfin does it too :)
