Yes I know about kodi but I have a few issues with that for one it has a pretty outdated ui but this is not a deal breaker for me but it also doesn’t allow the opening of other applications like Netflix or jellyfin etc, you have to install a compatible plugin.
Are there any gnu/Linux desktop environments that are optimised for a home theatre time situation to be used with a remote or game controller? At the moment I will probably just use gnome or kde but it doesn’t work well at all with remote or game controller.
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https://plasma-bigscreen.org/ from KDE? I’m not sure if they’ve replaced that since. Wikipedia says it’s unmaintained. Depending on your use-case, you might want to have a look at Emulationstation, Steam Big Picture and Kodi Plugins, as well.
Dude! plasma big screen is exactly what I was looking for. I hope it is available for public use reasonably soon. In the meantime does steam big picture work for other apps like jellyfin?
Some files on Plasma Bigscreen’s Gitlab were updated 2-3 days ago, so I think it’s still being maintained.
On the other hand, the Emulationstation website reads:
This website is for the original EmulationStation, last updated in 2015!
Without having tried it, I think ES-DE may be a better choice nowadays, since that one seems to be maintained.
RetroDECK bundles ES-DE with relevant tools and emulators if you want to use it for emulation of games.
Thanks! I’ve updated the link. I always just use Batocera or something like that, which has Emulationstation and Kodi set up for me. So I don’t pay a lot of attention to the included projects and their development state…
I didn’t include this, since OP wasn’t mentioning retro-gaming. But Batocera, Recalbox, Lakka, RetroPie are quite nice. I picked one which includes both Kodi and Emulationstation and I can switch between the interfaces with the gamecontroller. I get all the TV and streaming stuff in Kodi, and Emulationstaation launches the games. And I believe it can do Flatpaks and other applications as well.
Honestly, none that are all that great. I tried Kodi in various forms, LibreElec, OSMC, MythTV, Steam Big Picture, and KDE TV (or whatever its called), but you’re just never going to get a great experience with stuff like Netflix and YouTube on Linux.
In the end, I bought myself an Nvidia Shield, switched out the launcher for one without ads, installed Smart Tube Next for ad-free YouTube, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I’ve got my apps for Nebula and Dropout. I’ve got Kodi and Jellyfin for my home library. It has barely any power consumption, it boots fast, it runs a huge variety of emulators, the included remote works great (plus there’s a remote app for your phone that controls the entire system), and the wife acceptance factor is exceptional.
I’m really big on self-hosting and building all my own stuff; I use lots of repurposed hardware salvaged from companies I and my friends work at and I try to avoid off the shelf products. But I’m genuinely kicking myself for not buying a Shield sooner. It really is the best TV solution for a self hoster.
I have one as well (own launcher aa well) but the perennial “when in heck will they update it” becomes an issue. It is getting old now. I use Kodi and YT Next mostly but supplemnt that with some local Australia FTA TV apps (ABC and SBS). I mean where else can we get such awesome TV as “Black As”
Pssst, take these: .,
Super helpful
Thank you. I help where I can.
Sorry, I don’t get the joke?
There are a few things about Kodi that might help:
- There are themes thay completely change the UI, so it doesn’t have to be outdated. I use Arctic: Zephyr – Reloaded and it is much better, though I did change the noises to something else.
- The Jellyfin plugin works pretty seamlessly if you set up the UI correctly. I only use Kodi for Jellyfin and it acts as if it’s all local files, other than the occasional syncing notice.
However, I feel you on Netflix, YouTube, etc. - it is not ideal. I ended up either logging into a separate partition or moving to a Chromecast for those things. I’d love an all-in-one solution but I haven’t managed to find one that I’d be happy with.
I’ll note that I use LibreELEC as that handles HDR (I couldn’t get other Kodi installs working with HDR)
Thanks for the help. It seams like plasma big screen is back in development and is getting regular pull requests on it’s git repo. I guess we can both just wait for it to have a stable release.
This is entirely different approach, sorry. Fwiw, I bought a wireless (2.4Ghz) keyboard that has a trackpad, and just use a zoomed-in KDE Plasma. Far from the eye candy of a kiosk, but with some customization you may achieve satisfaction (:
I might try that as I wait for plasma big screen to be fully ready.
Steam Big Picture Mode allows you to install non steam apps.
MythTV is the OG.
Don’t have any recent experience to help you, but your question reminded me of Boxee and I had a little flash back to a simpler time.
There are also some SAT receivers that run Linux, see e.g. https://www.opena.tv/app.php/atv_images
Not a fully fledged DE but might be enough for your usecase: Flex-Launcher
I went down this rabbit hole about a year ago, and didn’t have much luck. In the end, the best results I was able to get were from Steam’s Big Picture Mode on a Windows device, mostly launching Firefox (might have been Chrome?) with different launch arguments to immitate a smart TV.
Most available software either doesn’t support Linux well, doesn’t support streaming services and outside software, or doesn’t support non-kb&m input methods. You can get two, but never all three. You could try SteamOS, now that its out, but unfortunately my hopes wouldn’t be high for it to have all the apps you needs functioning.
Kodi
What about android TV?
Android tv is google. If there was a custom rom version of android tv I would be interested though.
Buy an LG Smart TV and use the WebOS version of Jellyfin. That’s the best I’ve achieved.
MythTV - as others have already mentioned. It’s designed to work with the 10’ interface
Even records TV programs (presuming you have tuner hardware of course) - which I don’t think the others can do?
We don’t stream Netflix, but we do watch other various streams (ie BBC iPlayer), yoochoob, etc - all works fine, inc… video files from various sources, and music…
We use it with a Logitech K400 wireless keyboard and it works great for us.
I have played with a more traditional looking TV wand remote in the past, but you still need a keyboard to type in program websites, names, etc. so the K400 became our defacto remote.
MythTV used to come with Ubuntu as Mythbuntu back in the day, but most of the pre-installed distros have fallen away, so you’d need to pick a distro and install it yourself.
It’s a very mature application, so you won’t need to keep updating every time you want to watch anything.
