OSMC as Base OS for adding other goodies to

[Methanoid]

@sam_nazarko

I know OSMC is based on Debian Jessie and has all the optimizations for the Pi 2. This makes it the best base for Kodi for Pi 2… but… I am wondering about doing more with it.

OSMC + RetroPie + Steam Streaming + Linux Desktop + more…

@mcobit has made a nice script to add RetroPie to OSMC - [HowTo] Installing RetroPie alongside OSMC RC (the easy way) - #212 by mcobit but I think that adds RetroPie to the Kodi menu. That means you need to jump out of Kodi to RetroPie and then select the system you want to emulate.

I’d rather be inside of RetroPie at the start and then select either Kodi, XYZ System to Emulate or Desktop or Steam Streaming. I think I’d like OSMC as the base OS so some questions I hope you (or someone else) can help with:

1. Can you add a Desktop to OSMC? I recall you could with Raspbmc so I suspect yes. As simple as sudo apt-get install XXX ??

2. Can you stop OSMC from loading Kodi on startup and load RetroPie’s EmulationStation instead? Presumably editting a startup script?

Thanks again for Raspbmc (glad I donated!) and for OSMC.

[sam_nazarko]

@Methanoid

Can you add a Desktop to OSMC? I recall you could with Raspbmc so I suspect yes. As simple as sudo apt-get install XXX ??

This has been discussed, including the plans for an OSMC desktop release. A search should find the post.

@Methanoid

Can you stop OSMC from loading Kodi on startup and load RetroPie’s EmulationStation instead? Presumably editting a startup script?

Most likely, yes.

[Methanoid]

Thanks Sam. Sorry, I didn’t search first (must be irritating to be asked the same question several times and you are very patient!)

OSMC desktop environment?

Hi, I just installed osmc RC on my pi2, and I was wondering if it has a desktop environment. Somewhere I read that a feature will be implemented: if I choose “exit” in kodi, I’ll get a desktop where I can use a browser, file managers, consoles, basically anything. Well, this is not happening, but it would be awesome. Any tips on this? Thanks

and

Stop OSMC starting automatically on boot and run from command line

/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/mediacenter.service is what launches Kodi

I think I can probably set up how I want from those two…

[C_Fu]

As for Desktop, see my thread Installing Raspbian/LXDE on top of OSMC

Managed to setup and start a very basic Desktop (without browser & pi store & almost everything else). Still looking for a way to install the stock Raspbian browser at least.

Edit: just found out from https://www.raspberrypi.org/web-browser-released/ that sudo apt-get install epiphany-browser or iceweasel will install a browser, installing right now.

[DBMandrake]

To stop Kodi loading on startup just:

sudo systemctl disable mediacenter

Then enable the service for whatever you want to start in it’s place.

[C_Fu]

Ah I see… I thought it was systemctl stop mediacenter
Cheers!

[DBMandrake]

Stop immediately stops the service but it will restart on next boot. Disable prevents it starting during boot.

[C_Fu]

I see… thanks for the explanation.

Also, I’ve found that with LXDE installed in OSMC, epiphany-browser doesn’t work, at least on RPi 1. Iceweasel works, but it’s slow without hardware acceleration

Pi Store doesn’t work though… Maybe it has something to do with OSMC being on Jessie.