Yet another Openelec / OSMC thread

Help and Support Raspberry Pi
1

I am aware there are many of them already around, but think this one is slightly different, so worth to open a new one.

I have been using Crystalbuntu in the old days and now using Openelec in the recent past. I am actually exeptionally happy with it and would prefer not to move away from it. However, there are two elements, which appears to make OSMC the best solution for my needs:

  1. Openelec does not support bluetooth game pads such as the Xbox360 controller or 8bitdo gamepads. I assume OSMC actually does support them? Is there a Retroplayer branch of OSMC or ETA?

  2. Rplay - while I am waiting replies on a separate thread, I would assume that this actually works with OSMC, but not with Openelec

If the two features above are indeed feasible with OSMC, I would have a few questions:

  1. Is OSMC close enough to Kodi that I can just copy & paste the userdata folder from my openelec installs (with the exception of the guisettings.xml file). This would be the easiest for me to migrate

  2. Do I have to use the OSMC appstore or can I keep using the Kodi one? Or is it the same repo anyways?

  3. What’s the splashscreen? Would love it to say Kodi. Is that the how it still is or was it changed? Openelec does not have its own splashscreen, but still shows Kodi, which is great.

  4. Can I use the OSMC skin on other Kodi devices (on OSX / Win). I don’t think it is in the Kodi repo, but is there an OSMC repo that I can install it from? I would very much prefer to use the same skin across all my clients and the OSMC skin is compelling.

  5. Does the OSMC skin support “skin shortcuts” that allows me to map “Movie” on the main menu to a custom video node?

Thanks in advance!

2

  1. Yes, that should be fine (differing database versions could cause an issue, better to export and then import the data).

  2. The things in the App Store are different to that in the Kodi Repo. All the stuff in the Kodi repo is still there.

  3. Don’t know, but it has been asked before so just search for it.

  4. Yes, the OSMC skin can be used on other devices, but it is being revamped at the moment. I dont know where it is, but I think you can zip up the existing skin addon folder.

  5. Yes, look in the settings. (Not MyOSMC, but the other settings.)

3

Thanks for the quick reply. This sounds good. Is the app store not also located in the userdata folder? If so, is there an issue once wiping it and replacing it with my userdata folder from Openelec? Also, how would skin update work on my OSX computer? Would I need to manually update it every time (e.g., after the revamp). Any plan to have it added to the official Kodi repo, which would be easiest for future upgrades?

4

The App store doesnt have a folder, it doesnt install addons but other software that runs on your system.

Yes, you would need to update the skin manually. Dont know about the plans for it.

5

As @Karnage days, the App Store offers system package such as FTP servers, TV tuning software and torrent clients, it serves a different purpose to Kodi’s repository system.

You can install rPlay if you wish. Just make sure to disable AirPlay features in Kodi to avoid any conflicts.

We will have RetroPlayer test builds again shortly. I actually posted one on the forum already but it didn’t get much reception.

OpenELEC does have its own splash screen, but also has the Kodi splash screen. We disabled the Kodi splash screen to save startup time, but it can be very quickly reenabled in advancedsettings.xml

The OSMC skin must be manually installed and updated on other clients. We use APT to keep it up to date which has better dependency management than Kodi’s built in repository system. The skin uses skin shortcuts so you will not have a problem with that

6

Sounds great. Any experience using rplay? WIll it show albumart within Kodi? I am not that much looking for mirroring, but quite annoyed that sine IOS9, albumart is no longer displayed. Can this be fixed with rplay or other ways?

7

Hi

it has been years since I have used rPlay, and even it was only for limited testing purposes. I believe it acts independently of Kodi, so you won’t get album artwork, but do not take my word on that.

Sam