Install Kodi on Debian, Ubuntu, Arch Linux & OpenSUSE Leap
Kodi, formerly XBMC (Xbox Media Center), is a free and open-source media player software licensed under GPLv2. It can run on Linux, OS X, FreeBSD, Windows, Android, and Apple TV OS. It has a 10-foot user interface which means it can easily read from a distance of 10 feet and controlled by a regular television remote control.
You can watch live television, TV shows, movies or set up a home theater PC with Kodi. In this tutorial, we will be discussing how to install Kodi on Debian, Ubuntu, Arch Linux, and OpenSUSE.
Install Kodi on Debian
Kodi is included in Debian repository. Run the following command to install it.
sudo apt-get install kodi
To start kodi
kodi
Install Kodi on Ubuntu-based Linux distros via PPA
For Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Elementary OS, etc, there’s an official Kodi PPA available.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install kodi
To start Kodi, type:
kodi
in terminal.
Install Kodi on Arch Linux
Kodi is in the Arch Linux community repository, so we can easily install kodi using pacman
sudo pacman -S kodi
Install Kodi on OpenSUSE Leap 42.1
Kodi in available in the packman repository, so first enable packman on OpenSUSE Leap 42.1 with this command:
sudo zypper ar -f -n packman http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/packman/suse/openSUSE_Leap_42.1/ packman
Then install kodi with zypper
sudo zypper install kodi
Where to Download Movie and TV Shows
- Use a torrenting client like Deluge.
- Learn how to download from Usenet.
Advantages of Usenet
- It gives you better privacy because others can’t see what you are downloading.
- Superfast download speed.
- Files on Usenet are usually kept much longer than torrent files. For example, Newsdemon stores files for 4430 days (more than 12 years), so you can download old content at a very fast speed.
Install Kodi on Ubuntu ARM/Raspberry Pi OS
Note that the above PPA doesn’t work on Ubuntu ARM edition for Raspberry Pi or the official Raspberrry Pi OS. To install Kodi on Ubuntu ARM/Raspberrry Pi OS, simply run
sudo apt install kodi
If your Raspberry Pi doesn’t have a desktop environment, then at least you need to install an X window system and basic video driver in order to run Kodi.
sudo apt install xinit xterm xserver-xorg-video-fbdev libvdpau-va-gl1
Xinit allows you to run a GUI program in X window system, without having to start a window manager or a full desktop environment. To start Kodi, we can run
xinit kodi
To automatically start Kodi at boot time, we need to create a systemd service unit with a command-line text editor like Nano.
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/kodi.service
Add the following lines to the file.
[Unit] Description=Kodi Media Center After=network-online.target Wants=network-online.target [Service] Type=simple Environment=HOME=/root ExecStart=/usr/bin/xinit kodi Restart=always RestartSec=2 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Note: on Ubuntu 21.04, the Kodi binary is located at /usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/kodi/kodi.bin, so you need to use
ExecStart=/usr/bin/xinit /usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/kodi/kodi.bin
Save and close the file. Enable auto-start at boot time.
sudo systemctl enable kodi
Now you can reboot to see if this works.
sudo shutdown -r now
To display non-Latin characters, install the following packages.
sudo apt install fonts-noto-cjk fonts-noto-cjk-extra fonts-noto-hinted fonts-noto-unhinted ttf-unifont
Then go to Kodi Settings -> Interface -> Skin -> Fonts. Change fonts from skin default to arial based. Then Kodi will be able to dispaly non-Latin characters.
You might also want to automatically mount external HDD on your Raspberry Pi, so you can select folders on your HDD from the Kodi interface.
Stop CPU Intensive Applications on Raspberry Pi
Playing videos in Kodi on Raspberry Pi uses lots of CPU power. If you have other applications running on your Raspberry Pi, consider stopping them for a smooth TV-watching experience. For example, stop the Syncthing peer to peer sync tool, which also uses lots of CPU power.
sudo systemctl stop syncthing@username.service
Stop Resilio Sync.
sudo systemctl stop resilio-sync
The Transmission BitTorrent client can also use lots of CPU power.
sudo systemctl stop transmission-daemon
You can configure systemd to automatically stop them when kodi starts. Edit Kodi systemd service file.
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/kodi.service
Add the following two lines in the [Unit] section.
After=network-online.target syncthing@username.service resilio-sync.service transmission-daemon.service Conflicts=syncthing@username.service resilio-sync.service transmission-daemon.service
Like this:
[Unit] Description=Kodi Media Center After=network-online.target [email protected] resilio-sync.service transmission-daemon.service [email protected] resilio-sync.service transmission-daemon.service Wants=network-online.target [Service] Type=simple Environment=HOME=/root ExecStart=/usr/bin/xinit /usr/bin/kodi Restart=always RestartSec=2 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save and close the file. Then reload systemd.
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Because we specified that Kodi conflicts with the other 3 services, when you star kodi.service, the other 3 services will be automatically stopped.
Increase GPU Memory on Raspberry Pi OS
The default GPU memory might not be sufficient for smooth video playback in Kodi. You can launch the raspi-config tool to increase GPU memory.
sudo raspi-config
Go to Performance Options -> GPU Memory and give it 256MB. I found that 256MB GPU memory is required to play some ultra HD/BlueRay movies on my Rasberry Pi. Reboot for the change to take effect.
After rebooting, your system has less RAM for regular programs to run, as indicated by the htop command. For example, my Raspberry Pi 1 has 512MB physical RAM, now the system recognize only 242MB physical RAM. Kodi uses very little RAM, so you don’t need to worry about system running out of RAM. My Raspberry Pi 1 uses about 120MB RAM when Kodi is playing videos.
When my GPU memory was set to the default value (64MB), Kodi couldn’t play videos at all. And there is error in the Kodi logs as follows:
ERROR: COMXCoreComponent::DecoderEventHandler OMX.broadcom.video_decode - OMX_ErrorUnsupportedSetting, unsupported setting ERROR: COMXCoreComponent::AllocInputBuffers component(OMX.broadcom.video_decode) - OMX_UseBuffer failed with omx_err(0x80001018) ERROR: COMXVideo::Open AllocOMXInputBuffers error (080001018) ERROR: OMXPlayerVideo : Error open video output NOTICE: OMXClock using video as reference WARNING: OpenVideoStream - Unsupported stream 1. Stream disabled.
Now the GPU memory is set to 256MB, video playback is much better.
To change the GPU memory on Ubuntu ARM OS, edit the config.txt file.
sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
Add the following line to set GPU memory to 256 MB.
gpu_mem=256
Save and close the file. Then reboot.
Overclocking for Better Performance
If you use Raspberry Pi 1, which has a default clock speed of 700MHz, I recommend overclocking it to at least 900MHz with the raspi-config tool for better performance. Overclocking to 800MHz is better than the default, but you still can’t make Kodi go back to the main screen while playing videos. You can run the following command to check the current CPU clock speed.
sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq
Note that overclocking will increase CPU temperature, so don’t overclock too much.
And you might want to remove unnecessary software like below and use your Rasberry Pi only as a media center, so there will be fewer programs using CPU.
sudo apt purge avahi-daemon redis-server rng-tools shadowsocks-libev
Disable Swap on Raspberry Pi OS
Swap space can make your Raspberry Pi slower and it can wear out your SD card much faster than you think. For better performance, it’s a good idea to disable swap space. To disable swap file, run the following command.
sudo dphys-swapfile swapoff
The above command will fetch all content in the swap file back into the physical RAM, then disable the swap file. Now you can delete the swap file to reclaim disk space.
sudo dphys-swapfile uninstall
However, the swap file will be turned on again after reboot. To prevent this from happening, edit the swap configuration file.
sudo nano /etc/dphys-swapfile
Find the following line, which sets the swap file size to 100MB.
CONF_SWAPSIZE=100
Change the value to zero.
CONF_SWAPSIZE=0
Save and close the file. You can also disable the dphys-swapfile.service, so it won’t start at boot time.
sudo systemctl disable dphys-swapfile
Enable Hardware Acceleration on Ubuntu ARM
Kodi on Ubuntu ARM will use lots of CPU resources. This is because, by default, hardware acceleration is disabled. You can confirm it by running the following two commands.
cat /proc/device-tree/soc/firmwarekms@7e600000/status cat /proc/device-tree/v3dbus/v3d@7ec04000/status
It should return disabled in the output. To enable hardware acceleration, first install some packages.
sudo apt install libgles2-mesa libgles2-mesa-dev xorg-dev
Then edit the firmware configuration file.
sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
Add the following lines at the end of this file.
#Enable 3D video driver. There're 3 dirvers you can choose from. Try another if the first one doesn't meet your expection. dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d #dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d #dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d-pi4 #Allolocate 256MB memory to GPU. gpu_mem=256 #Enable 4K 60FPS hdmi_enable_4kp60=1
Save and close the file. Then reboot your Raspberry Pi.
sudo shutdown -r now
And run the above two cat command again. It should return okay in the output, which means hardware acceleration is enabled.
Troubleshooting
If there are screen-tearing while playing videos in Kodi, you can check the Kodi logs (~/.kodi/temp/kodi.log) to find out what’s wrong.
You should turn on the TV first, then start Kodi, otherwise, Kodi can’t send the video signal to the TV screen.
If you have a Raspberry Pi 4B and you encounter the following warning, then you should buy the official Raspberry Pi power supply (5.1V 3A).
Under voltage detected
If you don’t fix the above error, then there’s a high chance that your external storage device will be damaged.
Adjusting Console Resolution on Raspberry Pi
If the console goes off the screen, then you need to make the resolution smaller. Edit the /boot/config.txt file on Raspberry Pi OS. (If you use Ubuntu ARM OS, edit the /boot/firmware/config.txt file.)
sudo nano /boot/config.txt
Comment out the following line to enable overscan.
disable_overscan=1
Then add the following lines to adjust the console resolution.
overscan_left=16 overscan_right=16 overscan_top=16 overscan_bottom=16
Save and close the file. Then reboot your Raspberry Pi. If there is too much border in the Kodi interface after reboot, you might need to change 16 to a smaller value.
How to Watch Live TV/IPTV on Raspberry Pi
First, install the simple IPTV/PVR client.
sudo apt install kodi-pvr-iptvsimple
Restart Kodi.
sudo systemctl restart kodi
Go back to the Kodi main interface and select Add-ons -> My Add-ons -> PVR clients -> PVR IPTV simple client. Then click the configure button. You will need to enter the m3u playlist path. Please search online to download m3u files.
Save the settings. Go back toAdd-ons -> My Add-ons -> PVR clients, open the context menu and enable the PVR IPTV simple client. Now go back to the Kodi main interface -> TV and you should be able to browse TV channels.
Monitor CPU Temperature on Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi is designed to run at 0~50 Celsius at low system load. It’s a good practice to keep the CPU temperature under 60 Celsius, so it will have a longer life span. The hard temperature limit is 85 Celsius. You can go to Kodi Settings -> System Info to check the CPU temperature.
You can also check CPU temperature with the following command:
sudo vcgencmd measure_temp
On Ubuntu ARM OS, you need to install a package in order to use the above command.
sudo apt install libraspberrypi-bin
If you install a fan to your Raspberry Pi, the CPU temperature will be much lower. I did a test, my CPU temperature went from 53.6 Celsius to 30 Celsius after installing a fan. It’s about 30 Celsius when not playing videos and 36 Celsius when playing videos. Note that you need to use the correct GPIO pins when installing the fan. Please consult the installation manual that is included in your Raspberry Pi. If you use the wrong GPIO pins, your fan won’t start.
Also, be careful with the direction of the fan blade. They should produce winds to the CPU, not the other way around. If you take a look at a typical electric fan at your home, I think you will know what I mean.
To check your Raspberry Pi current CPU frequency, use the following command.
sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq
Connect Raspberry Pi to Old TVs
Generally, you connect Raspberry Pi to the TV via HDMI cable. However, old TVs might not have HDMI port. Then you can use an HDMI to RCA converter.
Install Kodi on Android TV
If your TV OS is based on Android, then you can download the Kodi Android APK file to a USB flash drive, then connect the flash drive to your Android TV. It will automatically prompt you to install the APK. Once Kodi is installed, go to your applications list and launch Kodi on your TV.
Before downloading the APK file, you need to identify the CPU architecture of your TV. For example, my TV uses ARM cortex A73 CPU. It’s an ARM v8 architecture.
Some folks might encounter the “waiting for external storage devices” error when trying to launch Kodi on Android TV. If it didn’t work for you, you can try other media center software like VLC, which is a very powerful media player. It can play almost every video codecs in the world, including HEVC, also known as H.265 video. VLC can stream media files from Samba share on the local network. You can download the VLC Android APK to your USB flash drive and then install it on your Android TV.
Wrapping Up
I hope this tutorial helped you install Kodi on Linux. As always, if you found this post useful, then subscribe to our free newsletter to get more tips and tricks. Take care 🙂
How do you configure the kodi service?