Putting together a new Linux HTPC build and looking for a 10ft UI WM/DE to use with it. Essentially, it would be a launcher for a few PWAs (Emby, Netflix, etc) as well as Steam and maybe some emulators. Navigation would likely be a wireless keyboard and, if absolutely necessary, mouse (goal is to get a bluetooth remote working and use that, but that’s the next phase).

I haven’t used Kodi since it was still Xbox Media Center (running on an actual Xbox lol), but would it be a good choice? I used it forever ago as the dashboard for my modded Xbox, and it was great. However, for this, I’d rather not run Kodi, if possible, since Emby already covers those use-cases.

If there’s no “dedicated” one, any recommendations for which regular DE might be best modifiable/extendable to work for that purpose?

  • SidewaysHighways@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    I’m an emby person myself and am enjoying LibreELEC a bunch. With the emby for Kodi addon I’ve gotten so used to having every single thing in one interface that when a situation presents itself where I’m using the actual emby app, I get disappointed with the fact that none of the other Kodi addons are there.

    It’s pretty slick and once everyone is used to the Kodi interface for all apps/addons we’ve never looked back

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgOP
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      11 days ago

      Yeah, Kodi seems to be the leading contender.

      With the emby for Kodi addon

      How old is that add-on and howe well does it work? I was exploring Kodi at one point in the past (never got past planning stage) and was looking to see if there was a plugin to integrate Emby but couldn’t find one (there’s nothing really special about it’s streams, they just need to be requested the right way).

      I may give that a try. I do like the idea of a unified interface versus a controller for the UI and a separate controller/webapp for Emby.

      • SidewaysHighways@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        There’s an older and a new version of the addon. And it works well enough! Even has a helper to clean up the interface around the emby stuff.

        The secondary emby app can still control the kodi box the same way also!

        • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgOP
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          11 days ago

          Yeah, I think I just tried the older one “EmbyCon” and it just loads an empty repo.

          “Emby for Kodo NextGen” seems to be the “new” one and is currently syncing my library on my test box.