Archive:Install Kodi on Fedora 26 using RPMFusion packages
Current State of This Guide This guide is currently a work-in-progress, with steps and illustrations being added.
Goal The goal of this guide is to show one way of turing a Fedora (tested on Fedora 21 x86_64) Linux environment into a standalone Kodi installation, with minimal additional software / overhead. The Kodi packages available from RPMFusion are used as the basis for this setup.
At the end of this guide you will have a set-top box style of system that, when powered up, will quickly boot up and then start Kodi automatically without intervention (e.g. no need to first log in). I have been using minor variations on this guide to create my livingroom's HTPC since Fedora 19, and its FAF (Family Acceptance Factor) has thus-far been pretty consistently high.
Assumptions This guide assumes you have at least a slight familiarity with Linux in general. If you know what a Bash shell is, can cut-and-paste commands, and are comfortable editing files with VI or Emacs, then you should be fine.
It is assumed that Kodi will be installed into a freshly-installed Fedora 21 Server (x86_64) environment that was set up with no additional software specified. If you already have such an environment then you can skip the steps showing how to do a fresh-install of Fedora.
This guide was written with the use of an nVidia-based graphics card in-mind, (tested tested with an Asus ENGT240 Silent GT240 fanless PCI-E 2.0 card). If you have an AMD, Intel or other graphics solution, then either skip the nVidia-specific steps or substitute your own. Also, this guide covers replacing the stock Nouveau (open-source nVidia) video drivers with proprietary nVidia drivers (as obtained from Negativo17's nVidia repository) for improved performance. You can skip this if you'd prefer, although your performance mileage may vary.
Everything is done with the goal of minimizing how many software packages / dependencies are required. For example, since Kodi will be run as a fullcreen application, there is no need for heavyweight desktop environments such as Gnome and KDE, and all the apps/clutter they introduce.
Installation Guide
Step 1 - Obtaining the Fedora 21 Server (x86_64) installation image As of release 21, Fedora comes in three "flavours": Workstation, Server, and Cloud. This guide installs the Server edition (with no additional software specified) in order to get the leanest, most minimal install possible. At the time of writing, my livingroom HTPC has 8GB of installed memory but only consumes around 410MB (excluding buffers / cache) when playing a 1080p, 5.1-channel video.
Choose a Fedora mirror ( listed at https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/21/x86_64/ ). Click the "http" link for that mirror (or FTP / rsync if preferred), and navigate through the folders as follows:
releases -> 21 -> Server -> x86_64 -> iso
Therein you should find a file named "Fedora-Server-DVD-x86_64-21.iso". Note that not all mirrors have exactly the same folder structure. Just keep exploring until you find this iso image. When you do, download it and burn it to a DVD. It's also possible to create an installable USB flash drive with this ISO and install from it, but that's outside the scope of this guide.
Step 2 - Install Fedora Boot from the DVD you just created. If necessary, bring up your BIOS's boot-menu by pressing <F12> (or whatever your BIOS uses) to select booting from your optical drive. When the DVD boots you will be shown a text-menu with several options. Select "Install", and proceed. The system will then boot up into Fedora's graphical installer (Anaconda). Choose your desired keyboard layout and language, and proceed. You will then be shown Anaconda's main installation screen, similar to this:
( insert Anaconda main screen screenshot here)
You can make whatever choices you like for everything under "Localization" and "System". Under "Software", ensure that INSTALLATION SOURCE is set to "Local Media". Click on SOFTWARE SELECTION and ensure that NONE of the add-ons in the right-hand pane are selected.
When finished setting up all desired installation options, Begin the install. During installation you should set the password for user 'root' (click ROOT PASSWORD). You should also create the non-privileged user that XBMC will run as - click USER CREATION. You can choose whatever full-name / username / password you'd like; this guide assumes a username of 'xbmc'. When creating this account, do NOT check "Make this user administrator".
When the installation has completed, remove the installation DVD and click REBOOT to restart the system.