RaspEX Kodi Rpi4 with LXDE and Kodi 18.4 Media Center “Leia” with Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Video addons – Build 191117

ABOUT RaspEX Kodi
RaspEX Kodi Build 191117 with LXDE/Kodi Desktops can be downloaded from SourceForge.net for free. The system is made especially for the new Raspberry Pi 4. RaspEX Kodi is based on Debian 10 Buster, Raspbian and Kodi Media Center. In RaspEX Kodi I’ve added the LXDE Desktop with many useful applications such as VLC Media Player and NetworkManager. Makes it easy to configure your wireless network. I’ve also upgraded Kodi to version 18.4 Leia, which makes it possible to include useful addons such as Netflix and Amazon Video. Which I’ve done. Study all included packages in RaspEX Kodi. Kodi 18.4 is the latest stable version of Kodi as of 191117.

Replacements
My first version of RaspEX Kodi from 190124 was a replacement for RaspEX Kodi with OSMC, which was released 190117. Sam Nazarko (founder of OSMC) contacted me 190118 claiming that I was “violating” his rights to the trademark OSMC and the rules in GPLv2. I don’t think I did, but I’m also very tired. Therefore I made a new version (190124) of RaspEX Kodi without any traces of OSMC. I would say that version 190124, 190321, 190803 and 191117 are as good as the old one from 190117. I.e. excellent video and sound performance both in Kodi and LXDE. For version 190124 I charged 9 $. This new version (191117) can be downloaded for free from SourceForge.net. People should not refrain from downloading RaspEX Kodi because of the money issue. I want all Linux and Raspberry Pi enthusiasts to enjoy the system. It runs very well on a the new Raspberry Pi 4. I.e. fast and responsive. Especially on the Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB RAM – released June 24, 2019.


Raspberry Pi 4: How much better is it than the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+?

More about RaspEX Kodi
Running RaspEX Kodi you will immediately end up in X and LXDE as the ordinary user pi. After the first boot you shall use NetworkManager for configuring your network connection. Just click on the network icon in the upper right panel and chose your wireless network. Watch this screenshot. The big difference between Raspbian and RaspEX Kodi is that Kodi 18.4 Leia is pre-installed in RaspEX Kodi together with some really useful addons (Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Video). Those addons need Widevine to run. While you are logged in to the LXDE Desktop you can use Synaptic Package Manager to install all extra packages you may need. Since RaspEX Kodi is based on Raspbian/Debian you’ll have about 30000 packages to chose between. When logged in as pi you can use Sudo to become root. Example: sudo su and sudo pcmanfm. While logged in to the LXDE Desktop you can (of course) go on to Kodi directly. Just open Kodi like any other program. NOTE: You cannot run Kodi as root.

Log in as root (super admin)
If you for some reason want to run RaspEX as root you can do so. Just log out from LXDE and in again as “other” from LightDM‘s login screen. Log in as root with password root. NOTE: You cannot run Kodi as root. And you can also not run Chromium as root. I have therefore installed Firefox so you will have a Browser while logged in as root.

Passwords

pi/raspberry and root/root

Kernel

Kernel 4.19.83-exton-v7l+ is used.

How do I install RaspEX Kodi in Windows?
Just like any other Raspberry Pi system. I.e.: Unpack the downloaded ZIP file (raspex-rpi4-kodi18.4-lxde-netflix-amazon-video-2370mb-191117.zip) and transfer the IMAGE file (raspex-rpi4-kodi18.4-lxde-netflix-amazon-video-6400mb-191117.img) to your Micro SD card of at least 8GB. For that you shall use Rufus 3.8 in Windows.

How do I install RaspEX Kodi in Linux?
You can of course also install RaspEX in any Linux system using the dd command. Just open up at terminal and run the following command (as root):
dd if=raspex-rpi4-kodi18.4-lxde-netflix-amazon-video-6400mb-191117.img of=/dev/sdX bs=1M
Note:
Change /dev/sdX to for example /dev/sdc, /dev/sde or…
(Check it carefully before you run the above command so you won’t lose important data).

Different Micro SD Cards
For best performance you should use SD Cards of good quality. I can recommend Samsung MicroSD Pro Plus 32GB Class 10. Write speed up to 95 MB/s. Also Samsung MicroSD EVO 16GB Class 10. Write speed up to 48 MB/s. Price 47 $ respectively 10 $ (in Sweden).

Kodi 18 in action – see below…

Wireless connections
The new Raspberry Pi 4 computer has “built in” 802.11n Wireless LAN. Just use NetworkManager to configure your connection. You may have to enable wireless first. Watch this screenshot. NOTE: When using WiFi you may have to reconnect after every reboot.

Why can’t I start Kodi?
If you install certain (faulty) add-ons it can happen that you can’t start Kodi anymore. In that case the file profiles.xml (/home/raspex/.kodi/userdata/profiles.xml) is corrupted or empty. Replace it with this file – download. The file shall have this content.
<profiles>
<lastloaded>0</lastloaded>
<useloginscreen>false</useloginscreen>
<autologin>-1</autologin>
<nextIdProfile>1</nextIdProfile>
<profile>
<id>0</id>
<name>Master user</name>
<directory pathversion=”1″>special://masterprofile/</directory>
<thumbnail pathversion=”1″></thumbnail>
<hasdatabases>true</hasdatabases>
<canwritedatabases>true</canwritedatabases>
<hassources>true</hassources>
<canwritesources>true</canwritesources>
<lockaddonmanager>false</lockaddonmanager>
<locksettings>0</locksettings>
<lockfiles>false</lockfiles>
<lockmusic>false</lockmusic>
<lockvideo>false</lockvideo>
<lockpictures>false</lockpictures>
<lockprograms>false</lockprograms>
<lockgames>false</lockgames>
<lockmode>0</lockmode>
<lockcode></lockcode>
<lastdate></lastdate>
</profile>
</profiles>

Expand the filesystem on the SD card

If you install many new big programs and/or download large files (for example videos) you may run out of space on the SD card. That is best fixed by running the following command: sudo raspi-config. Click on “Advanced” and choose A1  Expand Filesystem.
NOTE: That’s all you have to do. Just wait for the script to fix everything. If you use a SD card of 32 GB all the space on it will be used afterwards. Watch a screenshot when raspi-config is running.

Running the Netflix add-on
When you try to start Netflix for the first time you will probably see this error message. That’s because you haven’t logged in to Netflix yet. Just log in and that won’t happen again. When logged in to Netflix it will look like this. Sometimes it can happen that a movie start with the “wrong” subtitle. Change it to your liking as this screenshot shows. Germans (in particular) like to dub English movies (and movies in other languages) to German. Change the audio language as this screenshot shows.

Set up subtitles for Netflix
From Kodi’s home screen, go to Settings -> Player settings -> Language – screenshot. Select the languages you want to get when searching for subtitles – screenshot. That’s it!

Bad sound while running Firefox and YouTube in LXDE?
For better sound performance you can/should replace Firefox with Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release). I.e. uninstall Firefox with sudo apt remove firefox. Then get firefox-esr_60.8.0esr-1_armhf.deb and install it with sudo dpkg -i firefox-esr_60.8.0esr-1_armhf.deb.

RaspEX Kodi performance
RaspEX Kodi is a very fast and responsive Rpi4 system. Much due to very low memory (RAM) usage. About 120 MB as this screenshot shows. I’ve said that RaspEX LXDE Build 190807 is very fast. RaspEX Kodi is even faster. The video and sound quality is also very very good. Even while running RaspEX Kodi on big TV screens. I.e. you can really enjoy Netflix and YouTube running on your Rpi4 mini computer!

Compatibility :: March 2020
Unfortunately not all systems made for Raspberry Pi 3 and 2 will run on the new Raspberry Pi 4 computer. They need to be upgraded with a new kernel. I therefore have to upgrade the systems I distribute. I.e. RaspEX, RaspEX with OpenCPN, RaspEX BunsenLabs, RaspEX Kodi, RaspAnd Marshmallow, RaspAnd Nougat 7.1.2, RaspAnd Oreo 8.1, RaspAnd Pie, EXTON OpSuS Rpi, FedEX Rpi3 and RaspArch. I have until now (200304) only upgraded RaspEX, RaspEX Kodi, RaspArch and RaspEX with OpenCPN. Read about the new Raspberry Pi 4.

SCREENSHOTS
1. Running Kodi
2. The LXDE Desktop logged in as the ordinary user pi
3. Netflix running showing very good video quality
4. YouTube running showing very good video quality
5. Choosing program addons in Kodi
6. The LXDE Desktop logged in as root (super admin)
7. Kodi system info
8. VLC running showing very good video quality
9. LibreOffice Writer running

DOWNLOAD
This version has been replaced by RaspEX Kodi version 200206…

Raspberry Pi is a trademark of Raspberry Pi Foundation

Kodi is a trademark of XBMC Foundation

Read about my Android-x86 Systems – 10, Pie, Oreo, Nougat, Marshmallow, Lollipop and KitKat at

andex.exton.net – latest is AndEX 10 (with GAPPS) and AndEX Pie 9.0 (also with GAPPS)!
and
about my Pie, Oreo, Nougat, Marshmallow and Lollipop versions for Raspberry Pi 3/2 at
raspex.exton.se – latest is RaspAnd Pie 9.0 (without GAPPS) and RaspAnd Oreo 8.1 (with GAPPS)!

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14 Responses to RaspEX Kodi Rpi4 with LXDE and Kodi 18.4 Media Center “Leia” with Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Video addons – Build 191117

  1. m0py says:

    Hello Exton,

    First of all, thanks for your awesome builds, I’ve been using this RaspEx build (well, the previous version) on my RPi4 for a while now, and it’s really great.

    I have a question for you though: Is it possible to update InputStream Adaptive somehow? I’m trying to install the HBO GO EU plugin from here: https://github.com/arvvoid/plugin.video.hbogoeu, but it depends on inputstream-adaptive-2.3.18, and the installed version on your build is 2.3.15. I tried downloading newer versions from https://github.com/peak3d/inputstream.adaptive, but those won’t install.

    Your help would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks!

  2. Brayan says:

    Dear Exton,
    When I boot this version on my RPI3, Keyboard and Mouse don’t work.
    I try several other distro and there is no problem with keyboard and Mouse.
    Any suggestion ?
    Thank

  3. Aaron says:

    Is there a way to update an older build to the latest 19117 build I curently have 190803. Dont want to have to redo all of my addons and such.

  4. Aaron says:

    Is there a way to update Jodi to the latest 18.5 ?

    • Johnny says:

      Thanks for making the Kodi version for Pi4, easy install and works perfectly.
      I am very new to Linux.
      So far managed to autostart Kodi on boot, and updated the system. However, I do not seem to be able to get Kodi 18.5 update – how do I do that?
      Thanks for the great work

  5. Phil Dalton says:

    Best pi4 OS available! Do have a request though. I have tried 10 dif web pages on how to get private internet access to work, 1 worked but refused to start at boot, another worked but leaked dns like crazy and when set up to start at boot kills the internet period. Would it be possible for you to add this? Theres a kodi addon vpn manager for openvpn that sets up loads of dif vpn services, but only using libreelec. For me, pi4 is useless for anything other than librelec. Maybe just a working how to page. Am becoming depressed, 2 days of this and still no vpn unless i want to type a long command to start it and in this day and age that’s pretty silly.

  6. Borja says:

    Please upload a stable version for raspberry pi 3B+
    Thank you!!

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