Which Linux install for Intel NUC?

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user 12241

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Jan 8, 2018
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Hi QQ folks,

I'm a new user here, thanks to #HomerJAU for introducing me to QQ and to Kodi!

I just purchased an Intel NUC 7th generation i5 as my new HTPC media player. (I'd been planning on buying an i3 but I got a really sweet deal on Ebay for the i5). I'll be playing Stereo & MCH hi-res FLACs and HD video, stored on my QNAP NAS, connected over wired ethernet. I'm a long-time Mac user, with some Windows but no Linux experience. After reading quite a bit about HTPC's ( #HomerJAU your posts are invaluable!) I think that Linux is the way to go. (BTW I've also read the excellent HTPC post started by #steelydave, and my question is pretty similar).

I plan on running Kodi, as well as a DirectConnect client on the NUC. So I think I need a 'full' Linux OS. #steelydave installed Mint, and from what I've read, Ubuntu seems like a good choice.

I'd like to get advice on which Linux OS would be a good fit for me. Something easy to use and quick to load Kodi. Mostly I'll be listening to music, and I want to be able to sit down and be able to quickly choose and play songs.

Thanks in advance!
Bob
 
Welcome to QQ Bob.

Ive always used Kodi with, originally, OpenElec and now LibreElec (both minimal Linux distributions).

You say you've no experience with Linux so if you want a full Linux I'd suggest you go with Mint since steelydave has just done so and could help.

If you were only wanting to run Kodi then LibreElec would be my recommendation for a NUC, very easy to install and no need to know anything about Linux. You can create the install the Linux image from Windows or Mac tools.

I'd recommend a smartphone/tablet remote for playback. Do you use Android or Apple devices?
 
Hi Garry,

Thanks for your reply. I hadn't thought about remote control for Kodi (good point!), but I use iOS (I have iPhone 6S). Will the iOS remote work fine on Linux? I'm looking at the Kodi For Linux thread now.
 
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Hey Bob,

I need to update my own thread, but in a nutshell Linux Mint Cinnamon has worked like a charm for me.

Like you, I didn't know where to start with this stuff, but one of the first articles I read was this one:

https://www.htpcbeginner.com/best-linux-htpc-distros/


So being rated that guy's #1, I was fully prepared to install Ubuntu, and then I came across a couple of articles extolling the virtues of Mint over Ubuntu:

https://itsfoss.com/linux-mint-vs-ubuntu/
https://www.lifewire.com/use-linux-mint-not-ubuntu-2201176

So I chose Mint based on some of the stuff in those, mainly that Mint has some extra HTPC compatibility built-in (codecs installed, etc.) and that it's easy to navigate for someone used to Windows, which it really is.

Obviously I haven't tried any other flavours of linux, so my reccomendation is somewhat limited, but I couldn't be happier with Mint. I'm sure that Ubuntu would probably work equally as good though, so I would just go with whichever one you feel more comfortable with. Worst-case scenario, you install one and don't like it so you wipe it and install the other one. I'm sure there are loads of tutorials out there to get you started with Ubuntu as well, but if you want to install Mint, you can basically use my thread as a step by step to get you up and running.
 
Hi Garry,

Thanks for your reply. I hadn't thought about remote control for Kodi (good point!), but I use iOS (I have iPhone 6S). Will the iOS remote work fine on Linux? I'm looking at the Kodi For Linux thread now.

Hi Bob,

I'd definitely recommend using this if you have an iOS device:

Kodi Music Remote Pro ($5.99 from the app store) - there's also a free version which has some feature removed:
http://kodimusicremote.com/


I uploaded a quick demo in this post:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...-and-hardware)&p=357187&viewfull=1#post357187
 
Hey steelydave thanks for your insight and those links! Can't wait to have a deeper look soon.
Also Garry thanks for your ongoing support!
 
Hey CitySound! I used Ubuntu on my desktop and laptop PCs from 2009 to 2017 and switched to Mint about a month ago. The difference is amazing. Not only does it feel faster, snappier and hugely more user-friendly and configurable. And note, this is coming from a guy who still really likes Ubuntu.

I have all my multichannel music on my PC, as 4.0, 5.0, 5.1 or 7.1 FLAC files, or .dts, DTS-encoded .wav, .ac3, .mkv, .iso, .mka and so on. I play them back using SMPlayer or VLC, but have also tried Kodi and Parole over the years. On Ubuntu, larger files (like 7.1 files or 96 KHz) were often subject to random audio dropouts during playback. The dropouts would come and go. Sometimes no dropouts for a week, then a day of dropouts. Restarting the UI, rebooting wouldn't fix it. I could only wait until Ubuntu's "mood" improved again. I tried getting a handle on that issue for years, never could figure out why it was happening. My PC has 32 GB RAM and an i7-4790K 4 GHz quad core CPU. There was no reason. It drove me nuts.

Long story short, after switching to Mint, I haven't had a single dropout in weeks, even while running 2 virtual machines at the same time, and I listen to multichannel music for several hours every day while I work.

Linux Mint all the way.

If you have any questions whatsoever about setting up and running your new Linux machine, shout. Also, I highly recommend you join this Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/linuxmintmembers/

Once you're in, read my thread about codecs on Mint here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/linuxmintmembers/permalink/10157037652629358/
 
Thanks for sharing your story The Bright Side! It's wild how big a difference Mint has made for you. I will definitely be going mint! I really appreciate your offer to help and I very well may need to take you up on it :)

And I just requested to join the FB Mint group you mentioned, as well as Mint For Beginners. I look forward to a fun learning process, and to awesome hi-res audio playback!

Regards,
Bob
 
Today I installed Linux Mint/Cinnamon 18.3 & Kodi on my NUC, thanks to #steelydave for his fantastic thread with instructions. The NUC seems to be working really well, it's a great little box. This is my first experience with Linux and so far it's not too difficult.

Next I tried to mount my QNAP NAS, and at first I was having a lot of trouble getting it mounted. I installed Samba with terminal command 'sudo apt-get install samba'. Still no luck, until I restarted the NUC, then 'voila' it worked! Now I have network access over both Samba and AFP sharing.

Since my QNAP supports Samba, AFP, and NFS - is either of these better than the others for media playback?
 
I've been using Kodi a bit on my Mint 18.3 install, and have run into some problems that have gotten me a little frustrated. Any advice would be super helpful!

With Kodi running on Mint, Pulse Audio is installed as the audio output device/processor, and this presents some problems. I want to keep audio in passthrough mode for bit accurate playback, but Pulse Audio does not allow passthrough of DTS-MA HD or TrueHD. Many movies use DTS-MA HD so, this prevents multichannel playback. Any workarounds? Perhaps I can just disable Pulse Audio?

Another problem - For me, I chose Mint over LibreElec so that I can simultaneously run Kodi along with LinuxDC++, a Direct Connect client, to connect with a few private hubs. Unfortunately LinuxDC++ is not compatible with Mint 18 (it's a Xenial incompatibility issue, which is what Mint 18 looks to be based on). So I figured Mint 17 would probably work to run Kodi and LinuxDC++. I went ahead and tried to install Mint 17, but there are two problems with Mint 17 on my NUC: 1. there's no internet connectivity (wireless and wired do not work - I think it's a BIOS problem) and 2. Mint can't access the video accelerator and goes into a render mode which causes processor problems. I discovered these problems when I was booted Live from my USB stick, but I thought installing and upgrading the OS would fix things...I was wrong :( I managed to get internet by connecting my NUC via bluetooth to my iPhone, than after doing the Mint 17 install, and updating all the drivers, I still had the same two problems. I guess I learned that when trying a new Linux distro, be sure it works in Live mode before installing it!

So now I'm not sure what to do. I might just install LibreElec and forget about using the NUC to file share with Direct Connect. This would keep things simple.
Question: With LibreElec, are there any audio issues/limitations like what occurs with Pulse Audio? I know #HomerJAU recommends LibreElec so it must be the best OS to use for Kodi :)
 
LibreElec does pass through including Atmos, TrueHD, DTS:X, HDMA etc.

You need to make a setting to playback video with option 'sync screen to input'. If you have it set, to say, 60Hz then the frame rate conversion stops passthrough. Sorry I don't have the exact name of that setting as not in front of Kodi now.

Edit: See posts below with more info and settings to change.
 
In System setting, Audio:
set the number of channels (your speaker config - mine is 7.1)
Output config: Best Match
Keep audio device alive: Always

Player Settings: Video:
playback: Adjust display refresh rate: Always
sync playback to display: Off

Edit: These should work for Kodi on Mint I would think

Also: To view some of these settings you may need to change Setting mode to 'Expert' by clicking on the bottom settings menu and selecting Expert option. (Basic, standard, advanced, expert cycles with each click. I think the initial install option will say 'Standard' from memory)
 
One more: My NUC with LibreElec is set to ALSA: HDA Intel (Denon AVRHD) not Pulse which is the default.

That setting is in Settings: Audio: Audio Output Device
 
...

Long story short, after switching to Mint, I haven't had a single dropout in weeks, even while running 2 virtual machines at the same time, and I listen to multichannel music for several hours every day while I work.

Linux Mint all the way.

I've used LibreElec for past 18m or so with no dropouts. My NUC is connected via Ethernet on 1GBE network. I can play UHD video with Atmos and 1080p concerts with MCH 24/96kHz audio without any issue.

I'd definitely would not recommend Using WiFi for high bandwidth audio/video although technically wifi should be ok.
 
LibreElec does pass through including Atmos, TrueHD, DTS:X, HDMA etc.

You need to make a setting to playback video with option 'sync screen to input'. If you have it set, to say, 60Hz then the frame rate conversion stops passthrough. Sorry I don't have the exact name of that setting as not in front of Kodi now.

Edit: See posts below with more info and settings to change.

Thanks for all the tips Garry! I went ahead and installed LibreElec, what a great and easy OS? No fuss no muss, just Kodi :)

But unfortunately no audio passthrough for DTS-MA HD or TrueHD. I went through all the settings and read the Kodi Wiki pretty carefully. Then I came across this thread and learned there's a firmware problem on NUC 6th and 7th gen units, having to do with a chip problem related to the HDMI 2.0 output. Intel provided a firmware fix but the fix only seems to work in Windows. In Linux, still no fix. Had I known this I would probably have bought a NUC 5th gen. I guess I could run Kodi in Windows, rather than LibreElec...but who wants to run Windows :(
 
Thanks for all the tips Garry! I went ahead and installed LibreElec, what a great and easy OS? No fuss no muss, just Kodi :)

But unfortunately no audio passthrough for DTS-MA HD or TrueHD. I went through all the settings and read the Kodi Wiki pretty carefully. Then I came across this thread and learned there's a firmware problem on NUC 6th and 7th gen units, having to do with a chip problem related to the HDMI 2.0 output. Intel provided a firmware fix but the fix only seems to work in Windows. In Linux, still no fix. Had I known this I would probably have bought a NUC 5th gen. I guess I could run Kodi in Windows, rather than LibreElec...but who wants to run Windows :(

I'm sure I read somewhere this issue was resolved in LibreElec. I'll see if I can find a reference.

In the mean time you can let Kodi decode DTS-HDMA and TrueHD to MCH PCM. It's the same decoder used by AudioMuxer, MMH and probably DVDAE when converting to FLAC etc
 
Good news. LibreElec 9 fixes the HDMI passthrough issue on 7th gen NUCs. Read here:
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916&pid=2695829#pid2695829

I haven't tried version 9 yet it's still in alpha release but I've read it's pretty stable. I'd imagine it's still 2 or so months from a final release but worth a shot. There's a bunch of improvements, new features.

Download here:
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=298462&pid=2695743#pid2695743

I'll try it over the weekend as I have spare SSD drive for my NUC and it's a long weekend, Friday is a national holiday here, no plans.
 
Good news. LibreElec 9 fixes the HDMI passthrough issue on 7th gen NUCs. Read here:
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916&pid=2695829#pid2695829

I haven't tried version 9 yet it's still in alpha release but I've read it's pretty stable. I'd imagine it's still 2 or so months from a final release but worth a shot. There's a bunch of improvements, new features.

Download here:
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=298462&pid=2695743#pid2695743

I'll try it over the weekend as I have spare SSD drive for my NUC and it's a long weekend, Friday is a national holiday here, no plans.

That sounds great Garry! The LibreElec build that you linked to - I'd like to try and install it to see if it works, but I'm not sure how exactly to get it installed. I see these instructions
You need a working LibreELEC system in order to install a test build. If you are starting from scratch, use an official LibreELEC disk image to create a USB disk installer and with that a working system on your SSD/HHD. Once you have a working system, install the test build by copying the tar file into your Update folder and reboot.

Does this mean, take the download file named LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-9.0-Milhouse-20180124210321-#0124-g0290120.tar and copy it into the Update folder in my system file of my LibreElec install on my NUC? Can you tell me how to do this please? I guess it should get copied to a USB drive, but how to then copy it into the system files?
 
That sounds great Garry! The LibreElec build that you linked to - I'd like to try and install it to see if it works, but I'm not sure how exactly to get it installed. I see these instructions
You need a working LibreELEC system in order to install a test build. If you are starting from scratch, use an official LibreELEC disk image to create a USB disk installer and with that a working system on your SSD/HHD. Once you have a working system, install the test build by copying the tar file into your Update folder and reboot.

Does this mean, take the download file named LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-9.0-Milhouse-20180124210321-#0124-g0290120.tar and copy it into the Update folder in my system file of my LibreElec install on my NUC? Can you tell me how to do this please? I guess it should get copied to a USB drive, but how to then copy it into the system files?

I should have added how to do it.

Download the .tar file.

Connect to LibreElec by entering its IP address in Windows Explorer. something like:
\\192.168.1.11 <Enter>

Windows Explorer will show you a number of folders on your NUC.

Copy the .tar into the Update folder.

Reboot you NUC and on startup it will see the update .tar file and self install it.

I'm about to same here on my spare SSD (I have a fifth gen i3 NUC)
 
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