I have a server that is also plugged into my TV. It’s running Ubuntu server, but then I installed the DE when I started trying to use it with the TV as well.

For the TV I’m using Kodi synced with Jellyfin. Unfortunately it’s not very stable. Most of the time it’s fine, but with specific files Kodi will crash, often bringing down the whole system. I expect this is at least partly because the DE was an afterthought and it’s not running a full DE.

I’m looking at doing a full refresh of the server, and am wondering if there is a distro that is particularly good for this use case. I also want to be able to play games on occasion with xbox controllers.

TL;DR: Can you suggest a distro to run on a PC connected to a TV, used mainly to run Kodi and as a server via docker containers, but also for games via wine/proton with controller support?

  • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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    4 months ago

    ive been using kodi with mint for oh maybe 5 years now. i cant even remember the last time kodi crashed.

    kodi is the only thing i do not run in a container though… had some video driver issues

    • Dave@lemmy.nzOP
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      4 months ago

      Thanks for the suggestion! I presume you’re using the Cinnamon desktop? Is Cinnamon it’s own thing, not a Gnome/KDE DE?

      I wasn’t expecting to run Kodi in a container, just the server stuff (Nextcloud, Mediawiki, FreshRSS, Photoprism, etc)

      • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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        4 months ago

        yep, im using cinnamon… its based off of gnome but is its own thing. i thought i read something about the mint guys wanting to control bigger portions for stability hence their curated app store and desktops.

        • Dave@lemmy.nzOP
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          4 months ago

          Interesting! Linux Mint isn’t something I’ve used before, it sounds like a good option. Thanks for the suggestion 🙂

      • IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org
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        4 months ago

        Yes, cinnamon is its own DE. Its similar to KDE in layout, but iirc it’s a fork of a very very old gnome version. I remember seeing a benchmark at some point that Cinnamon was less resource-intensive than GNOME or KDE