A few folks seem to have stumbled over network set up and using SSH in OpenELEC on Pi 2. So this technote shares my experience in hopes that it might help others clear those hurdles. Also, I added overclocking here because I found that it eliminated some video playback anomalies.
Topics covered in detail where I had put in effort beyond what I saw written up elsewhere:
- Setting up wireless with or without a static IP address
- Setting up SSH service
- Overclocking for Higher Performance
1. Setting up wireless with or without a static IP address
There are a number of reasons why one might (at least, initially) set up a wireless connection for OpenELEC. In my case, my Pi went from sitting in my dining room (no Ethernet) to sitting in my kitchen breakfast nook (no Ethernet) with its power adapter plugged into the same electric wall plate as my coffee machine [(-:]. My home is currently another project (long story).
In the OpenELEC home menu, select:
PROGRAMS > Openelec Configuration
In Network, select Wireless and
Turn off Wired Network
Turn on Wireless Network
In Connections, select your router and enter the usual network pass-code for connecting.
A static IP address for a server such as OpenELEC is convenient for using client service requesters such as SSH (the next subject in this technote). If a static IP address is desired, select the router's connection entry > Edit > IPv4 and enter the values that make sense for your home network. My Pi (an example) is configured as follows:
IP Address Method Manual
IP Address 192.168.1.102
Netmask 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway 192.168.1.1 (router)
Note that the above static address scheme would also work for a wired Ethernet connection (default IP Address Method = dhcp).
2. Setting up SSH service
Sometimes, it is useful to get a command line terminal on the OpenELEC Pi. Some examples of use are as follows:
- Future system update operations.
- Trouble-shooting using the contents of /var/log.
- Modifying the config.txt system configuration file (E.g. overclocking).
To set this up, in the OpenELEC home menu, select:
PROGRAMS > Openelec Configuration
In Services, enable SSH.
3. Overclocking for Higher Performance
See the discussion at http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/Raspberry_Pi_FAQ#Overclocking and the overclocking settings under the paragraph, "How do I overclock my PI?".
I have no issues doing this for myself or my family. Other people might feel differently. My Pi is still running cool, even while throwing up an MKV video at 1080p. And, the normal-clocking Pi occasionally stuttered video and audio and video horizontal line anomalies were occasionally visible. Maybe that was my hardware. In any case, after overclocking, the anomalies have not yet re-appeared.
The following is what my OpenELEC file system list looks like through the eyes of `ssh`:
ssh root@192.168.1.102
root@192.168.1.102's password:
##############################################
# OpenELEC - The living room PC for everyone #
# ...... visit http://www.openelec.tv ...... #
##############################################
OpenELEC (official) Version: 5.0.8
raspy:~ # df -k
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
devtmpfs 371968 0 371968 0% /dev
/dev/mmcblk0p1 261868 107508 154360 41% /flash
/dev/mmcblk0p2 60139035 34254 60100685 0% /storage
/dev/loop0 96640 96640 0 100% /
tmpfs 377168 0 377168 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 377168 5048 372120 1% /run
tmpfs 377168 0 377168 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 377168 4 377164 0% /tmp
tmpfs 377168 224 376944 0% /var
As you can see, OpenELEC does not mount /boot on /dev/mmcblk0p1. It mounts /flash on that device as read-only; the config.txt file is filed under /flash.
You can edit config.sys by either (a) editing config.txt on another computer or (b) ssh to OpenELEC Pi and change the config.txt there.
If you choose (a), the instructions for Windows are on the OpenELEC wiki page referenced earlier; Linux users can probably figure out the equivalent.
If you choose (b) as I did, the instructions can be found here: http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/Config.txt
Top Comments