Kodi

This is how i installed a standalone Kodi "Jarvis" 16 on a Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI Mini-ITX board with an AMD A8-7600 APU and a Samsung EVO 850 SSD.

I've skipped the Wifi setup because i'm using a wired connection (high quality 1080p streaming is nicer without buffering).

Install OS

• Ubuntu 15.10 (netboot via PXE is perfect, but you can use whatever you want, preferably Ubuntu Server)
• New User: Kodi
• In the software selection dialog choose:
  • [x] Basic Ubuntu server
  • [x] OpenSSH server

Install Kodi

• make sure you're install the correct driver for your hardware, i need fglrx or Kodi has a constant CPU load of ~100%
• i used the "unstable" PPA, but if you prefer final releases just replace the "unstable" with "ppa"

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:team-xbmc/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y xinit fglrx-updates alsa-utils libva-glx1 libva-egl1 vainfo upower libcurl3 mysql-client kodi 

• allow "anybody" to start the X server

sudo sed -i 's/allowed_users=console/allowed_users=anybody/' /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config

• grant the "kodi" user access to serial devices (CEC), the soundcard and to shutdown, reboot, etc.

sudo usermod -aG users,dialout,audio,video,sudo kodi

Allow Shutdown/Reboot

• create /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/kodi.pkla

[Actions for kodi user]
Identity=unix-user:kodi
Action=org.freedesktop.login1.reboot;org.freedesktop.login1.reboot-multiple-sessions;org.freedesktop.login1.power-off;org.freedesktop.login1.power-off-multiple-sessions;org.freedesktop.login1.suspend;org.freedesktop.login1.suspend-multiple-sessions;org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate;org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate-multiple-sessions
ResultAny=yes
ResultInactive=yes
ResultActive=yes

Autostart Kodi

• create /etc/systemd/system/kodi.service

[Unit]
Description=Job that runs Kodi
After=default.target graphical.target getty.target sound.target network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
User=kodi
Restart=always
RestartSec=1s
ExecStart=/usr/bin/xinit /usr/bin/kodi --standalone -- -nocursor

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

• enable the startup script

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable kodi
sudo systemctl enable systemd-networkd-wait-online.service

• reboot. now. Kodi won't start with the new driver unless you reboot

sudo reboot