*GUIDE* Dual Booting RasPlex with Raspbian/Pidora/etc.

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1

I was chatting with one of the RasPlex guys last night requesting if they could update the "Shutdown" functionality in RasPlex to allow it to reboot the Pi rather than  shutdown so i could use it with my Dual Boot Setup and he asked how i was doing so, as he had had a few queries around how to do this so i thought i would document it here for anyone interested.

 

I am currently running a dual boot setup of RasPlex and Raspbian.

Setup is VERY simple and only takes a few mins:

 

1) Download RasPlex latest image file from here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/rasplex/files/release/
 
2) Unzip and mount the image (i am currently using OS X so was able to natively mount the image file. If you are using another OS then you can probably find a number of free tools to browse IMG files)
 
3) Locate the file called "SYSTEM" (largest file on the image)
 
4) Copy to Desktop, and add extension .img (or rename to something like RasPlex.img)
 
5) Copy to a USB Stick
 
6) Download latest version of BerryBoot from here:
http://www.berryterminal.com/doku.php/berryboot
 
7) Unzip BerryBoot to a normal FAT formatted SD Card
 
8) Insert SD card (and USB stick) into Pi and boot
 
9) BerryBoot will load and prompt you to install from a list of Operating Systems - Select "Cancel"
 
10) Click AND HOLD the "Add OS" button and an option to copy from USB stick will appear
 
11) Click this and select your img file
 
12) Wait for it to copy
 
13) Remove USB stick and reboot, BerryBoot should display, and after a short 10 second timeout (which you can change to whatever you want, e.g. 3 seconds), RasPlex should load!!!
 
14) You can then reboot once RasPlex is up and running, and go back into BerryBoot and use the "Add OS" button to install Raspbian or any other OSs you wish. As long as you have RasPlex set as the default then it should always Boot Rasplex unless you choose another option before the countdown times out.
 
Hope this helps a few people!
 
Mark
2

Awesome and really easy :slight_smile:

3

Wifi/Ethernet does not come up for me ever since the SYSTEM file image went from size ~167MB to ~117MB when going from rasplex 0.1.*.img to 0.2.*.img

I have had to stay on 0.1.38 with berryboot to have a network connection. Anyone else have this problem?

4

Wifi/Ethernet does not come up for me ever since the SYSTEM file image went from size ~167MB to ~117MB when going from rasplex 0.1.*.img to 0.2.*.img

I have had to stay on 0.1.38 with berryboot to have a network connection. Anyone else have this problem?

I am having the same issue.  Nothing comes up under rasplex settings in "network" or "connections".  Any fix or way around this?  Should I try Rasplex 0.1.38?

Any help would be appreciated. Other than that, this method was easy and did work to install.  Just can't do anything after install because there's no connection.

thanks! 

Edit: Want to mention I also have XBMC OpenELEC running on the same SD card with BerryBoot and the connection works just fine with XBMC OpenELEC..

5

any updates? same issue

6

anything new?

7

It seems BerryBoot is working with 0.3.0

8

With the actual Version of BerryBoot and RasPlex it is working!

If you have a Windows PC you can't easily mount the img-file. So I have just copied this SYSTEM-file from an already installed RasPlex-SD-Card. Then go on with Step 3 as mentioned.

9

I'm not sure if this is of interest here, but I'm (re)building images of various Raspberry Pi builds, including Rasplex for use with NOOBS.
I can point people at my Dropbox if they are interested.  I'm currently testing out 0.4.0rc1.

10

I'm not sure if this is of interest here, but I'm (re)building images of various Raspberry Pi builds, including Rasplex for use with NOOBS.
I can point people at my Dropbox if they are interested.  I'm currently testing out 0.4.0rc1.

I'm in the process of getting a Raspberry and have done some reading.

I would love to be able to install NOOBS and dual boot with RasPlex and OpenELEC.

So I would be very interested in this.

Please do share if you have made any updates/guides/links towards such a solution  :D 

Thank you.

11

So I would be very interested in this.

Please do share if you have made any updates/guides/links towards such a solution  :D

Thank you.

A simple search of this forum brought up this: https://forums.plex.tv/topic/112786-berry-boot-recent-image/?p=670020 did you search?

Regards

12

A simple search of this forum brought up this: https://forums.plex.tv/topic/112786-berry-boot-recent-image/?p=670020 did you search?

Regards

Yes I did #NedtheNerd!
But I was/am interested in using NOOBS, not BerryBoot.
That is way I quoted/replied to #foznoth post/offer.

But thank you for taking the time... ;)

13

Yes I did #NedtheNerd!
But I was/am interested in using NOOBS, not BerryBoot.
That is way I quoted/replied to #foznoth post/offer.
 
But thank you for taking the time... ;)


You have to use Berryboot to enable booting multiple OS's from a single SD card, this allows you to install any or all of NOOBS, Rasplex, Raspian or any other OS you want. That's why I posted the link.

Regards
14

You have to use Berryboot to enable booting multiple OS's from a single SD card, this allows you to install any or all of NOOBS, Rasplex, Raspian or any other OS you want. That's why I posted the link.

Regards

Hehe, I hope you noticed my comment in my first post "... and have done some reading" :)
Apparently I haven't read up on the subject well enough :rolleyes:

I'm getting mine in a couple of days. When I have played around with it, I will hopefully be more knowledgeable.
Thank you again.

15

I know this is very old.  But, related to the OP's actual question to rasplex devs: did they ever provide a way to 'reboot' rasplex?  I have berryboot and rasplex all setup (thanks to you), and i don't see a way to reboot.  Have to pull the power cord.

16

I know this is very old.  But, related to the OP's actual question to rasplex devs: did they ever provide a way to 'reboot' rasplex?  I have berryboot and rasplex all setup (thanks to you), and i don't see a way to reboot.  Have to pull the power cord.

That's not how it should be done, and each time you do this you run a risk of corrupting the SD card contents.

In fact, if you've been doing this for some time now, then it's almost certain that your SD card is partially corrupted, which can have random effects.

The reason for the corruption is that all modern system software uses log files to keep track of activities, and the user has no way of knowing when such a file is being written. Unplugging the RPi while it writes to SD card is like unplugging any normal PC while writing to HDD. The results can be fatal for that operating system.

Since you see a need to do this at all, I must assume that you are not familiar with the "Plex Home Theater" program as used on PCs. (aka: PHT)

That's the program which RasPlex is based on, and except for a few additions, such as OpenELEC settings, it works identically.

PHT and RasPlex both use a side menu containing commands to access system and application preferences, and also to quit the program in various ways.

For the PC versions of PHT there are three exit options: Quit, Sleep, Shutdown.

For the RasPlex implementation of PHT there are two: Shutdown, Restart.

'Shutdown' will put the RPi in complete shutdown mode, after safely terminating all OS activity. New restart will need to be done by removing+applying power.

'Restart' will reboot the RPi from scratch, after safely terminating OS activity as above. With BerryBoot this means that you will reboot the BerryBoot menu.

I'm a bit surprised that you've been able to use RasPlex at all, without ever being able to configure it.

I say this because the PHT preferences menu and the OpenELEC settings menu are both reached through the same side menu as the exit commands.

But I suppose it would work anyway if your PMS server is in the same LAN and does not require local authorization for access.

The side menu is reached simply by pressing DPad-Left in the main menu (the startup screen), at which the normal menu entries (media sections etc) are replaced by the side menu commands. At this point you can either use one of these commands or press DPad-Right to go back to the normal main menu.

NB: The above assumes a rather 'newish' version of RasPlex, as very old versions of PHT and RasPlex had no side menu.

But you can't be using one of those versions anyway, as they should have 'Shutdown' command in the normal main menu.

Best regards: dlanor

17

That's not how it should be done, and each time you do this you run a risk of corrupting the SD card contents.

In fact, if you've been doing this for some time now, then it's almost certain that your SD card is partially corrupted, which can have random effects.

The reason for the corruption is that all modern system software uses log files to keep track of activities, and the user has no way of knowing when such a file is being written. Unplugging the RPi while it writes to SD card is like unplugging any normal PC while writing to HDD. The results can be fatal for that operating system.

Since you see a need to do this at all, I must assume that you are not familiar with the "Plex Home Theater" program as used on PCs. (aka: PHT)

That's the program which RasPlex is based on, and except for a few additions, such as OpenELEC settings, it works identically.

PHT and RasPlex both use a side menu containing commands to access system and application preferences, and also to quit the program in various ways.

For the PC versions of PHT there are three exit options: Quit, Sleep, Shutdown.

For the RasPlex implementation of PHT there are two: Shutdown, Restart.

'Shutdown' will put the RPi in complete shutdown mode, after safely terminating all OS activity. New restart will need to be done by removing+applying power.

'Restart' will reboot the RPi from scratch, after safely terminating OS activity as above. With BerryBoot this means that you will reboot the BerryBoot menu.

I'm a bit surprised that you've been able to use RasPlex at all, without ever being able to configure it.

I say this because the PHT preferences menu and the OpenELEC settings menu are both reached through the same side menu as the exit commands.

But I suppose it would work anyway if your PMS server is in the same LAN and does not require local authorization for access.

The side menu is reached simply by pressing DPad-Left in the main menu (the startup screen), at which the normal menu entries (media sections etc) are replaced by the side menu commands. At this point you can either use one of these commands or press DPad-Right to go back to the normal main menu.

NB: The above assumes a rather 'newish' version of RasPlex, as very old versions of PHT and RasPlex had no side menu.

But you can't be using one of those versions anyway, as they should have 'Shutdown' command in the normal main menu.

Best regards: dlanor

dlanor,

Thanks for your explanation.  But no, I'm very aware of the system writes to SD, as well as the function of PHT (it's what I use on my HTPC).  In the settings, however, I do not see Reboot as an option.  Rather, I see Quit/Sleep/Shutdown similar to what I have on my HTPC.  I've gone through a full configuration of rasplex, and know what I'm doing there.  For some reason that setting isn't as you're describing.

When I choose to reboot by unplugging the power to the RPi, I am smart enought to issue the shutdown command via rasplex. :)

FYI, I'm using 0.5.1 on the RPi2.

18

dlanor,

Thanks for your explanation.  But no, I'm very aware of the system writes to SD, as well as the function of PHT (it's what I use on my HTPC).  In the settings, however, I do not see Reboot as an option.  Rather, I see Quit/Sleep/Shutdown similar to what I have on my HTPC.  I've gone through a full configuration of rasplex, and know what I'm doing there.  For some reason that setting isn't as you're describing.

When I choose to reboot by unplugging the power to the RPi, I am smart enought to issue the shutdown command via rasplex. :)

FYI, I'm using 0.5.1 on the RPi2.

"Quit" and "Sleep" do not exist in any RasPlex release, so you must be mistaken.

Possibly you are using an unsuitable skin which lacks the necessary entries for RasPlex and uses PC-specific strings instead.

For some skins it's also configurable which commands should be displayed, both for the main menu and its side menu.

And in that case you haven't configured those settings properly yet.

Also, "Reboot" is not an option in any settings. The side menu has a command "Restart" just below the command "Shut Down".

Below is a sloppily made photo I took while writing this post, to show you how the side menu should look, when using the original 'Plex' skin in RasPlex 0.5.1

NB: The stuff in the right-hand part of the screen is the 'On Deck' and 'Recently Added' fanouts of my TV shows, because that section was selected in the main menu when I pressed DPad-left to open the side menu.

![post-96491-0-86577600-1428661234.jpg|690x389](upload://fC9u7m4b2hw5BsABP8QfwrTdD35.jpg)

When I took this photo my RPi2 was running RasPlex 0.5.1 under BerryBoot.

(It's the most convenient way for me to keep multiple RasPlex versions for reference testing, like now.)

Best regards: dlanor

19

THANK YOU.  The exact steps in this post helped me out.  I'm running this on a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B 1GB

20

Just an FYI, this no longer works with Rasplex 1.0.3 and the latest version of berryboot (berryboot-20160313)

Plex will perform horribly and render only half the videos and the interface is unusable in some cases. I’ve tested this thoroughly on 2 different RPi3’s. Seems to be an issue with the newest version of berryboot and/or rasplex.