I've always wanted to use my Udoo as a standalone plex server (not hooked up to a monitor); leave it on all the time with 3 TB USB drive attached, no keyboard, mouse, or monitor. Finally succeeded. I can now have multiple family members watch TV or movies simultaneously, casting to chromecasts attached to TVs or tablets. Should work on udoo dual as well. Here are the steps: 1. put a 14.04 version of ubuntu on udoo; I can't remember where I got mine. It uses kernel 3.12.8. I suspect the offical udooubuntu 2 release will be satisfactory. 2. (optional) since this is a standalone server, I need a GUI crutch, so I installed tightvncserver and xfce4. This can take awhile due to the long list of dependencies. Now I can log into udoo with a VNC client from anywhere instantaneously. Most of the time, I use ssh. But there is the GUI if I need a crutch. 3. Plex server install instructions at http://www.htpcguides.com/install-plex-media-server-on-raspberry-pi-2/. I chose the first option; be sure to use the jessie build. the hardest part was actually getting VNC working, which is really not required. The plex server just worked. My whole installation is 2 GB, so fits comfortably on a 4 GB uSD card.
as long as USB drive and ethernet can keep up with Blu-Ray, it should work. I have my Udoo plugged via ethernet to my router. USB drive should handle 200 Mb/s, so one would expect Blu-Ray to work. I don't understand streams? If I'm streaming from the network to a chromecast, then the Udoo does nothing but negotiate the connection. If you mean streaming from my USB drive, I've tested 2 HD streams simultaneously. I don't have Blu-Ray content, so can't say. As long as the content is mp4, then no transcoding occurs and it's just straight from disk to network. oh yah - transcoding doesn't really work - everything needs to be in a form that a chromecast (or what you use for video display) can gobble up.
thanks for this, i have been wanting to move my Plex server off my main PC for a while and have been thinking about using one of my SBC's to do it. UDOO may be a good option with its SATA support and high end performance. If i get a chance to try this out, i will provide feedback. Do you have any sort of CIFS /Samba share setup so that you can add/remove video content to your library, or do you do it another way (SCP or something)
yes - I run a CIFS server as well as a print server from my Udoo. See https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/serverguide/samba-fileserver.html I have had little luck with SATA on the Udoo. Perhaps that is because I haven't often run "official" releases or because I haven't enabled the correct pins on the board. I really haven't tried very hard. Such a solution would certainly be cleaner than stringing a USB drive. Perhaps with Udoobuntu 2, SATA would just work.
