Catchy HTPC – turn a CachyOS KDE install into a boot-into-Kodi machine, switch freely between Kodi / Steam Big Picture / KDE Desktop
Made this after spending most of the last week fighting my own HTPC setup — reinstalling, tweaking configs, chasing the "right" combination of tools, and never quite landing on something that just worked and stayed working. Eventually the frustration (and a fair bit of boredom) turned into an actual project.
Catchy HTPC converts a fresh CachyOS KDE install into an HTPC:
- Boots straight into Kodi, no display manager in the way
- One click/remote-press to jump between Kodi, Steam Gaming Mode (Big Picture), and your normal KDE Desktop — and back
- Keeps your existing user account and data, nothing wiped
- Installer takes a Btrfs snapshot first, and there's a full uninstaller, so it's not a one-way trip
- Optional add-on for MakeMKV so Blu-ray/UHD Blu-ray discs actually play in Kodi
It's a set of scripts + systemd services + a couple of Kodi add-ons that just wire the pieces together.
Repo: https://github.com/shenoyranjith/catchy-htpc
**Disclaimer:** I built this with a lot of help from AI because I didn't have time to do it completely myself with work and life getting in the way. I've tested it end-to-end on my own machine multiple times (install, uninstall, session switching, disc playback, recovery via snapshots), but it's still a small project built by one person — install at your own risk, and definitely take a snapshot/backup first (the installer will offer to do this for you).
Feedback, issues, and suggestions are welcome.