Use ssh to control hdmi tty

Question

I am running a raspberry pi without a mouse and keyboard attached (because i do not own either of them). I already installed Kodi on the Pi using the packet manager, but get stuck on the login screen of the tty that's attached to the hdmi output. I found some similar questions on how to put input of the ssh session to the default tty, but I could not manage to get it working with the screen command.

When I type screen -ls I get:

2265.pts-0.raspberrypi (04/10/15 11:28:25) (Attached)

I do not understand if this is the ssh session or the hdmi one, or what it does mean at all.

When I try to do screen -r 2265.pts-0.raspberrypi

I only get an error. How can I get past the login screen and possibly start kodi, so that I can watch it on the hdmi monitor (and maybe even control it from ssh)?

Regards,

Answer 1

I do not understand if this is the ssh session or the hdmi one

Logging in via ssh might produce output on the console, which might show up on the HDMI display. I'd say normally it shouldn't though, because such messages usually indicate something abnormal.

In any case, no, that's not a local tty based login. If you haven't logged in locally because there's no keyboard connected, there should not be any local logins.

How can I get past the login screen and possibly start kodi, so that I can watch it on the hdmi monitor (and maybe even control it from ssh)?

You can control and initiate an X (GUI) session from ssh. Try startx --display :1 and something should happen. This will block your ssh login, though; to avoid that add &. I can't say if this will also start Kodi, but if not you could try (it may recognize the --display :1 switch).