piCentr is an Open Source enclosure designed specifically for people who wish to build a media center PC using the Raspberry Pi2. The layout of the enclosure is meant to keep all cabling tidy and inside out of view, with accessible ports for everything you need, including front a front USB port, and rear HDMI and ethernet ports. A 3D printed internal chassis is part of the design, which holds the Pi 2 and up to two 2.5” HDDs, and is specially suited to use with the Western Digital pidrive. Remote control of the appliance is supported by installing a FLIRC USB device and the remote of your choice. The design also sports a power-wake button and a cooling fan.

Before you Start

The design files for the laser cut and 3d printed parts of the piCentr design are available on GitHub. You'll need to get those and get the parts cut / 3D printed first unless you are buying them in a kit. Note to the laser cutters - the four sides of the enclosure should be cut from 3mm material, but the top and bottom are cut from 6mm material.

You can run any OS that you would like on your piCentr. I recommend you install OpenELEC on your raspberry pi micro SD card before you start (you can still insert and remove the micro SD card through a slot in the bottom of the piCentr later if you want to make any changes). OpenELEC is an embedded operating system built specifically to run Kodi (formerly known as XBMC), the open source entertainment media hub.

Also, be sure to program your FLIRC using the pairing GUI they provide for the remote control that you plan to use, because you can't easily remove the device from the piCentr enclosure once it's assembled.