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OpenELEC 7.0 Linux Distribution Now Available For PC and Raspberry Pi (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the linux-distros dept.

Readers BrianFagioli writes: Some operating systems are targeted at a single use to minimize the overhead and maximize the power of the hardware. One such focused OS is OpenELEC. This Linux distribution is designed to serve as a media center -- nothing more, nothing less. Today, the popular distro reaches stable version 7.0. There are images for both x86 and Raspberry Pi 2 and 3, meaning there is a very good chance you own compatible hardware. OpenELEC 7.0 release contain a Kodi major version bump. If you are updating from OpenELEC 6.0 or earlier we strongly recommend you perform a full backup before performing a manual update. If you experience issues please perform a soft-reset to clear OpenELEC and Kodi settings. "The OpenELEC 7.0 (internal version 7.0.0) release has been published. Users running OpenELEC 6.95.1 or later with auto-update enabled will be prompted on-screen to reboot and apply the update once it has been downloaded and enabled in some hours. Users running older OpenELEC releases or with auto-update disabled will need to manually update," says Stephan Raue, maintainer, OpenELEC Mediacenter Project.

28 comments

  1. really?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How popular is it after "the whole band exept the drummer, who was an ass", left and forked LibreElec (with will, in a few days, release v8.0 with Kodi 17)?!?!

  2. LibreElec by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    So what is the difference between LibreElec and OpenElec?

    1. Re:LibreElec by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Fork based on creative differences based on what I've seen in the forums. LibreELEC are on a more up to date release based on the underlying Kodi code.

      I saw some people complain about OpenELEC's releases being too slow, but personally it was really giving me the s***ts updating as often as it was so I've disabled updating all together. I can't see any major reason to jump between minor versions all the time as I wasn't missing anything feature wise. YMMV

    2. Re:LibreElec by ninthbit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      LibreElec is the well supported fork that left OpenElec because the brand owner was an asshat.

      You know, typical open source solution to the problem of the brand being owned by an idiot or being bought by Evil Corp.
      Netscape -> Mozilla -> FireFox
      MySQL -> MariaDB
      OpenOffice -> LibreOffice
      Cyanogenmod -> Lineage OS

      I'm sure there are PLENTY others

    3. Re:LibreElec by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      https://libreelec.tv/2016/03/lets-rock-this-gig/

    4. Re:LibreElec by bwd777 · · Score: 2

      LibreElec is updated frequently, OpenElec is not. LibreElec is community based, OpenElec is not (or at least not much). I switched from OpenElec to LibreElec many moons ago, not going back.

    5. Re:LibreElec by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      FreeBSD -> DragonFlyBSD.

      Dillon started DragonFly in the belief that the methods and techniques being adopted for threading and symmetric multiprocessing in FreeBSD 5 would lead to poor system performance and cause maintenance difficulties. He sought to correct these suspected problems within the FreeBSD project. Due to ongoing conflicts with other FreeBSD developers over the implementation of his ideas, his ability to directly change the FreeBSD codebase was eventually revoked. Despite this, the DragonFly BSD and FreeBSD projects still work together contributing bug fixes, driver updates, and other system improvements to each other.

    6. Re:LibreElec by allo · · Score: 1

      ouch, quite a bit of bullshit here.
      mozilla -> firefox is quite the same, just some idea of "lets make a lean browser" (you may laugh about this today)
      mysql -> mariadb are a bit different usecases. And mariadb is from the mysql founder.
      cyanogenmod to lineage is just a renaming (because of abandoned cyanogen (without mod) OS).

  3. Linux Distribution? by bool2 · · Score: 1

    "This Linux distribution is designed to serve as a media center -- nothing more, nothing less."
    It's a media center appliance that uses the Linux kernel and a few user space bits and bobs to start up Kodi (XBMC). Last I checked it was non-trivial to install your own stuff and generally hack about without rebuilding the lot from source... so sure it's a "linux distribution," in that it distributes "Linux" but I find that term unhelpful.

    1. Re:Linux Distribution? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It's a media center appliance that uses the Linux kernel and a few user space bits and bobs to start up Kodi (XBMC). Last I checked it was non-trivial to install your own stuff and generally hack about without rebuilding the lot from source.

      Last time I checked it was trivial to install Kodi to popular Linux distributions from packages, even if they use arm. OpenELEC simply provides a turnkey installation so that you don't have to do anything but burn an image to a SD card to get going. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Linux Distribution? by Threni · · Score: 1

      I tried OpenElec, or LibreElec, or something, on my Pi3. It was ok but the sd card is then read only so it's impossible to use it to do anything else at the same time. You're better off just installing Raspbian and kodi. I imagine the theory is "it just does one thing properly" but i've noticed no problems.

  4. Tested on Raspberry Pi 1 Model B by TypoNAM · · Score: 2

    For anyone curious about running this release on a Raspberry Pi 1 Model B, seems to be running great for me as a MythTV client.
    MythTV backend/storage is a fixes/0.27 (version 52e124b) release on a Debian Wheezy (AMD64) system and using a HDHomeRun(HDHR3-US) as an Over-the-air(OTA) television source. Guide browsing, playback of recordings, and live TV were tested.

    --
    This space is not for rent.
  5. LibreElec web site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe LibreElec could help by getting rid of that light grey text on their web site. Really people, it makes it hard to read.

  6. FreeBSD forks by unixisc · · Score: 1

    There have been quite a number of FreeBSD forks: in fact, most BSD forks are FreeBSD forks. Things like GhostBSD, MidnightBSD, DesktopBSD, PicoBSD, MaheshBSD, et al

    1. Re:FreeBSD forks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      picobsd is not a fork but minimised system and you need to build yourself afaik

    2. Re:FreeBSD forks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is that not a fork? It's a separate codebase maintained separately.

  7. How long by brantondaveperson · · Score: 1

    does it take to boot?

    Becoming very irritated with these "small" Linux distros that take a minute or more to boot. I want my 'media centre' to turn on more or less immediately, like the radio and the TV used to. And I want it to be properly off, as not even powered, when it's off. Like the radio and the TV used to also.

    This is well within the capabilities of the hardware, it's more than powerful enough to bring up a fully-functional media centre in milliseconds, but only if you stop using Linux, and start using something designed for that use-case.

    1. Re:How long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      After I saw that open elec uses systemd & debian, I no longer have much hope for it doing any sane boot process for what should be an instant on.

      All I have tell you, my raspberry pi 1 b boots in ~5 secs, but I use completely my own constructed interface on slackware-arm 14.1. It should be possible to get it down a bit more slimming down the boot scripts and throwing better hardware at it.

      Linux is not the issue here... it's the distribution.

    2. Re:How long by Instantlemming · · Score: 1

      Radio and TV used to take their time to come on. I mean with the tubes needing to warm up and all... Booting OpenElec/LibreElec takes about a minute on a RPi 3. It gets its power from the USB port of my TV, so when I turn off my TV the RPi will power off (but the TV will stay in standby mode).

    3. Re:How long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you serious? It costs pennies to just leave it one and idle. Do you turn your router off when you leave the house? Do you make sure that every single light bulb in the house is off if not in use? Have you ever kept the fridge door open while you decide what to remove from it? These things use maybe a single watt when idle.

      So lets see..... 0.001 kilowatt for 8760 hours in a year, times about $0.10 per KW/h.... It's 88 cents per year. Just shut the fuck up about turning it off.

    4. Re: How long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Debian? The splash screen says "Just Enough OS". Hence minimal boot times.

    5. Re: How long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wtf? Literally the very first thing you see on OpenElec website:

      "Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center (OpenELEC) is a small Linux based Just Enough Operating System (JeOS) built from scratch as a platform to turn your computer into a Kodi media center."

  8. Why a distribution? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why does this have to be a distribution? Streaming video and images? Why not aim for software functionality that can go into many distributions? I don't see the need to "build a distribution from the ground up" for this.

    1. Re:Why a distribution? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is basically Kodi as an appliance

  9. Voting machines by Vlijmen+Fileer · · Score: 2

    How is it possible that a Linux distribution with the name "OpenELEC" is not a distribution meant for operating voting machines?

    1. Re:Voting machines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because Trump's russian friends haven't hacked it yet

  10. The mighty downfall of Slashdot. by CRC'99 · · Score: 2

    Really? Only a single link to a third party web site and no mention at all of the openelec web site?

    This is what passes for front page quality now?

    --
    Sendmail is like emacs: A nice operating system, but missing an editor and a MTA.
    1. Re:The mighty downfall of Slashdot. by Bearhouse · · Score: 1

      True, but you can always give them a helping hand...

      http://openelec.tv/

      https://libreelec.tv/

      https://www.reddit.com/r/kodi/...