OpenELEC 8.0 Linux Distro Released For PC, Raspberry Pi, WeTek Hub (betanews.com)

BrianFagioli writes: Today, popular Linux distro OpenELEC reaches version 8.0 stable. This operating system leverages Kodi to provide a well-rounded media center experience. Not only are there images for PC, but for Raspberry Pi, and WeTek boxes too.

'OpenELEC 8.0 release contains a Kodi major version bump. If you are updating from OpenELEC 7.0 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,' says Stephan Raue, OpenELEC.

Comments

Qualifier

[Anonymous Coward]

Define "popular"

Re:Qualifier

[bluefoxlucid]

"Google has heard of it"

Re:Qualifier

[cant_get_a_good_nick]

I run it... Bulletproof

In the niche you need it for, an embedded, Hands off XMBC/Kodi install that you set once and pretty much forget (meaning you can set it up for your folks and not worry about support calls) it's very popular. Much like Microsoft Windows would be popular with a bunch of PC makers but not so much with cell phone makers. Yeah, it's a niche, but it dominates its niche.

Or were you being snarky?

DOWN WITH OPENELEC

[lucm]

Long live LibreElec!

Although I heard rumors about a new fork, SueltoElec, which is even more free.

Re: DOWN WITH OPENELEC

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had various problems with libreelec for a while now. Every upgrade seems like a downgrade. Hoping openelec is better but I'm content just sticking with old libre versions for now.

Re: DOWN WITH OPENELEC

[Anonymous Coward]

The change from OpenSSL to LibreSSL (in LibreELEC v8.0.1) was causing various problems with add-ons.
Everyone impacted is waiting for LibreELEC v8.0.2 now :-/

However LibreELEC is a real open/transparent community project, whereas OpenELEC is basically a one-man-show nowadays.

Re: DOWN WITH OPENELEC

[Anonymous Coward]

Honesty the one man show might be better. Libreelec doesn't really offer much anymore except bugs and popularity for no apparent reason than libreelec people hate on openelec. This is supposed to be a simple and fast media player and it's turned glitchy and slow and had features removed, part of which is Kodi's fault with the new interface that is worse for navigation, looks, and speed, basically worse in every way.

Wait, why should I care?

[Anonymous Coward]

Obscure Linux version gets updated, holy shit!?!?!!?!?

Site Flagged By Google As Hacked

[kamaaina]

Not sure if it is an over aggressive google check or if they were really hacked, but last time I went there I got a warning.

Re:Site Flagged By Google As Hacked

[lucm]

if they were really hacked

Impossible: that website is powered by Joomla.

OSMC is better

[AncalagonTotof]

OpenElec is a PITA to upgrade.
OSMC is based on Debian, thus performs upgrades through apt-*. The interface takes care of checking for available upgrade. I recently got a massive one that brought Kodi 17.x.
IR configuration is easier, although still not for the faint of heart.
And if you need something more from your box, just login and apt-get install the packages.

Re:OSMC is better

[jimbo]

I really enjoy OSMC for the reasons you mention here, as well as the friendly and helpful community. I use it with a RPi2 and a Vero 4K that mains media center but doubles as a small server for various purposes.

Re:OSMC is better

[Orgasmatron]

I just burn a new SD card and/or USB stick, power down my PI, swap the storage and plug it back in. The script I use even drops in my database credentials, network map, configuration values and even a plugin or two that I like.

Of course, I detest the metadata plugins in Kodi, so I upgrade my office PI first, then I spend a few days checking and updating the list of maps that my scripts use to translate my crappy fields like "movie_title" and "episode_summary" into intuitive Kodi fields like "c01" and "c14". When that is done, then I can upgrade the PI that runs the TV my girlfriend uses.

Hmm. Actually, that is a bit of a pain in the ass, now that I think about it.

How much improved is the IR stuff? I gave up a few versions ago and just got one of those MCE USB IR receivers that sends keystrokes. Much easier to teach my learning remote the MCE IR codes than to teach Kodi anything.

Re:OSMC is better

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, on LibreElec IR is even easier I guess? I do absolutely nothing for it to work with my Harmony controller (no, it isn't using CEC as my TV doesn't support it).

OpenElec deluded people really should try LibreElec.

I hate Kodi

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it's just me, but I hate Kodi. The interface is Fisher Price style, combined with horrible Windows file selector style dialogs popups appearings. It's unintuitive but worst of all, it's hard versioned, so every time I run it, some plugin is incompatible and cannot be used.

Even when everything is up to date, it just doesn't work half the time.

I'm spoilt, I usually run Up TV, or Synology Video player, and they are far more solid and professional than Kodi.

Isn't it time someone replaced Kodi?

Re:I hate Kodi

[Harold Halloway]

Well the beauty of Kodi is that if you don't like the interface, you can change it. There are dozens of alternative ones out there. And if you are describing the Confluence skin then that's now been dropped in favour of a more modern looking skin.

But if you are simply looking for a straight video player and don't need the addon or library functions in Kodi then you are probably better off using a straight video player app.

Re:I hate Kodi

[drinkypoo]

And if you are describing the Confluence skin then that's now been dropped in favour of a more modern looking skin.

Yeah, a less-intuitive one that doesn't work as well. Winning?

Re:I hate Kodi

[thegarbz]

The interface is Fisher Price style

It's interesting to see someone complain about an interface for a system that is incredibly customisable and has quite a rich bank of alternate interfaces.

Re:I hate Kodi

[drinkypoo]

I don't want it to be replaced. I want it to be easily usable, not just by me but by my lady who also uses it. I want them to hang a GUI on the library sharing functionality, too. And I want a pony.

Re:I hate Kodi

[wisnoskij]

Their PC app really does not make sense. Kodi has its roots as a controller based interface on low res screens and is still great at that. It is not ideal for keyboard and mouse use, for sitting right next to a decent res screen. But as a OS and media library and player you can control from your couch with your remote it is pretty amazing.

Been using it since it was XMBC, and it was freaking amazing, it was revolutionary. Now their are alternative, but with Openelec, a full made to order OS, it again is pretty revolutionary. It's not just Ubuntu with Kodi pre installed, it is the OS.

systemd

[Anonymous Coward]

but does it require systemd

Re:systemd

[thegarbz]

Irrelevant. If you have any interaction with your init system then your media centre is outright broken and it belongs in the bin.
Actually I say the same thing about Linux booting in general.

Re:systemd

[pak9rabid]

Irrelevant. If you have any interaction with your init system then your media centre is outright broken and it belongs in the bin

Not necessarily. I needed to setup an NFS mount for my to access my ROMs remotely via RetroArch, which is used entirely outside of Kodi. The old, pre-systemd way (on OpenELEC anyways), was to write an autostart.sh script that gets executed at boot time to do the mount. The problem is, in order to ensure that the NFS mount will actually get mounted at boot is to do some hacky shit like sleep for 30 seconds, which obviously increases boot time by that much.

With systemd, I just create a unit file to do the mount for me, telling it that it depends on on the networking service first so that the mount isn't even tried until the network is up & running.

Re:systemd

[thegarbz]

Yes necessarily. Your example is outside of the scope of a "media centre".

But I ask you this: Should a user be expected to play with their init system to get the ability to connect to a network share working on a system designed to play media from a network share?

So what are the benefits?

[petes_PoV]

I have read the information on the release page
It contains a long list of various stuff that has been updated from one version to another.
It adds some new drivers for a few bits and pieces
It changes from one database to a different one.

But nowhere does it tell me what wonderful new functions I would benefit from using if I installed this "feature" release. In fact, it doesn't mention any "features" at all. Just support for new hardware, which wouldn't be useful to people upgrading on their existing hardware.

If I (assuming I hadOpenElec installed on anything) was going to upgrade to this version, I would want to know what new things I would be able to use it to do. I would want to know what worked better, or faster. I would want to know how I would be more entertained, or find things easier, or become richer, or taller.

But these things, which I expect to be important, are not mentioned. Should I assume that there are some persuasive reasons to upgrade, or is this just a new release for its own sake?

Re:"Well rounded media center experience"

[dreamchaser]

I don't know about you, but every DVR/Media Center/etc. I've ever owned has required some kind of reset after an update.

Not sure about the negative comments

[k2r]

I have a satellite dish and receiver (gigablue) on one side of the house distributing DVB-S(2) signal by LAN/WiFi to two TV-Sets, each with a RaspberryPi 3 and Openelec.
It works very well, is easy to use for my MSO and I'm not aware of any other product capable of doing this.
I'm looking forward to what the update will bring.

Automatic Update?

[wisnoskij]

I have had my openelec PI for a while now. Will it have updated itself to this newest version, or do you need to do that yourself.