x86 libreelec - USB or PCMCIA Gigabit Ethernet?

1st Official Post

    Hello everybody!

    I'm using an old IBM X61t laptop (with removed LCD) for x86 Libreelec via VGA output, everything worked perfectly until built-in ethernet adapter died (power surge).

    It still works, but became only 10mbit, so have to be disabled in BIOS.

    I have two choices for wired-ethernet now:

    1. PCMCIA Gigabit Ethernet Card (I know Netgear and D-Link used to make cheap ones).

    2. USB to 100/1000 Ethernet, but motherboard is only USB 2.0, so it won't be full gigabit speed.

    Anybody can suggest Libreelec-100%compatible wired-1000mbps ethernet adapter (USB or PCMCIA)?

    THANK YOU!!!!

    Edited once, last by ymmvic (January 14, 2018 at 8:25 AM).

    • Official Post

    Old laptops are not target hardware so there is no PCMCIA support in the OS, which narrows your choices. On the USB Ethernet front, it's always a bit of a gamble as it's never possible to tell which chipset is used from the box/packaging, but in practice there are only 2-3 usb ethernet chipsets in use and the drivers for those are included.

    Zero help. But thanks for your input.

    I think that Libreelec is mostly used by people who reuse old hardware.

    If delelopers think otherwise - then this project is already DEAD (or in active process of decaying)...

    IMHO...

    With new HTPC I would never go for such a limited system (OS only for KODI),

    WINDOWS+KODI would be the choice!

    Anyway if anybody used USB Ethernet Adapter with x86 libreelec build - I would appreciate your input with specific models successfully used.

    Thank you!

    As someone who uses Libreelec on old and new hardware and wouldn't touch windows with a bargepole for HTPC use I'd just like to say:

    Wow.

    Your question was answered btw:

    '...in practice there are only 2-3 usb ethernet chipsets in use and the drivers for those are included.'

    Quote from ymmvic

    Zero help. But thanks for your input.

    I think that Libreelec is mostly used by people who reuse old hardware.

    If delelopers think otherwise - then this project is already DEAD (or in active process of decaying)...

    IMHO...

    Not zero - you were given very specific advice. Do you realise that as a standard, PCMCIA is over 25 years old? The fact that the advice did not fit with your specific needs as well as you would like was, as they say, too bad.

    If you look around the forum you'll find that a huge number of users dedicate new hardware of various forms to running LibreELEC. That can range from cheap Android boxes being repurposed, Linux oriented devices such as the Raspberry Pi and similar, and various x86 PC platforms such as INtel NUC boxes and similar. Apart from trying out LibreELEC on older hardware to see if it fits your needs, if you really want a stable platform that might be supported for possibly a few years, then new hardware, even if low cost, often makes more sense.

    • Official Post
    Quote from ymmvic

    I think that Libreelec is mostly used by people who reuse old hardware. If delelopers think otherwise - then this project is already DEAD (or in active process of decaying)... IMHO...

    I base my knowledge of our userbase on facts (we track this kind of thing) not humble opinions. The facts are (and have been since our inception) that we focus on dedicated HTPC devices; we do not intentionally support old hardware and laptops. If old junk works, that's great. If it doesn't, our standard response to any user is "head on over to Ubuntu, they support old stuff better than we do" and there are no plans to change that.

    • Official Post

    I have a similar type of laptop: Core2Duo chip, X3100 graphics, 100Mbit ethernet, running the latest x86-64 LibreELEC builds. (I'm typing on it now, actually)

    I can do 99% of all videos via the built-in 54g wifi adapter. So I would say using a proper 802.n USB wifi dongle would already improve on that, and give you decent connections to your video collection. For such an old setup used as a htpc, gigabit requirements are overkill.

    Quote from ymmvic

    I think that Libreelec is mostly used by people who reuse old hardware.

    If delelopers think otherwise - then this project is already DEAD (or in active process of decaying)...

    IMHO...

    You may have to reorder your own thinking process. And know that you're not the center of the universe. We have LibreELEC users in all categories: some use older hardware, others use the very latest PCs with Intel, Nvidia and AMD graphics. And all that comes in between. Support for prehistoric hardware however WILL stop at some point in time. PCMCIA is a good example.

    If your laptop is handicapped for some reason, find a solution that works for you. LibreELEC is limited in carrying drivers around for a reason, otherwise it would become just as bloated as other distributions, not to mention a nightmare for developers for infinite support on old decaying drivers/hardware. So if Windows or some Ubuntu distribution (16.04 LTS runs fine on my laptop too) has your PCMCIA drivers, use that. Otherwise get yourself an 'old' Raspberry Pi with a working ethernet port and move on.