I. Introduction
This fork comes with all stock LibreELEC 9.x features but also with 3 different emulation frontends which were integrated into the Kodi Estuary theme. They allow you to run several libretro & standalone emulation cores to play basically all games of the common home consoles, arcade & home computer systems of the last decades.
There are several Linux distributions available like Lakka, Retropie, Recalbox or else but all of them are focused on either a single emulation frontend, come with a full featured (somewhat bloated) Linux system or lack standalone emulators for Generic systems.
I really enjoyed Escalades LE 8.0 Remix which was an attempt to melt all good stuff into a single system but if you look into detail the 8.2.x base is pretty outdated. I've felt it's time to rebase the Remix build. The LE team overhauled the build system and there are pretty usefull features like git handler scripts that make it easier to build stuff without downloading the source everytime. I also wanted to take advantage of new Kodi 18 features and finally beeing able to watch my Amazon Prime VOD without using Chrome.
I know there is ongoing work to integrate RetroPlayer but IMHO this Kodi feature will never be able to compete with standanlone emulation frontends like Emulationstation, Retroarch or Pegasus-Frontend. Also since the develeopers dropped DolphinWX support I had to find a solution for this problem. So here we are, I rebased, updated and adjusted the packages for LibreELEC 9.x, added Qt 5.x support for Dolphin, Citra etc. and fixed some non working stuff. Also you will find several tweaks and added cores to cover systems like the Atari ST, you'll be able to use the Vulkan API if your system supports it and you will enjoy nice additions like video previews and the ability to use themes for all frontends.
II. Currently supported & unsupported devices
Supported:
- Generic AMD & Intel systems with IGP and/or discrete AMD or Nvidia GPU
- Generic AML S905 devices
- Khadas Vim (Amlogic S905X)
- Odroid C2 (Amlogic S905)
- Raspberry Pi 2B, 3B, 3B+
Unsupported:
- Amlogic S912
- Rockchip based devices -> need a testing device first
III. Important Notes
- Read the FAQ ⇩
- You'll need a system partition size of >512MB - you need to clean install my LibreELEC 9.x RR image!
- Updating from any other LE8.x or LE9.x official or community build is not supported!
- You can always downgrade to vanilla LibreELEC 9.x or try one of Milhouses builds if you run into basic, non-emulation related, problems.
- This fork is focused on Emulationstation & Retroarch, not Retroplayer, Kodi-Game add-ons, Kodi-Game frontends nor any other stuff that is created for Kodi. You can still download and install them but they are not supported by me.
- You can use Retroarchs online updater for assets like overlays, databases or controller configs etc. You can still download cores but don't expect them to run since the lakka buildbot/buildsystem is pretty dated.
- All included emulators are tested on generic Intel i3-6100 & J3455, Raspberry Pi 3B & Khadas VIM(S905X) systems with at least one game and run fine. So read the FAQ ⇩
IV. Bug reports / How to ask for support:
If your problem exists on regular LibreELEC then create a new thread. That means you should compare with regular LE9.x if possible. Please include a debug log with all bug reports as this greatly increases your chances of anyone taking an interest in your issue.
If you get me log files either share a complete logfile .zip or get me a specific emulation related log file. So if Retroarch crashes get me a Retroarch log file and if Amiberry crashed an Amiberry log.
Bug reports without a suitable log will often be ignored - no debug log, no issue - or at best will take much longer to be investigated. I'm not a prophet nor do I own a magic glass sphere which helps me to figure out what's wrong on your device.
V. Downloads
You need the .img.gz file to create an usb-bootstick or a sd-card.
VI. Installation & Updates
You can install LibreELEC 9.x RR the same way as you would install vanilla LibreELEC. You download the .img.gz file which matches your device and burn it to an usb-drive or sd-card for example with the LibreELEC USB-SD Creator. Also check out the Wiki for further information Installation [LibreELEC.wiki]
You can use the Custom Update Channel in LibreELEC settings
- set Automatic Updates to manual
- disable Show Update Notifications
- enable Show Custom Channels
- change a Custom Channel to http://5schatten.libreelec.tv/builds/
- change the Update Channel to LibreELEC-9.1-RR (9.x = depending on minor version!)
Now use Available Versions and choose the latest version. The name scheme is RR-YYYYMMDD-git so RR-20190201-9e3c253 means it's a build compiled on 01.02.2019 and is based on commit 9e3c253. You still have to manually check for new builds but this should be more convenient than using third party hosts and manually sideloading the updates.
The update packages are still manually downloadable from this repo Index of /builds/ or check the Changelog or Nightly section for the latest builds.
VII. Donations
If you like to say thanks or want to support my build feel free to do so, also I would gratefully accept hardware donations. For example the usual controller, TV-Box or generic hardware stuff would be useful for testing purposes or to iron out problems and preconfigure the emulators. 
VIII. Project
GitHub - 5schatten/LibreELEC.tv: Just enough OS for KODI
IX. Note of thanks
Well I highly appreciate the effort and work of the LE team, escalade, the guys behind all the libretro cores, Retroarch and emulators, the team that forked and updated Emulationstation and all that I forgot. If you like my builds feel free to drop me a line and or donate some bucks to a project you prefer to keep things going!
