LibreELEC 7.0 (Jarvis) release

    I'm happily using OE 6.0.1 on my ATV (still in use because of its Component output.) Chewitt, you have my sincere thanks for what has been a rock solid release :)

    I do have a question for anyone who might know the answer: Given how well 6.0.1 is working, what advantages could Jarvis bring?

    • Official Post

    There will be no major advantage right now, but over time add-on compatibility will become an issue. I got all changes for a Jarvis release completed in github (everything compiles) but there was a boot issue when I tried it on a box and since then I've either been travelling with work or on vacation so there's been no progress. Sadly it's a low priority vs. everything else here and someone with more time available needs to pick up the challenge.

    Quote from chewitt


    There will be no major advantage right now, but over time add-on compatibility will become an issue. I got all changes for a Jarvis release completed in github (everything compiles) but there was a boot issue when I tried it on a box and since then I've either been travelling with work or on vacation so there's been no progress. Sadly it's a low priority vs. everything else here and someone with more time available needs to pick up the challenge.

    OK, thank you. The future-proofing makes sense.

    Quote from chewitt


    There will be no major advantage right now, but over time add-on compatibility will become an issue. I got all changes for a Jarvis release completed in github (everything compiles) but there was a boot issue when I tried it on a box and since then I've either been travelling with work or on vacation so there's been no progress. Sadly it's a low priority vs. everything else here and someone with more time available needs to pick up the challenge.


    please do not give up
    I don't think that there is anybody available who can take over
    nobody has your skills
    I hope you will find the time to finalize and until then we will wait with patience
    maybe you can make it as a christmas present

    "Me too"

    Just poking in this thread to say I'm another long ATV1 user. Very glad to see this new branch is keeping [Libre|Open]ELEC alive on the platform.

    I have access to several ATV1s which would benefit with repurposing to KODI.

    I wrote the usb-image to a fresh 16GB stick, the swiss army knife worked, but upon reboot I got the message

    "can't access tty: job control turned off"

    Do I restart, or is there something else I can do?

    Quote from Stavr0


    I wrote the usb-image to a fresh 16GB stick, the swiss army knife worked, but upon reboot I got the message

    "can't access tty: job control turned off"

    Do I restart, or is there something else I can do?

    I saw this error on Android TV boxes. To fix it, I reboot into recovery mode and chose the option to wipe the cache and reset all user data.

    I'm not sure if there is a similar feature in ATV. You can try to type the following at the command prompt:

    reboot recovery <enter>

    Cheers,
    Ken
    [hr]
    [hr]
    PS - Also looking forward to seeing LibreElec on ATV1 :)

    Edited once, last by kenmills (November 2, 2016 at 2:19 AM).

    • Official Post

    In the last 24h I found an old 80GB PATA drive in the cupboard which enabled me to literally blow the dust off a mk1 ATV box and test/boot the 7.0.2 image that I created back in ~July when the HDD died (and then vacations, etc. forced me to down tools).

    It works, meaning it boots and CHD is active, but it's not a great result. I'm using the same collection of hacks and tricks used on the OE 6.0.1 build but the result is not as nice. Gut feel (from general experience on many devices) is that Jarvis is a little heavier in RAM footprint than Isengaard and on a box already RAM starved Jarvis looks to be a step too far. I'm able to play lower-bitrate and smaller sized media reasonably well, but higher bitrate and larger filesize things cause "reboot required" lock-ups. Aside from RAM use being higher Jarvis has some VideoPlayer changes (core plumbing) that move the codebase further along from the last CHD-supported point and it's clear things are not aligned; which is something I am not skilled to fix.

    I'll sleep on it for a few days but as things stand this means I won't be releasing a 7.0.2 build, at least not with CHD support. You can get a cheap Amlogic box for $40 that makes the mk1 AppleTV look and feel like the 10-year old design that it is. As much as I'm fond of them, I couldn't use this build as a daily or even occasional use box.

    Howdy. Long time.

    Trying to build ATV1 (in fact any device on which it will work best) with Kodi Screen Reader installed for a blind relative.

    I read that you said that it wasn't going to be included in the LibreElec build, and now I read that there isn't going to be a LibreElec build for ATV1.

    Can I be slightly O/T and ask whether the Kodi Screen Reader will work in the 6.0.1 build of Openelec for ATV1?

    I'm doing my fruit.

    If not I'd be very grateful if you could point me in the right direction, device-wise..

    Many thanks, as always.

    • Official Post

    I did create a build for ATV based on LE 7.0.2 and my github branch has 99% of the changes, but in my opinion the end result wasn't great and it's not something I am prepared to publicly support (too many other things to sweat time on) so I made a decision to not release it. AFAIK Sam is still releasing OSMC for AppleTV so maybe look at that option.

    Quote from chewitt


    I did create a build for ATV based on LE 7.0.2 and my github branch has 99% of the changes, but in my opinion the end result wasn't great and it's not something I am prepared to publicly support (too many other things to sweat time on) so I made a decision to not release it. AFAIK Sam is still releasing OSMC for AppleTV so maybe look at that option.


    is there a platform that you suggest?

    Quote from chewitt


    I did create a build for ATV based on LE 7.0.2 and my github branch has 99% of the changes, but in my opinion the end result wasn't great and it's not something I am prepared to publicly support (too many other things to sweat time on) so I made a decision to not release it. AFAIK Sam is still releasing OSMC for AppleTV so maybe look at that option.

    Hi Chewitt. I have compared Isengard to Jarvis and to be honest Jarvis is a little better in everything. Just seems a little bit more stable on the ATV and even less audio hiccups/sync issues.

    Maybe it's LE itself that has become "bloated"? (in the context of the ATV). Building Jarvis on same OE base as the Isengard release should yield similar results, but that's just a guess.

    • Official Post

    Soli, If you disable CHD and software decode Jarvis works fine (within the usual limits on what's software playable) but when you enable CHD the box behaviour wasn't anywhere near as polished as the OE 6.0.1 build and overall differences in the OS between 6.0/7.0 are not large. I struggle to see the point in spending hours and hours trying to discover a new winning formula when an S905 box can be had for $30 - the performance difference is night and day..

    Quote from chewitt


    AFAIK Sam is still releasing OSMC for AppleTV so maybe look at that option.

    I can confirm Sam does have chd video decoding on Jarvis, works pretty well tbh. Chewitt, I just would really like to thank you for your unofficial build of openelec which I ran for a while until following you here then realizing you were moving on from the dead end that is the ATV1. That said I have 5 of them and its nice to see some folks have been able to keep it relatively alive. You may not remember but way back when openelec was just working on atv 1 chd support we kinda worked together. You were on the openelec atv release, sam was on crystalbuntu and I was doing some work on a linux hardy chd setup with davillas help via the atvcloner app for partitioning / resizing atv drives. Ah, those were the early days (almost ten years ago)! Good times.

    Anyway as it looks like your dropping jarvis support at least there is an alternative. Bewarned anyone that tries though osmc does currently offer a Krypton build touting CHD, in regeresson testing I have found (and sam knows) that the Krypton releases are in fact currently NOT using the CHD driver even though Kodi shows it active in the gui.

    Jarvis works fine so far though after a couple days of testing and I'd suspect that Krypton has a larger memory footprint than Jarvis anyway which pushes the measly 256 mb of ram in the atv to its limits as it is.

    I hope I am not out of line for passing off this info on Sams setup but figured you'd already mentioned it. If I was apologies and thanks again for all of the support you have given the "old dog".

    Update: Update, after extensive testing of both. back to the OE 6.01 build that Chewitt released. By far more stable and MUCH better playback via chd. Uses less ram etc. Heck, even samba is faster with sustained 11.5 transfer rates via ethernet vs. osmc at about 7.4 on same setup.

    The big downside of course is the lack of addon compatibility for Isengard vs. Jarvis, but for pure video decoding performance there is *no* comparison. OE 6.01 Isengard courtesy of chewitt wins hands down.

    Just thought i'd save others the days of testing trying the other before going back.

    Adddons will only continue to be a problem due to incompatibility with Isengard but life is full of tradeoffs.

    Thanks again chewitt, you really built a lean setup performance wise.