Basic RPi Config in LibreELEC

1st Official Post

    Hi,
    especially for beginners it would be nice to have some basic configuration of most important RPi config.txt settings directly in LibreELEC settings
    (for example codec license keys). For beginners it would be more comfortable instead of enabling SSH, then mount/unlock/edit config.txt.
    Or another idea: let user place a customized config.txt in userdata folder and always copy this automatically to system partition during shut down of a reboot.

    • Official Post

    Have you already looked into the LibreELEC wiki pages? Granted, it's only a beginning, but concerning the RPi there is a basic amount of information. See Raspberry Pi - LibreELEC

    As far as config.txt is concerned, LibreELEC will run quite nicely with default settings. Adding codec licence keys is already described on multiple websites, as well as in our own mentioned wiki.

    Because LibreELEC's system is on a readonly partition (by design), the /flash folder requires read/write status. And normally, this will be a one time thing.

    Hi Klojum,

    thanks for you answer, but I'm experienced user, so I know how to deal with SSH (although myself preferring Leopolds RPi Config).
    But as I already wrote: I'm more concerned about the "always forgotten" beginners.

    I know a lot of people just starting with LE/OE on RPi and they all struggle with putty and SSH. Yes, a lot is described in Wiki, but in my opinion something that has to explained on several pages, subpages, subsubpages and subsubsubpages is just bad user experience. Just imagine you're typical windows user with low experience:

    From your link (Raspberry Pi - LibreELEC) a beginner has to:
    - click on bottom of page to go to Installing LibreELEC on the RPi - LibreELEC
    - find somewhere in the middle the reference to config.txt, click to go to Config.txt - LibreELEC
    - Find the tiny SSH link to go to Accessing LibreELEC - LibreELEC
    - Click on the putty link to download (hopefully) the correct putty
    - Go back and click on the link for windows users to go there SSH - Official Kodi Wiki
    - find the IP on your RPi and first try to connect with putty
    - realize that you forgot to enable SSH on LE, google how to....
    - next try with putty, just to realize that nowhere up to now was mentioned that you have to login with root.... google again...
    ... t.b.c.

    Imo, at least for this most used setting LibreELEC should implement a more simple way.

    A heart for noobs.

    • Official Post

    I guess what Klojum wants to say is, that it might not be very easy, if you create a setting, which is able to mount the specific part, do the changes at the correct place, and unmount it again.

    As the RPi is initially meant as a device for developers and users who are willing to spend some time to get it working, I would say a little reading can be expected.

    But yeah...it's a feature request...and maybe it gets into it or not. Depending on what the devs say and if they are willing to maintain it ;).

    • Official Post

    Other distros have implemented this, so it shouldn't be too hard (says, someone who has no idea how it would be done).

    However, is there any reason to keep /boot (aka Flash) as R/O especially as there are numerous articles on how to make it R/W, Would it not be just simpler to just keep it R/W on all images? and thus allow users to change details as required. Yes they could cock it up, so in a way, the solution is to allow an Add-on or an extension to LE config, to allow changes to config/cmdline from a GUI?

    A prime example is a memory split/OC/dtaoverlays etc.

    I like the idea of a "user" config.txt but I can see sooo many problems. Would a symbolic link work???? Probably not as it is too early in the boot process.

    For the moment I would put it down as nice to have.

    • Official Post
    Quote from BrettB


    Check out OpenELEC Mediacenter - OpenELEC Forum - Addon to configure Raspberry Pi config.txt (1/6)

    I haven't had to make any changes to my config recently, but as far as I know, it still works fine with LibreElec.

    From the link above it refers to: OpenELEC RPi Config

    From this howto, I tried to:

    Code
    wget http://goo.gl/MpUAWy -O xbmc.repo.leopold.zip

    and got a 404, because the repo was at Dropbox and obviously removed now.

    So I doubt that works.

    Last question from an user and answer from 'gda' in that thread is:

    Quote


    Is there any special reason why this great Add-On is'nt part of either official or unofficial OpenELEC repository?
    -
    -
    Maybe because there is no need for an addon that helps a little with a task that will be done one or two times in a life of a Pi?

    Quote from DaVu

    Last question from an user and answer from 'gda' in that thread is:

    This last question in Kodi forum was asked by me. But imo the given answer is typical shell-fetishist nonsense.
    Imo especially because you need it only once in your life, why then bore new users with SSL?

    BTW: another nice noob feature you can see from RasPlex: they offer a SD-Card one-click installer based on Win32Diskimager. Just another stupid idea for OE ...

    • Official Post

    I'd like to see us extend the capabilities of the LE settings addon to include more pi config things. The need for overclock settings has died out now that pi2 and pi3 have more RAM and higher clock speeds, but things like codec licenses and some other basics should be possible. @gda is correct stating that these are things you only need to set once in the life of a pi, but as pi devices represent ~65% of our userbase I think we can do more.

    NB: A RasPlex style installer is already being worked on. We've used their code as the base and improved it a little :) .. but this won't help you configure a pi because the installer only downloads the image and writes the SD card. There are not config tools in it.

    Quote from chewitt


    I'd like to see us extend the capabilities of the LE settings addon to include more pi config things. The need for overclock settings has died out now that pi2 and pi3 have more RAM and higher clock speeds, but things like codec licenses and some other basics should be possible. @gda is correct stating that these are things you only need to set once in the life of a pi, but as pi devices represent ~65% of our userbase I think we can do more.

    I would disagree a little bit about the "only need to set once in the life of a pi" part. If you do a fresh/clean install, you need to reset things. And, I've used this add-on to adjust HDMI/CEC settings and Overscan settings when moving a pi from one tv/monitor to another.

    I've got also a raspberrypi request - can we enable fbtft module in the build fbtft on github ?
    Its included in standard kernel and allows for use of cheap lcd displays (around 10$ for 320x480 4.3inch ili9488 display in china ) through gpio which are not used when you use your raspberry for kodi.
    My raspberry is not connected to a monitor - my libreelec on raspberry B+ is used as a tvheadend server so it don't have a monitor tv connected