Posts by hughparker1


    Installation of the storage partition on a USB device was/is because of the people's notion that USB (3.0) sticks handle data faster. Raspberry Pi's only have USB 2.0 ports, and the internal engine doesn't even reach full USB speed. Using /storage on USB can be a plus if you use larger drives, be it a HDD or SSD.

    In my view, sd cards or usb sticks have the same problem: they don't have TRIM support like SSDs do, so they will wear out sooner or later. SSDs/HDDs of course are in a different price category.


    Thanks for feedback on the different technoligies. If you were going to install LibreELEC on new RPi3 would you just stick it all on the microSD card or would you use a separate USB for Storage, I'm still not sure which method would be better in the long term.

    I'm in the process of moving all my devices from OpenELEC to LibreELEC since I have had problems last week with the recent OE8 update.

    This includes Generic-x86_64, RPi2 and USB devices.

    My existing RPi2 upgraded perfectly to LibreELEC. I originally set this up a couple of years ago with OE system files on the microSD and storage files on the USB. This was supposed to be better at the time.

    I am now going to purchase a new RPi3 for my daughter and wondered if it was still considered good practice to install system on micorSD and storage on USB like I did before. I just don't know if this setup is any better than a simple install to only the microSD. I wondered what the folks on this forum thought?

    Any advice or guidance would be appreciated.


    Make sure you enable the 'Wait for network' option on Intel devices, so you have a network connection from the start.
    No network => no downloading

    Thanks Klojum, I didn't see that setting, thanks for that.

    I still couldn't see any additional skins, but later I found another setting that is disabled by default....

    System > System Settings > Add-ons > Unknown sources: needs to be Enabled (default is Disabled)

    After I enabled that setting, I can now navigate to System > Interface Settings > Skin > Look and feel, when I select Get more... I can now see the other skins available for download.

    'The Unknown sources = Disabled' must be a security feature so I understand why it's set that way.

    Many thanks for all the help, it has been great.

    I have completed the setup and my new LibreELEC system is running perfect. here are the steps...

    Deleted contents of both my SYSTEM & DATA partitions

    Downloaded 'LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-8.0.1.tar' from Index of /

    Copied 4 files from 'target' directory to SYSTEM partition KERNEL KERNEL.md5 SYSTEM SYSTEM.md5

    Add the LibreELEC menu item to the GRUB2 boot system

    Code
    $ sudo nano /etc/grub.d/40_custom


    Code
    menuentry "LibreELEC.tv" {
       set root=(hd0,10)
       linux /KERNEL boot=/dev/sda10 disk=/dev/sda9 quiet
    }

    Ran command

    Code
    $ sudo update-grub

    reboot and LibreELEC now appears in grub menus alongside my Linux and Windows optioins and is now booting up perfectly

    I was configuring system for my Region, Timezone etc and have a couple of questions while using the new Estuary skin ...

    Q1. Settings > Interface Settings > Skin > Look and feel
    when I select Get more... button I can't see anything in the list of values and wondered if I am missing something in the setup. I expected to see other skins for download.
    EDIT: I found another setting that is disabled by default....
    System > System Settings > Add-ons > Unknown sources: needs to be Enabled (default is Disabled)
    After I enabled that setting, I can now see the other skins available for download.

    Q2. I can't seem to find where to set the following two settings using the Estuary skin ...
    Allow file renaming and deletion
    Show hidden files and directories
    I know how to set this in the old Confluence skin.
    EDIT: I found these settings under Settings > Media Settings > General Files

    If this is the wrong place to ask these questions, then please advise and I can create a new post elsewhere in the forum

    I would like to thank everyone on the forum for all the help and support I have received today, it is much appreciated.

    I'm not even gonna start commenting on OpenELEC 8.0's shenanigans and bugs. That release has been another disappointing example of a quick & dirty OE build without any proper testing before it was made public. Users that use this 'stable' version were basically turned into Alpha-testers. This is certainly not LibreELEC's policy.

    So either keep playing with OE in your own time, or use LibreELEC.

    You are absolutely right Klojum. I am currently in process of removing OE and will download the LibreELEC .tar file to copy over the files. do you have a good download link I can use? I had a look and could only find link to download the img.gz file but I think I need the .tar file

    Thanks for your continued support


    As far as the black screen goes, Kodi 8.0 has a bug with upgrading the MyAddons27.db file. In the userdata/Database folder, delete that file, and restart Kodi.

    Copying the system files into the System partition, always include the md5 files as well. (not exactly sure myself why, but better to copy them as well).

    thanks Klojum for your quick reply.

    after the OE8 upgrade, I was presented with following message at boot...

    Code
    fbset: can't open '/dev/fb0' : No such file or directory
        OpenELEC (Official) - Version 8.0.0
        waiting for Network to come online ...


    ... and black screen.

    I had heard there was a bug with kodi 8 upgrade, so I ran the following command...

    Code
    rm -rf /storage/.kodi/userdata/Database/Addons*.db


    and then it booted ok but still with the same boot message...

    Code
    fbset: can't open '/dev/fb0' : No such file or directory
        OpenELEC (Official) - Version 8.0.0
        waiting for Network to come online ...

    but although Kodi now boots, and I could see my all my addons, they didn't actually work. So that's why I am thinking of a fresh start with LibreELEC.

    EDIT: what I meant to say was I can see several addon shortcuts on my Confluence desktop, but they are not listed under VIDEOS > Add-ons. And I just realised that when I look in SYSTEM > Add-ons > My add-ons > Video add-ons, I can see that all the addons are indeed still there, but are disabled so that's why they didn't work.

    Any idea why I'm getting the message at boot?
    EDIT: still intend to do a fresh install of LibreELEC using the steps identified earlier, but I am curious as to why I am getting the message when I select OpenELEC in grub menu.

    Hi Klojum, sorry to jump in on this post, but I am trying to do the same with my pc, I have linux already installed and would like to dual boot with LibreELEC.

    I did something similar to what you have described (including adding menu item to GRUB2 boot system) a couple of years ago with OpenELEC, and it worked fine even after upgrades, but my recent update to OE8 didn't go well (left with black screen) so I would like to take this opportunity to change to LibreELEC and a fresh start, which I have heard is recommended with a major upgrade to new version number.

    I remember at the time, I created two partitions and I labeled them OE_SYSTEM and OE_DATA, then I only copied over two files called SYSTEM and KERNEL to the OE_SYSTEM partition and that was enough to get going. Is this still the same with LibreELEC ? or do I need to copy any other files?

    Any advice would be much appreciated.


    64 bit only I'm afraid.

    You don't need to install OE 6.0.3, you can upgrade straight from OE 5.0.8 to LE 6.90.005 (although the usual warnings/caveats/disclaimers apply, which is that when upgrading between major versions - OE or LE - you should normally start with a clean install).


    Thanks for quick reply, updated successfully. everything working ok.

    EDIT: After reboot there was a short delay in the TVADDONS message about football 2016. The message didn't move aside when I clicked dismiss or remind me later. It too a couple of minutes to move off screen.

    Also I had slight problem in connecting with android app Yatse. I couldn't use 'Find running host' to connect as normal, so I entered the ip address and port manully and it connected OK after that.

    These issues didn't bother me at all but wanted to feedback in case it was important to you.

    Many thanks for your excellent work in making this software available.

    PS. I found the forum website didn't work too well on Firefox and Edge browsers, had to use Chrome to use the quote functionality and cut and paste functionality. again, not a problem to me but you might like to know.

    I am keen to try the new LE build. Reading the past few posts it sounds quite simple to do an update.

    I have a 64-bit working OpenELEC build that was originally created from "OpenELEC-Generic.x86_64-5.0.8" so my intention was to download "LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-6.90.004.tar" and place in the update folder and boot as normal to update to LE.

    My question is do I need to update OE to 6.0.3 first?

    I also have a 32-bit working OpenELEC build that was originally created from "OpenELEC-Generic.i386-5.0.8". I don't see a 32-bit version of LE, so I assume that this can't be updated?

    Thanks for any help and guidance.