Posts by chewitt

  • Intel true 10bits/HEVC/HDR support... ?

    LE master branch (currently LE10) is still using X11 so the changes would not be accepted even if PR'd. Generic will not switch to GBM/V4L2 until a future point. It's not been seriously discussed whether this will be an interim release like LE 10.2 (K19) or LE11 (K20) yet, but my guess is the latter.

  • An Understanding on how LibreElec ties together with games

    Kodi supports binary add-ons which can add functionalty. One of the available add-ons (installed as a dependency if needed, so it's not a starting point for gaming) is libretro libraries which allow Kodi "RetroPlayer" to run. You can also load emulator cores, which sometimes depend upon BIOS images to work, allowing you to run a game. In the retro console world games are often ROM dumps of cartriges. For example:

    Open Game ROM > Select Emulator to use > Kodi loads dependencies and maps controllers > Play Game.

    Retro gaming is inherently a bit complicated due to the number of moving parts, frequent choices of many different emulators for some of the more popular platforms (each with different quirks), with some emulators using licenses that prevent redistribution (so they must be installed not bundled in a pre-configured way) and Kodi is missing a "Game Library" that allows you to map/store frequently used or preferred combinations.

    BUT .. it does work, and games are fun :)

    For more specific advice you'll need to explain what hardware bits you have and what games you are trying to play? Note that Kodi does not provide game ROMs and we are not going to discuss where to obtain them.

  • Nightbuild on Mecool KIII Pro

    I'm not aware of any issues with CEC. It wasn't working for a whlie recently due to a wrong kernel config option but that got spotted and fixed. I don't use it myself though so it's always unknown territory.

    I can see the correct BT firmware is loaded now. I'll be dropping you an email to ask for permission to use a real-name and email address for "Tested-by" signature when I send the device-tree and keymaps upstream to the kernel.

  • Official LE11 Test Images for Amlogic (Kodi-20)

    Quote from Shoog

    Hows that strategy working out for your users Chewitt ?

    It could be better, but I have a thick skin for armchair pundits like yourself and prefer to focus on the still reasonable numbers of LE (and now CE) users running older releases on older hardware. I'm confident they are more positive about someone working to bring the latest Kodi releaase on a modern efficient kenel to their board/box, even if progress is woefully slow.

  • Official LE11 Test Images for Amlogic (Kodi-20)

    CE have a more functional but rather ugly and complicated vendor kernel codebase. LE has an much cleaner (modern and better implemented) kernel codebase which also respects backwards compatibility and supports open source GPU drivers (so S912 is not an issue) but it's lacking mature media drivers. CE's issue is that Amlogic supports "current and one previous" hardware generation; meaning Amlogic kernel devs do not maintain backwards compatibility with older devices and frequently break support foor older devices when hacking new features in. CE wants (or needs) to use the latest Amlogic kernel drop which presumably drops support or makes life difficult. This is 100% why LE (and Team Kodi) are persuing a path based on Linux kernel standards that breaks the cycle, but it's not the easiest route, in part because we have to write the standards as we go.

  • Nightbuild on Mecool KIII Pro

    Amlogic sets lots of video stuff in u-boot that might not be handled cleanly when we start Linux; there's not much we can do about that and I don't have the u-boot sources for MeCool boards to replace it with modern u-boot. Experiments in that direction require you to have UART access to the board so we can see the early boot output from u-boot - and you need to have backups of the original firmware and know how to restore them in case things don't go to plan.

    LibreELEC-AMLGX.arm-9.95.1.tar now has the correct BT firmware name (last image had right file but wrong name).

    I'll have a look for the Realtek WiFi driver. If it's supported in-kernel I can add support. If it requires the out-of-tree vendor driver I'll pass because those break with each kernel version change and are a maintenance headache.

  • Official LE11 Test Images for Amlogic (Kodi-20)

    I'd describe all issues related to audio/video playback as "known" and since there is currently nobody working on the Linux kernel driver code that's at fault, there is currently no need for anyone to share logs. Until someone in the community with coding abilities (which is not me) shows up to fiddle with drivers or commercial projects fund futher activities, progress is stalled.

  • Upcoming changes

    There are no plans for stable Amlogic releases because non-trivial Linux kernel driver work is required to move things forwards and there is basically nobody doing the work. I keep plugging away at general areas of Amlogic support to keep the codebase current with kernels etc. but I don't write driver code. Until that status quo changes, it remains super-fast and efficient standardised code that is annoying close to being usable, but ultimately deficient in the core media areas Kodi depends upon most.

  • Wetek Play 2 LE 9.0.2

    Did you set the dtb name to use in uEnv.ini? - without that the box doesn't know what dtb to use.

    NB: There is no path between legacy LE or CE releases and the LE10 codebase due to the different <evereything> and Python3 changes in Kodi - it's just not even remotely sensible to attempt supporting in-place upgrades. You can always backup and restore Kodi once booted.