Posts by chewitt

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    Running the "box" image from SD card is easiest, the -wetek-play2 image is the one that needs emmc wipe etc. and that is not trivial or recommended for most users. Update is simple; drop file in /storage/.update and reboot. If you track my private test images you should pay attention to file dates not the numbers.

    Can you share "dmesg | paste" from the KIII pro as I'd like to see if the BT is working now. If you also have a KII pro box (S905 or S905D?) it would be good to see the dmesg log from that too. Also, if you can share pics/photo's of the two remotes it would be appreciated. I like to reflect the physical device layout in the keymap code.

    The .img.gz file is for writing to SD card. The .tar file is for updating an existing (LE10, not 9.x) install. Otherwise they're the same. You might prefer the images I have here Index of /testing/ which have changes to ffmpeg that allow seeking in H264 (not perfect, but an improvement on the nightlies). In either image you need to set Kodi to "fixed" 44.1KHz "Analogue" output to get multi-channel audio without glitches in the audio. These images are still experimental..

    Code
    cd /storage/.update
    wget https://chewitt.libreelec.tv/testing/LibreELEC-AMLGX.arm-9.95.1.tar
    reboot

    ^ run those commands to update to an image which should (in theory) have the missing firmware for the WiFi card, and a revised device-tree file to enable BT support. If this works I can send the device-tree changes upstream to the Linux kernel.

    For the IR keymap, either identify the keymap file or name that CE are using or record the keycodes, see Infra-Red Remotes - LibreELEC.wiki (which is not that hard). Make sure you note the button press order to match the recorded codes. Most Amlogic remotes use the NEC protocol.