 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 906, 1 March 2021 |
Welcome to this year's 9th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Computers are not just great tools for crunching numbers, sharing information, and accomplishing more work quickly, they are often a source of entertainment. Whether our personal computers are being used for gaming, playing music, sharing jokes, or streaming videos, modern computers have become a common centre piece in home entertainment. This week we begin with a look at some open source solutions for media streaming in the home. We take a look at the Kodi media centre software and a number of approaches to installing it, including using a dedicated distribution like LibreELEC as well as installing the media centre via a Flatpak bundle. Read on to learn more about setting up Kodi in our Feature Story. We'd like to hear if you run Kodi at home in our Opinion Poll and what your setup looks like in the comments. In our News section we discuss the PureOS team contributing new work to the Linux kernel, especially in areas that benefit mobile platforms. We also share tips on upgrading FreeBSD using filesystem snapshots to reduce downtime and facilitate testing. Red Hat is trying to find ways to fill the void left behind by cutting support for CentOS Linux and we share details below. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we talk about how large open source projects, such as the Linux kernel, are audited for vulnerabilities and other problems. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeing. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: LibreELEC 9.2 and Kodi
- News: PureOS contributes to Linux development, upgrading FreeBSD using snapshots, Red Hat to supply open source infrastructure with free licenses, Void switches back to OpenSSL
- Questions and answers: Auditing large open source projects
- Released last week: GeckoLinux 999.210221.0, Kali Linux 2021.1, Mageia 8
- Torrent corner: 4MLinux, Alpine, CloudReady, GeckoLinux, Kali, KDE neon, Mageia, Nitrux, Tails
- Upcoming releases: FreeBSD 13.0-RC1
- Opinion poll: Do you run Kodi?
- New additions: AlmaLinux
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (14MB) and MP3 (12MB) formats.
|
| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
LibreELEC 9.2 and Kodi
I recently got into a discussion with someone who had purchased a second television for their house and, knowing that I have a fondness for open source and do-it-yourself projects, they asked if there was a suitable alternative to Fire TV. For those not familiar with the device, a Fire TV stick is a small device which looks like a large USB thumb drive and attaches to the HDMI port of a television. The device connects wirelessly to local networks and can be used to stream shows and movies from a variety of services like Netflix and Disney+. The device is operated by a small, dedicated remote control.
I was pretty sure a minimal Linux distribution running on a spare, minimal personal computer or a single-board device like a Raspberry Pi would probably be a suitable replacement. I figured a distribution that ran Kodi could probably do the work, connecting to the TV through an HDMI cable. The user could likely use the Kodi mobile app in place of a dedicated remote control.
For the sake of comparison, I looked up information on the Fire TV stick which was $55 USD if i wanted it in two weeks or $60 if I wanted it in one week. The person I was talking with already had one and knew it was a "plug and play" type device, so the total set up time would be under ten minutes.
I did some on-line shopping in my area and the closest open source style equivalent I could come up with was a Raspberry Pi 3B. The Pi was $47 USD. The Pi included a Wi-Fi option, but no microSD card, no HDMI cable, and no power supply. Adding these items to my tally brought my total up to $78, including tax. In other words, even with a free software solution, it looked like the open source route was going to be slightly more expensive with parts available in my region.
Using a dedicated distribution
On the software side of things I decided to start off with LibreELEC, a minimal Linux distribution designed to run on both personal computers and a variety of ARM-powered devices, including the Raspberry Pi. The latest version of LibreELEC ships with Kodi 18.9. Kodi is a highly flexible media centre which supports a massive range of streaming and local player options through repositories of add-ons. I checked and confirmed there were third-party add-ons which were advertised to work with Netflix, YouTube, and Disney+, along with other popular streaming services.
The download for LibreELEC was 244MB for PCs and 125MB for the Raspberry Pi. These images are compressed and, when they are expanded, grow to 549MB each. We can then copy this image file to a microSD card and boot from it. LibreELEC is a very minimal distribution which basically just boots and launches the Kodi software. Or at least that was what I expected. However, the distribution would begin to boot, then restart the device, begin to boot again, and restart the device. I tried starting the distribution several times with various options and they all caused the operating system to enter a loop at boot.
I tried downloading the LibreELEC media again in case my copy of the distribution was corrupted. (As far as I can tell LibreELEC does not provide checksums or signatures for its media.) My second attempt was no better than the first. I also tried the generic PC build of LibreELEC with no better results. I could get LibreELEC to launch its installer, but not install successfully or run in live mode.
I was not discouraged however, because I felt I still had options. LibreELEC basically just runs the Kodi media centre, but I could theoretically install another distribution, such as Raspberry Pi OS, and then simply install the Kodi software on top of it.
Using a generic distribution
Setting up the general purpose distribution was straightforward enough and, once it was in place, adding the Kodi package pulled in an extra 85MB of packages. This gave me a copy of Kodi 18.5 which I could launch. Kodi's media centre can be navigated using a smart phone app, a mouse, or a keyboard, making it pleasantly flexible. I find navigating the Kodi interface a little foreign, but I gradually got the hang of things. The media centre is relatively large, using 273MB of memory without any add-ons installed and no media playing.
I then set about trying to get some streaming services set up. Kodi's documentation seems to side-step this a bit, probably to avoid potential legal issues, but there are lots of tutorials and tips on the Kodi Guide site which explain how to get the most out of the media centre.
Enabling third-party add-ons in Kodi
(full image size: 586kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
I decided to start with accessing Netflix. Following a how-to I found a Netflix add-on package... which turned out to be deprecated. However, that add-on's GitHub repository linked to another, actively maintained one. This allowed me to download a Zip file. From within the Kodi interface I selected the Zip file as a new add-on and its installation failed. This turned out to be the result a security feature which blocks third-party plugins. I found where to disable the block against third-party add-ons in the Kodi settings and tried again. The new add-on did not include the Netflix add-on, but it did set up a repository which in turn included the Netflix add-on. I then installed Netflix and tried to run it.
Browsing installed add-ons
(full image size: 492kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
I found I could sign into Netflix and browse available titles, but not view any streams. Attempting to stream a movie or show caused an error to appear telling me "inputstream.adaptive" was missing. I checked around and found this guide for adding the missing software. Unfortunately the guide assumes a category of software in the Kodi repository is available that was not present on my system, specially "VideoPlayer InputStream" was missing. This is a problem a number of other people reported in the comments under the guide, across multiple versions of Kodi, including the latest 18.9 version.
Trying to play Netflix content
(full image size: 404kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
I set about looking for other ways to install the inputstream.adaptive add-on, but the Kodi wiki says this software must be installed through the Kodi repository (though it is missing in my case). I tried to find more information on the missing plugin, but relevant links led me in circles on the wiki.
Missing the necessary category in the Kodi repository
(full image size: 587kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Wondering if maybe I was just having bad luck with one service, I tried installing an add-on for YouTube. The YouTube add-on installed, but accessing any video streams would fail. The error message reported I would need my own API keys. There is a link to instructions on how to add these keys which requires signing into a Google Developers account and then manually configuring the add-on to use newly generated digital keys.
Encountering an error while trying to access YouTube
(full image size: 221kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
I also tried a Disney+ add-on. This followed a very similar process to installing Netflix where I downloaded an add-on, used that to gain access to a new repository, and then installed the Disney+ add-on from the new repository. Once again I could access the service and login, but not watch anything due to missing dependencies.
Flatpak to the rescue
At this point I was feeling as though I'd been falling down the rabbit hole for a while. Each add-on gave me an error that led me to a guide that seemed to be inaccurate or incomplete. I considered that the problem might be with the Kodi package I was running - perhaps it was too old or there was a problem with the package.
I decided to switch gears and set up Debian on a laptop and then install the latest Kodi Flatpak from Flathub. My thought was this would give me an up-to-date version of Kodi on a popular distribution on a popular architecture, reducing most possible issues or overlooked problems.
I downloaded the latest stable version of Kodi available on Flathub. The total download was 700MB in size. The installation went well, pulling in Kodi and its dependencies. However, Kodi failed to run, reporting that it would not find the Wayland display server. Which made sense since Wayland was not installed and I was running a window manager on the X.Org display server. There did not appear to be any way around this Wayland dependency, short installing a heavier desktop like GNOME that would have used up most of the device's available memory.
Curious if the issue was specific to me, I got a peer who sometimes reviews Linux distributions for DistroWatch and other sites to give the Kodi Flatpak a try on a Wayland-powered desktop. They successfully installed the Kodi Flatpak, but the media centre failed to run, reporting a similar error to the one I encountered: "No protocol specified. ERROR: Unable to create GUI. Exiting" It seems the Kodi Flatpak package is not yet ready for general use.
Conclusions
Trying to get Kodi running, through a variety of approaches, felt a lot like dealing with the RPM dependency issues of twenty years ago. While I know getting Kodi to work with various video providers is possible, and I know some people who have purchased it bundled on embedded devices, it seems to require a steady stream of problem solving. It is a situation which is not helped by outdated documentation (in some situations) and deprecated plugins in others. I was always on the wrong distribution, the wrong display server, installing an out of date add-on, missing a dependency, hunting down a setting, trying to find a complete guide, etc.
Including the install times for the operating systems and Kodi packages, my experiment went on for over six hours and, in the end, not a single video played successfully. This is with the benefit of my experience helping me navigate incomplete guides, knowing how to install plugins, and knowing what dependencies are and what Wayland is. I have a feeling many potential users of LibreELEC and Kodi would have more of a challenge if they were looking to replace pre-packaged solutions with this open source alternative.
* * * * *
Visitor supplied rating
LibreELEC has a visitor supplied average rating of: 9.3/10 from 10 review(s).
Have you used LibreELEC? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
PureOS contributing to Linux development, upgrading FreeBSD using snapshots, Red Hat to supply open source infrastructure with free licenses, Void switches back to OpenSSL
The PureOS team develop a free software distribution for a range of devices, including personal computers and the Lbrem 5 mobile device. The project is regularly producing fixes and improvements in free software in order to make their Linux distribution run better, particularly on mobile devices. Martin Kepplinger has published an overview of work that has gone into the Linux kernel which improve power management, battery status indicators, and USB controllers. "Following up on our report for Linux 5.9 and 5.10, this summarizes the progress on mainline support for the Librem 5 phone and its development kit during the 5.11 development cycle...."
* * * * *
While filesystem snapshots are often used on FreeBSD to take a snapshot of a working system prior to an upgrade, there are alternative ways to make use of snapshots which avoid making changes to the running system. The Vermaden blog provides a tutorial for upgrading the FreeBSD operating system using ZFS snapshots and a chroot in order to install a new version of the operating system which can be booted in the future while leaving the running system unchanged. "Having 12.2-RELEASE installed I wanted to check 13.0-BETA to check if things that are important for me - like working suspend/resume for example - work as advertised on the newer version. It is the perfect task that can be achieved by using ZFS boot environments. In the example below we will create entire new ZFS boot environment with clone of our current 12.2-RELEASE system and upgrade it there (in BE) to the 13.0-BETA3 version and there will only be required one reboot - not three as in typical freebsd-update(8) upgrade procedure."
* * * * *
Following Red Hat's plan to cut support for CentOS Linux in favour of CentOS Stream, the company has announced a new plan to allow open source organizations to access no-cost licenses for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This will allow open source projects to run Red Hat servers, with just slightly more effort than they did when maintaining CentOS Linux servers. "Under the program's terms, eligible organizations will be granted access to no-cost RHEL subscriptions for any use within the confines of their infrastructure. This includes build systems, continuous integration (CI) testing and general project requirements (i.e. web servers, mail servers, etc.). These subscriptions will be self-supported by default, which provides full access to the Red Hat customer portal, knowledge base articles and forums, and also include Red Hat Insights, our proactive analytic tooling. We may also be able to offer no-cost support depending on the scope and nature of the organization." The details on this program are available in Red Hat's blog post.
* * * * *
At the start of the year we mentioned the Gentoo project was considering dropping support for LibreSSL, a fork of the OpenSSL cryptography library. While LibreSSL was intended to be smaller, lighter, and more secure, a lot of work and improvements have gone into OpenSSL while not many Linux packages are tested against LibreSSL, causing problems for their maintainers. The extra effort to maintain compatibility with LibreSSL while new features arrive in OpenSSL first has caused the Void team to switch from running LibreSSL back to OpenSSL. "The Void Linux team is switching back to OpenSSL on March 5th, 2021 (2021-03-05). For most users, there should be no noticeable change. If you have any packages installed that are no longer provided by Void, or your system has explicit dependencies on LibreSSL, you will of course need to take action to ensure your system continues to function after the switch."
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Auditing large open source projects
Preparing-for-an-audit asks: I've heard that one of the things that makes open source more secure is that anyone can read the source code and find mistakes. But how can anyone audit a project like the Linux kernel, isn't it millions of lines long? How can any one person be sure there aren't backdoors lurking in all of those files?
DistroWatch answers: Before I get to the core of this question, I'd like to comment on the idea that open source software is more secure than proprietary software. A project being open source (or not) doesn't directly affect whether it is secure or well written. The license of a product doesn't make it inherently better or worse. However, when a product is open source it means we have the option of finding and fixing problems.
In other words, with open source software people have the ability to confirm that there are (or are not) bugs in the code and fix it, making the situation better for everyone. When a product is closed source there is no reasonable way to verify its inner workings. This makes it virtually impossible to determine whether there are bugs or not and it prevents helpful developers from fixing the problems in closed-source software.
This means over time open source software tends to pick up all kinds of little fixes and improvements from casual developers. It also means more people have the option of auditing the code and reporting issues which otherwise would not be addressed in proprietary products.
On to the focus of the original question, how can any one person audit a large open source project like the Linux kernel? It is true some large projects include millions of lines of code and that would make it virtually impossible for one person to audit the whole thing manually. Luckily no one needs to do this.
Almost all large software projects, including the kernel, are built gradually over time. No one merges code into a big project like the kernel directly, it goes through a series of stages and reviews. Generally a developer will submit a new piece of code to the person who is in charge of that component or module. Then that person confirms the code looks good and tests it. Then the new code is passed up the chain of command. A third or fourth person ends up doing the final verification and committing it to the final release that the public receives.
This means no one needs to review the entire kernel from scratch, every new piece and each new change is tested and verified by multiple people.
Another point I feel is important to make here is that a lot of code auditing is done using automated tools that look for common issues or mistakes. The tools can scan millions of lines of code in under a minute and report potential threats. Developers can then focus their efforts on looking at areas the tools highlight. Then they can determine whether there really is an issue or if the auditing tool is displaying a warning without cause.
With most of the work automated, security researches might only end up looking at a few hundred lines of code instead of a million when they are searching for bugs and backdoors.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
GeckoLinux 999.210221.0
GeckoLinux is an openSUSE-based distribution which features both fixed and rolling-release editions. The project's latest rolling-release snapshot, version 999.210221, introduces updated desktop environments and a number of fixes. The project's release announcement shares the available desktop versions and details on improvements: "Plasma 5.21, Framework 5.79.0, KDE applications 20.12 - improved font legibility with main user interface fonts colors changed to pure black; fixed screen brightness hotkeys bug; fixed a bug causing delays in initial loading of desktop icons and notifications; GNOME 3.38; Budgie 10.5.2 - improved behavior of Nemo desktop icons; eliminated transparency from bottom panel for better visibility and contrast; Xfce 4.16; Cinnamon 4.8.6 - improved behavior of Nemo desktop icons; relocated mounted drives applet; MATE 1.24.1; Pantheon (various component versions); LXQt 0.16." The distribution is available in nine editions.
Kali Linux 2021.1
Kali Linux is a Debian-based distribution with a collection of security and forensics tools. The project's first release of the year is Kali Linux 2021.1. "Today we're pushing out the first Kali Linux release of the year with Kali Linux 2021.1. This edition brings enhancements of existing features, and is ready to be downloaded or upgraded if you have an existing Kali Linux installation. The summary of the changelog since the 2020.4 release from November 2020 is: Xfce 4.16 - Our preferred and current default desktop environment has been updated and tweaked. KDE 5.20 - Plasma also received a version bump. Terminals - mate-terminal, terminator and tilix all had various work carried out on them. Command Not Found - A helping hand to say if a program needs to be installed. Partnership with more tool authors - BC Security and Joohoi have been producing great tools and we want to support them. New tools and updates - Multiple new tools have been added to Kali and are ready for you. Kali NetHunter - New BusyBox and Rucky version, and boot-animation. Kali ARM - Preliminary support for Parallels on Apple Silicon (Apple M1) and Raspberry Pi 400 (WiFi Support)." Details on the changes and features available in the new version can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
Kali Linux 2021.1 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 245kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Mageia 8
Mageia is a community fork of the now-discontinued Mandriva distribution. The Mageia distribution provides a general purpose operating system with a focus on easy to use, pre-configured desktop environments. The project's latest release is Mageia 8 which improves boot time performance, mostly removes dependencies on Python 2, and package management information is now compressed using Zstd to make updating parsing package data faster. "Faster package metadata parsing Urpmi metadata are compressed with Zstd instead of Xz, resulting in faster parsing. Python 2 is mostly dead Most python2 modules and software were removed. The ARM (Advanced RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) Machine) port rebooted during Mageia 7 days has been enhanced. The core is available for ARMv7 and AArch64. There is no traditional installer for now, and it is still considered experimental, but most of the distribution was built successfully on both architectures (see our ARM status overview for details). The plan is to provide installation images for popular ARM devices in the coming months. There is no ETA for those as of Mageia 8's release. Drakboot is now somewhat able to set up UEFI on AArch64." Additional information can be found in the distribution's release notes.
Parted Magic 2021_02_28
Parted Magic is a small live CD/USB/PXE with its elemental purpose being to partition hard drives. Although GParted and Parted are the main programs, the CD/USB also offers other applications, such as Partition Image, TestDisk, fdisk, sfdisk, dd, and ddrescue. The project's latest release is Parted Magic 2021_02_28 which upgrades core packages and addresses an issue with boot image size limiations. "Notable changes for this release: Linux 5.11.2 with NVIDIA driver version 460.56. Forum member ven42 found a program buried on the Internet called 'Fred'. This is a perfect replacement for the old 'pcregedit'. For what ever reason some newer computers cannot load a boot image larger than 250MB. Users would get a message 'error: out of memory'. This was fixed by making the initramfs smaller. Duh. There was another memory error 'Not enough memory to load specified image'. I've seen this on and off with computers for the past 10 years. I had a boot menu entry to fix this by telling the computer how much memory to use. Most people overlooked it or didn't see it. Over the past month I just added mem=32G to all of the boot entries and so far it hasn't caused a problem. Hopefully the memory errors are put to bed once and for all." Further information can be found on the distribution's news page.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,356
- Total data uploaded: 36.5TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Do you run Kodi?
In this week's Feature Story we talked about some approaches to installing the Kodi software and connecting it to popular streaming services. Do you run Kodi at home and, if so, on what sort of platform? Let us know about your experiences with Kodi in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on running generic or HWE kernels in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Running Kodi at home
| I run Kodi on my PC: | 154 (10%) |
| I run Kodi on a single-board computer: | 169 (11%) |
| I run Kodi on an Android device: | 69 (5%) |
| I run Kodi on a console: | 6 (0%) |
| I run Kodi on another type of machine: | 33 (2%) |
| I do not run Kodi at home: | 1075 (71%) |
|
|
| Website News |
New distributions added to database
AlmaLinux
AlmaLinux is an open-source, community-driven project that is built from the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). AlmaLinux is a completely binary compatible fork of RHEL 8 and it is built by the creators of the established CloudLinux OS.
AlmaLinux 8.3-rc -- Running the GNOME desktop
(full image size: 667kB, resolution: 2560x1440 pixels)
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 8 March 2021. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 0, value: US$0.00) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • KODI & Raspberry Pi (by Buck Owens on 2021-03-01 00:27:21 GMT from United States)
I wanted to use the same thing and was hoping this review would confirm in the positive. Sadly it doesn't.
2 • Kodi (by Roger on 2021-03-01 00:42:01 GMT from Belgium)
I do not run Kodi, I have no use for these things.
I mainly watch YouTube and Netflix these days, the TV channels here in Belgium suck.
The commercial ones are really below point zero and the state owned ones are not much better.
On top of that all the washed so-called news, it's always the same bullshit.
This is all over Europe and in Australia.
I installed Hypnotix on Linux Mint, there are almost 3200 channels on it from the whole world, but that is not better even worse.
Most of the times I browse for the real news and what they don't wont to show, political correctness is a scam anyway, just to clean up what they are showing.
If we want to know what is happening to the economy in China, Japan, India and so on I watch Indian channels on YouTube.
Same go's for Russia and so on, CNN and all the US channels are not trustworthy.
3 • Not running Kodi (by Flyingalone on 2021-03-01 01:16:23 GMT from Australia)
I was surprised with the results , voted 'I do not run Kodi at home' thought a lot more people would be using Kodi
Great article sharing your experiences with Kodi and all the other things you and the team here tell us about, week after week.
Thank you
4 • Kodi (by Jimbo in NZ on 2021-03-01 01:40:29 GMT from New Zealand)
Thanks Jesse - the Kodi review was bang on the mark with my own experience. It was impossible to get either netflix or on demand tv working well or consistently.
I currently use Debian+non free codecs with Cinnamon on my 55" TV with videos and on demand TV all working flawlessly through the Brave browser.
5 • Kodi (by cor on 2021-03-01 01:45:28 GMT from United States)
I have tried Kodi/XBMC many times. It always fails for my purposes.
6 • Why would anyone subject themselves to this grief? Masochism, perhaps? (by R. Cain on 2021-03-01 01:51:01 GMT from United States)
Given Jesse Smith's sterling Feature Story write-up ("LibreELEC 9.2 and Kodi"), I couldn't respond to The Poll because there is no option titled "I will NOT be even REMOTELY ATTEMPTING to use Kodi".
7 • Kodi et al (by Bobbie Sellers on 2021-03-01 02:00:48 GMT from United States)
Well I have a television and a computer (actually several computers and one TV) and the problems other users encounter while attempting to fuse the two systems of TV and of
Linux OSes has convinced me that such tasks are beyond my capacity.
Your review of the problems you had is further evidence that such fusion is difficult to
achieve even by the skilled with access to knowledge and a wide variety of tools.
bliss
8 • kodi (by kevin on 2021-03-01 03:08:44 GMT from Canada)
i have been running libreelec and kodi and numerous platforms android phones and tablets ubuntu machines and windows machines as well as all variants of the raspberry pi. i have not encountered too many issues. i did get the input stream error while setting up netflix and amazon prime but quickly got that fixed. libreelec is an amazing program for all my media needs
9 • XBMC or Kodi (by tuxUser on 2021-03-01 03:19:33 GMT from Canada)
I tested kodi or XBMC several times before it changed the name. Honestly I have never been able to do anything with it...
I even wonder how it's still being developed. Please put an end to the Kodi pain. This thing is useless...
Put your talent and effort into building something else...
10 • @Jesse (by whoKnows on 2021-03-01 04:48:02 GMT from Switzerland)
To make it short ... you also need a proper HW, not only the SW - NON-Free.
https://www.informationstash.com/netflix-4k-streaming-hardware-requirements-are-ridiculous/
https://itstillworks.com/devices-can-stream-netflix-tv-8107089.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Netflix-compatible_devices
https://www.howtogeek.com/414080/how-to-watch-netflix-in-4k-on-your-windows-pc/
* What works and what not also depends on your Netflix plan and the settings inside your Netflix user account ...
11 • kodi (by Tim on 2021-03-01 05:40:35 GMT from United States)
Kodi is a beautiful, customizable media player that does many things right. If you've got local media files to organize, it absolutely excels at that.
12 • LibreElec (by Konstantinos on 2021-03-01 07:08:50 GMT from Cyprus)
I use libreelect in my rasp2 board having a nas as a backend. Everything run smoothly!
13 • XBMC / Kodi / OpenElec / LibreElec (by Tonio on 2021-03-01 07:38:27 GMT from France)
I used all these variants of Kodi to play local medias on dedicated PC, Raspberry, Android set-top box and even if it was not straightforward, it ran.
Streaming had always been difficult (streamers do not help with that) and was not my primar utilisation.
I switched a year or two ago to Plex due to my family utilisation, which is not open source but based on a fork of XBMC.
Installed on the Android set-top box which already includes Netflix & Co, it is a complete solution.
14 • Kodi (by Serge Terryn on 2021-03-01 08:26:07 GMT from Belgium)
For someone who write so many reviews, I don't understand why you can't run kodi. I have kodi running on arch, debian and ubuntu without any problems. There is 1 additional package you need to install, kodi-x11 and all your GUI problems are solved. I use kodi for years now with an real-debrid subscription and it is an very good opensource application.
15 • Kodi (by Arthur on 2021-03-01 09:00:40 GMT from Australia)
I run LibreELEC on an old (2008ish) iMac and it runs essentially flawlessly. The only glitch is that, due to some hardware quirk of the iMac, I need to pull the 3.5mm jack out a little and push it back in when it starts/comes out of suspend. Admittedly I don't use Netflix and the like - it's mostly an audio player, with the occasional on-demand stream from television services or video file. Been doing so for five years or more. Occasionally I have a network connectivity issue, but this is the age of the hardware, not LibreELEC. Couldn't be happier with it.
16 • CoreELEC (by vermaden on 2021-03-01 09:53:08 GMT from Poland)
Thanks for mentioning my FreeBSD Upgrade guide here :)
... about LibreELEC ... I have used LibreELEC in the past for a while on Odroid C2 device but they (LibreELEC team) ceased the development of new releases for Odroid C2 so I moved to CoreELEC which still actively develops new releases for Odroid C2 devices. Here is their site - https://coreelec.org/
Hope that helps some Odroid C2 users.
Regards.
17 • Using Kodi (by Barnabyh on 2021-03-01 10:11:44 GMT from Germany)
Kodi works pretty well for streaming with plugins such as Exodus, Venom, Tempest and such if you keep abreast of changes. Better to have at least two installed in case one is unmaintained and scrapers stop working for a while or the developer drops it, as has happened. For that and streaming live TV legally with the respective dedicated plugins it's a great solution. It's also a good frontend for locally available content in a home network as several previous comments here confirm, but that alone would be severely limiting its use.
Youtube used to be a free plugin but now demands to register an API as Jesse has found. I even did that and it worked for a while but a few weeks later stopped again. So YT is now purely installed as a dependency because so many other addons demand it.
Like Jimbo in comment #4 I now use the browser for Netflix, Amazon Prime and the occasional Youtube. The quality of the commercial streams is better too. So it looks like one's gotta have a two-pronged approach to be able to use everything without putting in an unreasonable amount of time, constantly fix the API issue etc.
The above is true for Kodi on PC and RPi. It's different on Android and dedicated Kodi boxes where these services are more integrated and you don't have these issues. That seems to be the way to go. Not getting the request for an API on Android is not surprising, but the overall impression is that the commercial vendors are locking down access to their officially sanctioned platforms.
18 • Alma Linunx (by Otto on 2021-03-01 11:34:26 GMT from Austria)
I was really entertained when I first heard about AlmaLinux. I know the project explained how they chose the name, but I can't help but be reminded that "alma" is Hungarian for "apple". (Interestingly enough, "AlmaLinux" reminds me firstly of the fruit, and not the company.)
19 • LibreELEC & Kodi (by Cheker on 2021-03-01 12:31:10 GMT from Portugal)
I have not attempted Kodi anywhere outside of LibreELEC, as the overhead of running it on a normal OS would kill the point of using it (for me). Kodi itself has not given me many problems, though I don't really use it for anything other than Twitch and, sometimes, playing the music on the hard drive.
LibreELEC itself is a mess, specifically the networking. Wifi connects properly or doesn't, completely at random. None of the dev's suggestions work. You go back years in the forum posts and these exact same problems have existed since the distro was born, so they don't seem to interested in fixing things.
20 • Kodi (by zephyr on 2021-03-01 12:44:22 GMT from United States)
Have tried Kodi, several times since XMBC and yet find NO practical need for it. Over sized, extremely limited compared to many very small lightweight media players.
21 • Kodi (by Adam Drake on 2021-03-01 12:47:10 GMT from United States)
I run Plex on Debian Bullseye and am perfectly happy with it.
22 • computers > media centers (by fonz on 2021-03-01 12:48:35 GMT from Indonesia)
while its nice having some alternatives and whatnots, id still prefer having a PC for everything and anything compared to a dedicated media center. the last media center ive ever had was back in the US with tivo and cable IIRC, late 90s til early Y2K. consoles (wow, you can even install kodi on consoles, TIL) werent worthwhile ever since i got my first PC. an old PC might even still be good enough as a general purpose media center. i just vacuum them daily and backed up with a UPS thing.
my oldest still working PC i built 05 for highschool is now my kitchen PC running plain old debian and upgrading it over the years. my second was built 08 for college is now my home server running arch. my current gen DDR4 PC might be given away to my little bro for college. PCs for my kids later? not sure, but thinking about LTSPs or PIs, oh how time flies...
23 • Kodi on the Pi (by crayolaeater on 2021-03-01 13:03:26 GMT from United States)
I am truly surprised of the difficulties you had with Kodi. Both times I have installed it, it went pretty much seamlessly to a working system on a Raspberry Pi (first on a 1B then a 3B). I did nothing fancy, just downloaded and followed the install directions from the official Rasberry and LibreElec sites [https://www.raspberrypi.org/ - https://libreelec.tv/]. A note here - the Pi computer is primarily a linux box (though you can also run the MS IOT software on it), but due to it's elementary hardware architecture, it does not boot like a normal PC, and as I gather through reading (not practice) it is somewhat a primitive yet effective system.
I have yet to have issues with regular Raspian images, or LibreElec images. In fact, there are now GUI tools from both parties to install their products to the microSD so you do it before that first cup of coffee. After that it was just plug it into the tv, (be sure to power on the tv before powering on the PI, just like the old days), and boot to finish the install by setting up the system. Then go. I don't use Kodi to direct connect to the internet, but that is just me, not a limit to Kodi. The newest one on the Pi3b was basically just an upgrade to allow me to watch X265 encoded media.
SO if you desire an open source solution, don't shy away from the Pi and LibreElec/Kodi - thay work well together. And yes you are running a minimal linux system (just enough to run Kodi), but it is just enough different that you have to go slow the first time you encounter it.
24 • Code audit (by crayolaeater on 2021-03-01 13:13:42 GMT from United States)
Jesse wrote "Another point I feel is important to make here is that a lot of code auditing is done using automated tools that look for common issues or mistakes".
That is somewhat akin to letting the fox guard the hen house in some aspects.
That is just me in my hesitancy to let AI and other machine code loose as an arbitrator in things that are important to me. Yet the practical side of me knows that we are doomed to live in caves again if we don't. I'm glad that the automated tools are there to let us get out of the muck towards the light, but their existence is not inherently that they make us safer.
25 • RED HAT OFFERES FREE SERVERS (by Hank on 2021-03-01 13:23:26 GMT from United States)
After the games Red Hat has played with open source they can keep the "not trustworthy offer" or free licences for ever.
Our worry is they will manage to kill the now developing open fork then change the direction yet again to ask for exhorbitant licence fees.
We are now running debian and will not go back.
26 • libreElec/Kodi (by Modd on 2021-03-01 13:34:08 GMT from Germany)
The problem of open source players is DRM restrictions...
Netflix will only work correctly on certain hardware. Google wants to gather yet more dollar millions by forcing users on to a paid version or at minimum using them as guinea pigs with endless recaptcha.
Codi on the pi is fine for local and open content.
27 • Kodi (by Horrace Lee on 2021-03-01 13:45:53 GMT from United States)
I for one did not people could have problems with kodi, I have been faithfully using it for thirteen years, even after moving to Linux. The only problem I have seen is when some of the channels go down. It performed the way it was supposed to, allowing me to watch the type of things I like to watch, it was to setup, even easier adding adding ons, I use it on our windows and linux computers and laptops, and I never run it without a vpn. We have some shoddy cable companies here where I live , that was why I started searching for a alternative and found Kodi.
28 • Kodi (by Tom on 2021-03-01 14:43:41 GMT from Germany)
I used OpenElec/OSMC years ago on a Raspberry Pi (1st gen, I think) for some time. No problems installing, but admittedly no need for Prime or Netflix then either. I even set up my DVB-T stick to record TV shows through Kodi, which worked well - for some time. Then, first programmed recordings suddenly stopped working, some time later, TVheadend consistently claimed another program would be blocking access to the DVB-T device (nonsense, of course), and eventually, when the whole installation ended up in an eternal reboot loop, I gave up about Kodi for several years.
I'm now running a multi-device strategy, with my living room receiver recording TV shows, a FireTV stick for Prime - and since recently, with a new single-board computer running CoreElec for nicely organising my external harddisks with movie and TV series recordings. Whatever works best for the purpose!
29 • This week's review (by CS on 2021-03-01 16:16:20 GMT from United States)
Main thing I learn from this week's review is the Fire Stick is a really well done piece of technology. My guess is Kodi and similar things grew up long before the age of streaming and are unable or unwilling to adapt to it. I didn't see any mention of Netflix on the few pages I saw on the Kodi website. The only mention of Youtube is in their social links. If they don't tout support it's hard to expect it to work.
30 • Kodi on TV (by Nozomu on 2021-03-01 16:16:36 GMT from Brazil)
I run Kodi on my Android TV, and it works fine here without having to mess around repos and whatnot.
31 • Toilete lid cover offers "free" ... (by whoKnows on 2021-03-01 16:55:59 GMT from Switzerland)
@25 • RED HAT OFFERES FREE SERVERS (by Hank)
"... eligible organizations will be granted ..."
To ... Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Oracle, Twitter ... ?
;)
32 • KODI + Netflix, HBO and Youtube (by Mário Pinto on 2021-03-01 17:21:52 GMT from Portugal)
I would agree with the Kodi setup problems. Although a year ago I managed to get up and running LibreELEC on a Rpi3 with Netflix, HBO Portugal and Youtube that I've later documented in portuguese here:
https://librehacks.blogspot.com/2020/05/raspberry-pi-osmc-kodi-netfilx-e-hbo.html
I've follow the pimylife guide: https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-netflix
Hope this helps!
33 • Vero 4K (by Gavin on 2021-03-01 22:09:19 GMT from Chile)
I can heartily recommend https://osmc.tv/vero/ which gives me all the Kodi I could desire in a neat little device running Debian.
34 • Auditing Kernel and the Foundation Problem (by Norwegian on 2021-03-01 23:20:19 GMT from Norway)
If you follow Linux Foundation on Facebook, you see there is not limit to whom they will cooperate with. Latest was a bank, a controversial Bank known be no do'godder.
As a lot of freedom conscious are pointing fingers at Big Tech, Linux Foundation is embedding them into their organization. One does not need to be neither a rocket science nor rather smart to see that these companies does not want Linux any good, and represent the spear head of 1984 in today's world.
One might say its a clear sell out strategy. The very few persons in that foundation might benefit personally very good from selling out a strategic point of Linux and that is the kernel auditing that is supposed to be so safe, according to a Q&A found above.
Never mind Linux Foundation is IN BED with the worst enemies possible as Microsoft, Google and Facebook. Just go to sleep Linux users as there is no one that can have the capability to audit that the autoaudit is not compromised, so its the perfect hack.
Out of the prior 31 comments there is not one single comment on the very core of Linux security that people seems to take for granted and hence that its the perfect place to BUY YOUR WAY IN TO ATTACH or SOCIALIZE YOUR WAY IN TO ATTACH.
Sharks are swimming in a circle around Linux Foundation and yes, kernel.org IS UNDER Linux Foundation.
Now I admit to like to provoke a bit and I got to ask...
Are Linux user getting stupid or what is this?
35 • Kodi can be easy-peasy (by Sam Adams on 2021-03-01 23:22:32 GMT from United States)
I've got Kodi running on my MacMini at home, I installed it on my brother's MacBook Pro, and I set it up with LibreElec on a Pi3 for my Mom. Each install went off without a hitch, strange you had such issues. The only thing I can say as a caveat is that you have to READ a good portion of the Kodi wiki or you will certainly have issues. While it isn't rocket surgery, you can't just plug-n-play in every case.
36 • @34 (by Dr. Dave on 2021-03-02 02:26:05 GMT from United States)
The GNU/Stallman/socialist left wing uses 'Free/Libre' slogans, but represents the mega wealthy universities of the world, while the Linux/Torvalds/capitalist right wing uses 'Open Source' slogans, but represents mega wealthy corporations. These seemingly disparate groups converge upon a single elitist agenda and neither of them behave in the best interest of the average person, who they see as pawns, marks, workhorses and guinea pigs.
Regarding the '1984' dystopia.. just look at how the Linux Foundation has partnered with IBM, World Economic Forum, etc with money from the Rockefeller Foundation, to push vaccine passports; tracking via smartphones. The Linux Foundation has demonstrated that they do not give a hoot about privacy.
https://www.linux.com/featured/linux-foundation-public-health-joins-the-fight-against-covid-19-pandemic/
https://www.lfph.io/
https://commonpass.org
Seems pretty obvious that GNU/Linux has always been part of this over-arching agenda. It mostly projects the appearance of a benevolent family of products/projects, however it fits too well in to the 'globalist' grand scheme to put a much trust in to it. I trust Stallman and Torvalds about as much as I trust Gates and Jobs.. all of these frontmen simply represent degrees of a single technocratic agenda.
"The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves." -Vladimir Lenin
37 • Kodi on Raspberry Pi (by Unusual Use Case on 2021-03-02 04:51:31 GMT from United States)
Yeah, the trouble here doesn't surprise me in the slightest. I happily use Kodi on a Raspberry Pi 2... to play back local media (like, thumb drive type local, I don't even have networked storage set up or anything). LibreELEC *used* to let me play back an album of music in a random order (I used to do this while doing housework), but wherever the button to do that went, I haven't found it in a long time. At first I figured it was a weird quirk that would be fixed in the next update, but it never came back.
As for streaming stuff from online, I tried once. It was about as much a headache as it outlined here. I really wish it worked better, but I've always been inclined to blame the service for not cooperating. I mean, Google demanding you create an account just to watch videos on the de facto internet video platform? The point. Y'all missed it. It's back there.
But yeah, LibreELEC (and OpenELEC before it), in my experience, really only seem to work nicely if you know what you're doing and plan to locally have/host everything. Even then, it's riddled with odd tiny little bugs (I'm looking at you, CEC switch that doesn't *actually* turn CEC off...) and the main benefits boil down to a well optimized interface for hooking up media to a TV. It's kind of unfortunate, because tiny, low-power computers running nice, open setups would be cool.
38 • Linux security is granted (by niceguy on 2021-03-02 09:14:09 GMT from United States)
@24, @34, @36
C'mon guys, Mr. Torvald was hired & is payed $1,ooo,ooo/year to be honest & true to the Linux users, not to those that pay him... Right?
39 • Playing Netflix etc with open source (by DTB on 2021-03-02 11:29:10 GMT from United Kingdom)
I use a Raspberry Pi4B with a version of the Chromium browser which has DRM compiled in.
It plays Netflix beautifully.
It also claims to be able to play Amazon Prime, but I haven't bothered to try.
I haven't tried streaming TV services.
40 • Thanks... (by Norwegian on 2021-03-02 18:43:03 GMT from Norway)
For at least some are asking questions and not just taking security for granted.
I am personally looking for alternatives to the Linux kernel, as i no longer trust that nor its "auditing" as the entire chain of command seems to be infected by Big Tech.
I ran away from Windowz for that reason. No trust in mr Gates or his worldvirus. The very reason Microsoft came to power, was a hidden strong hand that bought their way into competitors and sabotaged it from the inside. A not very well know part of human history.
Would be fun and nice if Distrowatch could sort of be a bit more critical towards the Linux Foundation and the kernel, rather than just take it for granted its not compromised.
Being inside Linux Foundation as such Big Tech takeover is done, gives you a lot of free lunches and free this and that. The sellout is a party for a few...
41 • no do gooders (no gooders?) (by Otis on 2021-03-03 00:29:43 GMT from United States)
@34 "If you follow Linux Foundation on Facebook, you see there is not limit to whom they will cooperate with. Latest was a bank, a controversial Bank known be no do'godder."
Vague. We need specifics in this discussion. What you say there.. can it be said about Atea Ataroa Limited in the U.A.E.?
Are we all just participating in more corporate fascism a-la Microsoft/Apple etc.. in its embryonic stages here at DW?
Is that the implication or inference we should be entertaining?
42 • The Foundation Problem (by Flyingalone on 2021-03-03 00:46:13 GMT from Australia)
@34 Are Linux user getting stupid or what is this?
I don't believe that Linux Users are ( getting ) stupid, just getting older and seeing a good thing 'Linux" getting in bed with Windows Google etc etc, the money is now a higher priority than YOUR freedom !
and as we get older we get tired of seeing the same things happen again and again with other ares not just tech and now now we are seeing Linux this good thing turning into just another one of 'those' big companies.
When Windows started buying into Linux some Linux Users could see the potential danger
that was the start of the end of Linux they thought rightly
Keep your friend close, Windows and Google (example)
Keep your enemies closer, Windows and Linux (again example)
or simply buy them out...
43 • Kodi (by Jeang3nie on 2021-03-03 02:23:29 GMT from United States)
The Kodi review is valid in the context of trying to use Kodi to replace a streaming stick through the use of third party addons. However, even a cursory read through the Kodi website will make it very obvious that those addons are not supported or recommended.
Please don't blame Kodi for the situation with Netflix. Netflix uses DRM to protect its videos, which is literally the only way they were able to negotiate media rights to the majority of their titles. If you want to watch Netflix on the same device, your best bet is the Chrome browser on an x86 computer. It's supposedly possible to install the widevine shared object in chromium on an arm board like the pi, your mileage will definitely vary and you can expect to spend some time tinkering.
Youtube is just Google being stupid. The api is a moving target. Again, to watch YouTube you're better off using a browser.
Where Kodi excels is in organizing a library of the media on your local network. I have a huge music collection and a rather large collection of movies ripped to a hard drive that I access using a Samba server using Kodi. I have also in the past used a tuner and MythTV to create my own DVR on a dedicated FreeBSD server, and accessed it using the official MythTV Kodi plugin, which makes Kodi into a really slick DVR and over the air TV viewer. Since I have Kodi on every TV in the house, it made for a nice whole house system. Expect to read a lot of documentation to set it up, and run a real operating system not descended from Ubuntu....
44 • Kodi for last 7+ years (by Dhoni on 2021-03-03 03:23:51 GMT from Indonesia)
I always have kodi on some device at my home. Now i run 4 of them, @pc, @laptop, @rpi4 on my bedroom and @android tvbox on my family room.
Why??
Because i got lots of movies, tv show and anime on my nas. And also i use kodi for streaming youtube/some video clip on my phone to my tv. Other than that, because i got tv cable that use rtp on their streaming (some of them is FTA) so i use udpxy to allow other device on my network to stream some live tv. This way i can save like $6 per device/month.
Roadmap: maybe if all tv channel here move 100% to DVB-T, i'll buy some dvbt rpi hat to stream all of them to my kodi on my network.
45 • Kodi (by penguinx86 on 2021-03-03 10:33:48 GMT from United States)
I tried using Kodi on my PC. Didn't do much for me. I mostly use a tiny Minix Neo desktop PC running Ubuntu to watch Youtube on my TV instead. But I'm upgrading to a Roku dedicated TV box soon. A dedicated TV box with a simple remote wold be simpler for the kids to use, without needing a keyboard or mouse.
46 • Kodi about a year ago (by Wally on 2021-03-04 12:56:38 GMT from United States)
I installed Kodi on Ubuntu 16.04 as indicated on wherever I was reading, around the year 2020. I was wondering why I had to use such an old version of the OS. For some reason, Kodi had so much trouble indexing my (Plex-worthy) local media that I just gave up on it, regardless of how slick the front-end might be. It was just tedious.
Now my HTPC just uses Thunar, VLC, and my trusty old NFS mount point (oh, and a web browser on occasion, Palemoon).
47 • Foundation rottening og alternatives (by Norwegian on 2021-03-04 18:07:33 GMT from Norway)
I am not alone in believing that Linux Foundation is now in the hands of Big Tech and hence that, its not really very interesting to trust in the kernel nor their auditing.
Microsoft is BUILT upon the idea to remove Personal from the PC. Mac took a bite of the apple themself in order to be reintroduced and "arise from death", and is the second largest surveillance software.
Linux Foundation is being eaten up by the same corporations that likes to believe your data belongs to them, and for all we know, the kernel is already corrupted.
Now let me just explain one thing. This shit might not be anything to worry about if you play games and watch youporn on your computer.
This becomes a worry if you live in a nation and all of a sudden your not on the Big Tech side of politics or your against lets say vaccines(an example). That is the sort of situation you like to trust the kernel, not to say military, automotive, corporate or state usage.
Linux is often there when trust is needed. Like in the ISS(International Space Station) and Zumwalt Class Destroyer is if i am correct, all Linux.
So as a target to infect or have a backdoor into, Linux Kernel is a hot target, and the most easy way to do that is to infiltrate the Foundation. This is what I see is going on as we speak.
So this leaves a big question... Where to head on?
Where is the ultimate "Security through obscurity"?
BSD? Hmmm... Not so much in my eyes, as its next on the list after Linux Kernel if not already on its back for Big Tech that throws silver money all over them...
So I had a little "roundup" and found:
Haiku
ReactOS
KolibriOS
MenuetOS
Did I do proper research and if not. What is missing on this list?
48 • Foundation / Linux rottening / Linux trustworthiness (by Mike on 2021-03-04 19:18:02 GMT from Germany)
@47: Finding alternatives is indeed not easy.
One alternative could be GNU/Hurd. But it's well known, in what state the Hurd kernel still is - which is at the same time a pretty good indication that the Hurd project and contributors are possibly not together with the aforemtioned bad guys.
Success to GNU/Hurd and all GNU/Linux alternatives, you're more needed than ever!
49 • Probably BSD (by Cheker on 2021-03-04 20:47:02 GMT from Portugal)
@47 I honestly don't see the BSD folks giving in to anybody, they very much just stay in their own bubble and do what they want to do and ignore everything else.
Haiku I think is built in a way that prevents it from seeing mass adoption ("mass" in Linux terms), and ReactOS is just not stable enough. I'm not familiar with the other two.
50 • @49 (by Dr. Dave on 2021-03-05 00:35:06 GMT from United States)
I personally will not hold my breath about BSD. If the often prophesized exodus from Linux to BSD occurs, BSD will simply become the next target of the 'weapons' that have been fired toward the 'Linux community' in recent years. Most Linux refugees in this hypothetical future would flock toward FreeBSD, who immediately caved to an aggressive social signalling campaign; leapt on to the suicidal CoC bandwagon. These are shots across the bow; a test run for later attacks.
Financially, I don't get the impression that any direct funding is supplied by Apple, however there is a bit of a circular relationship; Apple DOES fund Clang and some other stuff that FreeBSD 'depends' upon and portions of FreeBSD's kernel have been used to build Apple's products. So while FreeBSD folks like to claim there is no substantial connection, I would be less than surprised if Apple openly gobbled them up.
On the flip-side, BSD's heritage & namesake links to a mega-university and Unix itself, to a telecommunications behemoth. Can we ever trust that the links of these chains have truly been broken? I'd like to, but I don't. So will OpenBSD or NetBSD respond to these pressures in the same way as FreeBSD? Only if they grow enough to draw attention from one of the internet's many corporate/university-driven, screeching mobs.
The sad truth is that anything that depends upon the internet, or that the internet depends upon, is ultimately subject to the global technocratic model for business and social order. It doesn't all happen at the same time (because then it'd be too obvious) but everything on the internet either falls in line with the corporations & universities, lays low, or gets extinguished. Unfortunately 99% of people are too hornswoggled to care and the other 1% will be forced in to compliance or out of society.
51 • Kernel/Large Software Auditing (by TRex on 2021-03-05 06:50:18 GMT from United States)
@34 @36 @40 @47 @50 All true and accurate points. Over the last 30 years we have allowed ourselves to be lured into switching our societies over to a fully digital based technology dependency. Now trying to avoid using Linux, Windows, Apple, BSD, xxx, etc is like trying to run away from using air. We have literally doomed ourselves into a 1984 scenario by doing this. The required code to operate is now way too complex for any one individual to make or understand by themselves. The large entities that do create and maintain our software are all controlled at varying degrees by the same globalists that seem to be hell-bent on destroying our world. Another area of concern is the hardware in our devices, computers, and routers which may contain malicious circuitry that can be used for spying and theft and may be even harder to audit than software such as the Linux kernel. A full on digital based society may prove to be our undoing as a civilization.
53 • Freed Open-Source - Both software And hardware (by Fossilizing Dinosaur on 2021-03-08 02:44:42 GMT from United States)
Until Freed Open-Source hardware becomes the standard (and thus vendors must actually compete), we are unlikely to see a robust marketplace for either hardware or software. Accommodating proprietary pranks in hardware drives burgeoning software in kernels and drivers - it's unsupportable in the long term. But extremism in Freed software licensing equally fails in this regard.
Didn't the internet come from universities sharing "defense" research?
Wasn't Unix likewise born for similar large-organization interests?
…
It's almost amusing how often reviews seem to (deliberately?) choose an approach most likely to fail.
Number of Comments: 52
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
| | |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Flonix
Flonix USB Edition was a light-weight GNU/Linux operating system for personal computers, desktop-oriented. Flonix USB Edition run from USB key drives.
Status: Discontinued
|
| Tips, Tricks, Q&As | | Questions and answers: Strange, unusual, and fun things to do with Linux |
| Tips and tricks: Creating, removing, modifying, and ignoring aliases |
| Questions and answers: Selecting an init implementation |
| Tips and tricks: Fix filenames, manage networks from the command line and more command line tips |
| Myths and misunderstandings: The value of version numbers |
| Questions and answers: Hiding messages from the kernel while booting |
| Tips and tricks: Command line weather, ionice, rename files, video preview snapshot, calednar, ls colour settings |
| Questions and answers: Distributions for audio recording, multi-distro disk layout |
| Questions and answers: Checking on which applications depend on a low-level package |
| Questions and answers: Live network statistics and package management layers |
| More Tips & Tricks and Questions & Answers |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
