News - Dimitrology

July 25, 2021/0 Comments/by Dimitrology

LE 9.2 fix #2 for widevine

Today we are releasing a LibreELEC update for the 9.2 branch to primarily fix Widevine, its that piece of software that allows playback of Netflix, Amazon Prime and other paid video services.

The new version of widevine (4.10.2252.0 or newer) is mandatory to keep it working after the streaming services finally switched to the new version.
With that new version (that is taken from ChromeOS) all ARM devices need additional libraries to make it work again.

The update is only available for Raspberry Pi 2, 3, 4 and Slice 3. The fix is already included in our LE10 builds too.
The Generic (PC / Intel / AMD / Nvidia) images need no changes.

SUPPORT

Project staff are available in the forum to answer questions and provide advice. Please remember this is a beta. We are expecting some minor bugs/issues to be found. If you have a problem, technical issues are best accompanied by system and Kodi debug logs – help us to help you.

Enjoy!

July 18, 2021/0 Comments/by Dimitrology

https://kodi.weblate.cloud/accounts/register/

Switching Translations to Weblate

The moment is here to move to an even more optimal translation service for our application. Ultimately we have chosen Weblate, and its service will be hosted at https://kodi.weblate.cloud/.

This is done to optimize our workflow and to allow easy inclusion of all add-ons in the official Kodi add-on repository.

The transition has taken its time during at least the last year, so if you have made any requests at Transifex for new languages or team additions in that period, we’re sorry we couldn’t implement them.

All current translations have been transferred to Weblate, and we would like to thank you for all your efforts in making Kodi the multi-lingual success it is. We hope you will join us in our revived efforts to make Kodi accessible to even more languages using Weblate.

For now, our most current resources at Transifex are locked, meaning translators will no longer have access. The final switch over to Weblate is planned for July the 14th, 2021. We hope to see you all there.

Please sign up at Weblate here:

You can visit this forum post to let us know which language team you would like access to (and if you are a coordinator for that language): https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=363132

We encourage all add-on developers with add-ons in the official Kodi add-on repository to submit their add-ons for translation: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=363251&pid=3045468#pid3045468

Best regards,

The Kodi Translations Team

July 13, 2021/0 Comments/by Dimitrology

Gadget, News

A Few Ways That Everyone Should Be Using Digital Technology

In today’s world, virtually everyone spends a major chunk of the time, on a daily basis, interacting with digital tools, technologies, and devices of various sorts.

For some people, this is more or less limited to things like online banking and checking emails, while for others it involves pastimes like coding, managing an ecommerce business, cryptocurrency trading, or any number of other things.

Certain ubiquitous manifestations of digital technology raise concerns among psychologists and public commentators. For example, the popular Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” shines a light on some of the potential negative consequences of the major social media platforms, and the fact that they are so widely used around the world.

One way or the other, however, it’s clear that digital technologies are here to stay and will only become increasingly more sophisticated and embedded in our lives and societies for the foreseeable future.

Keeping that in mind, here are a handful of ways that everyone should be using digital technology in order to improve and uplift their lives in a variety of different ways.

Exploring different creative pursuits

There are all sorts of different creative pursuits out there that you might choose to try your hand at, ranging from graphic art, to making music, to building a website, to name just a few.

One of the great things about the digital technologies that are so widespread today is that they open all sorts of doors to engaging in various forms of creative expression.

If you wanted to try creating music, for example, there are all sorts of software programs out there – many of them free – that can allow you to get started experimenting from the comfort of your own bedroom. The 2000’s era Swedish DJ Basshunter is just one example of a musician who got his start in this way.

Likewise, there are a huge number of different courses, resources, and tutorials available online across different digital channels that can help you take up a wide range of different hobbies, and see whether a particular creative pursuit is right for you.

Rather than just using digital tools and technologies for passive entertainment, why not also try to use them for active creation as well?

Cataloguing significant life moments and events

Once upon a time, a handwritten paper journal was about the best way anyone had at their disposal of commemorating the significant events of their day-to-day lives – and in the more recent past, family photo albums helped to expand things.

Today, however, there are an enormous number of different digital tools available to help us to catalogue and commemorate the most significant moments and events of our lives, so that we can reminisce for years to come, and share our personal stories in detail with our loved ones both today and in the future.

Of course, photo management apps can help you to more seamlessly and effectively curate the pictures that you accumulate over time, While specific journaling apps and programs such as “Day One Journal” for Apple can help to give you a great and seamless way to get started.

As we often forget the details of significant events in our lives, and since “a picture is worth a thousand words” as the saying goes, everyone should consider cataloguing the significant moments and events in their lives in this manner.

Tracking and pursuing goals and habits

While there has been a lot of fair criticism made in recent years of the excesses of “productivity culture,” and while some people certainly do become hyper-zealous in pursuing their goals, to the extent that they miss out on the beauty of the present moment, goal setting can still be remarkably powerful way of helping to keep yourself aligned with your priorities, and to live your best life.

Today, there are all sorts of different digital tools and resources on offer to help you track and effectively pursue your goals, in addition to managing your habits. And once you have systems in place for effectively tracking and pursuing both your goals and your habits, you can really make some amazing things happen in your life.

By all means, you should try out a handful of different tools and approaches for goal setting and habit tracking.

Enjoying great stories

As human beings, we are all deeply moved by powerful storytelling, and great stories – in the form of novels, fireside tales, anecdotes, and also films, TV shows, and even well written video games – can give us profound insight into the human experience and the course of our own lives.

So, enjoy some of the great forms of digital storytelling that are out there, whether that means watching TV shows, or playing some games. As long as you strike the right balance, these things have the potential to really enrich your life.

July 2, 2021/0 Comments/by Dimitrology

LibreELEC (Matrix) 10.0 BETA5

LibreELEC 10.0 BETA 5 is released! bringing Kodi (Matrix) v19.1 (+ additional fixes) to LibreELEC users.
Changes from LibreELEC 10.0 BETA 4 are listed here. As discussed in the recent Upcoming Changes blog post it, the 10.0 release is a disruptive and limited hardware release. If you have not read the blog post – please do – because we are not releasing images for all hardware. In summary: this is a stable release for Generic (x86_64 PCs). Stable-Beta for Allwinner and Rockchip. Stable “Alpha” for Raspberry Pi 4 as the code is still very new. RPi 2/3 are still in development targeting an LE10.2 release. RPi 0/1 are discontinued. All others hardware is still in development and not in a state for formal releases.

WIDEVINE

LibreELEC 10 Beta5 is out of the box compatible with the new widevine version (4.10.2252.0 or newer) and no manual changes are required anymore to make it work.

** DO NOT UPGRADE! **

Yes, we mean that. The team are super keen for you to run the latest LibreELEC release but we recommend you clean install not upgrade an existing installation – unless you are upgrading from a recent nightly image, i.e. you are already using Kodi 19.

The two simple (but complex) reasons for this advice are:

a) Python3 changes in Kodi v19 mean 99.99% of add-ons stop working. Most official Kodi add-ons now have Matrix compatible versions in the Kodi repo, but the transtion to them is not always smooth. Incompatible Python2 add-ons are disabled automatically on upgrade and users need to find/update add-ons to Python3 versions before re-enabling them. Banned/piracy add-ons are heavily impacted by the Python3 change, and while we don’t care about them breaking, we do care about the abuse that’s often hurled at staff when we refuse sympathy or support to that subset of users.

b) Kernel changes for RPi4 users combined with no release for RPi2/3 users and discontinued support for RPi0/1 users means signifant changes in the user experience (Raspberry Pi users are a combined 80% of our active installed base). We are pretty confident RPi4 users will like the update since it brings HBR audio and initial HDR video support, but it’s still a big change. Generic (where there is a lower level of change) and Allwinner/Rockchip (which already run on modern kernels) are less impacted.

SPARE CARDS AND BACKUPS

Using a spare SD card or USB stick to clean install onto makes “rolling back” in the event of problems simple. If you will reuse the same boot media, make a backup first and move it off-box so you can clean install an earlier release then restore from the backup. Kodi does not support in-place downgrades and it ever worked for you in the past it was luck not design (and Python3 guarantees problems this time). Your failure to make a backup is not our problem!

So unless you are already running an image with Kodi 19 inside, a clean install is preferred. We apologise for the inconvenience but we expect a much higher than normal support effort with in-place upgrades so it’s sensible advice.

CHANGES

You can read the official Team Kodi release announcement for Matrix/v19.0 here and (again) the recent Upcoming Changes blog post for more info on Kodi changes and the transition to GBM/V4L2. You probably (and hopefully) won’t notice, but every package that goes into the LibreELEC OS has been updated to a latest or recent release. It’s been two years since Kodi 18 was released so the changeset is too large to list. GitHub has the full history.

SUPPORT

Project staff are available in the forum to answer questions and provide advice. Please remember this is a beta. We are expecting some minor bugs/issues to be found and there will probably be a BETA2 release before we reach 10.0. If you have a problem, technical issues are best accompanied by system and Kodi debug logs – help us to help you.

Enjoy!

June 28, 2021/0 Comments/by Dimitrology

FILELINKED AND OTHER APPS ARE DEAD – BEST FILELINKED ALTERNATIVE

Filelinked and other applications are not working. Is Filelinked dead or can you fix Filelinked? Are there any working alternatives to Filelinked app that worth your time?

The Filelinked application seems to be gone and the developer has gone AWOL. None of his social accounts are working and he also didn’t post anything officially as of right now. The Filelinked application is also not working, even his website is down. And even if you can download the application, you will receive a message that the filelinked code is not found.

Best Filelinked Alternative

The best alternative at this point is APK Time: https://dimitrology.com/sdm_downloads/apktime-apk-download/

That all seem to point that the Filelinked application is dead for good. But no worries, we have plenty of alternatives. Find more on https://dimitrology.com/android-apk/

✅ Subscribe: https://goo.gl/dbo6IL

✅ Tech Is My Passion Channel: https://goo.gl/hDiwEg

🇬🇷 My Greek Channel – https://bit.ly/2R3tDj0

How To Use On Devices Not Android TV / Fire TV

More KODI Addons?

Visit our always up-to-date list with the Best KODI Addons Of The Month to browse through the best, working KODI addons at the moment. This is a list that is always under constant update so only the top add-ons will be listed.

June 25, 2021/0 Comments/by Dimitrology

6 Things You Should Know Before Getting Into Crypto Trading

Lately, there’s been more and more talk about getting in on cryptocurrency trading, and curiosity is at an all-time high. Why are people so interested? How much is there to gain from it? How does it all work? Well, there’s a lot you should know before getting into it, and going into it blind is leaving it all to luck, to say the least. Just like with any investment, you should make sure you’re properly informed on how it works, and make sure you can get as high chances as possible on your returns.

Source

What are cryptocurrencies?

So what are cryptocurrencies? They’re a currency online that you can use for various purchases, which is their intended purpose. However, the main attraction of these currencies is the money that you could get back after investing in them. While a cryptocurrency might not be worth much at the time you invest, over the course of a day – it could skyrocket. When it comes to trading, you can simply look at it for its value to you, and how popular it is with other people.

How many are there?

When it comes to picking the right cryptocurrency for you, you certainly have your options to pick from. There are thousands of choices for you, but you only need to concern yourself with a select few if you’re trying to make something of them. You’ve most likely heard of Bitcoin or BTC, which is the leading cryptocurrency with the highest value, and then Ethereum as a distant second. Once these currencies would have been cheap to invest in, but now their prices are within the thousands. The prices of them can rise and fall frequently, so you have to be paying attention to the market!

It’s more or less gambling

When you’re investing in cryptocurrencies, you’re never guaranteed a return on your investment. While it might look promising to invest a lot into a currency that you believe in, that value could rise or fall depending on which point you invest. If you’re putting your money in at around the same time as everyone else – great! If you’re investing at the peak of its value – you’re about to potentially lose a lot of money. If you’re going to get into these kinds of investments, it’s better to make sure you’re not putting too much on the line.

Don’t invest too much at once

When you start out, it can be hard to decide whether or not you should be confident in your investments. If you’re only investing a small amount of money, it can help you to get used to it, working your way to more confident choices. As with anything, you can’t expect to be good at things straight from the bat, so it’s better to take it slowly! While you might be worried that if you invest a small amount, you’re going to miss out on a big spike in values, you should understand that will always be the case with any investment. It’s better to be safe than sorry in this case.

Make sure to do your research

One of the things you should make sure to do before picking is research. Putting your money into a currency that has gained no traction for a long time could be the equivalent of throwing your money away. There are many ways to find out about popular cryptocurrencies, and which might soon rise in value – so you should get yourself informed! It would also be a good idea to ask the question: When is alt season? As it can help you to make those cheaper and potentially riskier investments. If you don’t know what alt season is, it’s more or less the time in which the less popular cryptocurrencies start to see a rise in value. It’s good to know these things before choosing one of your own.

Where to invest

Where you choose to invest is important, as it’s going to dictate the reliability and access to your money. You should also be aware that there are some scam platforms out there, that are set up only to take your money instead. With that said, there are a number of secure cryptocurrency trading platforms you can choose from, and you’ll likely pick based on your preferences. Some exchanges will have higher fees, some will have a higher variety of choices, and some might even be simpler to use. The bottom line is, you should make sure you understand everything you should know before you start putting money in.

June 19, 2021/0 Comments/by Dimitrology

The Votes Have Been Counted and Verified…

Credit: Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

Many of you will probably be aware that, since the dawn of time, each version of Kodi takes a vaguely sci-fi/fantasy/movie-themed name, in alphabetical order (Ed: no, don’t ask what happens after we get to Z). This has become common practice throughout the IT industry – look at iOS, Android, Ubuntu, Intel chips, and similar: it provides a useful and friendly way to refer to a release without getting tied up in numbers and decimal points.

Anyway, over the past 13 years or so we’ve chewed through Atlantis, Babylon, Camelot, Dharma, Eden, Frodo, Gotham, Helix, Isengard, Jarvis, Krypton, Leia and Matrix … and, as we branch the code for the next release, it’s time to bestow a name on our next version.

We ran a thread on the forum (thank you to everyone for their suggestions), filtered them for repetition, our ability to remember how to type them, and general scandal, and then put the top community-suggested names to a Team vote.

While we’ve previously had very specific names, this one is perhaps a little broader in its reference.

So, is it…

A series designator for replicants?
An extra-dimensional realm that exists outside of space and time, visited by both Kirk and Picard?
A post-cyberpunk trilogy by Ramez Naam?
A dungeon in World of Warcraft?
The heart of every protoss settlement in StarCraft?
All of the above, and perhaps more?

Ladies, gentlemen, non-binary, non-human, and inorganic lifeforms… I give you …

Kodi 20 “Nexus”

< muted fanfare >

Don’t get too excited about a new version dropping any time soon, as 19.x “Matrix” is still fresh out of the oven. However, you now know what’s coming, and, if you’re inclined, you can now follow development of this specific branch.

June 8, 2021/0 Comments/by Dimitrology

LE 9.2 and LE10 fix for widevine

Today we are releasing a LibreELEC update to primarily fix Widevine, its that piece of software that allows playback of Netflix, Amazon Prime and other paid video services.

The new version of widevine (4.10.2252.0 or newer) is mandatory to keep it working after May 31, 2021.
With that new version (that is taken from ChromeOS) all ARM devices need additional libraries to make it work again.
Sadly its not that simple and some not too nice workarounds came in place to keep it working due changes at ChromeOS.

The Generic (PC / Intel / AMD / Nvidia) images need no changes.

Raspberry Pi 2, 3 and 4

For Raspberry Pi 2/3 and 4 we made the LE 9.2.7 images that work out of the box. Just update to it and it should work.
We will not provide auto update to that version – you will need to manually update if you need widevine.
No additional changes needed (check InputStream Helper add-on for widevine update 4.10.2252.0 or newer).

LibreELEC 10

Those changes are highly experimental and might causes problems. For LE10 we added the needed changes in a different way – if you don’t need widevine don’t do anything.
At least LibreELEC 10Beta4 or a more recent image is required. If you are using 9.2 for Rockchip devices please update to LE10, there are no 9.2 images with that fix included.

You need to create a kodi.conf manually and add a parameter to make it work. Currently there are no plans to implement it differently to make these manual changes unnecessary due the missing overall testing.

How to make it work:

Edit the kodi.conf and add these change with the terminal

echo "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libtcmalloc_minimal.so" > /storage/.config/kodi.conf
reboot

Edit the kodi.conf with the editor from Windows

Go to the network share of your device and create the kodi.conf at the Configfiles folder with following content.
Afterwards restart your device.

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libtcmalloc_minimal.so

If you are interested in details https://github.com/xbmc/inputstream.adaptive/issues/678 and https://github.com/LibreELEC/LibreELEC.tv/pull/5376.

SUPPORT

Project staff are available in the forum to answer questions and provide advice. Please remember this is a beta. We are expecting some minor bugs/issues to be found. If you have a problem, technical issues are best accompanied by system and Kodi debug logs – help us to help you.

Enjoy!

May 31, 2021/0 Comments/by Dimitrology

#libreelec IRC moves to Libera.Chat

The #libreelec IRC support channel on freenode has been moved to Libera Chat. The last month has seen a series of management issues on freenode that have precipitated a mass exodus of FOSS projects to alernative IRC services; mostly Libera Chat or OFTC. Our original intention was to simply open another #libreelec channel on alternative servers. Our project staff are not big IRC users and channel traffic is low, so presence on several servers wouldn’t be a big deal. However:

This morning the “new management” on freenode executed a hostile takeover of hundreds of IRC channels including projects and groups we have interests in. Channel operators were removed, devoiced, and where channels had been closed (after relocating to another IRC service) the channels were reopened to disguise their decision to move. Why? .. simply because they mentioned Libera Chat in the channel topic.

So far our own channel on freenode has not been impacted, but in the backstory to LibreELEC’s existence there are events where one person decided we were ‘his’ hobby not ‘our’ project, staff were banned or had rights removed from project infrastructure, and a series of unilateral decisions were taken against the clearly expressed wishes of the entire team. The authoritarian activities seen on freenode feel familiar.

Libera Chat is a non-profit organisation newly-created by the former freenode admin team with a governance structure designed to prevent anything similar happening again. That also feels familiar, so we are moving. See you there