That is right. One also should consider that there are people who are not that tech savvy and just want to get rid of windows without much efforts. Or...people like me who just don't have that much time to try many distros. I am an tech enthusiast anyway I have priorities. For instance: I am running an 'exotic' Linux Enigma server for 6 years already. ATM I am busy with OSCAM configs. (just to illustrate that there are other things to do than to test distros) Anyway on desktop I have decided to go for mint. I have to say I rarely return to windows. I got familiar with it. When reading some of the w10 related threads/issues I smile. I am happy that all that does not affect me anymore...and I can go for the cool stuff. To me it is and was always interesting how to realize stuff far away from mainstream solutions. There you still can enjoy freedom. I had no problem using windows since 3.11 to 7. Anyway I noticed that windows never was a powerful OS. The monopoly situation of M$ for instance killed OS/2 warp which was far better. Before windows came out the OSes based on 68 architecture were far better (compared to 86). Amiga's workbench had 'windows' before M$ even thought about them... I switched to 86 architecture when the Intel Pentium CPU came out..together with DOS 6.22 and later windows..... In 2015 some months ago I left windows as main OS @home....at the company I am admin as well....only there I (have to) deal with windows actually every day.
For those of you who have the time, patience and tech savvy to test different Linux distros and report about them, I thank you. Because of your hard work, Linux novices such as myself can find direction and ultimately choose a distro that's best suited for our needs. Linux mint is the best distro (imho) for the beginner. It's easy to install, friendly, and will provide the novice user with the best experience while allowing a fairly easy path away from Windows. So please. keep contributing. Your hard work is appreciated.
@MJ, @Yen and all that support this forum. I think I speak for the majority of the contributors here, it's a passion and sharing is a pleasure. In fact, when LM 17.3 goes final, I hope to create our own distro (LM-MDL if you will) with all the bells and whistles - just need the artistic guys to provide MDL themed wallpapers and such (we will be going with kde-type blue icons on cinnamon)
Can we start with the wish-list, please? Kodi and all the codecs included, please... Also, the best virtual machine kinda SW, too - just to be totally independent from Winblows...
Okey Dokey, Gors, which VM do you prefer? Is VMware WS 12 Player OK? Got it setup with the new kernel (4.3) and it flies..
That is kind of a big undertaking, and I wish you all the luck with that. I would very much like to see what you turn out. As for a VM, I would stick with free software. Something like (the dreaded) Virtual Box, or better QEMU would work IMO. Plus you would be keeping it within the rules here. Kodi and all the codecs is a little hard since there is A LOT of codecs and A LOT of them don't work. I know someone on another forum that does that for Windows and it gets updated A LOT because of codecs that break and get updated very often. So it can be done, but it is a lot of work.
And sharing is caring!!! I have no preference, since I never managed to work with it in Linux properly, hence the question... THANX!!! As for Kodi, I have to say: these guys could have fooled me... since it's all working , heh... Under Winblows or in Raspberry Pi or...
You are right, the playback codecs do work well. I misunderstood and thought that you meant the plugins and addons. I have Kodi on Windows 7 and I also run OpenELEC on my HTPC, and the addons ("channels") are hit and miss.
I have Kodi (formerly XBMC) running on Enigma2..... Enigma2 PVRs have also a very good web interface which allows you to get streams of any satellite program. I had Kodi on windows, too. But later I realized I do not really need it since Enigma's openwebif is very powerful to remote control the PVR and get the streams. I never dared to use OSCam since I thought it is complex to configure. I used CCcam or MGcamd. But I am impressed. It even has a web interface which I can access from FF on Linux. ATM I am struggling to get rid of some freezers of some channels. On MGCamd I had been able to remove all..... Now I need to setup an OSCam.dvbapi to define priorities for unique CAIDs and ignores (mulitcrypt channels)...if you know what I mean. Still not familiar with all settings/configs..wow there are so many things to configure/try... sry for OT.
I do know... I am in the team (PBNIGMA) which has successfully ported a complete Kodi to run from E2 and you can go back without a restart - the first ever, getting the best of both worlds in one! This is for ARM platform (popular WeStek ) but the proper porting for Mipsel, SH4 etc. might be tricky... What we have at the moment is Kodi Direct, which is not Kodi and its cumbersome and slow and... Better than nothing but... OSCam Emu is the way to go - they went by far the farthest... Try and tell! Enjoy the hobby!
Kodi runs quite well (MIPSEL) on VU boxes (VTi) already. I still have a dual core Broadcom Mips Processor. Their latest 4K!!! box has got an ARM SoC AFAIK. Probably the Mips will disappear in the future. I am enjoying E2 boxes for 6 years already. I am using it as backup server and media server for any kind at my network @home. Besides of that as 'ordinary' SAT_TV PVR. Due to its openwebif I can access it from anywhere via my VPN tunnel. There's also an android app to control it. It is connected to my stereo as well, sound is great. Pure freedom! One of the best devices I ever have got....
Which Kodi, on which box exactly? What's "quite well"? Is it v. 13, half of it unusable, it needs a reboot to switch between GUIs (E2 and Kodi) etc.? My developer friends tell me it's a typical Marusys scam... Not any time soon, I can assure you (sadly!) - ET10000 is doing it all (minus the very latest, for which it has no HW support, of course... but that standard of compression is not yet relevant, so...)
I know they run an old version. v13.2 compiled on 15th of November 2015, though. Quite well means it does what v13.2 offers. Nah, it needs no reboot, you can shutdown it and you're back on E2 GUI, or just exit it and return to E2 while it runs at background. XBMC starts within seconds on my box. I almost never use it, though. It seems Marusys has no priority to port newer versions and they introduced XBMC a short time ago....but actually nobody misses XBMC. There is a VT image which is supported by a great German community. Their image contains already anything so one can pass on it.... The major reason why I stick with VU boxes is the great community. The VT image has an online feed for many years already. Decent plugins to run...all up to date, many skins to choose. (Today for instance OSCam has been updated) The mediaportal plugin is top notch...also web radio and the mediaplayer.....not to forget the HD picture quality on TV. Due to the competent German developers for Marusys there it's number uno (sold boxes) in Germany......and they are first with 4K.... I am very satisfied with their boxes, ATM I am running a VU+ duo2 with 2 dual SAT and one cable tuner 3 TB HDD..... I do not advertise Marusys, but...I am very familiar with their stuff already....and enjoy the community...I guess others have decent boxes as well.... The default E2 from Marusys is crap, though. You can forget it....
Here's the response from my dev friend: "Reboot is no longer needed in Vu? OK... But all the rest is completely irrelevant, since it goes for all the manufacturers/STBs/E2s. If anything is really well supported and stable - it's DMM. If for no other reason, then drivers and CI support. Vu kernels are s**te as usual, picture quality not good, in fact in older Duo and Uno it's better etc. etc." There, some other opinions, for Linux enthusiasts, if interested in STBs with Linux... Maybe open another thread with this OT?
I guess we can go on a little. I can move the posts later if we go on debating controversially. I don't know from where you have this statements, but I cannot agree with them. (they are outdated) My first box was an old duo (still runs well btw and gets updates!!!). Picture quality is slightly worse on SD and worse on HD compared to my duo2. (Probably due to the capability of 1080p.) I am referring to VT Image NOT to Marusys's original. PLnick compiles stable kernels. I started with image version 3 and run v 9 ATM. NEVER had a pink screen since v7 (which is synonym to BSOD). VTI 9 is based on open enigma 3 already. The duo 2 can emulate/run CI plus modules (originally restricted Hardware ) inside and breaks some original CI+ restrictions. Original SKY cards are running in their (paired) CI plus module in the box. One can record the current channel unencrypted! Homesharing via network is not possible though. It still is when running directly in a card slot without CI+ module and filtering pairing EMMs with OSCam. Dream boxes are overpriced and have poor HW, picture quality is comparable, though. (some say DM8000 is better some say VU duo2) Have they made a new one after the DM8000? No gigabit LAN, no dual core, no transcoding chip, less memory. They WERE good years ago. But they are the original provider of E boxes. (I had one and sent it back, not satisfied, unstable and poor pic quality, it had been a DM500 though) If you compare the tech specifications alone VU duo2 to DM8000 you should recognize DM8000 is an outdated box. Gigablue is also better. As posted already the Marusys E2 is crap. VU support forum is the way to make the box to be a decent one. XBMC is not well supported, right. But we have the mediaportal.