Tag Archives: libreelec

Libreelec8 addon building for Orange PI PC

In the article about the Libreelec8 build for Orange PI PC

Libreelec8 in OrangePI PC

we created the environment and compiled the Libreelec8 image for our development board. We integrate what it has been said in the previous article showing how to build  the Libreelec 8 addons for our Orange PI PC board.

Now we proceed to build some addons. The packages that you can build are available in the kodi-binary-addons folder as shown below

libreelec8 addonsand in the packages/addons folder

addons packages

We build the  pvr.iptvsimple addon running the following command from the /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec/libreelec-8.0 folder

addon command

We build the proftpd addon, among those avaliable in the packages/addons  folder

The compiled addons are available in the following folder

addons

Here are the links to download some compiled addons

PVR addons

Service Addons

Libreelec8 in OrangePI PC

This article describes the steps that I ran to prepare a first version of Libreelec 8 in Orange PI PC cards and other H3 socs.

Starting from the Debian development envinronment, with its installed packages, already used for the compilation of OpenELEC 7

 Openelec compilation for Orange PI PC

we proceed to build an Libreelec 8 image.

We started as basis from the work done for Openelec 7 and Libreelec 7 available on the two github repositories

H3 Openelec 7 Github

H3 Libreelec 7 Github

Log in a unix command shell as user sviluppo; create a folder, libreelec , under orangepi folder and move into it

Clone the Libreelec8 github

The patches have been created for a specific version of the commit, so we align our github clone to that version

Download from the following link the patches, the H3 project and other stuff

H3 Libreelec 8

Unzip this file in /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec

Run the following steps

1)Copy  to /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec/libreelec-8.0/projects the folder

H3

2) Copy to /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec/libreelec-8.0/packages/multimedia  the folders

cedarx
libmpeg2

3) Copy to /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec/libreelec-8.0/packages/tools the folder

sunxi-tools

4) Copy to /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec/libreelec-8.0/packages/sysutils  the folder

  sunxi-sys-utils

5) Copy to /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec/libreelec-8.0/packages/graphics  the folder

sunxi-mali

6) Copy to /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec/libreelec-8.0/packages/linux-drivers  the folder

mt7601u

7)  The following patches are available in /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec/H3LE8/patches folder

linux.patch

image.patch

mkimage.patch

kodi.patch

libcec.patch

u-boot.patch

u-boot-release.patch

u-boot-update.patch

Patch the code from the /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec folder running the following commands

Proceed to the image build for Orange PI PC from the folder /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec/libreelec-8.0  running

At the end of the compilation in the /home/sviluppo/orangepi/libreelec/libreelec-8.0/target folder we find the files to install or update Libreelec 8

 At the link

Openelec 7 H3 FAQ

we find the boards we can build changing the SYSTEM parameter in the building command

SYSTEM=opi2
SYSTEM=opione
SYSTEM=opipc
SYSTEM=opiplus
SYSTEM=opilite
SYSTEM=opipcplus
SYSTEM=opiplus2e
SYSTEM=bpim2p
SYSTEM=bx2

This image is a first attempt to build Libreelec 8 for  H3  socs. The image was installed on Orange PI PC and the system worked well, but still bugs and malfunctions may occur.

Here is the built Libreelec 8 image for Orange PI PC

Orange PI PC Libreelec 8 Image

We tested this image on an Orange PI PC board.

Here are other images we did’t test on the devices

Orange Pi2 Libreelec 8 Image

Orange Pi Lite Libreelec 8 Image

Orange Pi One Libreelec 8 Image

Orange Pi PC Plus Libreelec 8 Image

Orange Pi Plus Libreelec 8 Image

Orange Pi Plus 2e Libreelec 8 Image

WARNING: The image installation on the device is at your own risk. We accept no responsibility if the installation leads to  malfunction or block of the device.

The following article shows how to build the addons

Libreelec 8 addon building for Orange PI PC

Remote control configuration for Libreelec on Amlogic Socs

In the previous article we installed on a microsd card Libreelec and started the device with this image

Libreelec Image for Amlogic socs

The remote control of the Beelink Minimx III is basic, so to have more keys  we decided to associate another remote control to the box.

We chose the following remote control that has more buttons included

remote control

According to this document on Amlogic site, although prepared in Chinese, through the use of online translators

How to change IR codes

It shows that the soc Amlogic natively manages the NEC protocol for remote controls and through remote.conf file we can associate the remote control code to the Linux system events. The map of the codes for the Linux system events is available in the header files of the Linux kernel

Input Event Codes

As a first step we log on Libreelec in ssh with root/libreelec. Copy the  /etc/amremote/libreelec.conf file as remote.conf in /storage/.config folder

and edit it as follows

Load the new codes of the remote file with the command

Press some button of the new remote control and run

In the case of compatible remote control we should see messages as shown below

The format is as follows: 0xAABBCCCC. Following Amlogic document linked above, the remote control code for a specific key is 0xBB; while defining the remote control code we have to use 0xCCCC0001. AA corresponds to the inverse logic of the command. In the case of the above example

BB = 0x51 = 01010001 in binary. The logical inverse = 10101110 in binary, which is just 0xAE.

AA = 0xAE. Binary = 10101110

The AA code is not used for our remote control configuration.

Press all the buttons on remote control and run the dmesg -c command. In our case we have the following codes

The mapping of the remote control in kodi is  in the /usr/share/kodi/system/keymaps/remote.xml file.

We mapped the remote control codes to the Linux input events. As an example let’s consider the Power button. The remote control code is

The KEY_POWER  event in the input-event-codes.h file is

We  created a link between the remote control code and the event in Linux in the  key_begin, key_end section of  the remote.conf file

Between the two data

insert a space, as indicated in Amlogic document linked above . The file used in this case is available at the following link

remote.conf

At the restart of the box Libreleelc reads the new configuration in /storage/.config/remote.conf  allowing so the use of the new remote control.

Libreelec Image for Amlogic socs

In the market there are several TV boxes equipped with Android. Among the most common there are those based on soc Amlogic. For devices with this module there is the way to run, even in parallel without removing the Android image, a media center system based on Linux and Kodi, which is Libreelec. It is a fork of the mediacenter OpenELEC system

Libreelec

The supported platforms are similar to those already available for OpenELEC, but the community is carrying out the development of other images besides the official ones; this is the case for the Amlogic platform.

In Libreelec forum developers have developed unofficial images for tv boxes with soc Amlogic S802 / S905 / S905X

Amlogic Libreelec Forum

We’ll install a Libreelec image for an Amlogic S905 box, in our case the box is Android Beelink MiniMX III. The box comes with on board an Android firmware on the internal flash. The next steps allow to keep the Android firmware of the internal flash and Libreelec on the micro sd card. These instructions can be repeated at least in part with other boxes with soc Amlogic. Refer to Libreelec forum for more insights.

The first operation is to download the image from the link given on Libreelec forum

Amlogic S905 Libreelec Images

We download the version 7.0.2.007

Libreelec S905 7.0.2.007

At the link above there also the dtb files, device tree file, file containing the specifications of the hardware system, for different boxes already  tested.

We unzip the file and load it on a micro sd card in a similar way to what was done for the creation of OpenELEC image for the Orange IP PC

Openelec installation on Orange PI PC

Again we launch Win32DiskImager and after unpacking the LibreELEC-S905.aarch64-7.0.2.007.img.gz file we proceed to the writing on the micro sd card.

At this point,we insert the micro sd card into the box  that we start holding down, in the case of this model, the reset button on the bottom of the box. This is a one-time process; to subsequent reboots the system starts Libreelec, if there is the Micro SD card, or Android system, present on the internal flash, in the absence of micro sd card.

The image automatically uses the remote.conf file for the remote control  from the Android image intalled in the internal flash.

The configuration steps are quite similar to what was done for OpenELEC Orange PI PC, such as to enable the ssh daemon, etc; in this case the remote control, being a box supported by the image, is already working.

libreelec

 WARNING: The image installation on the device is at your own risk. We accept no responsibility if the installation leads to  malfunction or block of the device. Before performing any operation, make sure that you have the original image of the box so you can recover the Android system in case of issues.

In the next article we will see how to configure an infrared remote control with NEC protocol on a system based on soc Amlogic

Remote control configuration for Libreelec on Amlogic socs