This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
I've been using Flauncher as the replacement dash for years on all my android TVs and Chromecasts
https://gitlab.com/flauncher/flauncher
It makes a massive difference and I strongly recommend it
What do you see that makes a difference? Lack of ads or is performance also better?
No ads, better performance, customizable
I also tried Projectivy in the past but I don't remember why I switched away from it. I think there was a performance bug that was causing it to crash. Both may be good options now
I recently swapped back to FLauncher after using Projectivy for a while. Projectivy uses a lot more resources (cache + RAM) and my TV only has like 4GB of storage.
All of that. Lack of ads, more performant etc. Plus (and depending on the device), you can set it up in such a way that you don't need to sign into your google account, yet still have ability to watch YouTube (Smartube), install apps (side load plus use the Fdroid TV store ... name escapes me at the moment... Flicky I think?).
Even if you need to be signed in for some reason, it's a smoother experience.
Its just...better. You'll lose some of the prettiness (for some reason, mine no longer displays backgrounds from upsplash, only solid colours) but its more than worth it.
EDIT: Yes, it IS Flicky
https://f-droid.org/packages/app.flicky/
Blocking ads usually helps performance, most ad networks are trash
Would I be able to watch Plex with this? (Haven't made the switch to jellyfin yet)
Yes - it replaces the launcher (your home page, I guess you could say), but you can still download apps from the Google App Store and use them (such as Plex).
I have used FLauncher and now use Projectivity, and it is a great way to get rid of all the ads and bloat while keeping the TV fully functional.
Don't see why not. It's just a front end launcher. If you can install the app...this will launch it.
PS: I like Jellyfin but I'm a fan of Nova-Player too. Simpler is sometimes better.
just a warning about jelly is that you have to setup your own home host site. plex already comes with one it youre hoping to listen to your music on the go.
I can also recommend Wolf Launcher. Been using it for years.
i use Flauncher on my Nvidia Shield Pro and have for years
Same. It's fantastic.
I used the adb commands they recommend to disable the stock interface. So pressing home on the remote brings me back to Flauncher always.
Haven't seen the stock dash in years. Been great.
The only bastard thing is that when I set it up on a fire stick, the fire stick would disable wifi if the stock dash wasn't used. That thing is trash anyway, so no loss. Don't buy firesticks.
what to buy ? something that's about the sane aize as a firesrick ? want to use a plug in USB thumb drive for media storage for travel and a "player" eg kodi. Dial home to Plex/JF not needed but internet access is
Projectivity is another great option, especially if you want a few more options without anything you don't want.
I also use Projectivity on my NVIDIA shield. No ads, no recommendations, just the apps I want. Everyday I'm glad I installed it.
Lol, just when I said I was going to take a break from tinkering, you tell us about this. Oh well! 😆
Thanks for sharing this!
++Projectivy, it's top tier software. It's so clean by default, has lots of customization options, and no ads whatsoever. It's so good that I worry Google will try to take away the option to use a third party homescreen on Android TV.
Can't we just have small Linux boxes with Plasma Bigscreen or something with cec support setup so the tv remote still works already :sob:
I've been using Pi 4s with a lineage OS build that has the Jellyfin Android TV client on it and thats been a pretty sweet setup.
Links?
Raspberry Pis have CEC support. I've used it with OSMC (formerly either LibreElec or RaspBMC, one of those? It's Debian Kodi). It was much better without. So, if you turned the TV off with the TV's power button, the Pi would turn the TV back on.
The Pi has a 3.5mm audio jack. I have a set of desktop PC speakers that are hell and gone better than anything built into a television in the last 20 years. Not only is it not straightforward to get it to control the Pi's audio output level with the TV's remote via CEC, OSMC absolutely did not want to do this. Not only would that setting get revered to HDMI audio out, it would disable the analog out option, and you'd have to SSH in and change a config file to re-enable that option in the first place. That would happen either during updates or even just power cycles. I swear the phraseology of the line you'd have to put in that config file would change; the same line I'd put in there would still be in there and not working.
The thing with open source software is, it's always going to have the UX of a sinus infection, especially since the manufacturers of hardware gimp their devices to not work well outside of the walled garden.
MSI cubi fanless with KDE Neon autologin to Plasma Bigscreen with Vacuumtube, steam big screen mode, jellyfin... Remote controller is a Rii F8 mini which has a few programmable IR buttons for the old dumb TV.
The future is now...
I just bought a Dell Optiplex 990 for 50 bucks on eBay. I lucked out in that the listing came with 8 GB of RAM. Just threw in a previous SSD, loaded Fedora Kinoite, and am currently playing with Podman/Docker Compose for an Arr stack. By next week, I should be able to move it from the corner where the router is, and then finally deliver on the promise that I made my girlfriend back in February, when I bought the HDMI projector and a speaker set.*
That said, I'm all for your idea, especially if it comes with an IR receiver, too.
If I get another Optiplex (that one for homelabbing), I'll look into COSA and Butane/Ignition files more seriously. That's a very solvable issue, after all.
* We had to move since then and I cannot find the front right speaker, for some reason. The company, whose name looks like the antagonist of FF8, doesn't seem to sell replacement speakers, either.
I'd love a stick that has Hoopla support, but of course that's going to be hard to come by because Big Entertainment doesn't make billions of dollars off of it.
Roku, Android TV (ONN), Apple TV, etc. all have Hoopla support. The app doesn't even have a way to browse titles, but if you know what you want to watch their app works.
I want this, but for the roku box I got as a gift.
Fortunately Roku is still not that bad. 3 rows of items to choose from, select and go.
It basically is a dump app launcher if you go into settings and make it one. Even more so once you use a network adblock to stop the single ad they display on the right.
I want to make my TCL Roku Smart TV dumb.
If any apps, preferably open source, could do a search of services to see if one has "American Beauty" (or whatever) streaming for free AND launches the app directly I'd have no need for my stock launcher.
Somebody once tried to sell a box that would cancel all your streaming services and only fire the account back up for a month at a time when you wanted to stream something. It was a phenomenal idea with a genuine problem worth solving, completely torpedoed by the fact of the box costing $400 up front and I think requiring its own subscription.
Great, now do iOS, Roku, and whatever Amazon is pushing these days. Oh, and raspberry pi and NVIDIA shield.
Dude just switched the launcher, should be doable on most Android TV devices.
Raspberry Pi can run Android TV, so you probably could run this launcher. Nvidia Shield is already compatible.
The others are closed systems I assume, I have no experience with Apple or Amazon devices.
