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Kodi 18 Alpha 2 Released With Stability & Usability Improvements + New Wayland Code

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  • Kodi 18 Alpha 2 Released With Stability & Usability Improvements + New Wayland Code

    Phoronix: Kodi 18 Alpha 2 Released With Stability & Usability Improvements + New Wayland Code

    It's been a few months since the Kodi 18 Alpha while available today is the second alpha release of this major update to the open-source, cross-platform HTPC software...

    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite

  • #2
    This is the first version (literally this Alpha 2 release) I've seen that's been able to play hardware-accelerated video on my i.MX6-based Utilite Pro with the free software stack! It needs some ffmpeg patches that I don't think have been merged yet and it's still a bit ropey (audio out of sync, segfaulted eventually) but I've been waiting a long time to even get this far. I think the end is in sight. Many thanks to Lukas Rusak for his hard work.

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    • #3
      I'm using the Wayland build already on my machines and they work great. But I think the only option so far is to enable Wayland support before compiling. Looking forward to the final release.

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      • #4
        Yes, unfortunately their build system currently only allows you to target one window system, that is X, Wayland, or GBM. I wanted to use Wayland but my hardware only works under GBM for the moment.

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        • #5
          able to play hardware-accelerated video on my i.MX6-based Utilite Pro with the free software stack!
          That’s fantastic news and well ahead of when I had expected to hear it. I had resigned myself to the fact my CuBox was going to be stuck on 17.6 (the last version with the old i.MX6 support) for a long time - probably a year or more. I am happily surprised to hear this is starting to be functional already.

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          • #6
            able to play hardware-accelerated video on my i.MX6-based Utilite Pro with the free software stack!
            That’s fantastic news and well ahead of when I expected to hear it. I had resigned myself to the fact my CuBox was going to be stuck on 17.6 (the last version with the old i.MX6 support) for a long time - probably a year or more. I am happily surprised to hear this is starting to be functional already.

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            • #7
              Hold on, are the drivers for HW accelerated video decode on i.MX6 open source? Or are you guys using closed source drivers?

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              • #8
                Originally posted by tent_icle View Post
                That’s fantastic news and well ahead of when I expected to hear it. I had resigned myself to the fact my CuBox was going to be stuck on 17.6 (the last version with the old i.MX6 support) for a long time - probably a year or more. I am happily surprised to hear this is starting to be functional already.
                I think they dropped the old i.MX6 support because this new stuff was on the way, plus the fact it locks you into older kernels. I also found the closed stack to be a bit unstable.

                Originally posted by sandy8925 View Post
                Hold on, are the drivers for HW accelerated video decode on i.MX6 open source? Or are you guys using closed source drivers?
                The firmware for the CODA960 VPU (not strictly i.MX6-specific but often found on these boards alongside Vivante) is closed but everything else, including the kernel driver for the VPU, is open.

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                • #9
                  Chewi - so, does that mean the userspace drivers for video decode are also open source? Does it include 2D and 3D acceleration? Is the firmware you mentioned, just low level firmware like in the Intel and AMD GPU drivers?

                  Also, is the etnaviv driver the one you're talking about, or something different?

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by sandy8925 View Post
                    Chewi - so, does that mean the userspace drivers for video decode are also open source? Does it include 2D and 3D acceleration? Is the firmware you mentioned, just low level firmware like in the Intel and AMD GPU drivers?

                    Also, is the etnaviv driver the one you're talking about, or something different?
                    All the userspace is open but don't compare this to x86. On ARM, the GPU (Vivante/Etnaviv to handle 2D/3D), the VPU (CODA960), and the actually display hardware (i.MX6-specific HDMI, DVI) are separate entities with separate drivers. They may be physically lumped together in the same chip on the board but you can get Vivante without CODA960 and you can also get Vivante on MIPS with different display hardware.

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