It seems like the FOSS community is continuing to grow, and FOSS apps keep getting better (Immich reallh blew my mind recently), which is a big win 😎 but there are still many apps I use that I would kill for an open source alternative. I am curious what you guys think? Are there any apps you’d love alternatives for?
I don’t see anyone talking about it here but I’d dream of an open source alternative to AndroidTV/Apple Tv. Firstly because ATV is ultra-dependent on Google, and secondly because the interface is unclear and not really pretty.
Today I’ve switched to Apple TV, which is much better in terms of UX, but the OS is too closed and sideloading isn’t possible…
So I hope to see some sort of CalyxOS / LineageOS for Tv arrive one day!
And I wish the same for the combo AndroidAuto/Apple CarPlay. (But I have no hopes for this one haha)
KDE BigScreen had some ambition to be that
…Kodi?
I second this, having a dedicated, 2013 era machine for Kodi is more than perfect. Most plugins are maintaned and updated regularly.
…Honestly my Kodi box is kind of a pain in the ass. About half the plugins I tried outright don’t work, giving some cryptic Python error, a few of them most notably Youtube has some fairly onerous API access problems which has almost made be give up on watching video content while seated on a couch as an abstract concept. It breaks more than it improves, and I’ve had to repeatedly solve issues like resolution and framerate limits, audio outputs just…stopping working and having to SSH into the thing to add or subtract a line from a config file…
I retract my recommendation of Kodi. It doesn’t work worth a completely flaccid failed attempt at a nonconsentual fuck.
my experience with it was also kind of a rollercoaster, but libreELEC on x64 harware with some basic IGPU was the key for me.
I tried it on Raspberry Pis (OG and 3) but that surely was painful.
since using a nornal PC, I really have no issues with compatibility, even the most obscure, sonewhat recently updated plugins work no problem.
but I can feel you, it needed several chances from me too, but I needed to replace my PS3 (uaing Movian - what an amazing piece of software!) cause it had issues with some recent fullhd files.
If I’m going to be fair, I’d say probably 3/4 of the problems I’ve had with Kodi (via OSMC on a Raspberry Pi 4) weren’t Kodi’s fault. Everyone from Alphabet to WGBH has had a hand in fucking something up. Of the addons I’ve tried to use, a good portion of them never once worked, or stopped working after awhile because the services they were scraping changed or disappeared. Or, because I am using a Pi 4, high resolution and high framerate can be a problem; I’ve seen issues with the video playing back slightly slower than the audio track, after 20 or 30 minutes becoming visibly out of sync until it freezes up for several seconds then resumes normal playback. Mind you this is only a problem above 1080p. Playing video files over the network from my NAS works pretty well if a little clunky to set up.