19 ms·

Plasma Bigscreen

640 points by sudenmorsian 4y ago

charlie0 4y ago
Wow, so this is why the marketing departments exists. I thought this was related to actual plasmas TVs lol. Looks pretty cool though. I'm keen on open source privacy minded software I can run on my TV. Currently, I have Kodi and it would be nice to have other high quality alternatives.
cowtools 4y ago
I've seen this before when I was setting up postmarketOS. It's an alternative to the crapware on samsung """smart""" TVs.
daqnal 4y ago
Do they have any information on resolution, chip, or anything else?
- soulofmischief 4y ago
  From what I can see, it's a software ecosystem and not a specific hardware device.
deusum 4y ago
If I understand correctly it uses a RPi or other ARM device attached to the TV. Is there anything out there tbat overwrite the TV's "smart" firmware? Something analogous to OpenWRT and its router support? It would be bet cool if you could use the controller and buttons "natively".
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- qbasic_forever 4y ago
  You might be able to use your native remote if it's infrared and LIRC supports it, and you get a little USB IR receiver dongle: https://www.lirc.org/ https://www.lirc.org/ Or what I like is to get a generic air mouse/keyboard remote that has programmable IR buttons for volume, input select, power on, etc. to control the TV's native settings. There are a ton of inexpensive options: https://www.amazon.com/air-mouse-remote-keyboard/s?k=air+mouse+remote+with+keyboard https://www.amazon.com/air-mouse-remote-keyboard/s?k=air+mou...
  - dylan604 4y ago
    Is there a bit of commonality for remote button frequencies? I have 3 different remotes for TV equipment plus my AppleTV remote. The volume buttons from all 4 remotes work, and I've never attempted to program/train/learn them.
    - qbasic_forever 4y ago
      Yeah most use a 38khz pulse wave and then encode ones and zeros in it. There are tons of different brand-specific protocols for stuff like volume, power, etc. but you're right there is a lot of overlap and commonality. Some universal remotes just fire as many different brand signals on button press as possible.
    - inhumantsar 4y ago
      There isn't really. Most manufacturers have multiple sets of patterns. There are smart remotes with libraries of patterns and capable of switching between those, eg Logitech Harmony (assuming that's still a thing). There are also "learning" remotes. One of these would be easiest to homebrew. Basically you've got an IR detector. You point your existing remote at it and tell it to start watching for whatever button you want to map. Then you press that button on your existing remote. Voila, key mapped. You just have to keep doing that for all the zillion and a half buttons on your remote and you've got yourself a clone.
    - dzhiurgis 4y ago
      Samsung TV i’ve got for my parents recently can control apple tv and random eastern european iptv box. Really surprised by this.
  - emmelaich 4y ago
    The Google TV remote has trainable buttons. I can operate the chromecast and but also adjust volume direct to TV. And turn TV on and off. So, rarely have to use the TV remote. It's used only for live TV (rare) and switching input, also rare.
  - weberer 4y ago
- KMnO4 4y ago
  I think remote buttons are passed through CEC. For example, I can use my TV’s remote to open the menu and change settings, but when the menu is closed I can also use it to navigate my Fire Stick UI.
- _carbyau_ 4y ago
  Yeah, I was super interested until it turned out to be Yet-Another-RPi-MediaPlayer-image. I mean, it seems cool if the voice commands etc all actually work but it is one of many. Being able to update the actual TV firmware like: OpenWRT, Canon Hack Development Kit, Valetudo(vacuum robot) is what would really have my interest.
- xattt 4y ago
  At one point, there was SammyGO firmware to root non-Tizen Samsung Smart TVs. However, it seemed to be for sideloading certain apps only.
- denkmoon 4y ago
  >It would be bet cool if you could use the controller and buttons "natively". This is what LibCEC is for.
- pabs3 4y ago
  If Software Freedom Conservancy win their lawsuit against Vizio for GPL violations in their TVs, you will probably be able to install open source Linux distros with KDE Plasma Bigscreen or Kodi on any Vizio TV and soon afterwards lots of other smart TV vendors will be similar. Allowing the vendor operating system to remain on the device after you purchase it basically means spyware these days. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html
  - fomine3 4y ago
    Open source != custom code can be run. Bootloader would be locked by cryptographically signing. There are source distributed TVs already.
    - pabs3 4y ago
      That would not be GPL compliant (both v2 and v3), so would not conclude the lawsuit. https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/mar/25/install-gplv2/ https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/mar/25/install-gplv2/ https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/jul/23/tivoization-and-the-gpl-right-to-install/ https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/jul/23/tivoization-and-t... https://events19.linuxfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Safely-Copylefted-Cars-Reexamining-GPLv3-Installation-Information-Requirements-ALS-Bradley-Kuhn-Behan-Webster-1.pdf https://events19.linuxfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017...
      - mike_d 4y ago
        A lawsuit against Vizio for GPL violation cannot compel them to open or release software from their OEMs. For example you are never going to get a functional driver for the display panel made by Panasonic. It isn't even clear that Vizio would be able to comply with GPL enforcement, since they largely just OEM TVs built by AmTran in Taiwan and don't do much more than slap a logo on it.
        cycomanic 4y ago
        That's a pretty strong statement to make. It would highly depend on the contract between Vizio and their suppliers no? In particular if the lawsuit finds that anything from the supplier (like e.g. the display driver) is part of the GPL violation the contract likely contain clauses that would force the supplier to provide source code. Otherwise Vizio has grounds to sue their supplier. That's the beauty about going after the big customer facing companies, it offers the strongest leverage.
- amelius 4y ago
  > Is there anything out there tbat overwrite the TV's "smart" firmware? Or use a monitor instead of a TV?
gkhartman 4y ago
If a display manufacturer produced a quality display and supported something like this, I wouldn't mind paying a good deal extra for it. I wouldn't even mind if it shipped with a proprietary OS and I had to do the installation myself. I'd love to see Framework or Purism make a Linux powered smart TV.
- da768 4y ago
  NEC has commercial displays with builtin Pi CM4s. https://www.sharpnecdisplays.us/products/displays/ma551-mpi4e https://www.sharpnecdisplays.us/products/displays/ma551-mpi4...
  - ThrowawayTestr 4y ago
    A bargain at only $2200USD
    - buildbot 4y ago
      For a true commercial grade product with an actual 10bit panel? It kinda is? Plus it won’t spy on you
      - pandemicsyn 4y ago
        Its not like it doesn't have cons: - 60Hz refresh rate - 8,000:1 contrast ratio with local dimming on - 500 cd/m2 brightness and "HDR compatibilty" - 86% DCI coverage
      - preisschild 4y ago
        For that price you can get a 77in OLED tv from LG and a raspberry which you can use for Bigscreen. Might be better if your main use isn't prone to burn-in (e.g. by displaying the same UI elements over months).
    - jstanley 4y ago
      Your grandparent comment said: > If a display manufacturer produced a quality display and supported something like this, I wouldn't mind paying a good deal extra for it.
Silhouette 4y ago
Unfortunately I can't figure out the scope of this project from the content on the site right now. Perhaps if there are any contributors reading this they might like to clarify? The tagline on the home page is "A privacy-respecting, open source and secure TV ecosystem" so that sounds promising. Is this some sort of alternative firmware to replace the junk installed as standard on most "smart" TVs now - like installing OpenWRT on your network gear or rooting your phone and installing one of the alternative Android distros?
- CharlesW 4y ago
  > Is this some sort of alternative firmware to replace the junk installed as standard on most "smart" TVs now… I believe it's more along the lines of an open-source Apple TV or Roku box.
  - zelienople 4y ago
    I am dissapoint.
  - MBCook 4y ago
    What could you actually run on something like that? None of “normal” apps would be there for the various streaming services. I guess it could be a plex front end but outside of that can it really do much people usually do with their TVs?
    - cestith 4y ago
      My TV is WebOS. One of my streaming boxes is Android. I stream to my phone from an Android phone sometimes. I have an old Mac Mini with Ubuntu hooked up to a TV. I have two different XBox systems hooked up to two different TVs. These devices all have applications to stream video from things that aren't Plex.
      - MBCook 4y ago
        But those are all non-open source solutions that Netflix, Amazon, etc. are willing to make apps for. I don’t see streaming services making apps for this district any time soon.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
andy_xor_andrew 4y ago
Given the Steam Deck runs KDE, I'm surprised I don't see Valve down on the list of patrons at the bottom of the page. Seems like this type of functionality/framework could be beneficial to the Steam Deck, since anything that looks good on a 10-foot display should also look good on the Steam Deck's display.
- jaimex2 4y ago
  SteamDeck already does what this does and more though.
  - djbusby 4y ago
    Is it known if Valve is contributing things they've improved/fixed upstream.
- shmerl 4y ago
  I get an impression it's close to direct competition to their console UI. I wanted to see a gaming UI like that that's fully open source.
ricardobeat 4y ago
[bad comment about design - removed]
- lordofgibbons 4y ago
  >not to mention the harsh centered shadow, is an immediate turn-off. Unfortunately it’s 2022 and linux design standards are still nowhere to be found. I honestly can't fathom how people can complain about a free software that protects your privacy and gives you full control of your purchased hardware. If some overflowing text, harsh shadow, or whatever is a show-stopper, preserving your privacy wasn't that high of a priority for you anyway. It's a free and opensource project. Feel free to open a PR or bug report.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    Naw, its more like: --protecting privacy - check --decent UI - In Progress
  - andrew_ 4y ago
    > It's a free and opensource project. Feel free to open a PR or bug report. This isn't and never has been protection from constructive criticism. Nor should it be. Choose to ignore it, or dismiss it, sure. But belittling valid criticism is a bad look.
    - throwawaylinux 4y ago
      Complaining about UIs on forums that the people responsible for the issue will likely never see is not and never has been constructive criticism. It's a gripe, or a whinge, which is fine and open source shouldn't be immune to it. Although I will say that open source projects in my experience tend to be much more responsive to bug reports and actual constructive criticism from people paying them $0.00 than proprietary software projects are.
ekianjo 4y ago
It does not tranform your TV into anything. it needs a RPi in order to do anything.
- andrew_ 4y ago
  This. And it just kills me how so many things "linux" look so unpolished. Why is it so difficult for projects like this to find and get designers interested?
  - electriczigjam 4y ago
    If only there were more people trying to complain less and contribute more. Its not closed source
  - vineyardmike 4y ago
    This comes up a lot… The reason is that no OSS projects want a product manager. They want contributors. Most projects, if you say “I think the gui should look like X” they’ll reply with “show me the pull request then”. No one wants a manager when they’re already volunteering, and not enough people who have the skills to make things look aesthetic exist and contribute. Source: look at other comments on this article.
    - newaccount74 4y ago
      I think the problem is deeper than that: To do a good UI, you need multiple skills: design, development, user testing, etc. It's rare that a single person can do all of that, so you need multiple people to collaborate, which is hard, because of the lack of managers. So you only get contributions from people who can contribute on their own, which is developers.
      - jokethrowaway 4y ago
        I disagree, from my experience designers are generally not interested in OSS projects like developers are. There is one designer for 50 developers. Probably because for developers, OSS is a badge of honour and can help your CV / find paid jobs - while for designers it's just a dribble nobody cares about. When designers partecipate, they get to contribute and even impose (sometimes questionable, think kde4) choices.
ianai 4y ago
Anyone know if the various cable companies streaming sites would work on this? (Been a while, sorry.)
LeoPanthera 4y ago
The killer feature of Kodi (on most hardware, for example the Raspberry Pi) is that it can switch the output resolution to match the video you are playing. It also bypasses things like ALSA in order to be able to bit-bang audio in supported formats directly to an external receiver. These are basic functions of normal video playback devices like blu-ray players or cable boxes. A Plasma skin can't do any of this. So while it's probably very suitable for things like games and photo frames on a big screen, I fear that it is disadvantaged from the start for video and audio.
- rascul 4y ago
  How does Kodi bypass ALSA?
  - jaimex2 4y ago
    He's talking about the embedded Kodi derivatives. (CoreElec, OpenElec, LibreElec etc) They run their own audio stack.
    - rascul 4y ago
      I would really like to know more about this, and I can't seem to find anything about it. Are these projects implementing their own drivers for all the various audio hardware they can use instead of using ALSA? That certainly wasn't the case some years back when I used OpenElec.
      - mappu 4y ago
        "ALSA" has two meanings - there is only one set of Linux kernel audio drivers, and they're all ALSA no matter what distro you use. I think you're talking about this meaning. The other meaning of "ALSA" is libasound / asound.conf / dmix, the old userspace audio stack, which is deprecated since Pulseaudio except for a few holdout distros. ALSA had difficulty mixing multiple playback streams, let alone bitstreaming DTS. I think the GP is talking about this meaning.
solardev 4y ago
Does it let you watch Netflix, HBO, etc. with the usual DRM stuff?
- jaimex2 4y ago
  Nope. 720p and lots of CPU.
  - hda2 4y ago
    Okay, follow up question then: Does it easily support streaming/downloading torrents?
jacknews 4y ago
Does it have widevine for netflix etc al, and hardware media acceleration? I tried using an rpi4 as a media player a few months ago, and it was simply not fast enough, although one reason is I could not get HVEC hardware acceleration to work. I reverted back to using an old T430 laptop with a broken screen and k/b, which is ideal for 1080p.
- djbusby 4y ago
  I use the pi for storage (external 4TB USB) and minidlna to show on network. Playable by VLC, Roku and other DLNA aware devices. The RPi is headless.
- jokethrowaway 4y ago
  I used a rpi2 for video at 1080p. x264 was no problem, x265 was laggy. With a rpi3 or a rpi4 both should be fine. Librelec (and other ROMs) ship the ffmpeg fork which uses the acceleration
Lammy 4y ago
I realize "Plasma" is the name of the KDE presentation layer across all platforms, but it's mildly awkward to see in this context considering plasma TVs have only been a dead technology for six years or so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display
- irjustin 4y ago
  Admittedly i thought this as well. was hoping for a new plasma tech! Not that i think it's better, just nostalgia - it was the first 'new gen' tv I owned back in 2007. Heavy but well worth it at the time.
  - greyhair 4y ago
    Still running my Panasonic 50" Plasma from that era. So heavy. And yes they are power hogs, but in reality, ours really isn't on that often. Three, maybe four hours a week, on average. But oh, the picture quality back then, compared to LCDs and rear projection. No comparison, and even today, it holds up well.
- kbumsik 4y ago
  Not sure in other countries, but in my country (Korea) they were called PDP and rarely called plasma TV even knowing the technology behind it. It's a bit funny thinking about "Plasma" but it should be fine. BTW, it had been dead for 10+ years...time flies so fast.
  - grishka 4y ago
    In Russia there was definitely a period when any large flat panel TV was called "plasma".
- megablast 4y ago
- donatj 4y ago
  Yup. I wandered around page for about 20 seconds before realizing it wasn't some sort of open source hardware plasma TV.
pabs3 4y ago
Looks like this is based on two different distros, KDE Neon for RPi4 and postmarketOS for other devices: https://plasma-bigscreen.org/faq/ https://plasma-bigscreen.org/faq/
ghostly_s 4y ago
All this promotional glitz, but no information to indicate this actually currently is usable on a single consumer streaming device or smart tv, let alone the particular one I have. A minute spent on the pages of their linked distros seems to confirm it's vaporware.
Sunspark 4y ago
I was hoping there was a new plasma TV available.
xwdv 4y ago
At first I got excited that maybe someone finally developed a modern TV with no Smart TV features at all but nope it’s just linux crapware I’ll never use because I just plug in an Apple TV box anyway.
osigurdson 4y ago
I wonder how long it will be before cheap TVs have no input ports (just a WIFI connection). That way the TV gets to decide what you watch to some extent. For example by interrupting your Netflix stream with a few ads from time to time.
- MBCook 4y ago
  Video games are way too big a business. Until game consoles die and it all moves to the cloud (Stadium, etc.) I can’t see ports going away on most TVs.
  - kuu 4y ago
    If I'm not wrong, latest Samsung TVs let you play Xbox games without an Xbox
- jacobsenscott 4y ago
  I suppose they could do this even with ports - they could have small adds pop up in the corners, overlaying whatever is playing. They could charge $5 a month to disable the ads.
  - jacknews 4y ago
    Shhh! But you're right this is quite possible, perhaps you will be able to buy an ad-free model at a premium, like with Kindles. Probably some ads would be preloaded, so you'll end up giving it wifi just to get new ads instead of enduring the old ones over and over and over again.
  - osigurdson 4y ago
    It would be hard to achieve unless it was somehow necessary to connect the TV to wifi in order to use it at all (even when something is plugged into a port). That would be pretty confusing for people I think.
bioemerl 4y ago
Hey I'm not at my friend's house and it's not 2005, why are we talking about big screen plasma TVs
_8j50 4y ago
Is it possible to replace LG's webos with this,after rooting it?
lifeisstillgood 4y ago
There is a missing HOWTO in my life - a FOSS based home guide. I would like to take advantage of linux on the home router, or this TV or better ways to cross manage messaging on different platforms. Basically years ago FOSS made things simpler because it gave you back control. Now maybe I am just out of the loop, but I am not feeling the control in the everyday.
- pc2g4d 4y ago
  That would be an awesome HOWTO I've been using OpenWRT (previously DD-WRT) on my routers for years now. Mostly I just enjoy not having nonsense on my router! I think how I got started with it was by finding my device in their devices table and reading the page specifically for it. https://openwrt.org/toh/start https://openwrt.org/toh/start The biggest caveats would be: I've never had any issues personally, but be aware of the risks; avoid bricking your router, and be prepared to recover it in case the worst happens (make sure you back up the firmware before flashing it.) And once you're installed.... `opkg upgrade` is much riskier than `dnf upgrade`. There's usually no script doing necessary modifications for you. Use with care.
  - lifeisstillgood 4y ago
    If you want to join forces writing that HOWTO please shout ! I dug out an old router in the garage and might play over the weekend
nivenkos 4y ago
Looks amazing, I'll have to see if I can set it up on desktop mode for the docked Steam Deck.
deanCommie 4y ago
Nitpick for anyone involved in this project: > Plasma Bigscreen turns your TV or setup-box into a fully hackable device I know what you meant, but given the concerns people have with privacy of their TVs, smart devices, and in general the security of their internet connected home, describing something that turns your TV into being "fully hackable" feels like it's ripe for misunderstanding.
- ibejoeb 4y ago
  Hah. Same line, different nit. > TV or setup-box We're talking about a set-top box, right?
- dredmorbius 4y ago
  "Customisable" would be a preferable term IMO. "Owner-customisable" or "user-customisable" perhaps to clarify that you're in control. "Putting you in control of your TV" might be a good slogan or motto.
vegai_ 4y ago
Being able to replace the junk that's on every TV these days would be awesome. But unfortunately this is not that.
beebeepka 4y ago
Good. I am going to try KDE on a TV ever again. They don't seem to care, so why should I? It's a sad state of affairs when the best GUI for a TV is Gnome 3
pavlov 4y ago
If they expect ordinary people to use this, the Install page could use some love: https://plasma-bigscreen.org/get/ https://plasma-bigscreen.org/get/ The very first heading is "Neon based reference rootfs". It gives the impression that you must know exactly what these words mean and what you're doing, or there's no hope of ever using this thing. (The classic 1990s style Linux onboarding experience, in other words.)
- dogcomplex 4y ago
  I'm a programmer with a postgrad education and 10 years in the industry and I don't know what those words mean.
  - chinux 4y ago
    You would have to actually be in the KDE user community to understand this terminology. KDE Neon is the distro that KDE created. What they are trying to say that its based on their flagship Linux distro. I think they might have written that in the most new user unfriendly way they could.
  - dmos62 4y ago
    Root file system (rootfs) that's based on dev-unstable branch of KDE Neon. This doc is obviously not aimed at non-techs, but for Linux-savy people the first sentence should fully explain the heading.
    - miked85 4y ago
      I think you mean KDE-savy - I've been using Linux for over 20 years and had no idea what this heading meant.
      - seba_dos1 4y ago
        "reference rootfs" makes it obvious what it is to Linux-savy people, so you don't need to know what Neon is to assume that it's some kind of a distro.
ze0ng 4y ago
Misleading to state that this turns your TV or set-up box into a fully hackable device, while the software just runs on a RaspberryPI
- npteljes 4y ago
  I agree. I thought this was something that you can load onto your smart TV.
  - antupis 4y ago
    I would love something like this, modern smart tv is kinda horrible experience and nobody is not making consumer dumptv anymore.
- jhoelzel 4y ago
  i was also googling for the supported TV sets and then i found it :D
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  In theory this runs just as well on TVs if the right drivers are present. They ship postmarketOS versions of their firmware, for example. Sadly, pmOS doesn't support any TVs as far as their website is concerned (https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/TVs https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/TVs) but with some work (getting the mainline kernel to boot based on the GPL sources or getting the built-in kernel to boot pmOS) you can flash your TV with this firmware. In practice you won't be able to do much with it as TV SoCs are almost always shipped with underperforming hardware and as little RAM and storage as possible, but you could.
abujazar 4y ago
I hope they'll get some design help.
- neilalexander 4y ago
  Unfortunately this was the first thing I thought too and is often the first undoing of open source projects. It might be an impressive technical feat but it _looks_ a mess. Software developers often make the worst UX designers and all that.
  - sph 4y ago
    > Software developers often make the worst UX designers and all that. What bugs me is that most people make bad UI designers and they are completely oblivious to it. I see some people desktops and their editor's colour schemes and I wonder if they have any sense of aesthetics at all. A cursory look at those "desktop theme" websites is the proof that 99% of them are just plain terrible. I swear I saw someone that replaced their default UI font with Times New Roman. It's like what Steve Jobs said about Microsoft: most people just don't have any taste. It sounds arrogant, but I think there's some truth to it.
therealmarv 4y ago
Name is so strange. Even people here think about old Plasma TVs. We desperately need an alternative to Chromecast for all sort of web videos. There is none (even Apple Airplay is not as good). That's one of the reasons why I cannot switch to privacy Android forks or non Chromium browsers.
dataengineer56 4y ago
I bought an LG OLED recently after giving up on my dream of finding a dumb consumer OLED. I assumed I would disconnect it from my network and use my Chromecast for media, but instead I've recently unplugged the Chromecast. The interface is surprisingly good, it has every app that I want and it's fast. I can press the Netflix button when my TV is off and be watching a show within seconds.
- capableweb 4y ago
  Same here, surprisingly good compared to the last LG TV we had in 2012 or something, they've made it a lot snappier. Maybe as time goes on, with more updates, it'll end up in the same situation... What I really miss though, is being able to write my own apps for the TV without having to jump through 1000 hoops, sign 5 EULAs/NDAs/contracts and be able to develop said apps on my computer and then simply push them to my TV, just for me.
- mijoharas 4y ago
  I used to write software for smart TV's, so ended up using a lot of them. LG were easily my favourites (N.B. this was 6 years ago now). One of the best things is the dev enviroment was so simple, just a basic linux setup with a sensible toolchain. (Samsung was easily the worst in terms of dev experience due to their tizen crap).
water8 4y ago
Ironically, this will probably destroy plasmas
qwerty456127 4y ago
Is this a good replacement for Kodi?
tweetle_beetle 4y ago
Are there any good tv operating systems which use standard desktop/laptop architectures? Was excited by this until I saw it's only released for SoCs. My hacks/scripts on Windows + Flirc are getting tiresome. Been looking at one of the Android distributions, BlissOS.
rendall 4y ago
I don't understand what this is. I read the explanation but didn't fully understand it. It's an OS one can load onto a smart TV, replacing whatever is there? Like, if I had a Samsung TV that began advertising at me, this could overwrite the UI? If so, I looked for a hardware compatibility list and saw only Raspberry Pi, which confused me.
- puzzlingcaptcha 4y ago
  I think it is meant as an open-source product OEMs can put on their TVs instead of some in-house Android TV derivative. Sadly it's a non-starter without widevine certification.
  - stragies 4y ago
    Is "capable of Widevine certification" not tantamount to "Has HW/FW/SW in place to securely lock out the user/owner, and introduce backdoors"?
    - puzzlingcaptcha 4y ago
      Most likely, but I mean from OEM's point of view. Noone wants to sell a TV that can't play Netflix.
- cal85 4y ago
  My first assumption was it’s just an OS for installing on a little computer like a Raspberry Pi, for plugging into a TV or monitor via HDMI. But you’re right it’s unclear, this bit of the intro seems to imply you could install it straight to a TV: “Plasma Bigscreen turns your TV or setup-box into a fully hackable device”. So far I haven’t heard of any smart TV that lets you install a new OS, might be possible with hacks though.
toastal 4y ago
If you buy a nice panel, you won't be able to color calibrate it because of the use of Wayland; Wayland doesn't support color management yet.
manholio 4y ago
Why would I need to install an operating system on the flimsy SoC the manufacturer embedded in my TV, with the sole intention of turning it into an advertising terminal? How fast will that hardware - software combo go out of date compared to the useful life of a TV? I own a 10 year old, non-Android Sony Bravia TV that looks superb, do they support that? Sorry, but I don't see it as a problem worth solving. Just make sure your TV is airgaped, use it as dumb terminal and deliver signal from a suitable and well maintained device.
fadlan 4y ago
My name ist fadlan adnrika
- tristan957 4y ago
  How do you flag an account as a bot?
franga2000 4y ago
I love what KDE has been doing with Kirigami on all platforms...except for desktop. This is a great showcase of what it's good for!

640 points by sudenmorsian 4y ago

Wow, so this is why the marketing departments exists. I thought this was related to actual plasmas TVs lol. Looks pretty cool though. I'm keen on open source privacy minded software I can run on my TV. Currently, I have Kodi and it would be nice to have other high quality alternatives.

cowtools 4y ago

I've seen this before when I was setting up postmarketOS. It's an alternative to the crapware on samsung """smart""" TVs.

daqnal 4y ago

Do they have any information on resolution, chip, or anything else?

soulofmischief 4y ago
From what I can see, it's a software ecosystem and not a specific hardware device.

deusum 4y ago

If I understand correctly it uses a RPi or other ARM device attached to the TV. Is there anything out there tbat overwrite the TV's "smart" firmware? Something analogous to OpenWRT and its router support? It would be bet cool if you could use the controller and buttons "natively".

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
qbasic_forever 4y ago
You might be able to use your native remote if it's infrared and LIRC supports it, and you get a little USB IR receiver dongle: https://www.lirc.org/ https://www.lirc.org/ Or what I like is to get a generic air mouse/keyboard remote that has programmable IR buttons for volume, input select, power on, etc. to control the TV's native settings. There are a ton of inexpensive options: https://www.amazon.com/air-mouse-remote-keyboard/s?k=air+mouse+remote+with+keyboard https://www.amazon.com/air-mouse-remote-keyboard/s?k=air+mou...
- dylan604 4y ago
  Is there a bit of commonality for remote button frequencies? I have 3 different remotes for TV equipment plus my AppleTV remote. The volume buttons from all 4 remotes work, and I've never attempted to program/train/learn them.
  - qbasic_forever 4y ago
    Yeah most use a 38khz pulse wave and then encode ones and zeros in it. There are tons of different brand-specific protocols for stuff like volume, power, etc. but you're right there is a lot of overlap and commonality. Some universal remotes just fire as many different brand signals on button press as possible.
  - inhumantsar 4y ago
    There isn't really. Most manufacturers have multiple sets of patterns. There are smart remotes with libraries of patterns and capable of switching between those, eg Logitech Harmony (assuming that's still a thing). There are also "learning" remotes. One of these would be easiest to homebrew. Basically you've got an IR detector. You point your existing remote at it and tell it to start watching for whatever button you want to map. Then you press that button on your existing remote. Voila, key mapped. You just have to keep doing that for all the zillion and a half buttons on your remote and you've got yourself a clone.
  - dzhiurgis 4y ago
    Samsung TV i’ve got for my parents recently can control apple tv and random eastern european iptv box. Really surprised by this.
- emmelaich 4y ago
  The Google TV remote has trainable buttons. I can operate the chromecast and but also adjust volume direct to TV. And turn TV on and off. So, rarely have to use the TV remote. It's used only for live TV (rare) and switching input, also rare.
- weberer 4y ago
KMnO4 4y ago
I think remote buttons are passed through CEC. For example, I can use my TV’s remote to open the menu and change settings, but when the menu is closed I can also use it to navigate my Fire Stick UI.
_carbyau_ 4y ago
Yeah, I was super interested until it turned out to be Yet-Another-RPi-MediaPlayer-image. I mean, it seems cool if the voice commands etc all actually work but it is one of many. Being able to update the actual TV firmware like: OpenWRT, Canon Hack Development Kit, Valetudo(vacuum robot) is what would really have my interest.
xattt 4y ago
At one point, there was SammyGO firmware to root non-Tizen Samsung Smart TVs. However, it seemed to be for sideloading certain apps only.
denkmoon 4y ago
>It would be bet cool if you could use the controller and buttons "natively". This is what LibCEC is for.
pabs3 4y ago
If Software Freedom Conservancy win their lawsuit against Vizio for GPL violations in their TVs, you will probably be able to install open source Linux distros with KDE Plasma Bigscreen or Kodi on any Vizio TV and soon afterwards lots of other smart TV vendors will be similar. Allowing the vendor operating system to remain on the device after you purchase it basically means spyware these days. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html
- fomine3 4y ago
  Open source != custom code can be run. Bootloader would be locked by cryptographically signing. There are source distributed TVs already.
  - pabs3 4y ago
    That would not be GPL compliant (both v2 and v3), so would not conclude the lawsuit. https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/mar/25/install-gplv2/ https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/mar/25/install-gplv2/ https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/jul/23/tivoization-and-the-gpl-right-to-install/ https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/jul/23/tivoization-and-t... https://events19.linuxfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Safely-Copylefted-Cars-Reexamining-GPLv3-Installation-Information-Requirements-ALS-Bradley-Kuhn-Behan-Webster-1.pdf https://events19.linuxfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017...
    - mike_d 4y ago
      A lawsuit against Vizio for GPL violation cannot compel them to open or release software from their OEMs. For example you are never going to get a functional driver for the display panel made by Panasonic. It isn't even clear that Vizio would be able to comply with GPL enforcement, since they largely just OEM TVs built by AmTran in Taiwan and don't do much more than slap a logo on it.
      - cycomanic 4y ago
        That's a pretty strong statement to make. It would highly depend on the contract between Vizio and their suppliers no? In particular if the lawsuit finds that anything from the supplier (like e.g. the display driver) is part of the GPL violation the contract likely contain clauses that would force the supplier to provide source code. Otherwise Vizio has grounds to sue their supplier. That's the beauty about going after the big customer facing companies, it offers the strongest leverage.
amelius 4y ago
> Is there anything out there tbat overwrite the TV's "smart" firmware? Or use a monitor instead of a TV?

gkhartman 4y ago

If a display manufacturer produced a quality display and supported something like this, I wouldn't mind paying a good deal extra for it. I wouldn't even mind if it shipped with a proprietary OS and I had to do the installation myself. I'd love to see Framework or Purism make a Linux powered smart TV.

da768 4y ago
NEC has commercial displays with builtin Pi CM4s. https://www.sharpnecdisplays.us/products/displays/ma551-mpi4e https://www.sharpnecdisplays.us/products/displays/ma551-mpi4...
- ThrowawayTestr 4y ago
  A bargain at only $2200USD
  - buildbot 4y ago
    For a true commercial grade product with an actual 10bit panel? It kinda is? Plus it won’t spy on you
    - pandemicsyn 4y ago
      Its not like it doesn't have cons: - 60Hz refresh rate - 8,000:1 contrast ratio with local dimming on - 500 cd/m2 brightness and "HDR compatibilty" - 86% DCI coverage
    - preisschild 4y ago
      For that price you can get a 77in OLED tv from LG and a raspberry which you can use for Bigscreen. Might be better if your main use isn't prone to burn-in (e.g. by displaying the same UI elements over months).
  - jstanley 4y ago
    Your grandparent comment said: > If a display manufacturer produced a quality display and supported something like this, I wouldn't mind paying a good deal extra for it.

Silhouette 4y ago

Unfortunately I can't figure out the scope of this project from the content on the site right now. Perhaps if there are any contributors reading this they might like to clarify? The tagline on the home page is "A privacy-respecting, open source and secure TV ecosystem" so that sounds promising. Is this some sort of alternative firmware to replace the junk installed as standard on most "smart" TVs now - like installing OpenWRT on your network gear or rooting your phone and installing one of the alternative Android distros?

CharlesW 4y ago
> Is this some sort of alternative firmware to replace the junk installed as standard on most "smart" TVs now… I believe it's more along the lines of an open-source Apple TV or Roku box.
- zelienople 4y ago
  I am dissapoint.
- MBCook 4y ago
  What could you actually run on something like that? None of “normal” apps would be there for the various streaming services. I guess it could be a plex front end but outside of that can it really do much people usually do with their TVs?
  - cestith 4y ago
    My TV is WebOS. One of my streaming boxes is Android. I stream to my phone from an Android phone sometimes. I have an old Mac Mini with Ubuntu hooked up to a TV. I have two different XBox systems hooked up to two different TVs. These devices all have applications to stream video from things that aren't Plex.
    - MBCook 4y ago
      But those are all non-open source solutions that Netflix, Amazon, etc. are willing to make apps for. I don’t see streaming services making apps for this district any time soon.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

andy_xor_andrew 4y ago

Given the Steam Deck runs KDE, I'm surprised I don't see Valve down on the list of patrons at the bottom of the page. Seems like this type of functionality/framework could be beneficial to the Steam Deck, since anything that looks good on a 10-foot display should also look good on the Steam Deck's display.

jaimex2 4y ago
SteamDeck already does what this does and more though.
- djbusby 4y ago
  Is it known if Valve is contributing things they've improved/fixed upstream.
shmerl 4y ago
I get an impression it's close to direct competition to their console UI. I wanted to see a gaming UI like that that's fully open source.

ricardobeat 4y ago

[bad comment about design - removed]

lordofgibbons 4y ago
>not to mention the harsh centered shadow, is an immediate turn-off. Unfortunately it’s 2022 and linux design standards are still nowhere to be found. I honestly can't fathom how people can complain about a free software that protects your privacy and gives you full control of your purchased hardware. If some overflowing text, harsh shadow, or whatever is a show-stopper, preserving your privacy wasn't that high of a priority for you anyway. It's a free and opensource project. Feel free to open a PR or bug report.
- dylan604 4y ago
  Naw, its more like: --protecting privacy - check --decent UI - In Progress
- andrew_ 4y ago
  > It's a free and opensource project. Feel free to open a PR or bug report. This isn't and never has been protection from constructive criticism. Nor should it be. Choose to ignore it, or dismiss it, sure. But belittling valid criticism is a bad look.
  - throwawaylinux 4y ago
    Complaining about UIs on forums that the people responsible for the issue will likely never see is not and never has been constructive criticism. It's a gripe, or a whinge, which is fine and open source shouldn't be immune to it. Although I will say that open source projects in my experience tend to be much more responsive to bug reports and actual constructive criticism from people paying them $0.00 than proprietary software projects are.

ekianjo 4y ago

It does not tranform your TV into anything. it needs a RPi in order to do anything.

andrew_ 4y ago
This. And it just kills me how so many things "linux" look so unpolished. Why is it so difficult for projects like this to find and get designers interested?
- electriczigjam 4y ago
  If only there were more people trying to complain less and contribute more. Its not closed source
- vineyardmike 4y ago
  This comes up a lot… The reason is that no OSS projects want a product manager. They want contributors. Most projects, if you say “I think the gui should look like X” they’ll reply with “show me the pull request then”. No one wants a manager when they’re already volunteering, and not enough people who have the skills to make things look aesthetic exist and contribute. Source: look at other comments on this article.
  - newaccount74 4y ago
    I think the problem is deeper than that: To do a good UI, you need multiple skills: design, development, user testing, etc. It's rare that a single person can do all of that, so you need multiple people to collaborate, which is hard, because of the lack of managers. So you only get contributions from people who can contribute on their own, which is developers.
    - jokethrowaway 4y ago
      I disagree, from my experience designers are generally not interested in OSS projects like developers are. There is one designer for 50 developers. Probably because for developers, OSS is a badge of honour and can help your CV / find paid jobs - while for designers it's just a dribble nobody cares about. When designers partecipate, they get to contribute and even impose (sometimes questionable, think kde4) choices.

ianai 4y ago

Anyone know if the various cable companies streaming sites would work on this? (Been a while, sorry.)

LeoPanthera 4y ago

The killer feature of Kodi (on most hardware, for example the Raspberry Pi) is that it can switch the output resolution to match the video you are playing. It also bypasses things like ALSA in order to be able to bit-bang audio in supported formats directly to an external receiver. These are basic functions of normal video playback devices like blu-ray players or cable boxes. A Plasma skin can't do any of this. So while it's probably very suitable for things like games and photo frames on a big screen, I fear that it is disadvantaged from the start for video and audio.

rascul 4y ago
How does Kodi bypass ALSA?
- jaimex2 4y ago
  He's talking about the embedded Kodi derivatives. (CoreElec, OpenElec, LibreElec etc) They run their own audio stack.
  - rascul 4y ago
    I would really like to know more about this, and I can't seem to find anything about it. Are these projects implementing their own drivers for all the various audio hardware they can use instead of using ALSA? That certainly wasn't the case some years back when I used OpenElec.
    - mappu 4y ago
      "ALSA" has two meanings - there is only one set of Linux kernel audio drivers, and they're all ALSA no matter what distro you use. I think you're talking about this meaning. The other meaning of "ALSA" is libasound / asound.conf / dmix, the old userspace audio stack, which is deprecated since Pulseaudio except for a few holdout distros. ALSA had difficulty mixing multiple playback streams, let alone bitstreaming DTS. I think the GP is talking about this meaning.

solardev 4y ago

Does it let you watch Netflix, HBO, etc. with the usual DRM stuff?

jaimex2 4y ago
Nope. 720p and lots of CPU.
- hda2 4y ago
  Okay, follow up question then: Does it easily support streaming/downloading torrents?

jacknews 4y ago

Does it have widevine for netflix etc al, and hardware media acceleration? I tried using an rpi4 as a media player a few months ago, and it was simply not fast enough, although one reason is I could not get HVEC hardware acceleration to work. I reverted back to using an old T430 laptop with a broken screen and k/b, which is ideal for 1080p.

djbusby 4y ago
I use the pi for storage (external 4TB USB) and minidlna to show on network. Playable by VLC, Roku and other DLNA aware devices. The RPi is headless.
jokethrowaway 4y ago
I used a rpi2 for video at 1080p. x264 was no problem, x265 was laggy. With a rpi3 or a rpi4 both should be fine. Librelec (and other ROMs) ship the ffmpeg fork which uses the acceleration

Lammy 4y ago

I realize "Plasma" is the name of the KDE presentation layer across all platforms, but it's mildly awkward to see in this context considering plasma TVs have only been a dead technology for six years or so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display

irjustin 4y ago
Admittedly i thought this as well. was hoping for a new plasma tech! Not that i think it's better, just nostalgia - it was the first 'new gen' tv I owned back in 2007. Heavy but well worth it at the time.
- greyhair 4y ago
  Still running my Panasonic 50" Plasma from that era. So heavy. And yes they are power hogs, but in reality, ours really isn't on that often. Three, maybe four hours a week, on average. But oh, the picture quality back then, compared to LCDs and rear projection. No comparison, and even today, it holds up well.
kbumsik 4y ago
Not sure in other countries, but in my country (Korea) they were called PDP and rarely called plasma TV even knowing the technology behind it. It's a bit funny thinking about "Plasma" but it should be fine. BTW, it had been dead for 10+ years...time flies so fast.
- grishka 4y ago
  In Russia there was definitely a period when any large flat panel TV was called "plasma".
megablast 4y ago
donatj 4y ago
Yup. I wandered around page for about 20 seconds before realizing it wasn't some sort of open source hardware plasma TV.

pabs3 4y ago

Looks like this is based on two different distros, KDE Neon for RPi4 and postmarketOS for other devices: https://plasma-bigscreen.org/faq/ https://plasma-bigscreen.org/faq/

ghostly_s 4y ago

All this promotional glitz, but no information to indicate this actually currently is usable on a single consumer streaming device or smart tv, let alone the particular one I have. A minute spent on the pages of their linked distros seems to confirm it's vaporware.

Sunspark 4y ago

I was hoping there was a new plasma TV available.

xwdv 4y ago

At first I got excited that maybe someone finally developed a modern TV with no Smart TV features at all but nope it’s just linux crapware I’ll never use because I just plug in an Apple TV box anyway.

osigurdson 4y ago

I wonder how long it will be before cheap TVs have no input ports (just a WIFI connection). That way the TV gets to decide what you watch to some extent. For example by interrupting your Netflix stream with a few ads from time to time.

MBCook 4y ago
Video games are way too big a business. Until game consoles die and it all moves to the cloud (Stadium, etc.) I can’t see ports going away on most TVs.
- kuu 4y ago
  If I'm not wrong, latest Samsung TVs let you play Xbox games without an Xbox
jacobsenscott 4y ago
I suppose they could do this even with ports - they could have small adds pop up in the corners, overlaying whatever is playing. They could charge $5 a month to disable the ads.
- jacknews 4y ago
  Shhh! But you're right this is quite possible, perhaps you will be able to buy an ad-free model at a premium, like with Kindles. Probably some ads would be preloaded, so you'll end up giving it wifi just to get new ads instead of enduring the old ones over and over and over again.
- osigurdson 4y ago
  It would be hard to achieve unless it was somehow necessary to connect the TV to wifi in order to use it at all (even when something is plugged into a port). That would be pretty confusing for people I think.

bioemerl 4y ago

Hey I'm not at my friend's house and it's not 2005, why are we talking about big screen plasma TVs

_8j50 4y ago

Is it possible to replace LG's webos with this,after rooting it?

lifeisstillgood 4y ago

There is a missing HOWTO in my life - a FOSS based home guide. I would like to take advantage of linux on the home router, or this TV or better ways to cross manage messaging on different platforms. Basically years ago FOSS made things simpler because it gave you back control. Now maybe I am just out of the loop, but I am not feeling the control in the everyday.

pc2g4d 4y ago
That would be an awesome HOWTO I've been using OpenWRT (previously DD-WRT) on my routers for years now. Mostly I just enjoy not having nonsense on my router! I think how I got started with it was by finding my device in their devices table and reading the page specifically for it. https://openwrt.org/toh/start https://openwrt.org/toh/start The biggest caveats would be: I've never had any issues personally, but be aware of the risks; avoid bricking your router, and be prepared to recover it in case the worst happens (make sure you back up the firmware before flashing it.) And once you're installed.... `opkg upgrade` is much riskier than `dnf upgrade`. There's usually no script doing necessary modifications for you. Use with care.
- lifeisstillgood 4y ago
  If you want to join forces writing that HOWTO please shout ! I dug out an old router in the garage and might play over the weekend

nivenkos 4y ago

Looks amazing, I'll have to see if I can set it up on desktop mode for the docked Steam Deck.

deanCommie 4y ago

Nitpick for anyone involved in this project: > Plasma Bigscreen turns your TV or setup-box into a fully hackable device I know what you meant, but given the concerns people have with privacy of their TVs, smart devices, and in general the security of their internet connected home, describing something that turns your TV into being "fully hackable" feels like it's ripe for misunderstanding.

ibejoeb 4y ago
Hah. Same line, different nit. > TV or setup-box We're talking about a set-top box, right?
dredmorbius 4y ago
"Customisable" would be a preferable term IMO. "Owner-customisable" or "user-customisable" perhaps to clarify that you're in control. "Putting you in control of your TV" might be a good slogan or motto.

vegai_ 4y ago

Being able to replace the junk that's on every TV these days would be awesome. But unfortunately this is not that.

beebeepka 4y ago

Good. I am going to try KDE on a TV ever again. They don't seem to care, so why should I? It's a sad state of affairs when the best GUI for a TV is Gnome 3

pavlov 4y ago

If they expect ordinary people to use this, the Install page could use some love: https://plasma-bigscreen.org/get/ https://plasma-bigscreen.org/get/ The very first heading is "Neon based reference rootfs". It gives the impression that you must know exactly what these words mean and what you're doing, or there's no hope of ever using this thing. (The classic 1990s style Linux onboarding experience, in other words.)

dogcomplex 4y ago
I'm a programmer with a postgrad education and 10 years in the industry and I don't know what those words mean.
- chinux 4y ago
  You would have to actually be in the KDE user community to understand this terminology. KDE Neon is the distro that KDE created. What they are trying to say that its based on their flagship Linux distro. I think they might have written that in the most new user unfriendly way they could.
- dmos62 4y ago
  Root file system (rootfs) that's based on dev-unstable branch of KDE Neon. This doc is obviously not aimed at non-techs, but for Linux-savy people the first sentence should fully explain the heading.
  - miked85 4y ago
    I think you mean KDE-savy - I've been using Linux for over 20 years and had no idea what this heading meant.
    - seba_dos1 4y ago
      "reference rootfs" makes it obvious what it is to Linux-savy people, so you don't need to know what Neon is to assume that it's some kind of a distro.

ze0ng 4y ago

Misleading to state that this turns your TV or set-up box into a fully hackable device, while the software just runs on a RaspberryPI

npteljes 4y ago
I agree. I thought this was something that you can load onto your smart TV.
- antupis 4y ago
  I would love something like this, modern smart tv is kinda horrible experience and nobody is not making consumer dumptv anymore.
jhoelzel 4y ago
i was also googling for the supported TV sets and then i found it :D
jeroenhd 4y ago
In theory this runs just as well on TVs if the right drivers are present. They ship postmarketOS versions of their firmware, for example. Sadly, pmOS doesn't support any TVs as far as their website is concerned (https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/TVs https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/TVs) but with some work (getting the mainline kernel to boot based on the GPL sources or getting the built-in kernel to boot pmOS) you can flash your TV with this firmware. In practice you won't be able to do much with it as TV SoCs are almost always shipped with underperforming hardware and as little RAM and storage as possible, but you could.

abujazar 4y ago

I hope they'll get some design help.

neilalexander 4y ago
Unfortunately this was the first thing I thought too and is often the first undoing of open source projects. It might be an impressive technical feat but it _looks_ a mess. Software developers often make the worst UX designers and all that.
- sph 4y ago
  > Software developers often make the worst UX designers and all that. What bugs me is that most people make bad UI designers and they are completely oblivious to it. I see some people desktops and their editor's colour schemes and I wonder if they have any sense of aesthetics at all. A cursory look at those "desktop theme" websites is the proof that 99% of them are just plain terrible. I swear I saw someone that replaced their default UI font with Times New Roman. It's like what Steve Jobs said about Microsoft: most people just don't have any taste. It sounds arrogant, but I think there's some truth to it.

therealmarv 4y ago

Name is so strange. Even people here think about old Plasma TVs. We desperately need an alternative to Chromecast for all sort of web videos. There is none (even Apple Airplay is not as good). That's one of the reasons why I cannot switch to privacy Android forks or non Chromium browsers.

dataengineer56 4y ago

I bought an LG OLED recently after giving up on my dream of finding a dumb consumer OLED. I assumed I would disconnect it from my network and use my Chromecast for media, but instead I've recently unplugged the Chromecast. The interface is surprisingly good, it has every app that I want and it's fast. I can press the Netflix button when my TV is off and be watching a show within seconds.

capableweb 4y ago
Same here, surprisingly good compared to the last LG TV we had in 2012 or something, they've made it a lot snappier. Maybe as time goes on, with more updates, it'll end up in the same situation... What I really miss though, is being able to write my own apps for the TV without having to jump through 1000 hoops, sign 5 EULAs/NDAs/contracts and be able to develop said apps on my computer and then simply push them to my TV, just for me.
mijoharas 4y ago
I used to write software for smart TV's, so ended up using a lot of them. LG were easily my favourites (N.B. this was 6 years ago now). One of the best things is the dev enviroment was so simple, just a basic linux setup with a sensible toolchain. (Samsung was easily the worst in terms of dev experience due to their tizen crap).

water8 4y ago

Ironically, this will probably destroy plasmas

qwerty456127 4y ago

Is this a good replacement for Kodi?

tweetle_beetle 4y ago

Are there any good tv operating systems which use standard desktop/laptop architectures? Was excited by this until I saw it's only released for SoCs. My hacks/scripts on Windows + Flirc are getting tiresome. Been looking at one of the Android distributions, BlissOS.

rendall 4y ago

I don't understand what this is. I read the explanation but didn't fully understand it. It's an OS one can load onto a smart TV, replacing whatever is there? Like, if I had a Samsung TV that began advertising at me, this could overwrite the UI? If so, I looked for a hardware compatibility list and saw only Raspberry Pi, which confused me.

puzzlingcaptcha 4y ago
I think it is meant as an open-source product OEMs can put on their TVs instead of some in-house Android TV derivative. Sadly it's a non-starter without widevine certification.
- stragies 4y ago
  Is "capable of Widevine certification" not tantamount to "Has HW/FW/SW in place to securely lock out the user/owner, and introduce backdoors"?
  - puzzlingcaptcha 4y ago
    Most likely, but I mean from OEM's point of view. Noone wants to sell a TV that can't play Netflix.
cal85 4y ago
My first assumption was it’s just an OS for installing on a little computer like a Raspberry Pi, for plugging into a TV or monitor via HDMI. But you’re right it’s unclear, this bit of the intro seems to imply you could install it straight to a TV: “Plasma Bigscreen turns your TV or setup-box into a fully hackable device”. So far I haven’t heard of any smart TV that lets you install a new OS, might be possible with hacks though.

toastal 4y ago

If you buy a nice panel, you won't be able to color calibrate it because of the use of Wayland; Wayland doesn't support color management yet.

manholio 4y ago

Why would I need to install an operating system on the flimsy SoC the manufacturer embedded in my TV, with the sole intention of turning it into an advertising terminal? How fast will that hardware - software combo go out of date compared to the useful life of a TV? I own a 10 year old, non-Android Sony Bravia TV that looks superb, do they support that? Sorry, but I don't see it as a problem worth solving. Just make sure your TV is airgaped, use it as dumb terminal and deliver signal from a suitable and well maintained device.

fadlan 4y ago

My name ist fadlan adnrika

tristan957 4y ago
How do you flag an account as a bot?

franga2000 4y ago

I love what KDE has been doing with Kirigami on all platforms...except for desktop. This is a great showcase of what it's good for!