Download OpenELEC 2.0 Beta 1

Version 1.95.1, or 2.0 beta 1, of the Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center was released this weekend. This Linux distribution is based on XBMC and is intended to turn a computer into a full-fledged htpc. OpenELEC is easy to install, maintain and use, as well as being small and lightning fast. In addition to the default download there are special versions for AMD’s Fusion, Nvidia’s ION, Apple TV and the Xtreamer Ultra TV. Version 2.0 of OpenELEC is based on version 11 of XBMC and includes the following improvements:

OpenELEC 2.0 highlights and changes:

• XBMC-11.0 (Eden)
  Includes new native high-performance image compression for JPEG and PNG image types. If you previously enabled DDS fanart in advancedsettings.xml it should be removed. You can remove .dds files from the thumbnail image cache.
  Eden has improved sound card detection. This may change the naming of audio devices available on your system. If audio stops working after the update please adjust audio configuration in XBMC settings to use the updated device names.
• XBMC-PVR builds
  These builds are based on XBMC 11.0 but include PVR support within the XBMC GUI and include DVB firmware and drivers, TVHeadend, VDR and VU+ support in the OS.
• PXE net boot support:
  • booting over NFS support (wiki article needed)
  • booting over NBD support (wiki article needed)
  • booting over iSCSI support
• Airplay and Airtunes support
• CEC Adapter support
• libaacs support
• Automatic frame buffer detection
  The previous “hack” to make splash screens work should be removed else you will see a message saying the video mode is not supported. Mount /flash read/write with “mount -o remount,rw /flash” and edit /flash/extlinux.conf. Remove vga=XYZ from the APPEND line, then save and reboot.
• New “Generic_OSS” image
  “Generic_OSS” is similar to “Generic” but contains the open source AMD and nVidia graphic drivers. If you need to install OpenELEC to a system with older AMD or nVidia graphics cards and the “Generic” image doesn’t work, try this image.
• “Fusion” image is now 64bit
  OpenELEC 1.x was 32bit due to issues in the 64bit build. These issues are fixed so we have switched to 64bit to make best use of Fusion hardware capabilities. Existing 32bit binary addons are not compatible with a 64bit OS so we recommend a clean installation to prevent issues. If you prefer to perform a manual update; you will need to remove all OpenELEC 32bit addon packages, update the OS, then re-add addon packages to get compatible 64bit versions. Please backup /storage/.xbmc first!
  • cp -a /storage/.xbmc /storage/.xbmc-backup
  • rm -rf /storage/.xbmc/addons/packages
  • rm -rf /home/.xbmc/userdata/Database/Addons*.db
  • reboot, then reinstall the addons you need
• Automatic Log File Creation
  Accessing the \\OPENELEC\Logfiles SAMBA share automatically creates an archive file that contains essential log-files for troubleshooting.
• Improved AMD XVBA support
  Thanks to the efforts of FernetMenta, Fritsch, Newphreak and many users who have been testing and providing feedback we have native XVBA support that replaces the old VAAPI solution in OpenELEC 1.x. Performance and stability are massively improved.
• AppleTV builds use nVidia graphics (with full support for HDMI audio)
  Thanks to chewitt and XBMC’s Scott Davilla working with nVidia the long-standing HDMI audio bug was fixed. The nVidia driver brings a HUGE improvement to video quality and performance in our AppleTV image.
• Llano A support removed from Fusion builds
  To optimize Fusion builds for AMD Fusion HTPCs we removed Llano “A” support from Fusion builds. If you have a Llano “A” system please use the “Generic” image.
• SSH is OFF by default
  To improve “out of the box” security SSH is disabled by default. It can be enabled as part of the install process if required. It can be enabled post-install by adding an “ssh_enable” file to the \\OPENELEC\Configfiles SAMBA share and rebooting, or by adding “ssh” to the APPEND line in /flash/extlinux.cfg
• PS3 controller support has been moved to a separate addon
• Wii controller support has been moved to a separate addon
• XBMC now includes native NFS, AFP ,CIFS and SSH share support
  so netmount.conf has been removed. If you still need the old functionality please read this.

Website Changes:

• New OpenELEC Wiki
  We have added a wiki on to replace various HOWTO and “Tips & Tricks” sections of the website and forums. If you previously created popular forum articles for us please help us by moving them to the wiki.
• Issue Reports & Feature Requests on github
  OpenELEC gained many new users since 1.0 and it became impossible to track issue reports and feature requests via forum postings. To re-assert some control and improve visibility for the dev team we have moved all bug reporting and feature requests to the github issue tracker here.

Upgrading to OpenELEC 1.95.1

There have been many months of developer testing in the run-up to this beta release, but like any major update there are a lot of changes and something somewhere will have been missed (this is why we do beta tests). If you are going to update to the beta release we STRONGLY advise you to make a backup of XBMC’s data files first:
cp -a /storage/.xbmc /storage/.xbmc-backup