MX Linux Forum

Now that Kodi 19 is out is Kodi version 18 gone forever? I don't want Kodi 19 since I use an ESPN3 add-on that is not yet supported in version 19. But I can't locate version 18. I am running antiX-17.4 and I tried all the antiX repos and Debian testing repos and the Multimedia repo.

I tried to download an MX-17 18.5 version but when I try to install it it says it is already installed. (I have 17.6) I would switch to MX-17 or 18 if I could get Kodi 18. I moved back to Stretch because this machine has an old nvidia 6600 that needs the Legacy nvidia driver. I tried installing in MX and couldn't get it to work. I was able to get it to work in antiX-17.4. But now I can't find Kodi 18 of any kind. Version 19 is available, but not Kodi 18.

Am I barking up the wrong tree? Is there a chance that I could find a .deb file for Kodi 18 that will work?

seaken64

Well, I have 18.5 here https://build.opensuse.org/package/show ... /kodi-18.X

but why exactly isn't that ESPN3 extension working? It seems rather important to let die on the vine.

Did you already update to 19 from our test repo? As long as you have 18 and don't manually install from the test repo, you'll still have 18.

seaken64 wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 10:56 pm I would switch to MX-17 or 18 if I could get Kodi 18.

in MX 18, Kodi 18 is in the test repo

In MX19 Kodi 18.5 is in the stable repo and Kodi 19.0 is in the test repo. Tony37 just wrote a post on how to pin packages at a particular version in Tips&Tricks. I have no idea what antiX has in its repos or how they handle their upgrades.

Thank you all for your tips. But I think I am going to give up on getting Kodi 18 working on that machine. I thought I could do it but my linux/antiX/MX knowledge is still not good enough to work around all the issues that come up with Kodi and nvidia.

I picked up the machine for $15 at a recycle center. I added memory and a sata hard drive and installed antiX-19 64-bit. It is an AMD dual core processor with PCIe slots, where I have a GeForce 6600 GPU in the 16-bit PCIe slot. antiX works fine with the nouveau driver.

When I installed Kodi 18.9 and tried to run it the machine crashed and locked up, I had to power down, I tried a couple of times and tried to consult the logs, which did not get written to disk. The system just locked up. I figured that maybe it was the GPU driver and I tried to use the nvidia drivers. But the Legacy 304.xxx driver would not work in antiX-19. I was able to re-install antiX-17.4 and I got Kodi 17.6 running.

I decided to try MX 18, which like antiX 17 is based on Stretch. But I cannot get MX to install the Legacy nvidia driver. I tried Kodi 18.5 in MX and again it locks up the computer. But Kodi 17.6 also runs okay.

As a last ditch effort I thought I would try the nvidia driver in antiX-17. It works. I now have the nvidia driver working but now I can't get Kodi 18 to install.

So, I had two possibilities to run Kodi 18 on that machine (in theory) - antiX-17 with nvidia driver and Kodi 18, or MX-18 with nvidia driver and Kodi 18. Neither possibility is working for me. But I think my best hope is with antiX. I have read that some others have been successful to get the legacy nvidia driver working in antiX-19. But so far I have not attempted it. Maybe I will go ahead and try it. But I am leaning toward staying with Kodi 17.6.

Unfortunately, I never got the chance to prove my theory that Kodi 18 would work with the proprietary nvidia driver. Oh well.

Thanks again,
seaken64

@Stevo, I have not tried Kodi 19 yet in either antiX-19 or MX-19. I had already run Kodi 19 on a Windows box and due to the change to Python 3 a lot of add-ons are not yet working. The one I use the most is ESPN3 and it will probably be re-written to work in Kodi 19. But for now it does not work. In the meantime I am using Kodi 18.9 on the Windows machine. I have Kodi 18 working fine on another MX box. This was a special case where I was trying to get a Stretch version distro working with Kodi 18 on an old box. I figured Kodi-18.5 would be better than 17.6 but it turned out to be too complicated for me.

I will try again to install Kodi 19 on that machine and see what happens. It will likely crash. I am looking into replacing the GPU with an AMD card. It's all just experimental. I've got Kodi-18 working fine on other machines. But I have often found that going backward with Kodi is very difficult. Once a new version comes out they abandon the last version. I thank you for still providing the version 18 option.

seaken64

On antix17, what you could do is enable the default mx repo and the mx testrepo by adding this to /etc/apt/sources.list (or create a file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d): Then install Kodi 18: And then turn off the mx repos again

I see you also posted on the antix forum, so that answers your question there too. Kodi is way too complicated dependency-wise to just install from a deb file, and you also need the normal mx repo.

seaken64 wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:48 pm I decided to try MX 18, which like antiX 17 is based on Stretch. But I cannot get MX to install the Legacy nvidia driver.

I noticed that problem earlier, with solution at viewtopic.php?p=616973#p616973

It seems that the nouveau driver does not provide the minimum requirements for OpenGL that Kodi needs, then.

tony37 wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 5:13 pmKodi is way too complicated dependency-wise to just install from a deb file, and you also need the normal mx repo.

Ok, that is interesting. I did add the MX-17 testrepo. I did that after I tried installing from the downloaded .deb files. But I did not also add the normal mx repo. I will try that. Maybe that will be the answer.

Thanks for the tip,
seaken64

Stevo wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 7:40 pm It seems that the nouveau driver does not provide the minimum requirements for OpenGL that Kodi needs, then.

I wonder if the nvidia driver will provide the minimum requirements for OpenGL. Maybe I will have to change to a new GPU card anyway.

Edit: I did look at the requirements on the Kodi website. It does say the GeForce 6600 is supported but not acceleration. That is why I have been trying to use the nvidia driver. I have that driver on antiX now and will try again with the two MX-17 repos as Tony mentioned. I will keep trying with MX-18 also.

Thanks,
seaken64

seaken64 wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:27 pmI have that driver on antiX now and will try again with the two MX-17 repos as Tony mentioned.

important is to disable the mx repos again (certainly the test repo), otherwise you might break your nvidia-driver (this is the same problem I mention in post 8 )

Hi tony37,

That was it! I needed to have BOTH the normal repo and the testrepo enabled. It's funny that I typed them both in on their own lines but I commented out the normal "repo" because I didn't know I needed that one. I thought all I needed was the "testrepo". I guess in MX that is not an issue since the normal repo is already enabled. But in antiX it didn't work unless the normal MX repo was also enabled.

I did notice both the "repo" and "testrepo" flashing by on screen as it downloaded the packages.

That was a good lesson for me. Thanks.

And yes, I know about the disabling of non-standard repos in antiX. I learned that the hard way a couple of years ago when I accidentally hosed my antiX-16 stable and created a franken-debian.

After I got Kodi-18.5 installed and tested I went back and disabled the MX-17 repos and then ran an update again. I also put a hold on the Kodi packages in both apt and Synaptic just in case. I don't want to end up with version 19, although I doubt Stretch repos will get 19 anyway. But I can't say for sure so I held them back.

Thank you everyone for the help with Kodi 18. I was about to give up.

seaken64

seaken64 wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:27 pm

Stevo wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 7:40 pm It seems that the nouveau driver does not provide the minimum requirements for OpenGL that Kodi needs, then.

I wonder if the nvidia driver will provide the minimum requirements for OpenGL. Maybe I will have to change to a new GPU card anyway.

It works! When I started up Kodi-18.5 from the terminal I half expected it to crash. But it didn't. Apparently the nvidia driver does provide the minimum requirements for Kodi 18 whereas the nouveau driver does not.

Thanks again,
seaken64

Glad to hear that, would have been a bummer going through all these lengths and then the thing just crashing.

Yeah, it would have been a bummer for sure. But I had already made peace with it and was willing to settle on using Kodi 17.6.

I am tempted to try to figure out the nvidia legacy driver on MX-18 but I have decide to go back to antiX-19 instead and play with that. It was always my goal to use antiX on that machine. I ended up experimenting with MX as I was trying to figure out the nvidia driver. And of course the MX-17 repos ended up being the answer for getting Kodi 18 installed in antiX-17. I will now re-install antiX-19 and try to get the legacy nvidia drivers working on that.

seaken64

seaken64 wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:30 amI will now re-install antiX-19 and try to get the legacy nvidia drivers working on that.

if you mean the 304 legacy drivers, that will be difficult, I don't see them anywhere in the repos (340 is there)

Yes, I think it will be difficult. I have read where it has been done by changing the xorg version, and maybe the kernel, and using a Debian package. I'll give it a whirl and I'll let you know how it goes.

seaken64

Out of curiosity, I tried this out in Virtualbox, and the way to do this is to add the Debian stretch repo: (antix stretch repo wasn't needed)

Then make a preferences file (you can simply create /etc/apt/preferences), with following content: And then install: The only package I couldn't prevent from getting removed in the process is virtualbox-guest-x11, I don't think that's a big problem.
If you want to disable the stretch repo after that (maybe not necessary), then you can just pin the packages in the preferences file by changing 'release n=stretch' to 'release a=now'

edit: I added 'xorgxrdp' to the list, mostly for completeness' sake, in case someone would have this installed
edit2: added the Debian security repo for stretch as there's an update for xserver-xorg-core there

Thanks Tony! That's a big help and will get me going in the right direction. I have already re-installed antiX-19.3 and have setup the multiple screens for proper login and wallpapers. Now I am beginning to read up on the process of installing the legacy 304xx nvidia drivers. You've given me a head start.

seaken64

It's done! I now have the legacy 304xx nvidia driver installed on antiX-19.3. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be thanks to tony37. I read up on it first and then I just followed Tony's instructions.

I read up on the apt preferences. The packages in that file are set to use the versions in Stretch instead of the Buster repos. apt takes care of removing what needs to be removed and then replaced with the downgraded versions from Stretch. Once the Stretch versions are in place the install of the legacy 304xx drivers works. I rebooted after the install to make sure the nouveau driver was blacklisted.

Most of the other instructions were more complicated. So trust me, if you want to try using the legacy 304xx drivers on antiX-19 just follow Tony's instructions above.

Thanks again Tony. That was very helpful.
seaken64

@tony37 , before I attempt my usual update and full-upgrade do I need to do anything beyond modifying the apt preferences file? If I leave the Stretch repo enabled it won't get used anyway since Buster will take priority for everything not replace by the Stretch versions from this preferences file?

If I want to try to install Kodi 18.9 should I disable the Stretch repo? I think it is in the Buster test repo. [Edit: it was in the deb-multimedia repo] I'm not sure what Kodi is in the Stretch repos. I think it's 17.6? [Both 17.6 and 17.1 showed from the Stretch repos]

seaken64

I don't think any harm can come from leaving the stretch repo enabled, as these are logically older than the buster versions. But it's also superfluous to keep downloading these package lists.

To install Kodi 18, you can temporarily enable the default mx repo (not the test repo). To get the keyring for mx, install mx19-archive-keyring

Repology is your friend to find out what's in the Debian, antiX, and various MX main and test repos. They don't have AHS yet...

https://repology.org/project/kodi/versions

Thank you. I ended up doing it the hard way. I enabled the Debian test and the deb-multimedia repo and test. Then I updated and ran
that showed four versions of Kodi and one was 18.9 from the deb-multimedia repo.

I went back to the sources and disabled Debian test and Deb-Multimedia test and updated again. Then I looked at apt policy kodi again. The candidate was Kodi 18.9. So I ran
Kodi installed. Then I crossed my fingers and launched it from the terminal. No crash! It worked!

I tried the ESPN3 app and it installed but I got errors. So I removed it and changed the interface to Confluence, which is what I prefer, then re-installed ESPN3. I authenticated again and this time it worked. I'm watching the NCAA women's tournament now on Kodi 18.9. Perfect!

Thank you again for the help getting Kodi 18 working on antiX-19.

seaken64

tony37 wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 6:35 pm I don't think any harm can come from leaving the stretch repo enabled, as these are logically older than the buster versions. But it's also superfluous to keep downloading these package lists.

To install Kodi 18, you can temporarily enable the default mx repo (not the test repo). To get the keyring for mx, install mx19-archive-keyring

I'm going to go ahead and disable the Strech repo in the source list and then run an update and full-upgrade. It just makes me feel better since I don't really know what I am doing. You're probably right and I should just trust it but I'm a little hesitant until I learn more about what is happening with the full-upgrade.

Thanks,
seaken64

tony37 wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:01 pm Out of curiosity, I tried this out in Virtualbox, and the way to do this is to add the Debian stretch repo:

Code: Select all

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free

(antix stretch repo wasn't needed)

Then make a preferences file (you can simply create /etc/apt/preferences), with following content:

Code: Select all

Package: xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-video* xorgxrdp glx-alternative-nvidia glx-alternative-mesa glx-diversions update-glx
Pin: release n=stretch
Pin-Priority: 1000

And then install:

Code: Select all

sudo apt update && sudo apt install nvidia-legacy-304xx-driver

The only package I couldn't prevent from getting removed in the process is virtualbox-guest-x11, I don't think that's a big problem.
If you want to disable the stretch repo after that (maybe not necessary), then you can just pin the packages in the preferences file by changing 'release n=stretch' to 'release a=now'

edit: I added 'xorgxrdp' to the list, mostly for completeness' sake, in case someone would have this installed

@tony37 do you need to remove the Stretch repo after installing the Nvidia 304 driver to avoid getting a FrankenMX?

For the Debian Stretch repo, it's not strictly needed to remove it (nothing will be 'upgraded' from buster to stretch), but I suggest people do it anyway because it's just not useful to keep downloading these package lists (chances of there coming any updates for these stretch packages are minimal). But then you have to make sure some packages are pinned, for example by changing 'release n=stretch' to 'release a=now' in the preferences file (as already mentioned).
(but the MX stretch repo, needed if you want to install the 304 driver on 4.19 kernel, can give problems when enabled on buster, I took that into account in my guide at viewtopic.php?p=638080#p638080)