Something I have been talking about a long time ago, is what Perceptive media could bring to the in-car experience. Also MBUX sound drive is something which could easily be done with the open sourced Adaptive podcast app if you write a connection to the car sensor…
Month: January 2024
Chocolate and child slavery, a bit of awareness
I watched a video about Chocolate and child slavery.
It was quite a watch and as the title indicates, there was a lot of thoughts about not just the big chocolate companies but the whole industry and the reliance on child slave labour. I posted about it on the Fediverse because I felt it was well worth watching with a warning
The same night I had taste of Hasnaâ Qori Inti, Peru, Dark 75% chocolate from Cocoarunners and was surprised to experience a small addition of the cocoa fruits on a postcard in the chocolate.
Just a coincidence but a interesting one….
The only thing which will change the big problem of child slavery in the chocolate industry is awareness.
Running Kodi on a Raspberry Pi 5
When the Raspberry Pi 5 was announced, I had added a task to look at replacing my quad core Intel Celeron with it. The specs looked perfect for a living room media system. I had already invested in a Nvidia quad HDMI PCIe 1x card to fit into the current box, struggled to get the drivers working on Ubuntu but then it all just stopped.
I tried to replace the PSU but it didn’t work. Its been ages since I really built a PC so in the end, decided rather than I should complete that task and bought a 8gig Raspberry Pi 5 from cool components.
Today I set it up in a few hours complete with LibreELEC.
I’m going to get a new case because the basic case is so so for what I’m trying to add to it. It also looks a bit lost in such a big space under the TV. But I’m looking forward to seeing it run 4k H.265 HVEC across my TV and projector. Of course I would need to finally upgrade my first generation smart TV first.
Update progress
This has been quite a journey.
I’m adding this information for anyone else who is thinking of doing similar. I still have a Raspberry Pi 5 running Kodi under my TV but I had to do a lot and only today somewhat happy. To be clear I installed the stable libreelec 32bit ARM as its seemed easy and good enough. I switched to the nightly edition 64bit ARM version. Tried installing OSMC (decided against this for lack of updates and Raspberry Pi 5 support looks a long way off) and finally installed the official Raspberry PI image/Raspbian and installed Kodi within that.
Dual display output running Kodi to my TV and Projector?
I seen many examples of people running displays next to each other at 4k and some high refresh rate. So assumed it would be possible across my TV and projector. Heck its mirrored so it should be easier right? No its not possible using Libreelec at all. I got it working in Raspbian but failed to get Kodi to mirror at all. After lots of research it seemed the much easier way to do this is with a HDMI splitter. I ended buying this one, which does exactly what I needed even if it requires a USB port for power.
AC3, DTS, multichannel sound output?
This one really kicked me where it hurts. I assumed I could finally get all those multichannel sound formats to my Onkyo 7.1 surround sound receiver over HDMI. I can get Dolby Digital/AC3 but when I plugged it directly into my receiver, the TV kept turning off as there was a issue where the remote inputs were not being transferred to the TV via the receiver. I considered turning off any standby options but there was worst to come.
I couldn’t find anyway to output DTS or AAC let alone anything like DTS Master audio. In the end I bought a external USB sound card with optical output and 8 channel analogue outputs if I invested in more 7.1 in the future. There was still some tweaking to Kodi get the settings right but its working now.
The upside
I found it extremely easy to make many versions across multiple SD cards and simply swap them out. For example just 2 days there was a release which looks good, so I’ll likely just make another SD card and copy my files to the home directory.
Generally its working now and I assume it will get better as development grows around the Raspberry Pi 5.
Another update
I found out the problem with the TV standby comes from the CEC adapter, which is installed as default on the Raspberry Pi but not on my previous built Kodibox. I was able to disable it via the Setting > System > Input > Peripherals > CEC adapter. Because this is now working, I have the Raspberry Pi 5 plugged directly into the Onkyo receiver and also plugged in the Chromecast.
Once the HDMI audio is sorted, I can finally remove the external sound card and may consider moving the HDMI splitter to the output of the receiver but need to work out how this would effect the Freeview HD output on the TV’s HDMI return channel path/arc. Although to be fair my antenna has not worked in months if not a year.
Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Jan 2024)
We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed with potential planned obsolescence of trains by the maker, the promise of Matter a bit of let down for now and the first but not last devastation of a country due to climate collapse.
To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
You are seeing aspects of this with Meta’s threads testing fediverse interoperability, roof tops being taken seriously as a source for renewable power and planned obsolescence on public transport.
Beeper interoperability exposes Apple’s closed ecosystem
Its easily overlooked by most Apple users but there is a bigger story raised by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Cory Doctorow. Apple’s reply must have the EU stretching for their law books? Here is the latest update on everything.
Parents sharing data without knowledge
Ian thinks: This short video from one of the Netherlands public broadcasters, highlights the big problem parents and new children have when it comes to social media and the internet. The punch line weighs heavy in minds afterwards.
Surveillance in the ebooks you are reading?
Ian thinks: Although this is mainly focused on the American market, its concerning and a sign of the commercialisation of everything possible. I naively thought the well established laws around libraries would apply but obviously not. Maybe they should!
University monetising their students now up to 11
Ian thinks: Following on from the previous link, reading the experience of students again in the states is simply terrifying from a privacy point of view. Like schools, a number of companies have come in at such a low price to collect as much data as possible in return for little. I don’t even think some of the universities are fully aware of the bigger problem? The case for University is eroding away every day, sadly.
Do we digitally own anything at all?
Ian thinks: There has been a number of news stories about the hostile problem of online streaming and subscription of digital goods. I found Wendy’s related post honest and realistic.
The driving licence line up
Ian thinks: The Omni-Surveillance society wants more data, and all those driving licences are a rich store of data. Will this bill go through? I’m unsure but honestly I’m conscious of how far you can get with “think about the children”.
What the platforms do so badly, local community
Ian thinks: In this TEDx talk, Shani outlines what she did for her local area to encourage people to build a community. Its a wonderful talk and points to just enough internet rather than centring it. Just wonderful.
Proton’s CEO grilled for 2 hours and comes out fresh as a daisy
Ian thinks: Andy Yen, answers question for 2 hours and some of them are cutting and tricky. I know its a long time for most people but you really get a sense of Proton’s future and their part in the public service internet. Well worth turning on and mainly listening to.
Match group will own love now and into the future?
Ian thinks: Most people care less about online dating and don’t see the connection with the public service internet. However this video demonstrates the almost complete monopoly of the Match group, buying new platforms as they pop their heads up. This is critical with a pandemic of loneliness across the developed world.
Just one more… final victory for free, libre and open source
Ian thinks: Podcasting is going through a rough time with advertising recently. FLOSS weekly is another one ending. However its a great final episode and all 761 episodes makes a great archive documenting the many projects and achievements from the FLOSS community over the last 17 years.
Find the archive here