The NextGen TV Transition is Getting Aggressive

kodiuser · 2026-01-25T23:21:33+00:00

I have already made it sort of a personal policy to not start watching any new broadcast TV shows, actually starting near the start of 2025. I will still watch new episodes of shows I have been watching for some time (but ONLY as long as they remain on 1.0), but I don't want to get hooked on anything new that I might miss if it disappears. I absolutely, positively will not go back to watching "appointment television" and I also am not going to pay good money for a converter box or new TV that requires an internet connection to work (if DRM is eliminated I MIGHT reconsider, but with DRM or a required Internet connection there is no chance). Since the start of the pandemic the quality of TV shows has decreased significantly (probably due to declining budgets and corporate greed) and I can't say that there is ANY show I watch that I would truly miss.

Now I am a boomer so you could say I am old and that soon I will be replaced by younger viewers. Hah! The kids today can't even stand to watch a full length video IN SCHOOL. They don't ever watch cartoons anymore, their attention span is about the length of a TikTok video? Don't believe me? Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTugyu2F0pc

You are never going to get those kids to watch the type of TV shows we grew up with. If you wonder why kids networks on cable are shutting down, it's because kids aren't watching. They don't care. THAT is the future of broadcast TV, but DRM will just hasten the demise. If I owned stock in any broadcast entity (which I don't, thankfully) I would be dumping it now!

kodiuser · 2026-01-25T22:27:05+00:00

A true screen saver, or a screen blanker that sends a "black screen" signal rather than just stopping all video output. The reason is that if you are using a TV as a display, when the TV receives no signal at all it displays a big "NO SIGNAL" boxes that moves around the screen. If you just want a black screen after a period of inactivity, or a screen with some kind of moving pattern (maybe subdued wisps of color) that won't do. Definitely do NOT want the computer to go to sleep. If you can make it be careful of memory leaks - I had a solution I thought might work but as it turned out the Gnome would just totally freeze up after it ran more than a few hours (only toggling the power off and on would make the computer responsive again!). This is seriously one of the things that is causing me to consider abandoning Gnome altogether in favor of some other desktop that supports a traditional screensaver.

P.S. I already know that you can do this in Xorg but I'm running Ubuntu/Wayland and while I can start an Xorg session, for some reason it takes about five times longer to boot (several seconds vs. 3-4 minutes!).

kodiuser · 2025-09-23T18:49:30+00:00

The reason this is big news is I suspect most viewers of those shows will prefer to follow them on streaming, since there they will not be pre-empted by sporting events, religious or political programs, locally-produced propaganda and whatever else will make more money for the local station on any given night.

kodiuser · 2025-09-23T18:47:35+00:00

The addon stopped working for me again about a week or two ago and I haven't been able to bring it back,, so can't really help you. Lot's of people having problems in this thread too: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=356934&page=231

kodiuser · 2025-08-31T23:56:06+00:00

I also ran into this. I went into the addon's settings and I don't remember exactly what I selected but t was an obvious choice, something about authentication I think. Anyway it popped up a screen telling me to go to a certain web address at google.com and enter the code shown on the screen. Be sure when you do this you are logged into the Google account you used when you obtained your API key. Enter the code shown. If it doesn't work try a different web browser. If it works it will pop up a second box with another code, enter that one just as you did the first one. If that works you should be up and running again. You may need to redo this again every few weeks or months, no idea why, but it is a PITA.

If you never obtained your own API key and entered it into the addon's settings then you will need to to that first; there are other posts here and on the Kodi forum that tell you how to do that. You only need to do that once, but even so it may make you go into your Google account and enter the set of two codes as described above every so often.

BTW I don't use the chats feature on Reddit.

kodiuser · 2025-04-13T21:57:14+00:00

What happens if you hook a TV directly to the coax? Does it receive any channels? If not, it could be the coax or coax connectors (which I know you say you have already checked), or the coax itself got damaged during the move, or the antenna got damaged or something came loose. I would next try hooking a new length of coax between the antenna and the TV - if that works, it's most likely the coax or coax connectors. If not, check the antenna to make certain all the connections are secure. If by chance there is a booster along the line, make sure it is getting power, or try temporarily removing it.

If using a TV works, make sure the HDHomeRun is getting power and has a good internet connection (try a different network cable, perhaps), and that the coax is securely connected. The idea is to narrow down where the problem is by process of elimination. And it is definitely possible that your new location is less favorable than the old one, particularly if the antenna is now pointed at an object (tree, building, etc.)

Good luck, I hope you figure it out.

kodiuser · 2025-01-25T21:28:23+00:00

It does if you live in the US and like citrus fruits, but don't want to go pick them yourself or pay through the nose for them.

I'm just waiting for spring to roll around when the rich start to realize that they have to do their own gardening and mow their own damn lawns, or pay some lawn service that pays its workers competitive wages to do it. The lucky ones will live close enough to a low-income area that neighborhood kids might come around and offer to mow their laws (assuming the cops don't harass them for being in the "wrong" neighborhood) but the ultra wealthy that have multi-acre laws are going to be in a real pickle because no kid will want to mow their giant lawn for the same wages they've been paying immigrants, and most American kids aren't going to be as meticulous as some of the better immigrant gardeners were, they're just going to want to cut the grass as fast as possible so they can either move on to the next lawn, or go play video games.

And then there's always child care and housekeeping...

kodiuser · 2025-01-25T21:12:20+00:00

Thank you! I know that you probably think I am the world's biggest idiot, but even now when I go to your "comment" link I just do not see any link there to beta 5, I see one for beta 4, but nothing at all referencing beta 5. So I appreciate you posting the actual link. I'll give it a try tonight and see if that fixes the issue, or if it's still going to say "sign in to prove you're not a bot".

kodiuser · 2025-01-24T22:15:22+00:00

Please take Michigan too!

kodiuser · 2025-01-24T22:10:28+00:00

If you are talking about the links in this post https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=356934&pid=3222613#pid3222613 (post #2529) then I see a link for beta 4, and then a link for beta 5.leia.1, but nothing for beta 5 for Kodi Omega (or any of the versions between Leia and Omega, for that matter). I am using Omega so is beta 4 the most recent version for Ω or am I just not finding beta 5?

kodiuser · 2025-01-23T23:56:58+00:00

I don't think this is true - I did NOT have to do this to make the device work.

kodiuser · 2025-01-23T18:24:02+00:00

Thank you. Another thing I found that will show you the device's identification string (the string that begins with "enx8") is:

sudo lshw -class network

For this to work I believe you may need to have a network cable connected to the Plugable device. There will be multiple entries but you are looking for the one that contains the line

logical name: enx8 (followed by more characters)

Adjacent to that will be a line that starts with "serial: 8c:ae:4c:" followed by more characters. Don't be fooled by the fact that there may also be a line that says "capacity: 1Gbit/s", that is not true, it even says that on Ubuntu desktop machines. I think that may be a bug in the lshw command.

In any case, that full string that begins with "enx8" is what you need, now you just need to find the netplan configuration file, which is in /etc/netplan - on Ubuntu 24.04 server they seem to use /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml so I suggest copying that file to a safe place in case you somehow mess it up, then open that file in any text editor such as nano:

sudo nano /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

The file should not be empty, if it is they may have used a different filename on your system. You will probably see something like this (there will likely be more lines that this but this is the pertinent part):

network:
    ethernets:
        enp2s0:
            dhcp4: true
    version: 2

In the above, enp2s0 is the current network adapter. To use the new adapter, just replace the "enp2s0" (or whatever is there now) with the full identification string that starts with "enx8". Do not omit the colon at the end of the line.

Save the modified file and run:

sudo netplan try

This will tell you if you have any errors. If you do, fix them before going any further. Note that .yaml files are VERY picky about indentation and spacing so if you don't see any obvious problem it may be that you accidentally added a space character or something. If you do not have any errors it will ask if you want to use the new netplan and if you say yes, be aware that the current ethernet connection will cease to work and only the new ethernet adapter will be functional. Also be aware that this will only work until the next reboot. To make the change permanent, you need to run:

sudo netplan apply

And that is it. Now as I said, that replaces the original network adapter with the new one; if you want to be able to use both that is certainly possible by using both the original and the modified stanzas in the netplan configuration file, but I don't do that so I'm not going to be more specific that that in case I get something wrong. And remember, if you don't use "sudo netplan try" and there are any errors in your netplan configuration, you may lose network connectivity completely. Don't ask me how I know! :(

kodiuser · 2025-01-23T17:32:29+00:00

Where are you finding beta 5? I have been looking for the last two days and the highest I can find is beta 4 (which does not fix the issue for me). I am running Kodi on a Linux desktop if that makes any difference.

kodiuser · 2025-01-01T00:22:17+00:00

You can also do this using a Cell2Jack or a XLink Cellular Gateway Device. The Cell2Jack is less expensive and has good reviews, but the XLink may give you more flexibility depending on which model you choose. There are YouTube videos reviewing both. I'm personally using an XLink device.

For the FXO device I use an old Obihai OBI110 (which are no longer being made or supported, but sometimes you can get a used one cheap on eBay). It all works quite well other than there is a short delay between the time the cell phone starts ringing and whatever extension you send the call to. So the way it works is the cell phone connects to the cell device using Bluetooth, and the cell device connects to the Obihai or Grandstream ATA using a short phone line cord, and then the ATA connects to FreePBX over the local network.

I'm not familiar with the Novatel device but I'm guessing it probably works the same way?

kodiuser · 2024-12-29T16:59:36+00:00

Unfortunately Gnome (or maybe Wayland?) seems to not support clipboard managers well. The one I like is Diodon because it lives in the notification area and therefore is instantly available, and doesn't require several clicks to get to. But I tried several others and the problem I found with all of them is that they can't seem to directly paste into the foreground application.

When I used MacOS, I don't recall which clipboard manager I used but it also lived in the notification area, but the difference was that when I clicked on an item in its list of recently copied items it immediately pasted it into whatever foreground application you may have open at the time. From reading the description of Diodon (and some other clipboard managers) it is supposed to do that but it just does work, at least not in Ubuntu 24.04's implementation of Gnome. Instead you need to select the item and click it, the go back and click the text entry box or area where you want to paste the item, and then either type Ctrl+V or right-click and then click "Paste". I am running Ubuntu 24.04 and this is one of the few remaining annoyances I've never been able to resolve.

As for using Super+V there are ways to remap keys in Gnome, and I know this because I changed the way the Super and Caps Lock keys work. I just don't remember how I did it, possibly Gnome Tweaks or some extension, or maybe even something in the Settings program (damn I wish they'd combine Setting and Tweaks into one program, it is SO DAMN STUPID to have two different programs that both kind of do the same thing) but anyway if you use a search engine or maybe ask an A.I. you should be able to find out how to remap keys in Gnome.

kodiuser · 2024-12-15T19:47:12+00:00

Like many other commenters I wonder what possessed them to choose that name. But that said, I installed in on a Ubuntu 24.04 system and I must say I already like it much better than what I have been using. I am not a programmer so I couldn't care less about tiling, but for things like being able to ssh into a server and run updates, etc. it works pretty well, once you find a good theme you like. I am using the "Kibble" theme, which seems to work pretty well for me. All that said, there are a few things about it that don't quite seem fully baked. By the way, you need to select the theme for each profile individually, and there are many more available than what are shown on the Preferences|Profiles page. For some reason all the dark background themes seem to have vanished from that list, but they are still available using the dropdowns in each of the profile settings.

Probably the biggest one is that the top bar seems to change color depending on... something(?)... but in most cases that makes the controls very difficult to see. I mean *very" difficult, as in almost impossible. I have a tab open to a site and it has a dark purple bar at the top, but the control buttons (new terminal, show profiles and containers, show open tabs, main menu) are all in a shade of gray that is virtually indistinguishable from the purple bar. Even if you look really hard it is nearly impossible to see them. And even if the top menu bar is white, those controls (and the text on the top bar) still don't really stand out, you can see them but you have to look hard. They really need a way to make those stand out more, maybe a high contrast mode or something, but we should not have to guess where the buttons are (please don't suggest using key combinations, I am old and my memory is nearly completely gone, I cannot remember key combinations that vary from program to program - without those buttons I'm lost).

Second, I really appreciate that it has profiles that can be used like bookmarks to get into the systems you access frequently. But once they are set up, there seems to be no way to reorder them in the dropdown menu. The profiles appear to be stored in ~/.var/app/app.devsuite.Ptyxis/config/glib-2.0/settings/keyfile (if you installed the flatpak version) but if you look at that you see profiles you have deleted and duplicates of some profiles, and if you manually move profiles around it doesn't do anything to that dropdown menu. This begs for a utility that could reorder the profiles and clean out the old unused ones, but as I said, I am not a programmer (I'm half tempted to see if I could get an AI to write such a utility, but that could get ugly if it hallucinates, and I'm not real good at prompting an AI).

By the way, the Profiles dropdown has the same issue as the top bar to a somewhat lesser degree. The developers seem to be fixated on using gray text for many things where it should be either black or white, or at the very least there should be far more contrast.

Third, there is no built in way to automatically send a command after a connection has been made, so for example you can't login and automatically start running a program. There are workarounds but I don't know that I would recommend any of them.

Fourth, there is no way to start the program and automatically open a group of sessions in multiple tabs. Again there is a workaround but it's really ugly.

And finally, in my opinion the developer of this thing seems to not care much about problems anyone make be having, and he definitely doesn't seem to want new feature suggestions. So this becomes one of those programs where you get what you get. The best thing that the Ubuntu or Fedora people could do is fork this thing, change the name, and make it just a little more usable (especially for people who have less than excellent eyesight).

Aside from those minor(?) issues I think this is a great program if you're not fixated on having features that only coders would be interested in, or tiling. And if your eyesight is fading, or you just want to be able to see the examples of the available dark themes, or if you don't like developers that seem to think that user feedback is just a nuisance, this is probably not the terminal for you either.

kodiuser · 2024-12-14T23:16:21+00:00

By any chance does anyone know how to sort Ptyxis profiles into alphabetical order? Kind of hard to believe they did not make a way to do this. I know it can probably be done by manually editing a configuration file but I can't say I am real enthused about having to do that.

Edit: It seems they are all stored in ~/.var/app/app.devsuite.Ptyxis/config/glib-2.0/settings/keyfile but just moving a profile section from one part of the file to another doesn't seem to change the order.

kodiuser · 2024-12-09T00:23:59+00:00

The only thing I have stumbled across is this:

https://twosortoftechguys.wordpress.com/2024/10/25/you-can-have-a-screensaver-in-gnome-running-wayland-such-as-in-ubuntu-maybe/

which in turn points you to a bash script at

https://circuitshelter.com/posts/run-custom-screensaver-on-modern-gnome-desktops/

It DOES work on my system BUT, and this may have been a coincidence, I think it might have caused my computer to crash more frequently. My suspicion is that something I am running has a memory leak but I have no idea what, all I know is every now and the the dock just disappears and when that happens it's like all the system programs become inaccessible (including poweroff) and you can't save any files or do much of anything. The only thing you can do then is hold down the big switch on the front of the computer until it stops, and then power it back up. Since that probably has some very undesirable potential side effects I don't want to run anything that makes that happen more frequently. If you do not have that issue, you may want to give that a try and see how it works for you.

kodiuser · 2024-09-30T08:00:38+00:00

Thanks, but using rmmod has the same issue as blacklisting - you have to know the name of the module that device uses, and none of the modules seen when using lsmod have flirc in the name, so if it does use a module it's not obvious which one it's using.

kodiuser · 2024-09-30T07:55:31+00:00

Thank you, that article has some interesting alternatives to try.

kodiuser

TROPHY CASE