The Nexus Player hack I was grumbling about is definitely a mixed bag. Going to write it up later.
Short version is, I got it mostly working how I envisioned.
BUT the lineageOS+microg builds are unusable out of the box. Exiting the first boot wizard sends you into an update loop you cant escape without some surgery to the system files.
I suspect no one is currently using those builds, or lineageOS on the nexus player sans gapps much but me.
@satchmoz Coming at this from a problem-solving angle where the goal is to use that device *usable* and *better for people*, have you considered doing a light #OpenGApps build? They have two called pico and nano that have very few inclusions, but just enough creepy so a device won't complain. Some notes: https://interi.org/notes/gapps-in-lineageos/
@maiki I hit more issues with basic app compatability when I wrote that, which make me concerned I think I might take a whole other approach.
There are a lot of assumptions built into the AndroidTV platform that take a google account for granted, more so than even any proprietary phone ive touched lately.
I may just pair a bluetooth controller to it and load retroarch on it for a rainy day though.
@satchmoz File that under #hiddencosts, ne? It bums me out to think kids will grow up thinking it is "normal" to register an account with a corporation in order to use "consumer electronics".
BTW, this happened to me with a Fire Kindle, I thought I could scrub it clean, make a neat little tablet for C, but it is also heavily built around thier specific OS changes.
Blah! ^_^
@maiki I knew the whole thing was a gamble, there is a reason I only tried it when I found one for less than $30.
I worry about the kinds of things we are teaching or not with kids with our ubiquitous sandboxes and walled gardens. Desperately keeping everyone from customizing, knowing or using the lower level is functions.
@maiki I got my start with software hacking and coding when I accidentally deleted our dos computer's autoexec.bat. A friend of the family had set up the machine for us with a startup menu to dummy proof dos. We were clueless how to work it ourselves. My mom promptly drove me to the library and calmly explained that it was OK and id just learn how to fix the computer.
We are creating a world with no room for that narrative now.
This is more or less my story, but without the library. I do not even remember how I discovered dosshell and /? argument...
But I remember (and will always remember) the #WordStar tutorial!
It had an #ascii art human puppet that at one point told you something like: "Now... please, press any key to destroy your computer."
When I pressed Esc a little ascii art explosion occurred on the screen.
Then: "Still there? Nice! You see you cannot destroy a computer: so be brave!"
@Shamar @maiki I went from some of the most convoluted batchfiles you have seen to a copy of Turbo Pascal 3.0 I picked up at the local fleamarket. I was all about TUIs for a long time. Animated ascii menus, faux windows.