LibreELEC 8.2.5 Kodi 17.6 Final for T8 Mini

[Dave C]

Before installing this version, please use the OTA Updates application in Android to update your system first. Shah's video below (applies equally to T8 Mini devices) shows how to do this if you've not used the app before.

Changes

• Kodi 17.6
• other fixes TBA

THIS UPDATE IS FOR THE T8 Mini.
Only a T8 Mini already updated to Android 6 can use this update. Please check your OTA Updates application first if you are still running Android 5

If you have the T8-S Plus, T8-S Plus v2, T8-S, T8, T8 SE or anything other than a DroidBOX T8 Mini, do NOT flash this file, at best it won't work, at worst it could brick your device.

Long term members will know the score, you can skip a paragraph or two...

This file is likely to be part of an OTA update in the near future. It is not yet official. If you do not want to factory reset your device, or don't have the time to report any issues found, please wait for our next official OTA update.

However, if you know what the Recovery menu is, how to access it, and are happy to help trace issues to their root cause, LibreELEC 8.2.5 with Kodi 17.6 is available for your DroidBOX T8 Mini.


File to download: https://mega.nz/#!rPpGXSYC!H5eQg1MY5vfYuPelnlKsN07AdF0yS9Rmn8p17xR82js
If you are on a Mac, you may need to this first: https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=31919091

What to do:

• Copy the ZIP file (do not decompress it, you should only have one file called LibreELEC-DroidBOX.aarch64-T8Mini-8.2.5-update.zip to copy, and it should be just over 141Mb) to an SD memory card
• Turn your DroidBOX off and safely eject the card from your PC/Mac/other device, and insert the card in the DroidBOX T8 Mini memory card slot
• Holding down the Restore button on the right hand side (behind the USB socket), press the power button once to turn on the T8 Mini. DO NOT LET GO OF THE RESTORE BUTTON YET.
• Once you see the Recovery menu on screen, release the Restore button.
• Click on the "Apply Update from EXT" option.
• This time, click the "Update from sdcard" entry.
• Click on LibreELEC-DroidBOX.aarch64-T8Mini-8.2.5-update.zip file
• Once the process completes, select the Wipe Data/Factory Reset option (this will effect Android as well as LibreELEC)
• Confirm you are sure
• Once this process completes, select the Start Android option.

The following video shows the process. Although in this case we're flashing a LibreELEC firmware, rather than a ZIP file with an official OTA update, the steps remain the same.

Let us know if you encounter any issues, the more detail the better.

 

[Bollocks77]

Any news on when this will become an OTA update please ??
Regards
Dave

 

[Dave C]

I do not have an exact date just yet, but it should be sooner rather than later as final testing for some updated apps is being done at the moment. I will announce on the forums and blog posts the OTA updates and for which devices when it is available.

 

[Bollocks77]

Excellent - Thank you.

 

[lordtoran]

Finally came around to update and test--also did a factory reset.

This update has solved an issue in LibreELEC for me in which the WiFi would sometimes not properly start when booting the box. Still soft-reboots occasionally when playing very large image folders as a slideshow from a WebDAV share while certain program addons (like Backup) are also working in the background, but that it probably due to RAM limitations of the device.

Nothing to complain about the Android side except that the wizard and launcher lack a German localization.

Thank you for giving us an update to the very last Kodi 17.6

 

[Bollocks77]

Brilliant - will this be an OTA update?
Dave

 

[lordtoran]

Upon more testing, I found minor glitches in Android pertaining to my external desktop hard disk that is attached to the T8 Mini. It is a WD Elements 5 TB formatted as ext4 (Linux).

Both my installed file managers (File Manager HD and X-plore) ask for access to the disk (and whether that app should be used as the default for USB devices) upon launching them. When granting this, the disk however disappears from view with the toast notification "OTG format not supported", or everything seems fine but write accesses fail, even with root functions activated in the app. If I just close the prompt window which probably equals answering "no", the disk can be normally accessed.

SyncThing cannot write to the external disk at all without root granted in its experimental options.

 

[Dave C]

Try using ES File Explorer as the file manager and see if that gives full access. I know that some file managers do not have proper support for external devices.