14 DAY TRIAL // OpenELEC is an embedded operating system built specifically to run the famous KODI (XBMC) media player solution. The developers have just pushed version 5.0.1 out the door, a day after the release of Kodi 14.1.
OpenELEC closely follows the Kodi development cycle and that means that, each time Kodi gets an update, it will be quickly adopted by the distro as well. The developers don't waste any time and they have been integrated all kinds of upgrades from upstream.
It's easy to think that it's a piece of cake to integrate the changes made upstream into the distro, but it's actually more difficult than you can imagine. The developers need to take care of other important core packages like the Linux kernel or the drivers. This is a distro and it's more than just the regular implementation of KODI.
OpenELEC 5.0.1 is a maintenance release
Now that Kodi has finally replaced XBMC, the same has happened for OpenELEC. The makers of the OS have changed all the references to Kodi, so the system should now reflect this. If you do find XBMC mentioned anywhere, be sure to tell the developers about it.
"OpenELEC-5.0 is the next stable release, which is a feature release and the successor of OpenELEC-4.2. The headline change is the update from XBMC 13 (Gotham) to Kodi 14 (Helix) and the big switch from XBMC to Kodi branding. Both project teams have conducted a major find/replace but if you spot residual mentions of XBMC anywhere please let us know," wrote the developer.
More details about the changes and improvements can be found in the official announcement. You can download OpenELEC 5.0.1 right now from Softpedia, but you also have to keep in mind that this is not a regular image. Still, you can run it from a USB key by using the regular tools.
