14 DAY TRIAL // OpenELEC, an embedded operating system built specifically to run XBMC, the open source entertainment media hub, is now at version 5.0 Beta and is preparing to make the jump to Kodi.
If you are an OpenELEC user, then you might know that the operating system is based on XBMC and the two development cycles are closely related. If any updates land for XBMC, then that distribution will follow soon. Still, this is an operating system and there are more components in it than just the media hub. Its developers need to make sure that everything else is working as well.
On the other front, XBMC is practically gone, but just in name. Its developers have decided to rename the project to Kodi and they are working on a new version, 14.0, which should be one of the best released so far. The OpenELEC project has to make adjustments as well and incorporate all the improvements made in Kodi.
OpenELEC 5.0 Beta 1 is a big step forward
Besides the obvious change for the base from XBMC to Kodi, the developers have also made a very important modification. They have removed the support for the mk1 (silver) AppleTV build. It's no longer supported by Kodi 5.0 Beta 1 and the Linux kernel 3.17 did the same thing.
"The OpenELEC 4.95 release series are test releases (beta) for OpenELEC-5.0. OpenELEC-5.0 will be the next stable release, which is a feature release and the successor of OpenELEC-4.2. The headline change is the big switch from XBMC to Kodi branding. The name change affects more than the GUI; all references in code have been changed and in the OpenELEC filesystem /storage/.xbmc will be recreated as a symlink to /storage/.kodi to ensure hardcoded paths in addons or scripts continue to work."
"Other notable 'under the hood' changes include a version bump from v3.16 to v3.17 Linux kernel, and a switch from OpenSSL to LibreSSL following the heartbleed disclosure. The LibreSSL package includes better licensing and allows OpenELEC to be simplified by removing support for other cryptographic libraries such as GnuTLS," write the devs in the announcement.
Check out the official announcement for a complete list of changes and improvements. You can download OpenELEC 5.0 Beta 1 right now from Softpedia. The developers have explained that users should make a backup of their system if they intend to upgrade. This is far from a stable release and they might lose their data.