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swanson

Member

Registered: 2020-04-22

Posts: 152  

Devuan on PC replacing the smartness in smart TV

I've run a Linux PC on my TV's since 20 years and during this time Smart TV's have made their entrance . Since 7 years it's been only Devuan, of course. The UI on Smart TV's leave A LOT to be desired, I think. It's slow and cumbersome and eventually the TV can't be upgraded anymore.

My most recent example is a Samsung TV with relatively new software which very often lost contact with the net. You had to restart the TV all the time. And on top of that, the cumbersome UI.

A real Linux PC has many advantages; Easier configuration of the network (DNS in this case), easier to watch like Youtube without ads,  if so inclined you can watch several shows, clips, videos at once. (Freedom). And play a game at the same time, and check your mail, and google stuff. And read the Devuan forum too.

With wireless keyboard and mouse, you can lay back in your couch and enjoy life.

And in this backwards world of ours, a TV without the "Smartness" would be more expensive than a TV with Smartness.

The one drawback, is that your mind might become even more fragmented.

JCK

Member

Registered: Yesterday

Posts: 4  

Re: Devuan on PC replacing the smartness in smart TV

If your samsung tv isn't too new you can access the service menu and enable 'Default HDMI1 booting' so you don't see the tv's interface every time you start it.
I got used to mine quite a while ago.

soulstenance

Member

Registered: 2026-05-10

Posts: 2  

Website

Re: Devuan on PC replacing the smartness in smart TV

Yeah "smart" TVs are becoming more mainstream, sadly. The little known reason why they're cheaper is because you're not really buying the TV as a customer, but rather you're signing up for an ad distribution and data collection service. That's where they're really making money. The best solution I can think of is to try to buy a larger computer monitor that at least comes close to the desired size of your TV. These, at least for now still tend to be relatively "dumb". Probably more costly, but if you can afford it, it's likely worth it to not be spied on and tracked.

Back when I had a smart TV, I set it up, then booted it off the internet and used my Steamdeck as a sort of TV box. It was great - not only could I play games, but things like Netflx just worked without needing to load a slow, proprietary TV app that often crashed.

kapqa

Member

Registered: 2019-01-02

Posts: 661  

Re: Devuan on PC replacing the smartness in smart TV

using a odroid n2+ with core-elec  on a non-smart tv ≤≥ liking it very much, functional for youtube, netflix, prime etc
but sometimes things break Z the soundbar howeveis bit-smart with bluetooth that seem always active when powered on, which is a nuisance, but the sound is good and subwoofer wired. wished could make use of less of less wires, get rid of LED TV (strainging the eyes) but for the moment, thats the setup.

JCK

Member

Registered: Yesterday

Posts: 4  

Re: Devuan on PC replacing the smartness in smart TV

@kapqa That is quite neat too, does kodi work with the remote with the CEC thing?
Btw i start to understand why people hang on to 20 year old plasmas and cfl lcd's, not because they were expensive at the time but bc's they are indestructible + the picture "feels" more pleasant even if poorly calibrated, my mom has a 15 year old early gen led backlit tv and none of the problems of modern ones, i just replaced caps (well, removed the bulged ones and stuck the new ones wherever it had space on the board :-) ) so good for another 15 years.
My early ish gen samsung 4k also needed the filter cap replaced and i modded it on the backlight circuit with another.

kapqa

Member

Registered: 2019-01-02

Posts: 661  

Re: Devuan on PC replacing the smartness in smart TV

@jck ,yes, most of the times flawlesslly, it depends on the TV being connecte to; out of 3 tv (one LED, one Plama, one CCFL) only the bravia CCFL TFT has problem with CEC (but otherwise a pretty gorgeous picture; somewone throw it away , so got away to testit)

have also a usb keyboard at disposal which has a trackpad which is handy if fire up android 14-15 which sits on eMMC and is nice for browsing the web;
but tend to use coreelec most of the time.