I have been rather unhappy with my smart TV’s functionality as I feel it isn’t smart for me but smart for the manufacturers. I just can’t use it how I want to. I would love to overwrite the existing OS from Android to Linux. I’ve recently converted from Windows and loving Mint.
I haven’t read too much regarding Linux smart tvs as my searches mostly come up with raspberry Pi and overwriting an Android box. I don’t want to connect anything and just want my tv to boot up in Linux when it’s turned on, and get some of my apps going. Is there a way to do this?
For reference I have a Sony Bravia with Android installed on it.
There are folks form KDE who are trying to implement the Plasma Bigscreen solution: https://plasma-bigscreen.org/. Seems promising to me :)
Though, I’d still recommend to use an external device to avoid breaking the TV OS up ;)
That does sound promising. I hope they get it up and running!
It was abandoned for awhile but a few months back someone has taken up working on it and made a bunch of headway. Looks significantly better than the screenshots on that website.
That said, I think the UI of choice for Linux machines is going to be Steam Big Picture Mode. I’ve been using it as my SmartTV for awhile now and I really can’t think of anything else I’d want. The excellent controller support just makes it untouchable.