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CouchLiteOS 0.3.0 beta 2

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@Dudiebug Dudiebug released this 09 Oct 00:32
v0.3.0-beta.2
279a429

CouchLiteOS v0.3.0-beta.2

This is the second beta: a test version of 0.3.0 for people who want it
early. New since the first beta: a new home screen in the style of the
PlayStation 3 menu, a boot animation, more themes, a loading screen and sounds
for games and apps, a tour on the first start with HELP in Settings, and the
UPDATE CHANNEL setting (below), so a box on this beta is offered the next beta
and then the final 0.3.0 by SOFTWARE UPDATE itself. A box on the first beta is not offered this one; update it from
the ISO below (see Updating).
Please report what goes wrong on
GitHub.

v0.3.0 gives the box a console-style TV interface, themes, and a way to
undo an update. The download is much smaller: you pick a web browser during
setup and it installs from the internet. Older installs, including MoonlightOS,
can now update from the USB stick and keep their settings.

Downloads

File For
couchliteos-0.3.0-beta.2-amd64.iso Intel and AMD graphics, NVIDIA Kepler and older (including the iMac Late 2013), Intel Macs, VMs
couchliteos-0.3.0-beta.2-nvidia-amd64.iso NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745/750, GTX 900 series and newer (up to RTX 40)
SHA256SUMS Checksums for the ISOs

New

  • A new home screen. Categories run along the screen (POWER, SETTINGS,
    TV & VIDEO, GAMES, APPS and NETWORK) and the items of the one you are in run
    down it, as on a PlayStation 3. GAMES comes first, the most recently played at
    the top, each with its cover. A slow coloured wave moves behind it all. A bar
    along the bottom shows what each controller button and keyboard key does, with
    the button letters of the pad you hold (Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo). Small
    notices appear when a controller connects or disconnects, its battery runs
    low, the gaming PC comes online or an update is ready. After a stream, Home
    comes back with the game you just played in focus.

  • Starting up. The box shows its logo and a loading animation while it
    starts, and the home screen fades in when it is ready. Waking from sleep has
    its own, shorter animation and sound.

  • Sounds and music. Moving, opening and going back have soft sounds, and
    quiet music plays on the home screen and in the menus. Settings > APPEARANCE >
    SOUNDS turns the sounds off.

  • Games and apps in front. Starting a game or an app shows a loading screen
    with its name and a start sound; coming back plays a return sound. While a
    game or app is in front, the home screen stops drawing and the music stops,
    so the PC's power goes to the game.

  • A tour and HELP. The first start ends with a short tour of the buttons
    and the home screen. Settings > HELP has short answers to common questions
    and START THE TOUR to see it again.

  • Quick menu. Tap Guide / PS, or press Home on a keyboard, for VOLUME,
    BRIGHTNESS (on PCs with a built-in screen), controller batteries, NETWORK,
    running APPLICATIONS, HOME, SLEEP, RESTART and TURN OFF. B or Esc goes back
    to the app you were in. During a Moonlight stream it also has STREAM PRESET
    and SHOW STATS. Holding Select+Start (View+Menu) or L3+R3, or the keyboard
    shortcut (Ctrl+Alt+H unless you changed it), opens ACTIVE APPLICATIONS as
    before, and Guide still goes to the gaming PC while you stream.

  • Game covers. Covers come from Moonlight when it has them, and are
    otherwise looked up by the game's name on Steam, or on SteamGridDB if you add
    your own SteamGridDB key. Hold Y / Square (or F9) on a game for CHANGE
    ARTWORK: pick another cover, RESET, or a plain TITLE CARD. Settings >
    APPEARANCE > ARTWORK turns the lookup off (only game names are sent) and
    lists the UNMATCHED GAMES.

  • Per-game stream settings. Hold X / Triangle (or F10) on a game for STREAM
    SETTINGS: PERFORMANCE, BALANCED, QUALITY, or CUSTOM resolution, frame rate,
    bitrate and HDR, kept for that game alone and never above what your TV and
    this PC can show. Games without their own settings stream as before.

  • Themes. Settings > APPEARANCE has 14 themes (MIDNIGHT, SLATE, DAYLIGHT,
    OCEAN, CRIMSON, EMERALD, AMETHYST, SUNSET, ROSE, GOLD, GRAPHITE, ARCTIC, HIGH
    CONTRAST, and TERMINAL, the white-on-black look of 0.2.x), accent colours
    including BY MONTH (a new colour each month, as on the PS3), and BACKGROUND:
    WAVE AND SPARKLES, WAVE or PLAIN. The whole box, including the on-screen
    keyboard, changes colour at once. You can add your own theme file; see the
    theme guide.

  • Undo an update. Every update now saves the current system first. If the
    new version misbehaves, Settings > SOFTWARE UPDATE > RESTORE PREVIOUS VERSION
    restarts the box and puts the saved version back, with the settings and
    pairings it had then. If the box no longer starts, the boot menu has
    CouchLiteOS: restore previous version (hold Shift, or press Esc on UEFI
    PCs, while the box starts). One version is kept; the next update replaces it.
    SOFTWARE UPDATE shows the SAVED VERSION, and has SAVE BEFORE UPDATE (ON or
    OFF) and DELETE SAVED VERSION for small disks. The update from 0.2.x to 0.3.0
    is saved too, so you can go back to 0.2.x.

  • Update an older install from the USB stick. Boot the 0.3.0 USB stick on a
    box with 0.2.0 or MoonlightOS 0.1.x installed. Settings > SOFTWARE UPDATE >
    UPDATE THE INSTALLED SYSTEM (KEEPS PAIRINGS AND SETTINGS) updates it in place
    instead of erasing the disk.

  • Pick your web browser. Firefox and Google Chrome are no longer in the
    download. The Setup Wizard has a WEB BROWSER step, and Settings >
    APPLICATIONS > ADD A WEB BROWSER installs FIREFOX or GOOGLE CHROME from the
    internet any time later. Web apps open in Google Chrome, or in Firefox if
    that is the one you have.

  • Type on your phone. In a text field, press Select (View) or F2 and scan
    the QR code with a phone on the same home network. Type on the phone, send,
    then confirm on the TV. The code works once and runs out after 5 minutes.

  • Controllers. Settings > CONTROLLERS lists every connected pad as PLAYER 1,
    2 and so on, with its battery. MOVE UP and MOVE DOWN set the order (and the
    player lights, where the pad has them), IDENTIFY makes a pad rumble (and blink, where it has lights),
    TEST shows its sticks, triggers and buttons live, and SWAP A/B and SWAP X/Y
    suit Nintendo layouts in the CouchLiteOS menus. A stream still gets the pad
    as it is, in Moonlight's own order.

  • The classic look stays. Settings > APPEARANCE > INTERFACE > CLASSIC
    brings back the text menu of 0.2.x (TV goes back to the new one); the box
    restarts the launcher into it at once. Pair it with THEME > TERMINAL for the
    old colours too. A box updated from 0.2.x or MoonlightOS starts in the new TV
    interface; the WHAT'S NEW screen on its first start says how to go back.

  • Bluetooth headphones and a microphone. Settings > BLUETOOTH pairs
    headphones and speakers; sound moves to them when they connect and back when
    they disconnect. Settings > AUDIO picks the output and the microphone, tests
    the microphone, and the classic interface shows MIC LIVE while an app is
    recording.

  • Battery. On a laptop or a PC with a battery, the top bar shows its charge,
    a notice appears at 20, 10 and 5 percent, and Settings > SLEEP & SCREEN has
    BLANK SCREEN ON BATTERY.

  • Security fixes and app updates between releases. The box installs Debian
    security fixes, and new Moonlight and chiaki-ng versions, by itself once a
    day, never while you stream. Settings > SOFTWARE UPDATE shows the last result,
    has INSTALL SECURITY FIXES AND APP UPDATES NOW, turns either one off, and has
    ROLL BACK for an app that misbehaves after an update. An app that fails to
    start twice after an update goes back by itself.

  • Keep your settings on a live USB stick. On a stick that keeps nothing,
    Settings > SOFTWARE UPDATE > SET UP STORAGE ON THIS STICK turns its free space
    (or, on a Ventoy stick, a file next to the ISO) into a data area for settings,
    pairings and apps. The ISO on the stick stays as it is. Restart when it says
    STORAGE IS READY.

  • A live USB stick updates itself. With storage set up, Settings > SOFTWARE
    UPDATE on the stick installs a new release onto the stick and keeps the one
    before it; restart to start the new one. ROLL BACK there goes back to the
    earlier one, and the boot menu lists both. The ISO on the stick stays as it is.

  • Beta versions, if you want them. Settings > SOFTWARE UPDATE > UPDATE
    CHANNEL switches between STABLE and BETA. On BETA the box is also offered
    test versions, and moves on to the final release when it comes out. Going
    back to STABLE never installs an older version: the box waits for the next
    stable release. A box running a beta starts on BETA.

Changed

  • Smaller download. Besides the browsers, the ISO leaves out files no
    supported PC can use. Hardware support is the same.
  • Faster start on installed boxes: the hidden boot menu waits 1 second
    instead of 3, and the launcher itself starts sooner.
  • The installer no longer asks for a user name and passwords. The box never
    needed an account to log in with; the launcher starts by itself as before.
  • NVIDIA boxes wait for their file. Until the NVIDIA ISO is added to a
    release, SOFTWARE UPDATE on an NVIDIA box says THE NVIDIA VERSION OF 0.3.0 IS
    NOT READY YET, and Home does not offer that release.

Known limitations

  • Most Settings pages still open in the classic text look, on top of the TV
    interface. B or Esc on the first page goes back to the TV interface.
  • If the TV interface cannot start on a PC, the box starts the classic
    interface by itself.
  • The music has no setting on screen yet. To turn it off, set music = off
    under [appearance] in /var/lib/couchliteos/config.ini, or put your
    own track in ~/.local/share/couchliteos/music/.
  • On PCs without 3D graphics the wave stands still and
    animations are shorter.
  • A web browser added on a live USB stick is gone after a restart, even with a
    persistence stick; add it again, or install CouchLiteOS to the disk.
  • A live USB stick can update itself only after SET UP STORAGE ON THIS STICK,
    and only from this beta on. A stick with the first beta is not offered this
    one: write this ISO to the stick (that erases the stick's storage too).
  • TYPE ON PHONE sends the text over your home network without encryption. For
    a password, use it only on a home network you trust.
  • Saving the current system needs about 7 GB free on the disk, besides the
    download. With less, the update stops before changing anything and says so.
    On 0.3.0 you can turn SAVE BEFORE UPDATE off. A box updating from 0.2.x, or
    from the USB stick, that has too little room updates without a saved copy and
    says so. 32 GB disks or larger are recommended.

Updating

SOFTWARE UPDATE on 0.2.x and on the first 0.3.0 beta does not offer this beta.
To try it on an installed box (the first beta, 0.2.1 or newer, 0.2.0, or
MoonlightOS 0.1.x): write the ISO to a USB stick, boot it, and choose Settings > SOFTWARE UPDATE > UPDATE THE INSTALLED SYSTEM. It keeps your
settings and pairings, and saves the current system first, so RESTORE PREVIOUS
VERSION takes the box back. When it says UPDATE DONE, remove the stick and
restart. See Updating
in the wiki.

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