Pipo X7 + OpenElec 32 bit

[noggin]

Hi all

Managed to get OE 5.0 to boot on my Pipo X7 (slightly hackish by using a GRUB2 EFI32 set-up on a separate USB stick).

Had to use a 32 bit SYSTEM and KERNEL from OE 5.0 as the 64 bit versions aren't compiled with mixed EFI support (so won't boot from a 32 bit EFI boot loader - unlike Ubuntu which will)

Performance playing my test clips was not as good as Ubuntu, and pretty similar to Windows. This may be down to the drive I was running OE from - but I think OE runs mainly from RAM. I'm wondering if there is a performance benefit from running a 64bit OS? (Windows 32 bit and OE 32 bit both have issues?)

If I get a chance later this week I'll try building an OpenElec 64 bit build with mixed EFI support, and also try the 32 bit OE from a faster USB drive.

So far though the Ubuntu 14.04.1 64 bit with Kodi solution is definitely the best (albeit without HDMI audio support - I'm using an external USB sound device...)

[no_spam_for_me]

btw:
Is it also able to boot from SD? If not take e.g. a 'Transcend TS-RDF5K'...
At SD use a '32 GB Samsung EVO Class 10 UHS-I Micro SD'... it's a beast

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :    46.363 MB/s
          Sequential Write :    27.292 MB/s
         Random Read 512KB :    44.496 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :    37.425 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :     6.675 MB/s [  1629.7 IOPS]
   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :     3.102 MB/s [   757.3 IOPS]
   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :     7.374 MB/s [  1800.2 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :     3.418 MB/s [   834.4 IOPS]

  Test : 50 MB [J: 0.0% (0.0/29.8 GB)] (x2)
  Date : 2015/01/12 12:01:31

Or use the SD for RFS... I have no idea how you handle it, but I think later you will explain how you build up the environment (also Ubuntu)?

[noggin]

I don't think the BIOS will boot from SD/TF cards. I'm running Ubuntu from a 32GB USB 3 Lexar disk which hits about 39MB/s transfer speeds in Windows via USB2 - which is pretty speedy for a USB 2-connected device.

I'm running OE from a no-name USB 2 keyring drive - but my understanding was that apart from library access OE usually ran effectively from RAM once it had booted? Is this not the case?

[no_spam_for_me]

I don't know about OE... But I know that sequential reads at "real life" are not important but the random read/writes and specially at the smaller blocks and I bet also your usb3.0 pen drive will be much more lower at that point, so that's why I talk about the SD at an usb-reader, but this reader should also be good at performance (I also tested these micro/mini readers at the past, but you can forget it )...

[Finless]

I don't think the BIOS will boot from SD/TF cards.

Correct! The BIOS has no "module" to support the SD card slot.

Bob