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I turned my streaming stick into a dumb app launcher, and that's all it should be (www.xda-developers.com)
submitted 4 days ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 64 points 4 days ago (7 children)

I've been using Flauncher as the replacement dash for years on all my android TVs and Chromecasts

https://gitlab.com/flauncher/flauncher

It makes a massive difference and I strongly recommend it

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  • [–] 14 points 4 days ago (3 children)

    What do you see that makes a difference? Lack of ads or is performance also better?

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  • [–] 18 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    No ads, better performance, customizable

    I also tried Projectivy in the past but I don't remember why I switched away from it. I think there was a performance bug that was causing it to crash. Both may be good options now

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  • [–] 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

    All of that. Lack of ads, more performant etc. Plus (and depending on the device), you can set it up in such a way that you don't need to sign into your google account, yet still have ability to watch YouTube (Smartube), install apps (side load plus use the Fdroid TV store ... name escapes me at the moment... Flicky I think?).

    Even if you need to be signed in for some reason, it's a smoother experience.

    Its just...better. You'll lose some of the prettiness (for some reason, mine no longer displays backgrounds from upsplash, only solid colours) but its more than worth it.

    EDIT: Yes, it IS Flicky

    https://f-droid.org/packages/app.flicky/

    https://f-droid.org/en/packages/app.smarttube.fdroid/

    https://www.sendfilestotv.app/

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  • [–] 6 points 4 days ago (3 children)

    Would I be able to watch Plex with this? (Haven't made the switch to jellyfin yet)

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  • [–] 6 points 4 days ago

    Yes - it replaces the launcher (your home page, I guess you could say), but you can still download apps from the Google App Store and use them (such as Plex).

    I have used FLauncher and now use Projectivity, and it is a great way to get rid of all the ads and bloat while keeping the TV fully functional.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    Same. It's fantastic.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    I used the adb commands they recommend to disable the stock interface. So pressing home on the remote brings me back to Flauncher always.

    Haven't seen the stock dash in years. Been great.

    The only bastard thing is that when I set it up on a fire stick, the fire stick would disable wifi if the stock dash wasn't used. That thing is trash anyway, so no loss. Don't buy firesticks.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    what to buy ? something that's about the sane aize as a firesrick ? want to use a plug in USB thumb drive for media storage for travel and a "player" eg kodi. Dial home to Plex/JF not needed but internet access is

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  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

    Can't speak to cutting edge options but will say when we went to Tokyo at start of year, I took the google Chromecast with TV (1080p version) + USB pass-thru + 128GB flashdrive.

    The Chromecast had Nova player installed. I pointed it at the flashdrive and boom - instant media front end for the kids. Had to connect briefly to scrape images etc but after that was all off line.

    That - plus smart tube - meant they could decompress after a day out and about.

    That version of the Chromecast has been superseded (though can still buy on eBay).

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  • [–] 1 point 3 days ago (1 child)

    And a key mapper to go back to the launcher instead of the home screen from a remote

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  • [–] 2 points 3 days ago*

    Yep, that too. Though on one of my TVs (TCL), simply disabling the inbuilt 'startupwraith' seems to have the same effect

    # Disable com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx which is the default launcher on CCwGTV
$ adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx
# com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith will then be used as a 'fallback' and will automatically
# re-enable the default launcher, so disable it as well
$ adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith
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