youtube solution?
#1
is there a distro / config / sd card benchmark comparison?

I have had a pi 3 for a while, and have noticed sd card and gpu dedicated memory settings make a pretty big difference in web-video quality.
..And some other things: browser...


I thought the 4GB ram version [rock 64] I purchased would handle youtube no problem. I was wrong - so far.

currently using ubuntu 18 with mate desktop. It was supposed to include lxde, but refused to load anything other than openbox with tons of popup error dialogues.
I guess I've overestimated the state of arm style gpu support.
command line performance seems far better than pi 3, apt installs things way faster - making me think it's not an SD card issue.

Anyhow, has anyone been able to use this as a *linux* media[pretty much pass the youtube test] center?

what were the best results?
distro?
display/window manager?
hdmi cable version?
type of sdcard?
browser?
is there someway to dedicate more memory to gpu?
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#2
(08-02-2018, 08:12 PM)kwarren Wrote: is there a distro / config / sd card benchmark comparison?

I have had a pi 3 for a while, and have noticed sd card and gpu dedicated memory settings make a pretty big difference in web-video quality.
..And some other things: browser...


I thought the 4GB ram version [rock 64] I purchased would handle youtube no problem. I was wrong - so far.

currently using ubuntu 18 with mate desktop. It was supposed to include lxde, but refused to load anything other than openbox with tons of popup error dialogues.
I guess I've overestimated the state of arm style gpu support.
command line performance seems far better than pi 3, apt installs things way faster - making me think it's not an SD card issue.

Anyhow, has anyone been able to use this as a *linux* media[pretty much pass the youtube test] center?

what were the best results?
distro?
display/window manager?
hdmi cable version?
type of sdcard?
browser?
is there someway to dedicate more memory to gpu?

Im not sure if this can help you, at least it will point you in the right direction:
- for your youtube problem (i personally didnt test this one): https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=4535
- and for "a *linux* media center [youtube]" that i DID personally test and works FLAWLESSLY (at least in regards to youtube) add the youtube addon to this: http://test.libreelec.tv/  (fair warning, its in HEAVY alpha, the last month images seem very stable if used for base tasks as watching youtube and videos and music but there are people still reporting problems with very high end tvs and hdr and stuff like that...(im allmost sure that you want a full *desktop* linux and also use it as media center but you need to be super specific when asking questions here)

PS: since you had problems with your desktop linux of choice, did you try the armbian distro? i tested it a few months back and it was working fine for all desktop tasks, tho i didnt test at that time youtube or video/media... https://www.armbian.com/rock64/ but at their page it now have the "multimedia" part on the name, so maybe they enhanced that part...
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#3
what platform do you use to access youtube? my thinking is both firefox and chrome will eat up a good % of memory that the rock64 has even before arriving at the youtube page so one is left with finding a more efficent browser that can also handle youtube site. of course there is always the youtube app on android if you are on that o/s. i have no idea if it is any better. in any event i often wonder if an under 2Ghz cpu with 4GB and under of RAM is enough to view youtube without flaw no matter the manufacturer or viewing method.
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#4
(08-04-2018, 06:23 AM)dkryder Wrote: what platform do you use to access youtube? my thinking is both firefox and chrome will eat up a good % of memory that the rock64 has even before arriving at the youtube page so one is left with finding a more efficent browser that can also handle youtube site. of course there is always the youtube app on android if you are on that o/s. i have no idea if it is any better.  in any event i often wonder if an under 2Ghz cpu with 4GB and under of RAM is enough to view youtube without flaw no matter the manufacturer or viewing method.

I have in my kids room a raspberry pi 3 (old one connected by the slow wifi) that works wonders with youtube with raspbian at 1080p...if you dont know the specs its 1gb ram and 1,2ghz processor...so even a 1gb rock have more than enough power to watch youtube videos...at least the hardware is enough, if you know what i mean...(iirc raspbian have chromium by default)
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#5
yeah, pi 3 works pretty well for youtube, though my old one is in use already. I was hoping the 4GB ram rock64 would be better. I think it could. I think the issue is GPU support and maybe the ability to tune - dedicate more or less ram. I saw some table listing the state of GPU support across OSs, Pretty sure android had the best, linux the least. I think libre..kodi was the middle one. not sure how old that table was. I tried libre..kodi on the pi3, and didn't like how little it supported linux apps. Would still probably prefer libreelec over android. Isn't android not even going to be linux soon? Also, if it's linux now, why can't it's gpu drivers be used in regular linux?
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#6
(08-04-2018, 09:46 PM)kwarren Wrote: yeah, pi 3 works pretty well for youtube, though my old one is in use already. I was hoping the 4GB ram rock64 would be better. I think it could. I think the issue is GPU support and maybe the ability to tune - dedicate more or less ram. I saw some table listing the state of GPU support across OSs, Pretty sure android had the best, linux the least. I think libre..kodi was the middle one. not sure how old that table was. I tried libre..kodi on the pi3, and didn't like how little it supported linux apps. Would still probably prefer libreelec over android. Isn't android not even going to be linux soon? Also, if it's linux now, why can't it's gpu drivers be used in regular linux?

Probably because on android they commonly use blobs because its based in linux but its not exactly linux and afaik the kernel is supported allmost exclusivelly by google...back to blobs the linux community dislike them because they are closed and break upgradability between other problems...
Most of this are my opinions and full with assumptions, anyone can correct me on anything...

Back to the browser, did you try armbian with the firefox tuning i linked? imo there is a very high chance for that to work for you...
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#7
oh, no I didn't. I'll give that a try soon. this other thread sums it up pretty well: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=5701

"thought it would be better than pi 3, but driver support not there."

I neither know how or have time, just curious, is the GPU open source / have documentation / would supporting it in linux be pretty feasible, or something else?
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#8
(08-04-2018, 07:48 AM)Trash_Can_Man Wrote:
(08-04-2018, 06:23 AM)dkryder Wrote: what platform do you use to access youtube? my thinking is both firefox and chrome will eat up a good % of memory that the rock64 has even before arriving at the youtube page so one is left with finding a more efficent browser that can also handle youtube site. of course there is always the youtube app on android if you are on that o/s. i have no idea if it is any better.  in any event i often wonder if an under 2Ghz cpu with 4GB and under of RAM is enough to view youtube without flaw no matter the manufacturer or viewing method.

I have in my kids room a raspberry pi 3 (old one connected by the slow wifi) that works wonders with youtube with raspbian at 1080p...if you dont know the specs its 1gb ram and 1,2ghz processor...so even a 1gb rock have more than enough power to watch youtube videos...at least the hardware is enough, if you know what i mean...(iirc raspbian have chromium by default)

if you have the ability, a video camera of some sort, and the time i would certainly like to see a video of this pi3 working wonders with youtube .
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#9
tried armbian, it's about the same as ubuntu. It was slightly faster, probably because lighter desktop - i believe xfce and happened to be chromium default browser (also faster on pi3). I confirm youtube is *at least* as good on pi 3 (for the 3rd time: I believe a big reason is it lets you adjust the amount of dedicated video memory - the default is too low, and going too high messes up the desktop, sound, etc.)
I really hate the idea of going the android route. That would make this the most over priced under featured android tv box out there. I guess the only silver lining, which isn't much, is non-GPU-intensive performance seems good. I would not recommend anyone buy a rock64 until the gpu situation is resolved (on linux, because there are way more powerful android tv boxes for less money).
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#10
going to see if this will work: https://wiki.debian.org/MaliGraphics
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