Kodi Krypton Alpha 2 Released
Kodi Krypton Alpha 2 Released
Yes, the kodi Krypton Alpha 2 release is today! So go ahead and download from the official Kodi site and start testing. Remember that this is an Alpha so there will be bugs.
The name Krypton
Since the dawn of time, or at least since 2008 each released version has received a code name next to the version number. Giving each development iteration a code name in a certain category is kind of a tradition that is not only applicable for software but also for hardware. Google does so for Android, Intel and NVIDIA also names their chips. Who are we to break this tradition and as such we follow in their steps with a theme that started out with mythical places or names. For our v17 release we actually let the public chose the name and with an overwhelming majority they chose the name “Krypton”.
Thinking back so far at what our little group of engineers has done to the code, the name Krypton positively gives a specific accentuation to it that fits. As you may have seen it required entirely some investment before we turned out with our first Kodi v17 alpha 2 (sorry that we skipped alpha 1) and we have some great explanations behind that. Quite a while back we set a way that we needed to enhance our code base rather than simply slapping on new components and this discharge will absolutely be no exemption to that objective. Certain parts of our code experienced a complete update or sometimes even experienced a blender to be just about remake from the beginning.T
The upgrades so far
The expression don’t pass judgment on the book by it’s spread is absolutely something that holds to this discharge. Beyond any doubt we have a magnificent new default skin however the unlimited enhancements are somewhere down in the insides of Kodi center code. Since Kodi v16 there were 1179 draw demand (code change demands) which hold 3735 submits (code piece changes) spread more than 6679 records done by 39 unique engineers. As you envision we can’t conceivable rundown all progressions, enhancements and whatever more we have done amid the previous months. Rather we’ll simply list the most imperative or if nothing else justifiable changes for non engineers. Should you which to see the full and broad code transform you can see them here and here.
Estuary and Estouchy
Past March we reported that we had supplanted the maturing Confluence skin which did it’s occupation since 2009 as default skin. V17 will stamp the fresh introduction of Estuary and Estouchy (touch empowered) skin as the new default skins. Numerous months have been placed in getting these skins develop starting from the earliest stage use the greater part of the new elements Kodi brings to the table. Amid this period we likewise reconsidered on what was really required for skins and with this we additionally included components we just thought of by revamping this skin as we asked why it never could do it in any case. The home screen has been patched up and now uses a smartplaylists usage to naturally demonstrate to you what presumably interests you the most. We recommend you simply try it out and see with your own eyes. In the event that despite everything you lean toward Confluence skin then you don’t have to stress as it’s still accessible from the authority Kodi archive.
Add-on manager changes and features
Since v10 the add-on repository has been an integral part of Kodi and has made it a breeze for expanding the capabilities and receiving updates for these add-ons and skins. Together with the skin changes we did in Estuary we certainly hope to make the experience a bit better.
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Unknown sources….
First of all we added an option to warn new users that installing add-ons outside of Kodi repository could potentially bring harmful add-ons to their system. A more extensive write up (read here) explains these hazards they might get their selves into. Of course this doesn’t mean all are bad however we do feel that users should at least be warned. From now on if a user wants to install any add-on from .zip they need to acknowledge they understood the risk and enable the option to allow installation. This is a one time warning so you do not need to do this each time.
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Recently installed or update
From now on you are able to see which add-ons recently updated. It might come in handy should some problems arise as you not always noticed the popup telling you an update was installed. At least now you are able to track down which one(s).
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Setting section has been more clear
One of the things probably most of us hate the most is going through settings and see what they do. Often are not clear what they do or just not obvious. We felt the same and we have now made a big shuffle of certain settings to group them in a better way and improve the text and help description. I’m sure it’s not perfect and things still need changing however it’s already a big step forward. Additionally we’ve put a central button in settings screen for adding new media sources that you can add to your library. To make a long story short here are some screenshots to give you an idea on how it looks. Other than that I guess you’ll just have to try for yourself.
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Music library
Over the years our music library handling wasn’t always the best and luckily a while ago some developers stepped up and started improving the lacking functionality and added new features. Some improvements are better tag reading and scraping. Handling of albums and artist has also been improved with the addition of adding artist role handling for music (composer, conductor, djmixer). Certain files or websites also support mood and this has now also been added so you can now select music based on certain type of mood instead of genre.