XZ1 Compact with LineageOS checking in! I never want to change from this phone, and I’m already scared about what’s gonna happen when they shut down the 4G networks in ten or fifteen years.

Yep! I know, it’s not quite what you were after. But physical controls to adjust each volume source feels quite automated.

I grew really tired of adjusting music, game, and voice chat volumes. I found that there was never a volume level that was right in all situations, and I’d always be switching or minimising windows to make adjustments. I backed PCPanel on Kickstarter in 2017 and can’t fault it, but the software is only for Windows. Deej says it supports Linux as well, plus you get the fun of having to build it! 😁

Even better; physical control for each volume source.

https://github.com/omriharel/deej

I terminate Firefox and reopen it any time it’s chewing up my RAM, but I usually don’t have more than 500 tabs open at any one time. My tabs persist when Firefox starts again, but tabs don’t fully load until I click on them again. This saves my memory from getting chewed up immediately, and can usually go a week or so before I need to do it again.

No drawbacks for my use case, but there are a few quirks.

Some apps that I’ve dabbled with might show vertically, but most of the Android TV compatible apps were fine.

Some apps seem to expect a touchscreen input, and don’t really show what’s highlighted or selected very well, so navigating with just a TV style remote control can be tricky. I have a mouse and keyboard that I also use, definitely the easiest option.

Lastly, the Shield is a pretty powerful device, so I always kinda feel like I’m not using it to its fullest potential. I haven’t really tried any gaming with it, I don’t use it as a media server or anything, just a simple stream box. That’s less of a quirk with the device itself, and more an issue with me feeling like I should be putting it to better use.

Happy to answer any other questions you may have!

I have an Nvidia Shield running LineageOS.

The setup process wasn’t too bad, but the Shield might be more money than you want to spend.

I use it for Netflix and Plex, as well as Spotify, with no problems. It tells me that Netflix is not optimised for the device, but plays fine. I’ve heard that Netflix may limit it to 720p, but the quality is as good as you can expect from Netflix anyway.

Plex works perfectly, can stream 4k from my media server with no issues. I will eventually transition to Jellyfin, once I convince the 4 other households that have access to my Plex library to sort themselves out.