I have been rather unhappy with my smart TV’s functionality as I feel it isn’t smart for me but smart for the manufacturers. I just can’t use it how I want to. I would love to overwrite the existing OS from Android to Linux. I’ve recently converted from Windows and loving Mint.
I haven’t read too much regarding Linux smart tvs as my searches mostly come up with raspberry Pi and overwriting an Android box. I don’t want to connect anything and just want my tv to boot up in Linux when it’s turned on, and get some of my apps going. Is there a way to do this?
For reference I have a Sony Bravia with Android installed on it.
You must log in or register to comment.
Well, technically Android IS a type of Linux.
But your solution is to not use the smart functions of a Smart TV. Do a factory reset of your TV and get some sort of external device like an Amazon Fire Stick or Apple TV or Raspbery pi or even a Linux Laptop. Treat your TV like a monitor for a small computer. Relying on the TV is the worst possible scenario.
You already got your answer so I won’t repeat them. You cannot even replace the live TV app on your smart TV. I spent a somewhat huge time to fix what’s wrong on my mother’s TV but sadly best I could do was sideloading apps and blocking ad channels on pi-hole. Probably the best way is to buy Raspberry-Pi and install LibreElec. At least that’s I’ll suggest next time we need such device.
I dont connect my tv’s os to the internet and use a dedicated mini pc for kodi or youtube/twitch in the browser. Cuz i have quite some performance in the mini pc; i also use to emulate some games.
What mini pc are you using?
There are folks form KDE who are trying to implement the Plasma Bigscreen solution: https://plasma-bigscreen.org/. Seems promising to me :)
Though, I’d still recommend to use an external device to avoid breaking the TV OS up ;)
The fact that they mention Mycroft AI (which stopped being properly developed over 2 years ago) on their homepage is a little worrying 😬 They do mention the situation in their FAQs, though.
There is still active development: https://espi.dev/posts/2025/07/plasma-bigscreen/
Very nice, glad to see it! I suppose actually doing dev work is more important than updating the website 😅
Mycroft was picked up by OVOS and overhauled. Last i heard they were still actively developing it. Maybe some compatibility there?
They specifically say on their FAQs page that they’re not going to work with OVOS, sadly.
That does sound promising. I hope they get it up and running!
If you can unlock the bootloader, it might be possible to install a Halium distro like Droidian on it. I wouldn’t recommend doing so, however, and there will be missing functionality, such as being able to use any video inputs or watch live TV. It will basically be a large smartphone without a touchscreen.
Instead, I recommend disconnecting your TV from the internet and connecting an external device to it as others have recommended. See if there’s a way to autoboot your TV to an HDMI input. You can also get a USB CEC adapter to use your TV’s remote on your external device for something like Kodi, for instance.
The easiest way is to buy a raspberry pi and install libreelec on it
Agreed, ditch the idea of trying to run an OS on the TV itself. It’s not worth it.
The TV is best used as a TV and nothing more. Plug a small computer into the back of it using one of the many video/audio ports which exist for just such a purpose.
people used to put linux on toasters and now we can’t do that anymore. lol
You can do it, it just isn’t worth the effort. The hardware is anemic at best and you’re bound to be missing drivers for some specialty chip.
it was also done back in the 90’s so it’s likely no a possibility anymore.
Wow I never heard about that :D
i’ve only seen it done once and, even then, i’m not sure if it was real or not.
I’ll answer your question right now without beating around this bush, what you are asking is simply impossible. In fact I will take it one step further, not only is your request not possible using your preexisting TV there is no such consumer TV that you can purchase as of now that will just run Linux. Furthermore there is not a single Linux distro as of now designed to run internally inside of TVs (there are distros for set top boxes, not TVs).
Is it possible in theory?
Possibly but until a single confirmed case of a successful Linux installation on a TV is found I will consider this impossible (furthermore the chances that the successful Linux installation occurs on your specific model of TV is slim).
This would explain why all my search results never showed me the option. At least I got my answer.
Thanks!
Agreed. Theoretically possible, but practically not possible unless you are an embedded hardware engineer with access to Sony’s datasheets and potentially crypto keys. Some sort of external box is much more practical.
The requirements to make replacement Linux firmware for a TV would be
- A degree in CompSci
- Experience in hardware engineering
- Extensive knowledge of the TV circuitry
- All low level schematics of the TV
- Extensive knowledge of the processor used
- Extensive knowlage of the original firmware and boot process
- Extensive knowledge of embedded Linux systems (most likley Alpine)
- Kernel sources for the TV OS as well as somehow gaining acess to all firmware files
- Extensive knowledge on low level internal TV communication protocols
At that point just make your own smart TV using a commercial display
You won’t need EE knowledge, that’s all abstracted away in silicon. You just need to know how to drive the chips, and they’ll manage the inputs and outputs.
I doubt the TV OS is any kind of Linux. Usually embedded systems run something like vxworks. Sometimes Minix. Real fancy ones run Android (which is derived from Linux, yes).
Distro? Ouch.
It would be lovely if we could just boot a TV specialized Linux distro.
Sadly I don’t think it’s going to appear soon except if someone (a conpany) decides to create a niche product filling that need.
Plasma Bigscreen just got some love. Maybe more eyes on the project will help get the ball rolling.
Let’s hope it’s gonna find a manufacturer to build a TV with it, or at least to open its bootloader.
There were a couple of distros that specialised in running MythTv, but AFAIK they’re unmaintained now.
My MythTv box is home built (on Arch btw), and is fine…
Most important point is to find how to enable Hotel Mode on a TV to get it to power up on the correct video input, rather than the local tuner, menu, etc
My TV automatically powers up on the right input if you power it up through that input’s CEC
Interesting.
Does every smart TV has a hotel mode?
I have a Philips 55PUS7394 and I couldn’t find one by quickly searching on the web.
🤷🏻
No idea.
Well you already have Linux on your TV. Unfortunately it’s android which is capitalist crap. They’ll no doubt make it extremely difficult to remove their malware. Even if you could overwrite, you would still be using the shitty computer inside your TV.
Like other people have said, I think the best solution is using an external machine. I use an older laptop running Kodi for my TV. It’s pretty awesome. Just make sure your machine has the specs for your needs. It shouldn’t be hard to find something more powerful than the TV.
Hmm if you plan on using streaming services it’s a massive hassle tbh. You can get away with using web apps with some sort of launcher, but even then you can’t watch things in 4K because the DRM has a hardware component these days.
