[Android Stick & Console AMLogic based Computers] Darkrift:
Let me preface my question with some info. I know my way around android and have been flashing roms since the first non-google rom was created. I also have extensive linux/windows/cli experience. My experience falls a little short when it comes to the more modern (and customized) android internals (such as which packages are required by what these days).

I already have the GlobmallX1 and while experiencing issues I decided I wanted to further clean the junk off of it. I also have an H96 Pro + ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06W2L2WTY ) that will be here on Monday that I would like to clean off before we start using it. The only things I really need on these boxes are going to be Kodi and Netflix. I would like the play store installed and obviously anything required for the remote/wifi to function.

I am seeing a ton of packages installed that at first glance I would assume are not required, however I want to avoid killing the box by removing packages that are required by others. The Globmall came with Kodi and a Kodi updater preinstalled. I am probably going to backup the kodi install and wipe both of those out and install manually so I know the package has not been tampered with. I found a lot of stuff in /system/preinstall that I would like to get rid of, but again unsure if any are required. I looked into finding a clean rom to use instead for the H96 but it seems they all are missing something (sound, 4k, wifi, etc). I also searched for apps that might have some internal bloatware database however everything I found seems to be trash and just shows all apps and sends you to settings to uninstall.

My questions:

1: Is there an easy way to check a package to see if its required/important/malicious (either an app, or something I can do via adb)?

2: On these china kodi boxes, can the entire /system/preinstall dir be wiped out and the device reset safely?

3: I am seeing word that as long as the cpu and wifi chip match, roms from similar boxes can normally be safely flashed. I know flashing is in general not "safe" and has risk, but am I likely to find clean android roms that are fully working?

4: Does anyone know if there is a good place to find bash precompiled for arm(v8l)? I really hate this 'toybox' shell that I am finding on the boxes I have.

5: Last question is regarding a netflix issue I am having that I think is a problem on the box. Has anyone seen this before?:

Netflix was previously working a few weeks ago. I didnt use it frequently so I dont know when it broke. Basically what happens is I can load netflix and click on a show. The show will load and play about 1-4 seconds of video and a popup will appear (error 0013) saying it could not connect to the netflix service. While this popup is playing, the video sometimes pauses with audio continuing for a few seconds and sometimes freezes on a single frame. This happens on about 80% of the shows I try to play, however the 3 shows we want to use netflix for are all in that group.

This morning, I tried a couple older Netflix apks (I was running 4.13.3):

4.11.0, 4.12.1, 4.13.0, 4.13.1, 4.13.2

All experienced the same issue (again, why I feel the issue is with the box and not the app). A few other things Ive tested are resolution (1080p and 2160p) and enabling/disabling HDR (heard this can cause netflix/kodi issues).

I know this is a massive dump, but any help on any of the questions above will be appreciated. I have googled and searched forums for each of these, so If the answers are there I may be searching for the wrong thing. Thanks in advance.