Ares Wizard is no go

After reinstalling Kodi 17.1 I’ve attempted to install Ares Wizard first and I can’t get further than File Mgr and its error msg. “Unable to connect. Couldn’t retrieve directory information. This could be due to the network not being connected.” Rebooted my PC and no change. I don’t have this issue installing Exodus. In the past I have installed many addons successfully including Ares Wizard. But not now! Tried on both LinuxLite and a virgin LinuxMint. I get the feeling the Kodi 17 and 17.1 are not very Linux friendly. 16.3 was never a problem. I’ve been using Linux for over 10 years and computers since the 70s. PC is home built w/ 16G RAM and a SSD. My Internet connection is 100M+ and I can tunnel and stream from all over the world. Suggestions. Thanks, tak, arigato, etc. in advance.