that is curious to me as well. I have xbmc up and running on ubuntu 8.04. I haven't tested everything out, but I am happy so far.

gforster

I, too, would like some Windows and Linux coverage as far as XBMC. Being an open source junkie, once XBMC is stable enough, I am planning to build a standalone Linux machine designed solely to run XBMC, though if the Windows port gets there first I may try it using XP (then I could use it to play games too).

jkrell

Why no coverage of the Windows or Linux ports ?

jadams

My 1st comment on lifehacker..XBMC doesn't work on my hackintosh tho...i been reading this blog for the past year...its necessary caffeine... sean

DanielCat

"Why no coverage of the Windows or Linux ports ? "
@jadams: It's a pretty lame reason, which is that I don't have a Linux or Windows box with a remote control here. Adam did cover on MediaPortal, which--correct me if I'm wrong--is based on XBMC code.

Gina Trapani

Awesome! I'd been looking for a good media center solution for many years - spent tons of cash making uber silent HTPCs that never looked all that great and tons of hours fighting with Windows, then MCE, then linux. I manage to pick up a Mac Mini, cheap and XBMC for the Mini may finally be the answer. It's a sexy, quiet box, has enough horsepower for 1080, can run BT/Miro, works with the Apple Remote, required very little fiddling and has a nice UI.
Still has some nasty bugs, but I'm hoping B3 fixes 'em.

StickyC

@Gina Trapani: MediaPortal branched off from XBMC a long time ago. Both are very different at this point and I wouldn't hold them out to be related anymore. At any rate, I've been testing the Linux version sans remote control from my Ubuntu file server for a while. I do not think it's any less stable than the current build being used on my XBox. Once I get a few more dollars saved up I'm planning on replacing my XBox with a dedicated Ubuntu computer in my living room.

There is a thumb drive version of the Linux XBMC available on the XBMC forums that also works well and would allow you to test it without installing the app from any Intel machine that can boot from USB. The USB version boots quick and works nicely. I've toyed with the Windows version, but it doesn't seem to run as well as the Linux or OSX versions.

jonny6pak

"There is a thumb drive version of the Linux XBMC available on the XBMC forums"
@jonny6pak: Holy crap there is? Link, pretty please?

Gina Trapani

"once XBMC is stable enough ..."
@jkrell: do you mean when this specific beta is stable or XBMC, in general? XBMC is crazy stable. I've been running it for over 5 years (back when it was XBMP).

As for running XBMC on linux, you can install from subversion and compile yourself, if you're brave. If you're on Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy) or 8.04 (Hardy), you can install from apt, you just have to add to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http:/ /ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src http:/ /ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ubuntu gutsy main
^ had to put a space between the slashes for lifehacker to not make it a link

then you should be able to aptitude install xbmc packages like xbmc xbmc-web

Personally, I'm happy using xboxes. You can get them for less than $70 pretty easily, nowadays. The only problem is you've gotta figure out howto get XBMC running on it ... which isn't something you can post on Lifehacker :/

My biggest problem with XBMC on an original xbox is that I'll try to watch a high-res x264 video every one in awhile or an mkv and the xbox doesn't have enough power to play them without dropping frames like mad. I just make sure to watch xvid/divx and all is well.

remi

XBMC is very stable, in that it doesn't crash unless you go into the settings and mess around with unimplemented stuff. It plays videos flawlessly and looks great doing it. The linux version is significantly further along than the OSX or windows ports, but they're catching up very quickly.

OSXBMC just forked due to the usual greybeard opensource politics BS so it remains to be seen how much it diverges from the official XBMC. I wouldn't worry about OSXBMC dying though, Elan is a coding machine.

I agree that it would be great if you guys mention the linux and windows ports are also available in the future-- they need publicity too!

Rodalpho

for the record i just tested the windows port on my EEEPC :)

it worked pretty well , with some codec related problems , but looked pretty spiff at 800x480

jadams

@Gina Trapani:
As far as a bootable/live usb version, checkhere
You can read the post on the forums here

I haven't tested it myself, but it's worth a look.

gforster

I find on my windows machines it used 100% CPU 100% of the time. Causes my fan to spin really loudly, so i can't use it.

It's a shame cause this is the best media center around. Works great on xbox.

math0ne

I just received an email from xbmc today about a developer conference...it mentions a new home theater platform. Sounds interesting and i already applied to alpha test it.

Below is a copy of the email...

XBMC DEV CON 2008 will be the first event in which the XBMC developers get a chance to get together face-to-face, meet and greet, discuss XBMC, and maybe get a little coding done as well. After 6 years and with so many users, it is time for the XBMC programmers to get out of the IRC chat-room and meet up in person to talk about the past, present, and future, set priorities and make plans (and yeah, play a few games), and who knows, this may even lead to a XBMC fan convention in the not too distant future.

When and where?
June the 13th, 14th, and 15th in Amsterdam.

Who is boxee?
boxee is a NYC-based start-up company that will soon be offering a social networking multimedia-platform built on-top of XBMC. Much as Red Hat and Firefox are specific businesses that have products built on open source code and open technologies as their framework, boxee's aim is to bring the core XBMC platform to the mainstream consumer. boxee is fully committed to the growth and success of XBMC and will continue to contribute back upstream to the XBMC code base under the GPL license. boxee is hosting the 2008 DEV CON, and will be going into public alpha testing of their product beginning on the 15th of June 2008. Team-XBMC is very excited to have our code base used in boxee's product, and we look forward to more people discovering XBMC through boxee. This initiative will hopefully lead others to use XBMC in a similar fashion.

How to get involved:
* Propose ideas for stuff that you would like Team-XBMC to discuss: XBMC Community Forum Discussion
* Meet Team-XBMC for drinks on the evening of June the 14th (details will be posted on the boxee blog)
* Sign up for boxee alpha testing: www.boxee.tv
* Follow boxee progress on the boxee blog: blog.boxee.tv
* Send boxee a Twitter with a comment or question: [twitter.com]

Signed / Team-XBMC

achoke

@remi: No, I meant the ports to Linux and Windows. I cannot get the live USB linux one working (my computer will not boot properly). I am planning to test it using APT on my spare Ubuntu Heron machine. However, I have been testing the Windows version on my Vista machine and it is quite twitchy. On the prior build for which they published an installer, DVD playback worked fine but other stuff did not. On the newer build, DVD playback appears to be broken though some of the other stuff that did not work before works like a charm now.

I think the developers would all agree that NONE of these ports are stable right now (hence even the Mac version, which seems to be the furthest along, still being in beta, which by definition means it is still unstable and not intended for mass consumption). XBMC for the Xbox is and has been stable for many years (I have been using it since XBMC 1.0, so not quite as far back as some but I am very familiar with it, having tweaked the skins and worked on the TiVo scripts with some of the python guys.

Some of the main reasons someone would be unhappy with using the Xbox for this purpose:

1. NO HD (except using Dvix, which is 720P, not 1080, and is also difficult to find and a pain to encode. SD content looks TERRIBLE on my 105" theater screen.

2. Not designed to be on all the time, and no remote on/off (at least not on... 2.0 fixed the "off" problem). A PC can either be left on all the time without issue or can be designed to wake up using Bluetooth, etc.

@math0ne: From what I saw on the forums, the developers are aware of the 100% CPU usage issue and are working on it. I did not have this issue (at least not the fan noise -- my Dell laptop is whisper quiet).

jkrell