[nintenjo]

Hi Peeps,

I currently have a Windows MC 7 based HTPC which does everything i need but for a long time now i have been looking to streamline the setup in order to make things a little faster and easier to use.

Firstly its fair to say i am a complete Linux and XBMC newb and while ive read all the wiki info on XBMC Live and how it works i havnt got much knowledge beyond that on setting it up.

So i had a few questions to fire off to see whats what with XBMC Live i hope some of you might humour me with the answers

My HTPC is currently a:

AMD Phenom 4x 9750 CPU
2GB Ram DDR2
GA-MA78GM-S2H Mobo

• ATI HD3200 Integrated HDMI-Out
  
• Integrated HDMI Audio Out
  

1TB Samsung F3 Eco Drive
500GB Samsung F1
Kworld DVBT-PC160-2T Dual Tuner Digital TV
Edimax Wireless-G PCI Card
Moneual 301 Case - M.Play MX Infra-Red Sensor
Blu-Ray Drive

So my first question is if i setup XBMC Live on this PC will i still be able to make use of my TV Tuner card (ie is it supported on Ubuntu kernal that XBMC Live runs on) And the same goes for my wireless card?

If not am i able to add drivers that will enable them to work with XBMC Live or is that going to take alot of linux knowledge and be more hassle than its worth?

I have read some reports that Blu-Ray playback is now possible on XBMC, is this true? While my movie collection has a very limited selection of blu-ray movies it would be nice to have blu-ray support.

Finally will i be able to stream media from XBMC rig to other Pc's around the house? For example my wife often likes to watch TV recorded earlier in the day on the HTPC on her laptop (currently this is done through MP11 streaming setup which works very well).

Thanks for your time

[seand]

For myself "adding" stuff to Live was a bit daunting without a ton of Linux line command experience. I found for example managing SMB shares and updating video drivers so much easier if I ran a full Ubuntu 10.10 that merely booted into XBMC by default. Running a fairly stripped down Ubuntu with Gnome graphic desktop did not really seem to slow down my interactions with XBMC on an Ion 330 system at all as compared to Live.

I get appliance like but since I'm running sick beard and sabnzbd and couch potato in the background anyway, its nice to be able to exit from xbmc and quickly hop into Firefox to check how they are doing from the web interface.

Its still a trimmer, less virus prone OS than Windows 7 by far but adds a modicum of "computer" versatility to me.

But thats just my personal opinion.

I'm just saying that if you want to boot right into XBMC but with a smaller non-Windows OS running Ubuntu 10.10 (wait for 11 till they get all the bugs sorted) is quite stable and speedy and still gives you the ability to do a little graphic based file management, basic browsing. And still much smaller than Windows.

I'm always surprised its not a more popular option in the forums.

And my system still boots into XBMC at startup.

[seand]

Especially for the occassional sabnzbd "incomplete download", its really nice to be able to have a graphic desktop view for housekeeping of files but I still don't need to bog down my system with support for every printer/scanner/whatever that a Windows 7 OS would imply.

[vikjon0]

I also started with a desktop ubuntu + xbmc until I had learnt some linux.
Now I use Live but I still have gnome installed and run in the background with nx server. (like in RDP)

[seand]

One thing to remember is that even if you are following someone else's line command guide to install some extra driver or the other, if you can have Terminal and Firefox (with the tutorial) open in separate windows the whole process is so much easier. I really don't think the plain jane gnome interface running in the background slows down your system that much.

[bahdbwoy]

Yea im definately a linux newb and decided over the weekend to install ubuntu on a seperate parition rather then just running live.. Definately nice to have firefox and terminal avail lol.. Digging the whole 4xDesktop switcher too..

How do i boot directly into xbmc and could i just switch over if i needed like i can if i load xbmc myself.. Also how do i keep it running without the terminal up or does it have to stay up? Although i cant get my audio to work ;( says Esound = No but the other one is active

Thanks...

[vikjon0]

How do i boot directly into xbmc

If you install xbmc-standalone you get a new session type "xbmc" in the login window.

You can also start xbmc in the desktop with "start up application" in the menu.

Also how do i keep it running without the terminal up

What? Start it from the menu as you do any other application.

[seand]

You might want to read this wiki, including the stuff above this. I used option #2 so gnome loads in background (as well as sabnzbd and sickbeard) but then xbmc autoloads after that. If I shutdown xbmc, I'm in a basic gnome desktop. I honestly can't tell a noticeable performance difference in xbmc, maybe a little if sabnzbd is actually downloading something but otherwise, I don't feel a big drag from gnome and sabnzbd.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...rnative.29