XBMCBuntu - basic flaws
#1
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I'll start this with the good news:

XBMCBuntu Eden is the first distribution release that has XBMC working as a media centre on my Asrock box first time. Having been through some pain in the last couple years, and made some minor contribs of my own - A BIG THANKYOU to the XBMC devs for pulling this off. Fresh Install, perfect adoption of hardware - no messing about with audio amps, tvs - bloody well done done.

Now some bad news:

Folks, If you are going to include a 'pooter desktop, it needs some more work. It is reminiscent of that perfectly bodged affair called the Suez Crisis by way of Star Trek, (no offence intended to non Anglo saxons, but hey it's history) Is it an appropriate outcome - does it work? - Not as we know it Jim!

I am not qualified to discern whether OpenBox, Gnome, KDE, LDE or a myriad other desktop windowing systems would be a better choice, but why can't we see it? XBMC on a big multi media TV - beautiful - so why is the desktop in ant script? Try to set bigger font's in the config manager, (once you have the magnifying glass out to see the original dialog). Nah - doesn't work. Totally unusable.

Frankly, it would be better to pull the desktop from the distribution until it has had some more work.

And this is where I can help.

Happy to be anything within my skill set to get this working properly. I think it's important (well, after trying and failing to get a xbmc + desktop on my big ol' HD TV for the last two years, I guess it is.) Need a project manager, documentor, tester, systems architect?. Anything to get this last big thing working. XBMC + a workable big screen tv desktop is an absolute killer app. Nobody else has managed to pull it off (that I'm aware of).

Cheers
A
System info: Asrock ION330HT-BD (Intel Atom 330 4 core i686) connected to Sony KDL-Z5800 TV using hdmi via Onkyo TX-SR507 AV Amp. [Old Config Ubuntu 12.04. (Linux 3.2.0-32-generic-pae ) XBMCBuntu (Eden 11.0 Git:unknown Compiled Mar 24 2012). OpenGL 3.3.0 NVIDIA 280.13] New Config unknown - no working XBMC at moment!
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#2
XBMCbuntu is intended for those who will mostly use the HTPC as a set top box. The desktop is useful for people who would rather do setup and configuration through GUIs rather than the shell.

You can always install the latest Ubuntu and install XBMC right on top of it.
HTPC 1 - Zotac ZBOX ID80U | 4GB RAM | 64GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
HTPC 2 - Zotac ZBOX ID41U | 4GB RAM | 60GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
Server - unRAID Server | 3 x 2TB WD Green HDD, 1TB WD Black HDD (Cache) | Sabnzbd | CouchPotato | Sickbeard
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#3
change GRUB_GFXMODE in /etc/default/grub no?
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#4
@Plaguester - I disagree. Nowhere on the packet does it say that XBMCBuntu "is intended for those who will mostly use the HTPC as a set top box". I'm looking at the description on the front page of xbmc.org right now. It clearly states that "XBMCbuntu is now built upon a full LXDE desktop environment". It goes on to say that the user may toggle between the desktop and XBMC environment (poor use of term as actually you have to choose one or the other at logon.) That sounds like a sytem that we should be able to use on our HD TV's.

@mr.sparkle - I'll give that a go - thanks. Pity the installer can't detect this stuff.
System info: Asrock ION330HT-BD (Intel Atom 330 4 core i686) connected to Sony KDL-Z5800 TV using hdmi via Onkyo TX-SR507 AV Amp. [Old Config Ubuntu 12.04. (Linux 3.2.0-32-generic-pae ) XBMCBuntu (Eden 11.0 Git:unknown Compiled Mar 24 2012). OpenGL 3.3.0 NVIDIA 280.13] New Config unknown - no working XBMC at moment!
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#5
Does anyone know how to toggle between the desktop and xbmc?
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#6
(2012-04-14, 10:49)kickeres Wrote: Does anyone know how to toggle between the desktop and xbmc?

I do believe that your only option is to "exit" xbmc - and thereby enter the desktop
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#7
Better still you could just install Ubuntu minimal and and you basically have the old live system back albeit with a full os behind it
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#8
1) to get the biggere font in desktop you need to change DPI in xorg.conf or possibly in your nvidia/ati settings
2) I agree the desktop is not perfect. I think it is reasonable that they have selected a lightwight dm but some additional options in the future would be nice.

E.g. some applications are not added to the menu automatically (gnome-terminal). I would personally prefer gnome-panel instead of the lx panel.
This is quickly customized but to make life easy I have just added gnome2.
I prefer this as I use the desktop a lot but I understand why this should not be default in XBMCbuntu.

Buttomline, if you are not happy with the deskop spend 30s on adding the desktop of your choice.
(NB: do not enable 3rd effects/composite)
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#9
It's clear the developers taking the decisions in the direction XBMC goes in are on some kind of drug, that is all one needs to say. Strange that they have been on this drug for around 2 years now.
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#10
(2012-04-14, 16:10)robo989 Wrote: It's clear the developers taking the decisions in the direction XBMC goes in are on some kind of drug, that is all one needs to say. Strange that they have been on this drug for around 2 years now.

and yet it works for most....

The fact is that xbmcubuntu is designed to be installed on HTPCs, if you need shell access or desktop access you're probably better off installing ubuntu with xbmc on top of it.
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#11
Why? XBMCbuntu has a WM installed and any software or applications that you want which would require a GUI can be installed on that. All you have to do is exit out of XBMC and log into a new session with the using lightdm.

The OP doesn't seem to understand the purpose of XBMC. OTOH, how many installs of WMC have instructions included with them. That seems to be MS' flagship media center app, and I find it much more difficult to deal with than XBMC. FrontRow on OSX was just horrendous. I think XBMC's usability out of the box far exceeds anything else on the market that isn't a fork of XBMC. You can use it just from a file browsing and launching standpoint or set it up with libraries in order to show its full glory.
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#12
(2012-04-14, 12:17)jitterbug Wrote:
(2012-04-14, 10:49)kickeres Wrote: Does anyone know how to toggle between the desktop and xbmc?

I do believe that your only option is to "exit" xbmc - and thereby enter the desktop

Awesome thanks
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#13
(2012-04-10, 06:57)chippyash Wrote: @Plaguester - I disagree. Nowhere on the packet does it say that XBMCBuntu "is intended for those who will mostly use the HTPC as a set top box". I'm looking at the description on the front page of xbmc.org right now. It clearly states that "XBMCbuntu is now built upon a full LXDE desktop environment". It goes on to say that the user may toggle between the desktop and XBMC environment (poor use of term as actually you have to choose one or the other at logon.) That sounds like a sytem that we should be able to use on our HD TV's.

You can disagree all you want, but the fact of the matter is XBMC itself is meant to be used like a set-top box using a 10-foot user interface (wiki), and that's how XBMCbuntu/Live is seen too. The minimal desktop environment is just there to make it easier to do various things, such as settings, installing emulators, torrent clients, or even just being able to configure things like advancedsettings.xml (wiki) from time to time. It's also a starting point if people want to expand upon the OS and install more software or even a more advanced desktop environment.

If you want a full linux install with XBMC, then why don't you just do a full linux install and then install XBMC?
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#14
(2012-04-14, 17:57)zmw1 Wrote:
(2012-04-14, 16:10)robo989 Wrote: It's clear the developers taking the decisions in the direction XBMC goes in are on some kind of drug, that is all one needs to say. Strange that they have been on this drug for around 2 years now.

and yet it works for most....


so does alchol but I not going to run around drunk all day. too me a true htpc experience is to resemble a STB , and a STB has no Destop Environment or Windows Manager in the background, so I will be sticking with a Ubuntu minimal install with XBMC installed, If I really really wanted to I would go with a Windows Manager not a bloated Desktop to begin with which takes up more hard drive space and ram with programs I will never use, staying clear of Windows or full Ubuntu installs, maybe something like fluxbox which i have used in the past. On the plus side XBMCBuntu will pull in more users that have trouble getting their hands too dirty, or would prefer to spend their time drinking lots of booze instead of coding. j/k.. Big Grin
In a world without walls and fences who needs windows and gates, open source, opens minds, so open yours today.

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#15
Quote:so does alchol but I not going to run around drunk all day
Good to hear, your reasoning gives another impression.

BTW, xbmcbuntu does not have a desktop manager or window manager in the background but it does have xorg running and so does your installation.
So what are you refering to exactly and what is your point? You do understand that not started binaries does not use any RAM?

BTW2, this thread have make up its mind, is the desktop bloated or weak? If you can't agree you should start 2 separate threads.
May I suggest the topics?
1) The devs are on drugs because a more heavy desktop is not available without a 30s additional installation
2) The devs are on drugs because a very lighth desktop is available for optional use to position xbmcbuntly slightly differently compared to live.

The XBMCbuntu concept can use further development but this thread is very very weak.
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