[Pure-Evil]

I think this is the most amazing media server i've ever seen...and honestly I would have been happy to pay for it. I'm shocked that it's free...not that I'm complaining, but I'm very suprised.

I have been looking for something like this for a long long time (wish I'd found this before I bought a WD TV Live)

I wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to whomever designed this server, and for making it so available to all of us. I think you are short changing yourself by not at least charging a little for it ($5.00 even) but hey that's me....and I can't believe I'm saying that as I'm cheap as hell normally. LOL

Anyway, thank you thank you thank you!!! Now I just have to learn more about the server and how to customize it even further, but just as it stands standard it's amazing!

Actually what I would really like is to be able to have the screen art wrap at the bottom and then the fan art as the background. is this easily done? TIA

[FishOil]

I see from another post you made that you appear to be a windows user. You would absolutely be amazed at the quality and abundance of FREE software. EVERYTHING you would ever need on a computer including the operating system (Linux for example) can be found for free. You dont need to spend a dime on software. You can throw windows in the trash if you want. Linux does everything you need. For FREE

[TugboatBill]

If you like the software you can always donate here:
http://xbmc.org/contribute/donate/

[branlr]

Hey Evil,

Not only is it free, but I think you will find that these forums are full of ridiculously helpful people who produce a vibrant ecosystem of Addons for XBMC, and provide support to complete strangers--also for free!

As someone who hasn't (yet) donated to XBMC (I would if I could), I try to do what I can to help answer people's questions on these forums as a small way of contributing.

So, first of all, on behalf of the forum users, Welcome! I'm sure everybody who contributes to XBMC appreciates your kind words.

Regarding the question at the bottom of your post:

The answer isn't completely straight forward. As I mentioned, there are many Addon's for XBMC created by the users, and these include entirely different skins with drastically different aesthetics to them.

I am assuming, since you are new, that you are using Confluence, XBMC's default skin. Check out the skin section of the forum for more great skins. Many of the skins there are downloadable from the Addon Manager within XBMC (accessible from the settings menu). Some great ones are Cirrus Extended, Transparency, Alaska, reFocus.. ! I use Cirrus Extended myself....

Your question is not actually a question about XBMC, but rather about the skin. When seeking help in the forums, try to make clear, single-topic posts with a clear and concise title, and if there is a subforum that is appropriate, post it there. In this case, check out the Confluence section of the skin section of the forum).

------------

Now... if you really want to pimp your XBMC, the really great thing is that you can actually modify skins themselves very easily. The code for every skin in XML files which open right up in any notepad program. If you invest a bit of time, you can learn to make most basic modifications you would want yourself. I actually wound up contributing my own customized views to the skin I use! Another cool way you can give back.

If you can learn to do this, the answer to literally ANY question about "can you make this picture appear *** and move **** when you click ****".... is a big fat YES.

As far as I can tell, damn near anything any reasonable person would think to do is possible through XBMC's skinning engine, and they are improving it with every release, too.

So while there may be a way to get what you are wanting either through confluence's menus or through another skin, if all else fails you could try to make the modification yourself, or beg someone else to do it very nicely ...

I hope this info helps you on your journey of acquiring the ultimate media setup! Just remember, people here are always super willing to help, but it's all about asking clear questions in the correct forums, very nicely, after you have done as much research as you can on your own (The wiki is a good place to start, but beware, it might not always be up to date).

-Brandon

[schneidz]

xbmc is open source so to comply with the gpl its source code has to be made freely available. this in and of itself doesnt preclude anyone from charging a fee for any open source software but anyone distributing/ modifying/ selling it must make the sourcecode available so that others can benefit from enhancing it if they wanted.

more important than the free cost is that the user is free to do what they want in learning about how it is made:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software

[Jezz_X]

The simple answer from my point of view is I do it because I enjoy doing it not for money. It makes me happy to produce stuff that make other people happy. (lol I sound like a hippy)

Some of the coders use it as a learning experience and also a tool to keep their programming skills honed because if you let them slip its hard to get them back. Also if you ever go for a job its a pretty decent resume to point at.

[bluray]

You can throw windows in the trash if you want.

why do i throw away something that is simply the best. i have been a proud ms user for so many years, and i'm not planning to switch anytime soon either. i just got my windows 7 for all my pc's at work, and windows 8 is on the way soon. for bitstreaming hd audio, it cannot be beaten!

sorry, if i disappointed you!