[hominamad]

I've been running XBMC on Linux successfully for the last 2 years. First XBMCLive and then with the full Linux install. Was running off a USB stick and playing mostly local content (on a NAS) - DVD isos and MKV files.

My motherboard went bad so I took the opportunity to upgrade my hardware. Bought an i3 3225 with 8GB RAM. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to switch over to Windows or stick with the Linux version. If I go with Windows I'll probably stick in a 64GB SSD.

Are there any inherent advantages to going with Windows vs Linux? Given this CPU does one OS work better than the other?

A few things that irked me with my Linux build was that there was no support for Netflix, Amazon On Demand, couldn't put in a blu-ray player, etc. I think most of these are solved if I go with Windows, but I understand there is still no direct integration for these in XBMC yet.

I like having XBMC function as an appliance rather than a computer. Is it easy to achieve this feel with the Windows version? Essentially I would like to never see any signs of Windows. I know I can disable updates, but what about coming out of sleep mode, etc? I don't want to be constantly dealing with fixing focus issues and that sort of thing.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

H

[endlesslyonline]

AFAIK, there is a few ways to make the windows one more "appliance like', one of them is changing the default shell. I use XBMC on windows, no problems coming out of sleep, I have however sen if i let the machine sleep, whilst playing a video, it causes some problems waking up (Not Responding), but it might just be related to me.

My thing is just, Linux, once again, AFAIK, is faster and more stable, and the biggest reason why most people go the Windows route, is for the dear of the unknown, seeing as you are already used to the linux build, I would suggest, staying with it?

[awp0]

The reason you might choose Windows over Linux would be for other software and services that you need which aren't available in Linux. For example, iTunes or Media Center Master or EventGhost. I run XBMC on Windows and it does run like an appliance, but it took a lot of work to get it that way. And no, I don't think Netflix works on either Linux or Windows (not inside XBMC anyway). Not sure about Amazon.

If you really want XBMC to run like an appliance, you should run it with Openelec. But you'll be extremely limited in anything else you can install.

[Kib]

I prefer XBMCbuntu - which pretty much runs XBMC like an appliance as well.

The boot straight into XBMC takes just a tiny bit longer than with OpenELEC, but you have a lean lubuntu OS underneath (uses LightDM windom manager) that could be upgraded to a full OS if you so desire. XBMC is not run as an app within a desktop but as a standalone app. There is no desktop running underneath, but if you quit XBMC you get a login screen where you can select a lean desktop environment.

It is pretty easy to add apps like sickbeard, couchpotato etc and doing that will teach you a bit of linux, but if you don't want to you can just run it as an appliance and never bother.

I like XBMCbuntu more than I liked XBMClive because XBMCbuntu is basically Lubuntu + XBMC, where XBMClive was more skinned down like OpenELEC.