Linux Finally Getting XBMC 203
B47h0ry'5 CuR53 writes "XBMC is getting ported to Linux. A few developers of Team-XBMC have begun the porting of XBMC to Linux using OpenGL and the SDL toolkit. In this effort, they are recruiting developers. XBMC is, by far, one of the finest projects to come out of the open source community; and to think it is homebrew. XBMC is a massive project, with the current SVN branch weighing about 350M before compilation. Porting it will be a big effort and any hackers willing to contribute should check out the Linux port project."
What is XBMC? (Score:5, Informative)
For reference, for the 99% of us out here who have no frickin' clue what something like XBMC might stand for, it would be nice to spell out the whole abbreviation at least once in summaries. Since it wasn't mentioned, XBMC is the Xbox Media Center, an open source media center project to play images and videos of various formats and from various sources, such as streaming from your PC or even the Internet, on your Xbox 360. It will let you use your Xbox 360 kind of like a beefed-up and free Apple TV [apple.com]
Sounds pretty cool, but it does require that you mod your Xbox 360, and Microsoft has been banning modded Xboxes [slashdot.org] from their Xbox Live service. I'm not saying do it or don't do it, just that before you get too excited and start downloading stuff, you ought to know that as part of your decision.
Because, you know, allowing people to improve your product for free by adding a ton of useful functionality, customizing the thing they've laid out a not-insignificant amount of hard-earned cash for to better suit their needs must be stopped at all costs. After all, it might cost you a few bucks in not selling movies that people already own to them again.
Re:What is XBMC? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:XBMC for all (Score:2, Informative)
Unfamiliar to XBMC? Checkout the Wikipedia article (Score:4, Informative)
The article then goes on into more feature/function details, it is recommended reading
About damn time... (Score:5, Informative)
The killer feature of this program is *not* what it does. It's a very powerful and robust media player, certainly, but the true power comes from the user interface, which is simple, effective, straightforward and very pretty to look at (and fully skinnable). Anyone who has used a TiVo or similar television media interface should have no problems using XBMC. Now that it is no longer tied to the Xbox, it will be possible to create small form factor media center systems running linux and give them a truly excellent user interface.
The interface supports running external programs (in particular, games and game emulators), python scripting to handle writing widgets to interface with popular media sites like YouTube, file management, and streaming from nearly any source. It also works as an FTP/Samba/HTTP server to serve out whatever media is stored on the disk to other sources. There is a web interface for remote management. It'll work with USB joysticks and remote control as well as keyboards. There is a web browser but it's a bit hinky - I'm sure that someone will merge it with Firefox after it is ported.
If you're wondering why anyone would give a damn about the original Xbox or this program, the upshot is this... for $129 you could buy a P3 system (xbox), hack it with software exploits (fairly easily), install a hard disk up to 1TB in side to replace the original, and have a portable media player box that could hold hundreds of hours of content and play it back in 480p/720p/1080i and DTS. The price to do that with any computer was far higher at the time (and frankly still is, especially in setup time). I've been carting mine around for years and have had a great many friends request that I make one for them. I think I've done around thirty of them by now.
I think Microsoft/Sony completely missed the boat by overlooking this application for their gaming consoles. Either they just didn't see it or they don't like this behavior and see it as a liability of some kind. Either way, we won't be needing them much longer. A clever company could probably turn this into a killer set-top app with some business savvy. All it needs is a bit-torrent backend for sharing content with other users and connectivity to media sites, and you've got a TV channel killer on your hands and a new distribution network (if it ever gets big).
Re:I am confused (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What is XBMC? (Score:4, Informative)
Anyone else notice that Sony this round is actually going with standards compliance? HDMI connector (not just some proprietary one), DLNA for A/V streaming, USB for connectors/devices, S-ATA user-replaceable hard drive, right down to their software development (OpenGL, GNU tools, etc.).
I'm impressed, although I'm sure some anti-Sony rant will follow this.
Re:About damn time... (Score:3, Informative)
Why bother? With the exception of a couple of console emulators, every XBMC application I've tried has had flawless support for Samba file sharing. I'd rather stick that 1TB drive in a desktop PC or network file server, and mount my video/game/music directories so they're accessible to any machine on the network, including the Xbox.
play it back in 480p/720p/1080i
Upscaled to 720p/1080i, it should be noted. The Xbox's CPU isn't quite powerful enough to decode most native HD content in realtime.
I think Microsoft/Sony completely missed the boat by overlooking this application for their gaming consoles.
I don't think they did; they just blew it on the implementation. There was an "Media Center Extender" package briefly available for the Xbox, which allowed the console to stream content off an XP MCE computer; the 360 has this capability built-in. But still you're limited to the content that Microsoft wants you to have access to; ideally, they want you buying it from the Xbox Marketplace.
XBMC has taken the approach that if you own the hardware, and you possess a copy of the content, you should be able to use them together however you want. And the result of this approach has been that XBMC is the best media center to yet exist.
Re:XBMC for all (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I am confused (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Whatever (Score:3, Informative)
While I agree that this is good practice, and should be followed, Slashdot is theoretically News for Nerds. If you're a nerd, you should either a) already know what XBMC is, b) be able to figure it out without help, or c) both. Those of us who fall into the latter category spend a significant portion of our time on slashdot either laughing or rolling our eyes at those of you who fall into none of these groups.
What kind of nerd can't do some fucking research? Especially when, as was pointed out just above you, if you hover over the first link all is explained. Not to mention that this site is a link aggregator with a discussion system, it's about links, if you're confused, follow the link. I know that this is slashdot, and we don't do that here, but it really does have the potential to shed a certain amount of light on the subject.
Re:What is XBMC? (Score:5, Informative)
Another possible motivation is departing from using the XDK. As you may or may not know the XDK (Xbox Development Kit) is not publicly available [xboxmediacenter.com] and thus the XBMC team does not distribute binaries, but only source code. Then various groups with illicit copies of the XDK compile this code into the XBMC that we know and love. You have to know where to go to get it, et cetera. In addition, to even run it you either need it to either be signed, which is only done by Microsoft, or to have a hacked Xbox. In order to run unsigned Xbox (XDK) programs on the Xbox, you need a hacked BIOS. And these are by definition modified copies of the original BIOS, which are in turn illegal to distribute, and possibly to create or possess (depending on how valid the Xbox EULA is.) Work proceeds on an Open XDK replacement [openxdk.org], but it's not up to most tasks yet.
However, it is possible to run Linux [xbox-linux.org] on the Xbox using an alternative BIOS known as Cromwell [xbox-linux.org]. This is an entirely Free/free solution, and is completely legal. You can flash it to the system in the same way as you would any other BIOS, so if you have an early Xbox you can do the internal TSOP reflash [xbox-linux.org] and you don't even need a modchip.
(Pardon my linkage; might as well make some links for posterity, and they support my argument) :)
Anyway, HTPC, Xbox 360 (and Playstation 3!) compatibility were probably the primary goals. But it also has a dandy side-benefit.
There is however still no legal way to do DVD menus (at least in the USA.)
Re:Why bother with humility ? (Score:3, Informative)
I'll second the previous poster's comment of "not even close." I know nothing that can replace this app once you've come to use it for a while. There are no comparable programs out there of similar quality - the closest to it I mentioned above but they are not nearly as good.
This is absolutely as much of a killer app for TV-based computers as Apache was for commodity web servers. Far too many people are assuming this is just another media player. It's not. It's a frontend for anything you could possibly want to do on a television set with a computer, and the best one going. Pictures do not do it justice, no more than a picture of an Ubuntu desktop tells you what happens when you start digging into the menus and programs. Try it before you knock it.
Re:I am confused (Score:3, Informative)
XBMC is idiot proof. They turn it on and it works. I use ccxstream instead of Samba because I have no reason to use Samba on my debian server.
It's hard to explain if you've never seen it in action. If I go over to a friend's house and we want to watch some movies I can ftp them to the hard drive, toss the XBOX in my backpack and go. Almost all TVs on the market have RCA inputs. If I lose my remote I can pull up http://xbox/ [xbox] on my laptop and play media.
XBMC is an amazing piece of OSS. The interface keeps getting more and more polished. The only downside is the Xbox is starting to show its age. If I could get XBMC on an AppleTV and use the exact same interface, I would.
Re:What is XBMC? (Score:3, Informative)
Writing software that runs from within Sony's XMB is another story; that requires a license (as with all game systems) but those who have such a license don't have to look up some strange new specification for their software at an API level -- that's what standards are for.
As for hardware support, I've plugged USB cameras, memory sticks and hard drives into my PS3 and all of them worked perfectly with no drivers from within the XMB. Blutooth devices are similarly seamless. Any 2.5" Serial-ATA hard drive can be installed and formatted within the PS3.
Are you done with the FUD now?