Linux Finally Getting XBMC

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."

Re:What is XBMC?

[twistedsymphony]

That's right XBMC is for the Xbox 1 NOT the Xbox 360.

From what I've heard part of the reason they're working on a Linux port is so that they can have this fine software running on the Xbox 360 (seeing as it's possible to run Linux on a limited number of Xbox 360 consoles) as well as the PS3 which can run Linux out of the box.

I've been using XBMC at home for years now and it really is fantastic and gets frequent and useful updates. Here's hoping that a Linux port will not only provide us with LEGAL binaries (being homebrew on the Xbox 1 means that the binaries are technically illegal) but support for some video capture devices and DVR/PVR functionality... which IMO was the only major feature missing from XBMC as it wasn't possible using the Xbox 1's too slow for video v1.1 USB ports.

XBMC

[Anonymous Coward]

It's XBox Media Center

It is really good, I am currently actualy watching an episode of house on my TV run off my xbox running XBMC :P

However I don't think porting it is a good idea, it simply isn't that special, the reason it is good is becasue it runs on the xbox, not anything else, when it is ported to linux and released into the wild with competition people will soon realise this isn't anything unique, it's main success is what it operates on. In my opinion these hackers would be far more productive working on a media center already coded for linux and making that better, personally i think this approach wastes time.

I am confused

[Slashcrap]

I was under the impression that XBMC was basically a modified version of Mplayer. Now I can't believe that they coded their own OS to run on the bare metal and I somehow doubt they were using Windows. So that basically leaves Linux, right?

So they're porting a Linux based Linux media player to Linux?

Would anyone like to correct me or alternatively join me in a severe case of WTF?

AppleTV will be the primary platform

[bbzzdd]

The developers are looking to target AppleTV as the lead platform [avsforum.com] (at least on the low-end). This is great as the beauty of XBMC was that it ran on a console and everyone running it was on the same page hardware-wise. The only downside is lack of optical storage on the ATV and whether or not it can decode 1080p content.

Re:I am confused

[pike2k]

how can I put this.. XBMC = EXCELLENCE 350M (a figure I'm not sure is accurate) = sourcecode, why don't you just download try it when there's something to try regards

Re:What is XBMC?

[nonsequitor]

Excellent analysis of the current situation regarding legality of the code. You left out that the XBOX lacks the processing power to handle 720p quality video (Xvid compressed), even though it is capable of output at that resolution. This among other things which have been accumulating just go to demonstrate that XBMC has outgrown the XBOX making a port desirable to best utilize the effort spent so far in development. A development effort which has been on going since the turn of the century. Waste not, Want not.