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XBMC 'Atlantis' Beta 1 Released, Now Cross-Platform
Posted by
timothy
on Thursday September 18, @03:31PM
from the let-a-thousand-flowers-bloom dept.
from the let-a-thousand-flowers-bloom dept.
An anonymous reader writes with a welcome followup to last year's promise of XBMC being made available for Linux: "The first cross-platform Beta version[s] of XBMC Media Center for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and Xbox have now been released in preparation for an upcoming stable release, code named 'Atlantis.'" Now, though, there are binaries available for download through the XBMC Media Center site, though only for the non-Xbox versions.
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Linux: Linux Finally Getting XBMC 203 comments
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."
Firehose:XBMC 'Atlantis' Beta 1 released - now serving all by Anonymous Coward
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Great! (Score:2)
I love xbmc. Anyone knows of a nice (and cheap) pc that could serve as a media center with xbmc, a la asus eee box, but with the ability to run hdtv content?
XBMCMC? (Score:2, Informative)
The first cross-platform Beta version[s] of XBMC Media Center for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and Xbox have now been released in preparation for an upcoming stable release, code named 'Atlantis
Xbox Media Center Media Center? I'm sorry, but when I see XMBC I think Xbox Media Center in my mind. Its use isn't ubiquitous enough that people have forgotten what it stands for.
xbmc rocks (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:xbmc rocks (Score:4, Informative)
I run this on my linux box that i use for my htpc. I like it because it can handle anything i throw at it even HD content (something the orginal xbox couldnt handle) Also i think it looks 1000000x beter then mythtv gui
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
That's presuming you can get MythTV to work properly, a dicey proposition at best.
I've had FAR more luck getting XBMC to talk correctly to pre-recorded media (of almost any format) from my NAS and winboxen.
As for the GUI... I love the XBMC GUI. I love the fact that the Xboxes I purchased at a flea market for comparative pennies make lovely network video boxes for the spare rooms in my house to pull just about everything I've recorded from NAS.
I'm looking forward to the "new" Windows-based XBMC so my home th
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed, it's the center of my media center at home. I just wish the Xbox could handle 720p, but not a big deal for me right now.
The interface is top notch, my wife can navigate with ease, of course, we have a remote to interact with it.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft doesn't care about engaging the community as long as they can imprison the community.
It's a shame too, because there are lots of ways that they could embrace "freedom" that would win them lots of favor with the very customers they've spent all these years alienating. They could do lots of things like this, but they'd rather try to succeed with a stick than a carrot.
Maybe after the guy with too many Y-chromosomes steps down Microsoft can go back to being part of the community rather than trying to
The Killer App (Score:5, Insightful)
XBMC really was the killer app for a modded 1st gen XBOX. I dropped a 120GB hard drive in mine, had it auto-sync with my video torrent folder, and had a brilliant little movie/tv show playing setup going on. It makes an Xbox do what Microsoft should have done with its Media Center Extender initiative.
For something that was quasi-legal (if I remember you needed proprietary things from the Xbox developer's SDK to properly compile the source for the Xbox) it had a remarkably excellent UI. Things seemed to work quite well. It seems like a good thing to have some real competition in the media center market, particularly cross-platform open-source competition.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I still watch nearly all my TV on my xbox. TVRSS with rtorrent, samba, and XBMC has made broadcast TV obsolete.
XBMC is spelled "XBMC", (not "XMBC") (Score:3, Informative)
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Plex (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Plex (Score:4, Funny)
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DVR? (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to use MythTV but hated the interface; that combined with the free TV guides going away made me try out MCE 2005, which I currently run.
MCE2005 works, the interface is great (for PVR stuff at least...I don't really like the music manager, though), but the management is crap compared to MythTV. I can't remote onto it easily because it's XP-based, and the web management is garbage, too. I've been thinking of trying out something else, or seeing how MythTV is now.
Basically my setup is this: I have a FreeNAS that I use for file sharing that I have my music and downloaded videos on. I have the MCE box in the living room doing DVR stuff, with connections to the file shares for music and the rest of the videos. And I an original Xbox sitting around doing nothing.
I'd love to be able to put the DVR somewhere out of the way, have it do it's thing, and pump everything to XBMC somewhere. But can you do the live-tv thing with XBMC? Maybe I'm missing some other package out there completely?
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Re:XBMC ? (Score:4, Informative)
the source code is available to all platforms, including xbox.
Just the binaries that are not available to xbox, because the MS xbox sdk does not allows them to redistribute binaries.
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Re:XBMC ? (Score:4, Informative)
To compile XBMC for the Xbox is illegal since it'll have to be compiled using the XDK (XBox Development Kit) which is not available to the average joe (as one may suspect).
That's the reason they don't distribute a compiled version. But if you google for XBMC and T3CH ... you might get something in return.
Oh... the wonders of googling...
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Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re:XBMC ? (Score:4, Interesting)
The developers haven't legally licensed the Xbox XDK, and so they can't legally distribute binaries. So you'll have to find them somewhere illegitimate.
Even if you own the SDK, which, I think, average joe CAN buy, distributing binaries is disallowed under SDK EULA without MS's blessing, which they will not give for XBMC. This is pretty much same problem as iPhone developers have, except unlike iPhone there are no alternative ways to compile code for XBOX - you HAVE to use the MS SDK and as such MS can sue for distribution of compiled binaries (which then have to be distributed along side of other illegal material like movies and music and thus looks just as illegal).
On the flip side, at least there is no Apple "Fight Club" rules for MS SDK - you ARE allowed to talk about it without getting sued.
-Em
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OSX Users (Score:5, Informative)
OS X Users might want to check out: http://plexapp.com/ [plexapp.com]
This group forked from XBMC a while ago. It was originally called OSXBMC but to differentiate from the 'official' OSX XBMC release they renamed to Plex.
I've played around with it for a while and it is absolutely gorgeous. Each release gets it more and more integrated with OSX. Apple remote, mouse, local file system, etc.
They've also teamed up with CenterStage [centerstageproject.com] to work towards a more OSX like GUI.
Currently my XBOX, bought for $75 used, is going strong. Served via the XBMC protocol running on a debian server with 2 TB of data. pytvshows and rtorrent are nearly as good as a DVR (considering I work second shift) and ... There just aren't more words to describe how awesome the XBMC project is and how far it has come in the last 3 years I've used it.
I'll have to check out the other release tonight to see how it compares.
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: OS X Users (Score:4, Informative)
Hi Gamester! (Cyberace1?) Gamester (one of the project managers of XBMC) is hardly an impartial observer. There are a number of features that Plex has that XBMC does not, and many report it to be more stable on their Macs. Not to mention he keeps misspelling my last name, which is "Feingold".
Come to the Plex forums (forums.plexapp.com) or download Plex to compare for yourself, but take his statements (posted under a pseudonym) with a grain of salt.
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Re: (Score:2)
How can Windows be available for anything but windows?
Just wait a minute! You'll get it! Or you'll be trying so hard to see what might be funny about it that I'll have time to make a clean getaway with your windows. You can keep the Windows, though.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, you can do multiple partitions and keep the PS3 OS (and thusly play PS3 games) as well as a separate Linux partition.
Now I just need to know if I can compile XBMC on the Cell/PPC architecture.
Re:Product name whack-a-mole (Score:4, Funny)
Does that mean that we can rearrange them any way we like? XBMC == XMBC == XCBM == XCMB == MBCX == CXMB == CMXB == BMXC ad naseum?
"Ad nauseum"? Remind me never to get on a Tilt-a-Whirl with you. There are only 24 permutations.
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