Trying XBMC Media Center Inside Ubuntu

I just realized that I missed a lot of new things while I'm gone for a few days. I just found a cool media center program that you can try inside your ubuntu! I will give a review and installation method for this program. Please do read and please fill the comment form if you have any opinion with this program, I would love to see it :=) .

OK, You might need to go to XBMC official website after this tutorial get into an end and you can find out more information and features about this programs.

I just managed to install the XMBC media center last afternoon, and the first opinion that I got is this program rock into my heart, I like it, I like the style, I like the simplicity, and I like the plug-ins and the extensibility. I know some peoples think that I too overrated, but the fact is I'm telling the truth, after tried this media center both in windows and ubuntu I realized that this media center program deserved a 5 stars rating. It's almost perfect, there's still some problem and I already provide you the tutorial links to fix those small problems with Ubuntu Linux.

I also like the media management, it has a fast and sophiscated library media management that allows me to customize the library and music folders, I can freely add the music, pictures, and video inside those media center.

The other thing that I like is the skin and and the UI. I like it because it's really user friendly and the interface is really customizable. I also like the visualization of songs. It's pretty attractive.
There's also more cool features like built-in webserver that enable you to share your media library with other computer.

Okay, that's some good things about XBMC Media Center, now I will reveal some problems that I experienced during using this software in Ubuntu, and I also gonna give some problem solves to make you feel more comfortable by using this software.

First, I runned this software on quad core pc with 2 gb of memory RAM, it runs well inside my Ubuntu without any problem with the performance. But when I tried to install it inside my P4 PC's with 512 Mb of RAM , the performance is dropped, I know... High graphics always comes with high memory usage, so I recommend you to use a high performance PC's to get a better and maximal performance and graphics. Elisa Media Player is the other choice for you.

Secondly, again and again... The compiz problem, it seemed to be this problem is always appears with the software that using a high graphics usage like games. You need to turn off the compiz or otherwise, you can make some automation code that also works for this software, just simply click this tutorial link that I provide to you to solve this problem.

Installation

Ubuntu Installation:

If you are interested in stable XBMC releases (releases that we certify as usable and/or testable), please use the stable PPAs. Once added in your repository list, you will be notified for any update we make. You will have the latest stable version this way.

https://edge.launchpad.net/~team-xbmc-gutsy/+archive
https://edge.launchpad.net/~team-xbmc-hardy/+archive
https://edge.launchpad.net/~team-xbmc-intrepid/+archive

GUTSY PPA :

Code:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-gutsy/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-gutsy/ubuntu gutsy main

HARDY PPA :

Code:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-hardy/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-hardy/ubuntu hardy main

INTREPID PPA

Code:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-intrepid/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-intrepid/ubuntu intrepid main

For more advanced users, here is the SVN PPA.

See :
https://edge.launchpad.net/~team-xbmc/+archive
https://edge.launchpad.net/~team-xbmc-svn/+archive

SVN PPA (daily builds)

Code:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ubuntu gutsy main
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ubuntu hardy main
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ubuntu intrepid main

ADDONS and THIRD PARTIES

Third parties packages will be distributed via a reserved PPA: the xbmc-addons PPA. You will find there skins, scripts and plugins. I suggest you add it to your sources to benefit from all contribution put there.

Ubuntu Installation:

Go to this forum page.

Some screenshots:

Enjoy the software! If you encountered any problem feel free to contact me via comments form!