Archive:Kodibuntu FAQ
XBMC for specific FAQs about the XBMC Live platform.
About XBMC Live
What is XBMC Live?
XBMC Live is the XBMC Media Center software bundled with a embedded operating-system, for that set-top-box felling. XBMC Live also lets you easily boot to the XBMC Live CD in order to demo XBMC for your friends and family on practically any relatively modern computer, (as long as it was manufactured in the last 5-years or so it should meet the XBMC's minimum requirements).
XBMC Live specific features and functions
No. There is not yet any C/C++ open source software out there yet capable of fully playing back Blu-ray or HD DVD so we can not add the code from somewhere in any case. FFmpeg (the open source codec-suit that XBMC uses) will probably relativly soon be able to decode all audio and video codecs used in both Blu-ray and HD DVD, but even when that happens you still have to get around the DRM encryptions used by the disc formats and there is not yet any C/C++ open source software library capable of that on-the-fly, nither is there any C/C++ open source software library out there capable of displaying Blu-ray or HD DVD menus. XBMC need C/C++ open source software libraries for all of these things to fully support Blu-ray or HD DVD playback.
Usage Questions
How long time does it take to start XBMC Live?
The time it takes to do a cold boot (from when the system is totally powered down) mostly depends on how long it takes for your motherboard to to complete the P.O.S.T. (Power On Self Test), on some motherboards the POST take 2 seconds (like on a IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad laptop) while on others it might take up to 30 seconds.
The good news is that XBMC Live supports Suspend, (look under XBMC settings in the GUI), and power-up from suspend takes about 3-seconds on most computers. Suspend (S3) mode on a computer is like a TV Stand-By mode, it that the system does not completely power-off but instead shutdown almost completely while still providing electricity to RAM (Random Access Memory) keeping everything saved, drawing perhaps around 1 WATT per hour while in this Suspend mode,, (most Apple Mac desktop computers use this as default making them really fast to 'boot').
How can I transfer files to/from XBMC Live?
FTP access has been superseded by SCP/SFTP. On Windows, use a client like WinSCP or FileZilla and use xbmc/xbmc as username/password.
How can I backup all my settings to restore them if something goes wrong?
Save the file "ext3fs.img" and you will be done, unless you won't be able to boot any more from the flash drive; in this last case a rebuild is due, but you can then restore your last known good file on the brand new build
To autoboot on the USB version, open syslinux.cfg from the USB Stick, move
default x
to the top of the file and choose x as the number you want to boot (1 is nvidia, 2 is ATI/AMD, 3 is Intel), remove the # from the line containing "timeout" and choose a timeout in seconds, ie 1.
How do I configure the graphic part of XBMC Live?
If you have a working xorg.conf, create a directory on the XBMC Live USB drive called "config" (no quotes) and place a copy of the working xorg.conf there. That way the file will be merged into the live filesystem and used by Xorg.
Hardware Questions
What are the minimum requirement and recommended hardware for XBMC
For end-users the recommended minimum requirement is a x86-based computer, with a 3D GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) that at least supports Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0 (that features 24bpp or 32bpp for 3D hardware-acceleration support, which XBMC GUI need to run smoothly at an acceptable frame-rate). Graphic adapters that support DirectX version 9.0c or later usually meet all of those mentioned requirements, (Team-XBMC recommends NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or later as NVIDIA are currently the manufacturer that offers good device-drivers for Linux (and NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or later supports OpenGL 2.0).
XBMC Live minimum requirements
- x86 (Intel/AMD-based) processor computer capable of booting to CD-ROM.
- Intel Pentium 4, Intel Pentium M, AMD Athlon XP/64, AMD Opteron, or newer CPU (that support SSE).
- Fast modern dual-core processor is required to decode H.264 videos in FullHD (1080p).
- For clarification; XBMC Live does not work on the Xbox game-console.
- ATI/AMD, Intel, or NVIDIA (recommended) graphic controller which supports OpenGL 1.4 or later (2.0 recommended).
- ATI Radeon R420 (X800) or newer supported, ATI Radeon R700 (HD 4000) or newer recommended.
- Intel GMA 950 (945G) or newer supported, G43 and newer unsupported.
- NVIDIA GeForce 6-Series and newer supported, GeForce 8-Series and newer recommended.
- Optional is to install to a 2GB (or larger) USB-flash-drive.
- If you like to install XBMC Live to USB then note that it can not still have U3 software on it (so uninstall that first).
- Larger than 2GB is if you have a lot of media as covers are cached on it.
Why is a OpenGL 2.0 compatible graphic-controller the recommended minimum for XBMC?
OpenGL 2.0 is not really the current minimum requirement to run XBMC, as in reality XBMC will today run with only OpenGL 1.4 + GLSL support (everything else has fall-backs to be runned in software on the CPU, slower than GPU hardware though), however to be sure to stay future-proof Team-XBMC have decided that the OpenGL 2.0 is the recommended minimum requirement.
Currently OpenGL 2.0 hardware is only needed for...
- Any deinterlacing that is not linear blending, (FFmpeg does linear blending in software on the CPU)
- Video video post-processing filtering (bicubic upscaling, etc.)
- Non-power of two textures for the GUI (using NPOT saves a lot of texture memory)
- Hardware accelerated YUV 2 RGB conversion (actually GLSL is needed for this, and a few GPU hardware implementations as low as OpenGL 1.4 does provide GLSL as an extension. OpenGL 2.0 guarantees availability of GLSL).
In the future OpenGL 2.0 might also be needed for...
- More video post-processing filters to improve visual quality perception.
- Hardware Accelerated Video Decoding (using the GPU hardware to assist with video decoding)