Tag: linux
XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience
by Maximum0077 on May.11, 2009, under Apps, Software
The XBMC project, which develops a popular open source media center application, announced the release of a major new version last week. XBMC 9.04, which is codenamed Babylon, delivers improved codec compatibility, an enhanced theming system, better Linux support, and many other features.
The XBMC project has its roots in the Xbox Media Player, an MPlayer-based media application that was originally designed for the Xbox video game console. XBMC currently uses its own playback engine that leverages FFMpeg, libdvdcss, and a number of other well-known open source multimedia libraries. Coded primarily in C++, it uses SDL and OpenGL for rendering. XBMC is cross-platform compatible and will run on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.
The project is now on a six-month release cycle, which loosely mirrors that of the Ubuntu Linux distribution. The previous version, which was codenamed Atlantis, was released in November. XBMC can play an extremely broad assortment of common codecs and media formats. It also has extensive support for network streaming using a wide range of protocols. It provides a rich theming system—which got many improvements in the latest version—and a plugin framework that allows third-party developers to customize the application using Python scripts.
I’ve been running XBMC 9.04 since the beta release was made available last month. The new version is highly polished and stable. I have tested it on a Windows XP desktop system, a Mac Mini with OS X Leopard, and an Ubuntu-powered Neuros LINK. It performs well and was able to play high-definition video reasonably on all three computers. I streamed video content from my network storage device and tested several Web-based streaming video services.
XBMC’s plugin manager allows users to add new features to the program by downloading third-party scripts from the Internet. These scripts can augment the program’s behavior in any number of ways, such as adding support for additional streaming media sources. For example, one of the plugins allows users to stream fansubs of the popular Bleach anime series.
Via Ars Technica
Shuttle unveils X270V Linux Barebone PC
by Maximum0077 on Apr.20, 2009, under Hardware
It wasn’t so long ago that if you wanted a HTPC, the best you could hope for was a computer roughly the size of your average cable box and a bit thicker. Today there are a number of very small and thin HTPC systems available that are sized more like a Nintendo Wii.
Shuttle has announced a new machine, that is larger than the Wii for sure, but still compact enough to fit into an entertainment center or onto your desk called the X270V nettop. The little machine is designed to run openSUSE Linux and features an Intel Atom processor.
The machine uses the dual-core Atom 330 CPU at 1.6GHz and supports hyperthreading. The board has a single DDR2 DIMM supporting up to 2GB of RAM. Other features include HD 6-channel audio and support for a single 2.5-inch HDD. A slim DVD burner is optional with the system and DVI video out is featured. The PSU for the system is a 60W unit.
