XBMC for Linux Update

There is a pretty simple 'how to install' document up on sourceforge- linked from the XBMC forums.  The install/setup is pretty simple and is written to work with Ubuntu 7.04 or 7.10.

My initial impressions are that they are doing a great job, but it has a long way to go.  Currently it is intended for developer use only, but it looks almost finished.  The default build has the debug mode active and displays on-screen CPU stats (remove during build with the 'CONFIGOPT=--disable-debug' option).

I tested with a Pentium D 3.0 Ghz, 2GB DDR2 system with an ATI Radeon 9600 AGP video card; the CPU was running at 95% - 110% most of the time (using OpenGL).  I picked up an eVGA GeForcfe 6200 AGP card for $40 at Fry's and the CPU is in the 15%-35% ranges (peaking up into 90% with some 1080i content).  HD content plays MUCH better than on the original (733Mhz Celeron) xBox , but 1080 content still has a little lag/jerkiness to it.

There are some audio issues (like no sound on 2nd video play) and some problems with stopping video playback (where is the STOP button?).  I also have had several freezes and reboots when trying to switch from one video to another- but this is expected as it is not even in alpha testing yet!

I also have not figured out how to use my IR remote yet.  Everything appears to be mouse driven on-screen only (with a few keyboard shortcuts); I cannot enter a SMB login/password via keyboard- it must be done via on-screen keyboard (which can be very unresponsive or enter random characters).

The interface is true to the original XBMC and most of the features appear to be intact (such as playing DVDs from ISOs).  If they manage to include TV tuner support in this I will happily switch from Microsoft Vista Media Center!