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Re: Looking for a media center application



[..]

> > If it's the latter, check out XBMC.
> 
> I'll take a look, thanks.
> Seems like hell to install, tho :-(

I appear to have deleted the original message.

I installed "freevo" from the lenny repository about two months ago.

Takes about an hour to configure - just copy the sample config file to
your ~/.freevo/ directory and play with the well-commented config
options until everything works the way you want it.

You can run it from your id in your regular X session, or have it run
under the freevo id on its own vt - vt9 by default - if you'd rather
keep things separate.

I don't have a TV card or a remote, so I can't vouch for how well
supported they are but everything else from playing CD's, mp3's, radio
streams, to TV streaming, DVD's, etc. worked out of the box.

But then, I'm not a media center person by a long shot, I was looking
for a text-mode (ncurses) front-end to mplayer and freevo by accident.

I like the fact that it does not have a GUI interface stricto sensu: no
scrollbars, pull-down menus, etc.. You have everything at your
fingertips via keyboard shortcuts - which may be irrelevant if you plan
to use a remote.

> PS: That ones also seems to require 3D support, right?  It doesn't
> mean it'll be necessarily as sluggish as Moovida, of course, but
> still... requiring so much compute power just for some minor eye-candy
> boggles my mind.

freevo is written in python but it's usually fairly quick for the
functionalities that I used despite my antiquated hardware - 650MHz
Pentium III & 384Meg of RAM.

There are times when it mysteriously slows down to a crawl when
navigating the on-screen menu - haven't had time to investigate.

On the other hand I've never had it crash or lock up on me.

Development is pretty active on the new 2.0 version - a rewrite, I
believe, and the folks on the mailing list are very helpful.

May be worth a try.

CJ





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