What is the simplest way to setup and run XBMC?

Question

How can I get XBMC on my Raspberry Pi? I'm not particularly interested in running a specific operating system. My primary desire is to run XBMC on a Raspberry Pi.

According to this official post, at least most of the work has been done by the XBMC team. How can I acquire either a binary or compatible source trunk and set it up with my Raspberry Pi? Bonus, if one OS works better with XBMC or, better, is bundled with it, please let me know.

Any OS would be fine, considering the fact that using XBMC was the primary purpose of me wanting to acquire an RP. — RLH, Jun 12 '12 at 20:50

Alessandro Cosentino · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-03T00:37:06.680

20

The images of OpenELEC and Raspbmc I found don't work well yet on my RPI. I have tried them and they either crash or don't boot, etc. If you want to play around, while waiting for those two distribution to become more mature, you can use the following debian image with xbmc precompiled: http://rpi-developers.com/projects/xbmc/

[UPDATE (Dec 2, 2012)]: I gave Raspbmc another shot. It seems to work very well now.

edited Dec 03 '12 at 00:37

answered Jun 12 '12 at 21:51

Alessandro Cosentino

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I had OpenELEC working fine. – Jivings Jun 12 '12 at 21:58
@Jivings: did you compile them yourself? I am trying the precompiled image I found on their websites. – Alessandro Cosentino Jun 12 '12 at 22:04
I used this OpenELEC image http://kvarley.co.uk/RaspberryPi/OpenELEC/ and it worked okay. The system stalls at times and I wondered what it was doing, but it eventually caught up. – popey Jun 12 '12 at 22:08
I think I used a precompiled image from their GitHub repo. – Jivings Jun 12 '12 at 22:09
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Raspbmc works like a charm for me. Plays 1080p mkv/m2ts without lags. – Sjaak Trekhaak Jun 26 '12 at 08:28
I'm using OpenELEC with XBMC Frodo (from NOOBS 1.2.1) and it runs fine, no lags and barely no crashes, 1080p – That Brazilian Guy Aug 11 '13 at 22:40

score 18 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 16 '20 at 10:47

According to the XBMC Wiki, you can either install OpenELEC or Raspbmc.

Installing XBMC OpenELEC - XBMC-centric linux-based OS install - http://openelec.tv/news/item/241-openelec-meets-raspberry-pi-part-1

Raspbmc - XBMC-centric linux-based OS install - http://www.raspbmc.com/2012/05/raspbmc-is-now-in-beta/

From the OpenELEC "About" Page

OpenELEC is an embedded operating system built specifically to run XBMC, the open source entertainment media hub. The idea behind OpenELEC is to allow people to user their Home Theatre PC (HTPC) like any other device you might have attached to your TV, like a DVD player or Sky box.

From the Raspbmc About Page

Raspbmc is a minimal Linux distribution based on Debian that brings XBMC to your Raspberry Pi.

none of them work well on mine – Alessandro Cosentino Jun 12 '12 at 21:36 — Alessandro Cosentino, Jun 12 '12 at 21:36

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 03 '12 at 20:41

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Raspbmc is a very simple way to get your Raspberry Pi running XBMC.

The installation process is as simple as inserting an SD card into your computer and running the installation script. Once this is done, you simply insert your SD card into your Raspberry Pi and it sets itself up automagically.

I've found the wiki and irc channel (#rasbmc) on Freenode to be excellent sources of information and help.

If you're familiar with UNetbootin, Rasbmc takes a similar approach in easing XBMC installation on your pi.

answered Dec 03 '12 at 20:41

earthmeLon

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OpenELEC is another implementation of XBMC. – earthmeLon May 26 '13 at 03:31
Raspberry Pi now offers NOOBS, which eases installation of many different distros. Various XBMC flavours are supported. – earthmeLon Jul 01 '13 at 21:13

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 12 '12 at 15:02

Start with the debian6-19-04-2012 image.

Get https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware.

Copy all files in firmware/boot to /boot.

Replace /opt/vc with firmware/opt/vc.

Replace /lib/modules/3.1.9+ with firmware/modules/3.1.9+.

Install dependencies:

sudo apt-get -y install autoconf libboost-dev libass-dev libmpeg2-4-dev libmad0-dev libjpeg-dev libsamplerate0-dev libogg-dev libvorbis-dev libmodplug-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libflac-dev libmysqlclient-dev libbz2-dev libtiff4-dev libssl-dev libssh-dev libsmbclient-dev libyajl-dev libfribidi-dev libsqlite3-dev libpng12-dev libpcre3-dev libpcrecpp0 libcdio-dev libiso9660-dev libfreetype6-dev libjasper-dev libmicrohttpd-dev python-dev python-sqlite libplist-dev libavahi-client-dev

Copy arm-bcm2708/linux-x86/arm-bcm2708-linux-gnueabi/sys-root/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.14

from

https://github.com/raspberrypi/tools to /usr/lib.

Run:

sudo ldconfig

Put the xbmc-bcm directory in /opt, and run with:

sudo LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/xbmc-bcm/xbmc-bin/lib /opt/xbmc-bcm/xbmc-bin/lib/xbmc/xbmc.bin

score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 06 '13 at 14:10

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I am using Xbian 1.0 Alpha 3. Download the image from http://xbian.org/ and mount to your SD card. Working perfect, with my RaspberryPi model B. I can really recommend it.

edited Apr 06 '13 at 14:10

dangowans

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answered Dec 03 '12 at 20:11

To Kra

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 22 '13 at 20:31

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easiest is XBian

as you can install it into Raspbian as 3rd party application. One can log into X GUI of Raspbian and after logout/login xbian XBMC starts. no reboot needed, nothing.

answered Dec 22 '13 at 20:31

sbern

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 31 '14 at 14:11

Xbian installation is the easiest. OpenELEC also comes close. Raspbmc takes the longest to install. I do not want to promote my own post but I compared the three XBMC distros in detail on my blog (you may google "Xbian vs Raspbmc or OpenELEC").

Xbian definiately has more features but I ended up choosing OpenELEC for my applications.

If I am right Raspbmc developed has stopped. Sam has picked up new project LinXBMC but no word on where it stands today.

What is the simplest way to setup and run XBMC?

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