(2012-05-13, 00:10)KidKiwi Wrote: Thx - I'll have to look into that. I haven't spent any time in the desktop as of yet because the resolution for it is WAY TOO small. I'll have to find a fix.
You probably don't have the DPI set to 120 x 120. If you have NVidia hardware do this:
Code:
# replace "vi" with your text editor of choice
$ sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# In the following section, make sure you have the DPI option set:
Section "Device"
...
Option "DPI" "120 x 120"
EndSection
You can try sticking that in the "Monitor" section if you don't have NVidia hardware.
(2012-05-13, 00:10)KidKiwi Wrote: Not sure how this is done?? Can you elaborate?
- Log in to the XBMCbuntu desktop
- Select the menu button and choose System Tools > Synaptic Package Manager
- Select Settings > Repositories
- In the "Other Software" tab, scroll down and select the one with "team-xbmc" in it
- Click "Edit" and change the URL to "http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/unstable/ubuntu"
- Close out the two dialogs so you are back at the package manager
- Click "Reload"
- Click "Mark All Upgrades"
- Click "Apply"
The last three steps could be replaced by
Code:
$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
# Note that if you see something about linux kernel stuff getting held back, you want:
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Good luck with the unstable builds. I usually don't jump on those until there's a beta.
(2012-05-13, 00:10)KidKiwi Wrote: Again...not sure what a"Trolltastic" is 
, but it wasn't meant to be smart. I'm a windows user (not a very good one) that used a linux version because it was stated it acts more like an appliance than Windows. No one said you needed a PhD to drive the damn thing. A windows box is so much easier to manage IMO. Personally, I don't care what o/s people use.
Technically that comment would be more like rant-bait for a Linux user. I'll explain.
One huge bummer about Windows is that you have to update each of your programs separately. Most people don't like getting bombarded by programs asking for updates, and so users turn that crap off. This leaves you with security holes and old software on the system. Windows users who have never used anything else get used to updating programs by going to the website, downloading the update, and running it manually for any software that doesn't automatically update itself.
Linux uses repositories (think "App Stores", although repositories have been around much longer). This allows the package manager to keep track of everything installed on the system and
update all of your software from one place with one command. This is least intrusive to the user experience and allows for the system to be kept up to date. In a regular distro, a nice little update GUI would periodically pop up and ask you to update. XBMCbuntu is meant to be as light as possible, and therefore the "Update Manager" is not included (though it could be installed from the package manager).
If you were to install a program by going the Windows route and downloading an archive, extracting it to a folder, and running the program, you defeat the entire purpose of the package manager. The package manager won't know about the program and it could go without updates indefinitely (this is particularly bad if there are security patches available). This causes Linux experts to do the facepalm.
You are right that XBMCbuntu is "more like an appliance". It is more friendly than tinkering with your bluray player or cable box, but it won't be as user-friendly as a full-blown (or fully bloated
) OS (Linux, OS X, Windows, etc.) when you're trying to troubleshoot something unless you like the command line (trust me, it is
so much easier than GUIs once you get the hang of it). Once you get it set up, you shouldn't have to touch it at all unless you are afflicted with the pathological tinkering disorder (like me). If you do a little research before you buy to make sure you get a good hardware combo for XBMCbuntu, you can have everything setup just through the installer and XBMC itself without ever dropping into a terminal or the desktop environment (I just did this Thursday with the Zotac box in my sig).
