[X3lectric]

All Im saying is that if Im investing my own money on developing something I wont be giving the better versions away for free Im not paying £8000 to a developer or more just to give you the pleasure of having another platform besides I have better plans.. and yes your still narrow minded

[X3lectric]

Ahh correction AlTheKiller shut you down I said I didn't think it was a good idea really but told you various ways to go about making it happen easier and quicker.
And if you think one negative and one not really in a casual chat in IRC represents the entire official responce of the whole team your borderline deluded.

Anyway glad you finally took it into your own hands and did it yourself just don't forget if you use XBMC code in anything we are GPL so anything that uses our code must have its source code availble for all to see before any compiled versions are made availible to anyone (same goes for lots of other open source projects)

I know Iknow Im sorry man , theres no excuse for my behaiviour, Ive lost my job and hardly have money left to pay next month's rent and bits and pieces Im seeling all my stuff and ATM Im so stressed with trying to get everything above water that I just unloaded on you.

Its is a good idea I would like to see it done but what I have in mind goes beyong a media player, its something more then DMD and just XBMC I know I can use the code and have to post the source but thats besides the point I cant afford to pay it even if I wanted too.

So I apologise for calling you narrow minded though.

Good luck with your your project. I hope you make a lot of money.

My Project with xbmc woud never be for money the sofware side what I have in mind goes into the realms of what xbmc should have been used and become a long time ago, I seen its potential from day one and have allways pushed for different features to be added so it would come closer to what I see in my minds eye, but then again the target platform is hardware specific for a specoific very profitable part of the market just selling the harware and providing updates and will require embeded coders and hardware control coders bios programers and all sorts, hell you can have all the source code you want but the hardware Im afraid that is my idea and design, I will make any code available though you wont be able to do much with most parts because it goes beyong the platforms xbmc is aimed atm.

I remember having this conversation with pike about nearly two years ago I said if you ever come out of the xbox I'll make you a load of wanga. but then I was still thinking of this idea and beyond that I was thinkinf it could branch out into thsi other project adn we could all get paid. Now I have no job what options do I have? I have to survive and make it by trying my own bussiness. I will fight for free childcare on premises encouraging healthy family environments, cheap of free car parking and no freaking weekends working as well as a percentage of the company which will re-invest 70& orf any profits back onto research and design inovation training etc.
Im not re inventing the wheel Im making it run smoother respond better brake faster and run longer.

In fact I a so lacking money that I have proposed Google and will see if I can get some one on one with Mike Shuttleworth. I have requested coders to help everywhere I can but its seems harder than finding squezzing a gold bar out of your back side.

[tvdb-scott]

This thread is so full of win. I was really debating if I should post or not, since Jezz_X seems to be handling it quite well. However, hopefully I'll provide another perspective before you put too much time/effort into this.

First of all, while there are a decent amount of Dells out there, most people don't want or need a built-in media center with their Dell. Most newer Dell builds come with MCE, which makes XBMC completely redundant. We can get into a discussion about how XBMC is better than MCE, but that's going to matter to just a small fraction of Dell owners. Most just want something that works for them, and MCE fits the bill in most cases.

Second, by focusing on specific hardware, you're actually limiting the potential users. The XBMC crew is far better off targeting a wider range of hardware as they've been doing, since linux can handle autodetection reasonably well. At some point if they wanted to make things easy and/or profitable, they could sell USB keys preloaded with XBMC along with hardware specs that are guaranteed to work. Thing is, even that seems like something they'd rather not do, since I don't think any of them are in this for the money (correct me if I'm wrong? ). So, while your Dell idea isn't a terrible idea, it's far less useful than the path they've currently been taking.

Third, if you really think this is a viable solution, you should put together a proposal to a VC firm. I'm not sure if English is your native language or not, but based on your posts you might want to enlist the assistance of someone who has the full capability of preparing a proposal. If it's a good idea and you present it correctly, a VC firm will pick up on it. In this case you would really need to address my first two points for a VC firm to even consider taking it on.

Fourth, putting together your own team will be nearly impossible unless you're able to contribute more than an idea. I don't mean this to be insulting, but programmers like working on ideas that are interesting to them. If you can get it done, then best of luck to you, but I'd really suggest not putting all your hope into this one idea.

Fifth, you come across as being very confrontational with the XBMC team. Maybe it's specifically toward Jezz_X, but in any case being confrontational won't get you anywhere. Just propose your idea and if they pick up on it, it'll be handled. If they don't then either form a team yourself and get it going, or drop it. No need to keep being confrontational about things.

Finally, just because you think it's a good idea or that you're right about something, doesn't mean that it's really the case. Sure, XBMC could have been incorporated into a single HTPC device and tweaked as it was for the Xbox. It could probably make a lot of money doing so. But the project isn't about making money (from what I know in talking with some of the devs), but rather about doing something they enjoy in their free time and providing a wonderful application for the rest of us. Just because they don't feel the need to sell it off for large chunks of money doesn't make them narrowminded, it just means that their goals are different than yours.

Now I have no job what options do I have?

Get another job? It sounds harsh, but the time you'd put into organizing a large scale project like this would be far better spent job hunting or working two jobs that pay less than before. I have a sizable project of my own and you'd be surprised at how much time something like that can really take up, especially in the beginning of the project. Just something to keep in mind.

[X3lectric]

You make very good point but MCE emplies loading a whole OS and consumes more battery life and I will never be in favor of restricting XBMC to a single platform., just yet add other alternatives. more paths more users. I fail to understand your logic. Specially when Im giving a miniscule portion of my ideas away.

[quote=szsori]First of all, while there are a decent amount of Dells out there, most people don't want or need a built-in media center with their Dell. Most newer Dell builds come with MCE, which makes XBMC completely redundant. We can get into a discussion about how XBMC is better than MCE, but that's going to matter to just a small fraction of Dell owners. Most just want something that works for them, and MCE fits the bill in most cases.

Second, by focusing on specific hardware, you're actually limiting the potential users.[/quote

Limited hardware let me see how many laptops are there in the world? Redundant? your have no idea what I am even planning on. Dells? who says Im just after Dell laptops? Do you have any single idea what the laptop market has grown in sales to within private (large and small bussineses) and personal markets aorund the world? You certainly underestimate the sheer volume and the potential market. and whatI plan on having done based on XBMC is only an insigificant part in the grand scheme of things... I dont know where you work or what you do but keep doing that man dont give it up ...

Dont worry this is only but a small part of a whole bussiness plan that includes more than ideas and I am able to contribute with many skills besides conceptual and graphical work. The only thing I can really do is code. the rest Im better then many so called "professionals" I've seen.

I will have a website running some time soon for the company... Well before the bussiness is established. That will be just a slight show of what my company is going to be about. And I feel honoured to have the source of the best team on the internet the most commited and the one that has stuck untill there were no more options. Where were you then?

Sure I cant code but that hardly makes me any less then any other person, sure there are many gifted people that can do everything by themselfs but even Microsoft started with a team. just as an example.

I am well aware of bussiness proposals a targeting a market doing my research and here it goes, no Im not british and english is not my first language, so what?

Yes I lost my job do I want to get another one yes but not working for someone else this time Im working formyself creating a working environment by people for the people encouraging values that are more precious than money. Like familly and time to spend it with them. better waste my time looking to work for somebody else hahahhahahaha. Hard work doest scare me or large project I love them and allways been very good at them.

You come in here with your opinions which your totally entitlid to have but I allways wanted to contribute and help XBMC in some way bigger...

I tried skinning that didnt go so well since I was learning photoshop and the person who was helping me just kinda disapeared working on another project. There was a learning curve for me and there still will be.

Im 36 years old here and Im not settling to have my idead not come to life, many of the projetcs I have worked on actually improved because of my suggestions and that showed me I had an eye for spotting what some fail to see.

I openly came in here suggesting a valid idea that would sfa battery life while on the move while doing more than just a media center does something that XBMC has improved greatly on.

XBMC started may I remind you as XBMP now look at where it is! you tell me that Im limiting to a harware when in fact Im looking a a bigger picture. a Much bigger picture in fact its so big and the market is now just about maturing enough to make it possible. the designs for hardware specific solution for part of my plans were not possible two years ago, now they are!

I am putting a Bussiness proposal together I have spoken to more than just one company and suppliers and as we speak while getting a team together may be a difficult task I assure you it will be done.

Two thing you should learn about me.

1) I never give up no matter how against the odds it may look 6 years ago I was single no money no real life in my country and came here with a one way ticket £5000 in debt and £20 in my pocket. Now I have a familly a flat and car wife a cat and more technology that PC world. I have no job but I dont owe any money either not yet thers is still my savings which is mostly for rent.

2) It took me way too long to realise that I had to believe in myself more than anyone else as ever.

Finally for all your points made, just have to say it just made me more determined to pursue this. I have made many moves in the backround unbeknown to people to help projects get some places like wispering in the right persons ears. I have a massive network of professionals and amogst these are companies that are bigger than you could possibly imagine.

Hence why while the source code will be made available to any of my projects based on existing code under GPL I have ideas that go beyond the scope of this topic.

Again I apologised to Jezz_X even though all the horrible things that happened in my life just clouded my better judjment and I said what I should have not. I hope he understands. and I hope so does the rest of the team.

bye bye and thank you for posting your oinions but Im afraid you fail to see a much bigger picture and that I cant share unless your working with me and a non disclosure agreement for phase 3/4/5/6 of my bussiness actually is.

Thanks again szsori your name sound Hungarian my wife is Hungarian and were Flying to Budapest on bussiness on the 24 November for a week so I sell my and my wifes share of the familly bussiness there and contact some other people that have the skills I need.

There are many Hungarian talented coders now and in history than without them great things would have not happend in IT.

[tvdb-scott]

Dells? who says Im just after Dell laptops?

You did. In your first post. Not every laptop has a Dell Media Direct button and separate partition for the media system. Additionally, booting from a USB key on a laptop gives all of the functionality you've described so far, so there's no benefit outside the current procedure of Live CD and Live-USB. I guess not requiring a USB key is a benefit, but you have to weigh the downside of people having to carry one vs the amount of time/effort put into building it on the drive. The other aspect of saving battery life is, once again, specific to the Dell Media Direct system. And, as before, the number of Dell users that would be likely to switch their DMD setup to XBMC is probably very limited.

I dont know where you work or what you do but keep doing that man dont give it up ...

Sorry, I'll remember to post my credentials before making any posts from now on. I've been in the computer industry for about 12 years and have done everything from tech support to programming. My current job is a software developer specifically working on websites, where I've recently done two presidential sites and nearly a dozen congressmen. As a side project I have written a site that gets over 60 million hits each month (see my sig). Hopefully that qualifies me to comment on software projects and specifically HTPC projects.

And I feel honoured to have the source of the best team on the internet the most commited and the one that has stuck untill there were no more options. Where were you then?

I'm not following what you're saying here so I can't comment on it.

Sure I cant code but that hardly makes me any less then any other person, sure there are many gifted people that can do everything by themselfs but even Microsoft started with a team. just as an example.

Correct, but it puts you in a situation where you're trying to get developers to work on a project that is your idea without you contributing any code. As someone who does programming I can tell you that'd be less than ideal for any programmer working on something in his spare time. All I'm saying is that you have a real uphill battle here.

I am well aware of bussiness proposals a targeting a market doing my research and here it goes, no Im not british and english is not my first language, so what?

I meant no insult, only that you need to get someone on your team that can put together a well-written VC proposal unless you're planning on contacting VC firms in your country/language. There are a lot of people that do good work on this project and don't speak English natively. I was just making an observation that you might want to consider when contacting some of these companies.

You come in here with your opinions which your totally entitlid to have but I allways wanted to contribute and help XBMC in some way bigger...

That's perfectly fine, and it's definitely good to want to help the project. I found early on that making suggestions was a good way to help, but helping update the Wiki is also a big help. Sometimes your suggestions will get picked up by the team and other times they won't. In general they have the best understanding about the project and will know what's best for it, and sometimes they might just disagree with you. If that's the case, I suggest just trying to find the next idea that might help them.

If you're learning photoshop, I know there are still a lot of series on my site that don't have proper banners. There's also a lot of requests for quality movie fan art. Most of it is pretty simple Photoshop work, so you might want to check it out. It isn't a world-changing thing, but it'll help a good number of people out.

Best of luck to you in this project. It sounds like you definitely think you have the contacts and resources to make it happen. If that's the case, more power to you. I'm just saying that you should really make sure you've addressed the possible faults in your plan before diving too deep into it. Another thing I've learned while working on my own projects is that even if you disagree with people, their ideas are still well worth listening to. Every person looks at things a different way because they've all had different experiences. If you're looking at this without taking other people's comments into account, you won't do well. Find a programmer and a hardware consultant and figure out if the potential market really warrants the work that'd need to be put into the software and hardware development.

Thanks again szsori your name sound Hungarian my wife is Hungarian and were Flying to Budapest on bussiness on the 24 November for a week so I sell my and my wifes share of the familly bussiness there and contact some other people that have the skills I need.

Yeah, my last name is Hungarian and I'm 1/4 Hungarian. My great-great grandfather came over from there, but we're not sure much beyond that. My last name is the same as a popular "bath" (hot springs, I think) in Hungary, so that might have something to do with it. I do know that there are under 100 people with my last name in the world, so that's pretty cool.

Once again, best of luck to you. I really hope you put the time into market research before investing too much time and resources.

[X3lectric]

Im not going to sit/stand up here and say this is going to be easy but Im well up for it, never been afraid of big challenges.

Either way let me ask leave here with 2 intersting known things I spend a great deal of my time now researching and browsing forums that just specialise in laptops & other more quirky equipment I know their problems and I know how to fix them. doent mean I do it for free but Ive done some more than my share.

Im a hardware "geek" with which means to you I can do with hardware what you can do with code or better. nuf said. Nice to have met your input was definetly not taken in a bad way just one comment you made that I shouldn't waste my time following this seemingly up hill struggle (in your opinion) and go be a biatch for someone else instead. in other words go find a job. Funny, without people like me where would people that cant be bothered get jobs and get paid.

My wife though she cant pronouce your name because sz makes a zzz sound or zs makes a je sound szs is unpronounceable for her and for me maybe a very old name or slang of some sort. Her first name starts with sz and her maiden name with Zsoldos (fighter/warrior) maybe its has some other origin in old Hungary when Romenia and other countries around were still Hungary now they are not many fleed Hungary rightly so under Russian rule, But yea dig a hole and you hve the best natural spa water, I love it its like swiming in a giant cup of tea only the minerals on the water make your skin really slippery quite a enjoyable thing really. Have you ever gone back and tried it? You should its a country comming out of its shell unfortunantly they Joined EU that is going to put many people out of work.

You sound as well that you are somewhere in US very exciting times now to see what the future brings to the world with a man people with power are (insert colorful language here in their pants) and will most likely try to get rid of the their problem. (I hope not) I just hope that History doesnt repeat itself like JFK. but erm I dont mean to start on Politics I know US citizens have very strong opinions about this subject so dont take it the wrong way. most of my Friends and some Familly (Boston Mass) are from There and here in UK well all over the world really. its amazing the world is a really small place...

[tvdb-scott]

My wife though she cant pronouce your name because sz makes a zzz sound or zs makes a je sound szs is unpronounceable for her and for me maybe a very old name or slang of some sort. Her first name starts with sz and her maiden name with Zsoldos (fighter/warrior) maybe its has some other origin in old Hungary when Romenia and other countries around were still Hungary now they are not many fleed Hungary rightly so under Russian rule, But yea dig a hole and you hve the best natural spa water, I love it its like swiming in a giant cup of tea only the minerals on the water make your skin really slippery quite a enjoyable thing really. Have you ever gone back and tried it? You should its a country comming out of its shell unfortunantly they Joined EU that is going to put many people out of work.

My last name begins with zs. The extra s at the beginning is for my first name. We've always pronounced it as a zzz, which makes us think that the first two letters may have been swapped at some point.

I've love to get over there sometime, but plane tickets for 3 over the Atlantic are pretty pricey. Probably when my son gets a little older too. I was just speaking with a doctor friend that went over this summer, and think it'd be a lot of fun.

Anyway, thread has gone off topic.

[X3lectric]

never mind the off-topic here and there there's no reason why we cant discuss and share other ideas, or is there? Even if they were a bit off topic the point is that in a bigger picture not really I'm going there on business 3 fold, I know Coders, Lawyers, Architects, Business people in general that are part of the market in part I'm aiming at and besides that their friends. of the family.

I've had a great news today which as just put this project and future business from and idea to actual planning stages though its not going to happens over night, there is a lot of work to do and phase 1 and phase 2 may actually not cost anything but people doing it for fun and of course that makes no difference since its not from that project or the second directly we going make money from hence why it will remain free for the users and a non issue.

sort of I rub their back they rub mine like I said some of my skills are more valuable and equally as contributive to the development of their work and mine kinda like a temporary to permanent association. that remains to be seen...

I'm not a religious person in that way but there is this particular saying "God favours the bold"

Can do attitude, and never give up can get a lot of things done eh.

[scizor600]

Getting back on topic as the OP seems to have all but given up the idea of replacing the media direct button i did a little looking and came up with this:

I don't have a dell thus i can't test this. If you try this you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK.

as i haven't used xbmc live im assuming that 1. it is installable 2. it installs grub

adapted from here

Code:

1. Install xbmc live onto a new partition making sure that grub is installed to that same partition making it bootable

2. Find your partition numbers for windows and xbmc

3. Boot into windows insert your media direct disc and open a command line with administrator privileges.

4. Run:
[CODE]X:\dellkit\rmbr.exe DELL Y Z

Where:
X is your optical drive
Y is the partition you want to boot with the power button
Z is the partition you want to boot with the media direct button

5. Try booting with the media direct button it should boot into grub

6. Insert vista disc and go to repair and command line then type

Code:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot

7.Optionally use keymap.xml from here for dell remote support
[/CODE]

now as i have done all the work (read: googleing) i think you should all pay me $20 to compensate for time spent and monies lost .

[X3lectric]

yea it works remapping the button is not a problem... theres like a million how to's on the web.

[scizor600]

oh ok then i must have misunderstood the beginning of the thread (before you diverged into hardware) so you were suggesting an all in one kinda installer (in the beginning)

my solution should solve this:

I been reading the forums theres no indication anyone has actually using the Dell media direct to boot to a partions with only XBMC Linux theres various posts but not a single one that describes what I suggested, Im not talking about launching XBMC windows version, Im talking about replacing the contenst of the partition completly with XBMC linux instead since that far more likely to work better.

i didn't see any development later in the thread on this so i thought id contribute

[X3lectric]

yea no problems the actual problem is installing xbmc live into the partition or making adding morefunctionality like adding the necessay drivers to allows wired wireless access.

Issues are with some wireless cards under linux cause of the drivers not being so great under linux anywaybut I hear down the grapvine things are improving a great deal on that front.

My suggetion to Team XBMC is a good one which will give all the dissatisfied Dell users a practical better solution.

My project which in part will be based on xbmc source is not so much media centric as its aimed at a whole different market, the media center ability is like a bonus not the actual golden egg.

Anyways XBMC as a music video player as plenty of alternatives but none that has so much love put into it I like that in any project not like a half arsed version of something, XBMC is the Pinacle of dedication unresolute perseverence and cooperation and the proof is that from a dead end program with a big kick up the arse and more hard work XBMC is available in platforms many others cant even start thinking about.

My contribution to XBMC was never code because I cant I tried skinning but I couldnt find a reliable xml'er so I was left with a half arsed skin.

My other alternative is to suggest expansion and present a why not case by offreing the idea and how to if I could do it myself I wouldnt be here suggesting. But hey that is no less deterrent I will do what needs to be done in other ways after all its takes a team to achieve xbmc not one person. Now Im just one person and not one for long... things are starting to move somewhere.