[toxicious]

I own a ASRock 330HT that I have been running XBMC Live 10 since it released.
It has been working fine, though I have been dual-booting with Windows 7 to be able to watch some tv shows on the internet (since XBMC lacks a browser).

Though switching from XBMC Live into Windows 7 takes some time. I wrote an addon that reboots with specific option to change the start order temporarily (in grub) so it boots into windows, and then when I reboot in Windows it goes back to the usual order and boots XBMC Live. It works, but I don't feel it is optimal.

So I thought about installing the latest Ubuntu and then installing XBMC and add it as autostart in Ubuntu, then I can just minimize XBMC and open a browser to do my things.

So my question is, what is the pro's and con's with using Ubuntu (11) + XBMC compared to using the Live version?

The thing I am mostly interested in is the performance. As my htpc isn't that powerful (gotta get a new one sooner or later), I still want to be able to play back 10gb blu-ray rips without lag as I can with my Live version

[Chris!]

I'm pretty sure the live version is basically a stripped down version (no ui or software) of ubuntu
"Operating-System
XBMC Live 'Dharma' (10.1) is currently based on the Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS, that is, it is Linux based. The operating-system has completely been hidden away on purpose, the point is to create set-top-box feeling with as close to instant-on boot as possible, (similar to that of a stand-alone DVD-player or video game-console). The end-user should not need to know which operating-system it is running on, or even that it is running on an operating-system at all, for that matter."

If you're really curious you could clone your xbmc live install and install ubuntu over it and give it a shot. That way you could use the application launcher addon to open a web browser from XBMC

[toxicious]

Yeah I will test on a separate partition.

[voochi]

If you want performance try OpenElec.

XBMCLive is XBMC running in a stripped down Ubuntu OS. OpenElec is XBMC running in a custom Linux OS, there is nothing there except what needs to be. It is wicked fast to boot and uses very little ram.

[Chris!]

If you want performance try OpenElec.

XBMCLive is XBMC running in a stripped down Ubuntu OS. OpenElec is XBMC running in a custom Linux OS, there is nothing there except what needs to be. It is wicked fast to boot and uses very little ram.

Problem is that it doesn't have a web browser which is what the op needed to watch certain other online shows... otherwise I would also have recommended openelec in a heartbeat

[toxicious]

I installed Ubuntu 11.10 and XBMC on top of that, but the performance decrease was quite big compared to Live. So that is a no-go for now.

I also tried OpenELEC just for fun and that was amazing really good setup and speed :>
why can't they just build a browser inside xbmc....

[N3MIS15]

Maybe try installing firefox ontop of the live install?
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=68505
I remember seeing this a while back but i have never tried it myself..

[toxicious]

maybe I will try it

[DejaVu]

Na, Google Chrome running with XBMCLive FTW.

[voochi]

I installed Ubuntu 11.10 and XBMC on top of that, but the performance decrease was quite big compared to Live. So that is a no-go for now.

I also tried OpenELEC just for fun and that was amazing really good setup and speed :>
why can't they just build a browser inside xbmc....

The OpenElec devs were planning to build a browser into it. But then they heard that it was a planned feature in XBMC so they stopped their work.

http://openelec.tv/forum/19-feature-sugg...webbrowser

That is over a year ago so I don't know the current situation.

[toxicious]

Hmm weird, what I can remember every question about building a browser into XBMC has been answered with "Will never happen".