XMBC?


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XMBC works pretty well on the Rasberry Pi which is lesser specced than the pandora. 

Does it work on the Pandora? If so could it replace mini menu? 

Just pondering
 
ptitSeb said he has it on his list, but according to him he needs to fiddle with some libs.
 
Sebt3 ported XBMC as a PND, but it doesn't work very well, unfortunately - it's a bit slow, and it doesn't play videos. It may be that a new version of it would solve the video problem, and running it as a GUI would speed it up a bit.

Raspberry Pi has the advantage that it's video hardware can decode x264, whereas the Pandora would have to use its CPU (even if the DSP was got working, it only does baseline mp4). I'm fairly sure though, that XMBC uses ffmpeg for its playback engine, so it maybe that could be ported to utilise the omap framebuffer like the Pandora port of mplayer does.

That said, I'm not entirely convinced that XBMC is entirely suitable for the Pandora, because it's designed around the idea of a 10ft UI - i.e. you run on a big TV screen that you sit 10ft back from, not on a handheld's small screen.

If you just want to run content from a DLNA media server, you could try PLUM
 
Yep the one on the repo s defintly broken. I had a better build previously but I lost the PND (my build system overwrite PNDs as I build them and I forgot to backup...)

I have a "starting" build of the lastest version (which is progress since I wasnt able to build 11.0) yet it freeze at startup. I have digged a bit this issue but so far I dont know why.

Performance wise, I know there are plenty of thing I can do (better optimiation flags for the ffmpeg build inside xbmc source tree and alike) yet it's no priority : first we need a working build ;)  
 
Sebt3 ported XBMC as a PND, but it doesn't work very well, unfortunately - it's a bit slow, and it doesn't play videos. It may be that a new version of it would solve the video problem, and running it as a GUI would speed it up a bit.

Raspberry Pi has the advantage that it's video hardware can decode x264, whereas the Pandora would have to use its CPU (even if the DSP was got working, it only does baseline mp4). I'm fairly sure though, that XMBC uses ffmpeg for its playback engine, so it maybe that could be ported to utilise the omap framebuffer like the Pandora port of mplayer does.

That said, I'm not entirely convinced that XBMC is entirely suitable for the Pandora, because it's designed around the idea of a 10ft UI - i.e. you run on a big TV screen that you sit 10ft back from, not on a handheld's small screen.

If you just want to run content from a DLNA media server, you could try PLUM
My guess is that the OP would be more interested in using XBMC as some sort of minimenu. The xbmc guys did a lot of optimizing so a new port could give a fluid experience. As with the Android port usage on small devices got more attention, I guess we could see some improvements in the future.
 
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ptitSeb said he has it on his list, but according to him he needs to fiddle with some libs.
Then good luck ptitSeb : I fixed a lockups to be hit by a second a few second later, font are mirrored etc etc

EDIT: feel free to contact me if you want a hand.

Using my toolchain this is a good start :



Code:
export CPATH="$CPATH:/usr/local/angstrom/arm/arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/include/python2.6"
pndconfigure --enable-gles --enable-neon PYTHON_VERSION=2.6 CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/angstrom/arm/arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/include/python2.6" --disable-xrandr
echo "#define TIXML_USE_STL YES">>xbmc/config.h

 
 
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FWIW, I doubt it could replace minimenu, but it could be set up as an additional desktop option. (ie: xbmc doesn't know how to launch pnd applications)

xbmc with hw accel video wudl rock though, of course :)

jeff
 
I recall someone (on these boards) has a XMBC hack that could launch PNDs

worth a search anyway...
 
It wouldn't be hard to make it able to invoke pnds from a pure filesystem browse; or perhaps XBMC can observe .desktop files, in which case poof, easy as pie; given how many plugins there are, it probably exists, so .. good plan :)

jeff
 
ptitSeb said he has it on his list, but according to him he needs to fiddle with some libs.
Then good luck ptitSeb : I fixed a lockups to be hit by a second a few second later, font are mirrored etc etc

EDIT: feel free to contact me if you want a hand.

Using my toolchain this is a good start :




export CPATH="$CPATH:/usr/local/angstrom/arm/arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/include/python2.6"
pndconfigure --enable-gles --enable-neon PYTHON_VERSION=2.6 CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/angstrom/arm/arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/include/python2.6" --disable-xrandr
echo "#define TIXML_USE_STL YES">>xbmc/config.h

 
Ok thanks. I'll give it a quick try just to see...
 
Pandora would make a good small media player. uPNP and xbmc would be great to watch in bed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ptitSeb said he has it on his list, but according to him he needs to fiddle with some libs.
 
Then good luck ptitSeb : I fixed a lockups to be hit by a second a few second later, font are mirrored etc etc
 
EDIT: feel free to contact me if you want a hand.
Using my toolchain this is a good start :
 

 


Code:
export CPATH="$CPATH:/usr/local/angstrom/arm/arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/include/python2.6"
pndconfigure --enable-gles --enable-neon PYTHON_VERSION=2.6 CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/angstrom/arm/arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi/usr/include/python2.6" --disable-xrandr
echo "#define TIXML_USE_STL YES">>xbmc/config.h
Hum, I finaly have a compiled version (with code blocks, but command is very similar) but it just doesn't start. Complaining about screen depth that must be at 24bits minimum, but I suspect this a general fail message... So I have to dig, unless someone as a solution (Sebt3?)
 
It works okay for me, but my thing is that it does not play videos. I only get the audio. Anyone found a fix yet?
 
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