raspberry pi and xbmc

[Smallclone]

Simple question......I have a raspberry pi coming, I want to put xbmc on it via raspbmc. Can I load it straight on via SD card out of the box?

Or do I have to install some OS on it first?

 

[stepea]

You don't need to install any other OS first, just download the installer on your PC, plug in usb stick or SD card through a card reader and make sure you select the correct drive when you run the installer.

Once installed on the card you'll need to have the Pi connected to the network on first boot to start installation.

 

[Smallclone]

you'll need to have the Pi connected to the network on first boot .

Thanks. How do I do this? I presume shoving a cat5 cable isn't enough, so there must be some options that come up I guess?

 

[iainoco]

It really is that simple. I use raspbmc and am no Linux expert and I managed it. Cheap and easy media player

 

[Smallclone]

Most excellent.

 

[stepea]

I've got two and the improvements in xbmc & raspbmc makes it a great little media centre.

 

[Smallclone]

I've got two and the improvements in xbmc & raspbmc makes it a great little media centre.

Thanks. 2 Questions:

1) What is the benefit of running xbmc from Raspbmc? Why not just run it from the standard OS?

2) How do you make sure that when you turn the RPi on, it boots up XBMC straight away? Does Raspbmc do this automatically?

 

[bryanchicken]

Thanks. 2 Questions:

1) What is the benefit of running xbmc from Raspbmc? Why not just run it from the standard OS?

2) How do you make sure that when you turn the RPi on, it boots up XBMC straight away? Does Raspbmc do this automatically?

1 - Ease mainly. There is nothing to stop you running XBMC on top of Raspbian but you'd have to install Raspbian first and then XBMC on top of it, so more work than just loading raspbmc. Also, not sure if the XBMC in the repositories for raspbian is as good or polished as the one for raspbmc. Also, raspbmc has, or at least used to have, specific optimisations that aren't in raspbian. Then you'd have to get it to autostart.

2 - yes, RaspBMC boots straight to xbmc.

 

[Smallclone]

That's a massive help thanks. One final question:

Spotify.

Is it easy to get on Raspbmc? Or am I looking at a whole lot of programming / having to rely on Raspbian for that

thanks

 

[bryanchicken]

Not a spotify user, but...
Spotify on Raspbmc working