XBMC, previously known as XBOX Media Center, is a software package developed to ease access to multimedia. It can be used in a number of environments including Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and of course the XBOX :) . It’s open-source and free – a combination making it the best and most complete solution to integrating multimedia with the XBOX.
XBMC is very easily installed on your XBOX and provides access to all music, videos, pictures, games and applications stored on the XBOX. Not only does it catalog the XBOX, but it can also access other computers on the network or on the internet (provided that your XBOX is connected to the internet, of course :) ) ! This wide range of features have made a lot of people use XBMC as their dashboard, i.e. use it as the XBOX’s “operating system”, if you will.
Installing
So, how do you install the marvelous piece of software? As XBMC is open-source, you won’t find installers or such on the homepage itself. To find the actual, complete files, you need to either compile them yourself (which I won’t cover in this article) or find someone who already has compiled it. The XBMC-team recommends builds from T3CH, and so do I!
Download the latest ‘STABLE’ build from T3CH (the most current one is from 2009-06-01) and extract the archive to any folder on your computer (preferably one you can remember :) ) . Turn on your XBOX and make sure you’ve enabled its FTP-server (I’ve written a guide on how to enable your XBOX for FTP use) . Now, simply connect to your XBOX using your favorite FTP-client and copy the entire XBMC-folder to anywhere you’d like, although I personally recommend E:\Apps or F:\Apps, as this keeps your files and folders organized.
You’re done! Either manually browse to and open default.xbe through XCommander or any other explorer-program you have, or simply open it through your Application-menu in your dashboard! Enjoy the possibilities and the benefits :) !
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