XBMC and RaspBMC

Whilst in Florida last week, I discovered that Walmart sell really cheap removable media (well cheap everything really, shame they are not in the UK yet) and I got some new SD cards and decided to stick RaspBMC, a version of XBMC (Xbox Media Centre, it was developed originally for Xbox's but now has many uses) specifically ported for the Raspberry Pi. Unfortunately, I found that it lags a bit on the 256MB version of the Pi, I think it runs fine on the 512MB version, I'll let you know when I test it.

Anyway, it is fantastic. Especially as my freeview box refuses to output signal through HDMI to a DVI monitor, even though I get the box boot screen show up which is a little unhelpful as I don't particually want to sit a TV on my desk. It functions as a sort of replacement as with a few ad-ons, I can get internet radio, YouTube, content from my servers and even has the possibility of viewing live TV with a PVR to feed the coax signal in. Brilliant! :D

Plan is to have one of my desktop monitors to be hooked up through a VGA switch and have one of the feeds to my desktop, and the other to a VGA to HDMI converter for the Pi, then at the press of a button I can switch from desktop to XBMC and still use my desktop through the other monitors. I really need to buy a few more Pis, that would be helpful. Within the next week I should be getting a little monitor for project debugging to sit at the end of the new desk. (Place is currently a bit of a mess as I'm getting a new BIG desk and some decent storage units for the miles and miles of cable strewn everywhere. It also gives me plenty of space to work on projects (You'll be pleased to hear I've got a few more to come soon which should be good fun) repair and clean PCs, and do work on.) 

One of the best things about new workspaces I find, has got to be the almost endless list of possibilities for little Pi and micro-controller projects. I have a few ideas for that, especially lighting. I'll document it all here for you! :)

Hope you're all having a good summer!

Jamie