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XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

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Re: XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

#21

Post by filmgirlcw »

kotaKat wrote: post #6
filmgirlcw wrote: post #4

XMP was the first time I ever picked up a soldering iron -- so I could "hack" my OG Xbox 1.0. I will always, always love and respect it. I love that they are still committed to the OG device. I want to pull mine out and see if the spinning hard drive still works after all these years, might even try to update it!

Precarious hard drive IDE cable-swap-while-running gang here. Sitting there wondering if I was going to kill something with both the family PC splayed open on the dining room table and the Xbox splayed open on the dining room table, with a Linux live CD in hand… I still can’t believe Bert would have ever cheated on Ernie[1]. [1] http://archiv.sega-dc.de/phoenix.maxconsole.net/docs/bertern...

That link just unlocked a core memory I haven't thought about since I was 17 years old, so thanks for that!

Re: XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

#22

Post by AshleyGrant »

unbehagen wrote: post #15

I loved XBMC and still use Kodi to this day. Back then, I even proposed and POCed what's now a part of their Add-On system, essentially a fuse-like virtual file system forwarded to Python. Before that, each Add-On had to bring its own UI. This was basically my first OSS contribution and the community was really supportive and welcoming.

I used that to build my XM Radio Online plugin!

Re: XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

#23

Post by rootsudo »

Sanzig wrote: post #19
rightbyte wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ye I used it with Samba network drives to watch movies on the TV. Like, I have yet to encounter such a good interface for a "smart TV" or whatever you could call it. It worked flawlessly.

I managed to get a fully working XBMC+Samba setup back when I was probably 13 or 14 in the mid-2000s. Echoing the sentiment that it really was far ahead of its time. I'd torrent a movie or show, it'd appear on the network share, and then I could watch it immediately in the living room in glorious 480p on a tube TV. This was before Netflix instant watch existed, truly felt like something from the future.

Crazy this was about 20 years ago...

Re: XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

#24

Post by phantasmish »

rightbyte wrote: post #12
KeplerBoy wrote: post #2

XBMC on the original Xbox was so unbelievably far ahead of it's time, it's crazy and that's not just nostalgia talking.

Ye I used it with Samba network drives to watch movies on the TV. Like, I have yet to encounter such a good interface for a "smart TV" or whatever you could call it. It worked flawlessly.

I’ve never been able to get another family member to successfully use XMBC/Kodi. Most folks have low tolerance for “this thing has wasted a whole-ass minute of my time trying to do something basic”.

I tried this several times, for months at a time. Nobody but me ever used it.

Even I sometimes used to manage to get lost in some editing-mode or end up with my movie still playing in the background but the whole XMBC UI overlaid on it at like 80% opacity and struggled to figure out how to get back.

And no, alternative skins never improved that any.

Official Jellyfin client on Roku, and Infuse on Apple TV, have had no such problems. Spouse, kids, guests, all pick it up and use it with zero coaching and only very rarely needing any help.

I think XBMC/Kodi made a mistake having the editing-stuff use case live so close alongside the watching-stuff use case. Among other problems.

Anyway, since switching to Jellyfin my working-on-my-setup to watching-stuff ratio finally isn’t terrible (great, actually) and other people can use the system.

[edit] one generalizable lesson from Kodi should probably be not to have two buttons that both sort-of mean “back” but in different ways. :-/

Re: XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

#25

Post by nick_ »

kotaKat wrote: post #6
filmgirlcw wrote: post #4

XMP was the first time I ever picked up a soldering iron -- so I could "hack" my OG Xbox 1.0. I will always, always love and respect it. I love that they are still committed to the OG device. I want to pull mine out and see if the spinning hard drive still works after all these years, might even try to update it!

Precarious hard drive IDE cable-swap-while-running gang here. Sitting there wondering if I was going to kill something with both the family PC splayed open on the dining room table and the Xbox splayed open on the dining room table, with a Linux live CD in hand… I still can’t believe Bert would have ever cheated on Ernie[1]. [1] http://archiv.sega-dc.de/phoenix.maxconsole.net/docs/bertern...

Yep my electronics engineer dad was like "you cannot do this" but it worked! He got me to put an aligator clip wire from case to case so the grounding would at least be joined?

Re: XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

#26

Post by madaxe_again »

KeplerBoy wrote: post #2

XBMC on the original Xbox was so unbelievably far ahead of it's time, it's crazy and that's not just nostalgia talking.

I fondly remember modding my first Xbox to install it, and it just being so much better than anything else available at the time that I immediately retired my… man, I can’t even remember the brand. They did a nice line in network attached media players in the early 2000s.

I ended up assembling a few XBMC systems with rack mount NASes stuffed full of hard drives for use on yachts, with easy means to rip or copy new media - clients couldn’t believe what they were seeing compared to the previous world of bootleg DVDs, and one system I know of was in use still 15 years on.

Re: XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

#27

Post by notyourwork »

rootsudo wrote: post #23
Sanzig wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I managed to get a fully working XBMC+Samba setup back when I was probably 13 or 14 in the mid-2000s. Echoing the sentiment that it really was far ahead of its time. I'd torrent a movie or show, it'd appear on the network share, and then I could watch it immediately in the living room in glorious 480p on a tube TV. This was before Netflix instant watch existed, truly felt like something from the future.

Crazy this was about 20 years ago...

And now streaming services are becoming “cable networks”. Capitalism at its finest.

Re: XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

#28

Post by notyourwork »

robofunk wrote: post #18
rightbyte wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ye I used it with Samba network drives to watch movies on the TV. Like, I have yet to encounter such a good interface for a "smart TV" or whatever you could call it. It worked flawlessly.

If my memory is not faulty it was even able to stream movies from multi volume rar files over SAMBA which felt like magic. IYKYK

Oh yea - and DCC transfers for content from IRC. mmmmm

Re: XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

#29

Post by afavour »

cowboyscott wrote: post #9
KeplerBoy wrote: post #2

XBMC on the original Xbox was so unbelievably far ahead of it's time, it's crazy and that's not just nostalgia talking.

24 year old hardware that is not only useful but punches above most of the set-top boxes you'll find on Amazon. I also suspect that it could run Silksong or Balatro just fine. Sure, it's unfair to compare gray/black market use cases, but it does make stark the hardware upgrade treadmill we've all been forced on.

You may need to remove your rose tinted glasses. No doubt it was incredible for its time but not even being able to play 1080p video puts it underneath most set top boxes you can get today.

Re: XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

#30

Post by echelon_musk »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #4

XMP was the first time I ever picked up a soldering iron -- so I could "hack" my OG Xbox 1.0. I will always, always love and respect it. I love that they are still committed to the OG device. I want to pull mine out and see if the spinning hard drive still works after all these years, might even try to update it!

If you do go ahead and fire up your old Xbox, it would probably be worth you running XCAT.

> Xbox Content Archive Tool (XCAT) is a utility that runs directly on an Xbox console to assist in finding unarchived DLC and other lost content. When run, the application will scan the Xbox hard drive for any content that has yet to be archived and upload it directly to the servers of the XCAT Team for later analysis, sorting, and archival.

https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:XCAT

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