Boot Xbox Media Center on (almost ) any PC from a USB flash disk

Filed under: Audio, Video, Windows, Macintosh, Linux

Boot Xbox Media Center on (almost ) any PC from a USB flash disk

by Brad Linder Jun 6th 2008

XBMC is a media center suite that was originally designed for the original Xbox. But over the last few years XBMC has taken on a life of its own and has been ported to run on OS X and Linux. And if you don't happen to have a PC running either operating system or an Xbox lying around, now you can check XBMC out by creating a bootable flash disk version of the media center.

Theoretically, you should be able to boot XBMC on any PC no matter what operating system you're running. In practice, you'll need a PC that can boot from a flash disk and a supported graphics card (or some Linux hacking skills). NVIDIA drivers should be supported out of the box, but ATI and other graphics cards, not so much. The LiveUSB is based on Ubuntu Hardy Heron, so if you're up to the challenge, you might be able to add support on your own.

Creating the bootable media using Windows takes just a few moments. Just download the LiveXBMC image and builder files, unzip them to the same directory, insert a 1GB or larger USB flash drive (which will be reformatted), and click the LiveUSBBuilder.exe file to get started. A few moments later you should have a bootable version of XBMC. Or a flash drive that will start to load the media center suite and then crap out about halfway through the process. But definitely one or the other.

[via Lifehacker]

Tags: liveUSB, media-center, ubuntu, xbmc, xbox-media-center

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Dan said 6:01PM on 6-06-2008

If you still have an old Xbox lying around it's free and fairly easy to mod using some of the exploits, http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=496263

iofthestorm said 6:55PM on 6-07-2008

1B? I didn't know a whole OS could fit in one byte... ;) This looks cool, but you might as well install Linux and try it out that way. By the way, how does this compare feature-wise to say Vista's Media Center?

BrianM said 11:58PM on 6-07-2008

While I've been using XBMC for a long time (from back before it was formed, and it was xbox media player that ruled), I still find it much more intuitive and easy to maneuver than Vistas media center. It's a LOT faster too (well, comparing an xbox to a top of the line HP laptop ~ maybe that makes and even larger argument for XBMC?).

It's honestly all I use my first gen Xbox for anymore. Great app. ~ not sure I'd use it on a computer though.

Fred Thompson said 5:53PM on 6-08-2008

Mythbuntu http://www.mythbuntu.org is similar but it started from the other end of video, TV tuners. LiveCD and diskless (server-based) use are pretty mature.

James said 10:18AM on 6-09-2008

Is there a liveCD version of this? I'm probably the only geek on the planet that doesn't have a stash of old flash sticks lying around, so the CD would work out better for me...

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters