Use XBMC as a dash or as an app?

By anonym | March 13, 2010

  • hi, i am looking to install xbmc but i was curious to know if there is an advantage to installing it as an app or as a dashboard? whats the difference? i am using the xecutor2 bios with a xenium ice chip...any help would be appreciated-thanx :)


  • i've never thought of xbmc as 'buggy' at all. in fact i don't think i've ever seen any noticable hiccups in the software.


  • why not man, i think xbmc is noob freindly for a dash!!


  • reduce - maybe (human factor)
    eliminate - no (human factor)

    all you need is a way to get access to the contents of the xbox hd in case you screw up. this can be achieved either using an evox boot disc (or similar) or a modchip with builtin ftpserver.


  • ok, well i got it working straight away. no i will make sure my modchip has ftp or make a rescue-disc. (i know i should have done this the other way round, but i like some excitement now and then :nuts: )


  • i've yet to have a single problem with an xbmc installation and it's no riskier than installing any other dash.i agree, only time you can really get a problem is when you update (which you might do more often with xbmc), just keep a boot cd/dvd


  • it's simple a personal preference, and personaly i would say that if you use xbmc more than you play games then install xbmc as dashboard


  • if you use xbmc as your dash, and you screw it up you can leave your xbox in a non-booting state

    yes that can be a problem, but just have it set up to have a back up dash to start up if the first one doesnt start. i have evox as my backup dash if something ever happens to xbmc.

    if you use xbmc a lot, use it as your dash (there are a lot of forums that make this easy with out actually flashing your chip with xbmc, just keep the original dash and change a couple things to make xbmc your default dash)


  • xbmc is not ready for newbies to use as a dash. period.


  • i'm very weary of using xbmc as my dash but i update it very *often - atleast once a week.

    if you have an x3/xenium/smartxx chip, you should be ok. *as flyer said, they have builtin ftp for recovery. *(actually, there's an older x2 bios that has a builtin ftp server as well.)

    i dont think setting up secondary dash's in your bios is a foolproof form of protection. *i'm sure there are some conditions where your primary dash could be loaded by the bios but still unusable. *in this case you still need to get into your xbox somehow to remove/rename the primary xbe so the secondary one is launched on bootup.

    in short, just be careful, and know how to recover your xbox.


  • here's something to chew on...

    xbmc is something that you'll probably update often. *if you use xbmc as your dash, and you screw it up you can leave your xbox in a non-booting state *(yes, there are some builtin error and recovery things in xbmc, but there are still alot of things that can go wrong that it cannot recover from, like a bad ftp transfer.)

    dont think this is a fault with xbmc. *whenever you update your default dashboard you have the potential to render your xbox useless. *so the less often you update your dash, the less likely you are to screw up your xbox.

    when this happens you'll need to recover your xbox with either a evox bootdisc, or by connecting ur xbox hd to ur computer.

    if you dont know what im talking about here, you're probably better off using xbmc as an app, and leaving your dash (evox/ava/mxm/whatever) as is. *

    one thing that i just thought off that you could try is x-select. *it's a dashboard launcher. *you can set up xbmc as the default dash, and configure some other dashs and assign them buttons. *then if you screw up xbmc, you can launch the alternate dash (one with an ftp server) by holding down that controller button upon bootup.

    (sorry, i have not used x-select so i cant go into detail on its usage. *try xbox-scene.com.)


  • or if you have a chip that supports a bios that has a built in ftp server then don't worry.

    i have an x3. when i go to update xbmc i always boot into the x3 configlive bios and use it's ftp to do the upgrade.

    this has saved me a few times.


  • there's no particular advantage either way, it's up to you.

    i ran it as an app for a while then i realized that 99% of the time when i use my xbox i'm using xbmc so i made it into my dash in order to save a few button clicks.


  • nothing is noob friendly when you compare it to the slayers evox auto-installer :no:


  • why not man, i think xbmc is noob freindly for a dash!!
    this is a simple answer. xbmc is still in the development stages and although it is a great product easy to use. it is still buggy and for that reason it can not be classed as noob friendly. as it is noob users that fill fourms with complaints and usefull info for those developers.

    once a legit compiler is available and the project is formaly released then xmbc will be classed as noob friendly.


  • (note to self, can't believe i'm answering this question)

    isnt this kinda selfexplanatory?

    as dash, xbmc starts when xbox boots
    as app, you need to launch it manual


  • here's something to chew on...

    xbmc is something that you'll probably update often. if you use xbmc as your dash, and you screw it up you can leave your xbox in a non-booting state (yes, there are some builtin error and recovery things in xbmc, but there are still alot of things that can go wrong that it cannot recover from, like a bad ftp transfer.)

    dont think this is a fault with xbmc. whenever you update your default dashboard you have the potential to render your xbox useless. so the less often you update your dash, the less likely you are to screw up your xbox.

    when this happens you'll need to recover your xbox with either a evox bootdisc, or by connecting ur xbox hd to ur computer.

    if you dont know what im talking about here, you're probably better off using xbmc as an app, and leaving your dash (evox/ava/mxm/whatever) as is.

    one thing that i just thought off that you could try is x-select. it's a dashboard launcher. you can set up xbmc as the default dash, and configure some other dashs and assign them buttons. then if you screw up xbmc, you can launch the alternate dash (one with an ftp server) by holding down that controller button upon bootup.

    (sorry, i have not used x-select so i cant go into detail on its usage. try xbox-scene.com.)
    xbmc is something that you'll probably update often. if you use xbmc as your dash, and you screw it up you can leave your xbox in a non-booting state (yes, there are some builtin error and recovery things in xbmc, but there are still alot of things that can go wrong that it cannot recover from, like a bad ftp transfer.)

    excellent point. and this is something i can relate to personally. i set up xbmc 1.0 as my dasboard and tried to upgradeto 1.1 and failed. i thought i was in deep $h!t but eventually managed to rescue my expensive box and make it operable again. i now have xbmc 1.1 installed as an app i wish i could remember how to remove 1.0 as the default dash but can't so i am leaving it be.

    in short my advise to you would be to install it as an app and take the extra steps to launch it manually.


  • oooooook, well thanks for answering that...i guess...i thought people in here were friendly...i guess i was wrong-i'm new to all this stuff so excuse me. i just thought there was an advantage over one or the other but i guess its just a preference. thanks again for treating me like an ass.


  • so this is my thought about taking advantage of booting to xbmc directly and minimizing risks.

    put (a copy) of default.xbe and the edited xml file into c-drive and change boot sequence in bios of my xecuter3 to boot to xbmc directly. then when i want to upgrade xbmc, i will restore to running xbmc as an app from de e drive first. when it runs fine after the upgrade i go back to booting as a dash from c.

    would this reduce the risks that are talked about here?


  • rather than messing around with installing a selector or backup dash on the box itself i just keep a copy of avalaunch on cd-rw to boot from if anything goes wrong.
    initially i struggled with getting ftp working but had it running pretty quickly. i've yet to have a single problem with an xbmc installation and it's no riskier than installing any other dash. i used to update all the time but with the frequency of updates being so great i just hold off until i see a feature or optimization that particularly interests me before doing my next update.
    i use my box mainly as a music player so i couldn't imagine running anything other than xbmc as a dash!







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