XBMC is an award winning free and open source software for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and XBox. Not so familiar with this popular application, here is a quick preview on what all XBMC Media Center can do for you. You may also want to check out the feature additions into XBMC 9.04 Babylon which was released during May 2009.
Here is quick look on the list of changes.
- Updated the web scrapers
- Better WAV handling on 64-bit operating-systems
- XBMC would suspend directly after resume when suspend time > shutdown time
- Full changelog here
Now let's look into the installation Process
Add GPG Key First
- Goto Terminal and simply copy-paste the following.
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 91E7EE5E
Adding Launchpad Repo
- Goto System->Administration->Software Sources and select the Third party Software tab. Click ADD. And add the following repo (depending on the version of Ubuntu you use)
For Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
For Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
For Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu hardy main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu hardy main
Now Install XBMC
- Goto terminal and get it done.
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install xbmc
- Done.
- Goto Applications > Sound & Video > XBMC and have a blast. :-)



Hi, and thanks.
I'm a complete novice and have installed 9.10.
Just now I tried to do as described,
but my terminal says the following:
adi@media-pc:~$ sudo apt-get install xbmc
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
xbmc: Depends: xbmc-common (= 9.04.1-jaunty1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: xbmc-skin-pm3-hd (= 9.04.1-jaunty1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: xbmc-web-pm3 (= 9.04.1-jaunty1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Broken packages
Any chance someone could tell me what it means?
Would be much appreciated.
Adi
Hello, I have used your tutorial only I am running the karmic beta at the moment. Is there anything else I need to do besides adding "karmic main" at the end? Because I did that, and it no worky. Help?
I now see why. The XBMC package hasn't yet been added for karmic in ppa as seen here: https://launchpad.net/~team-xbmc/+archive/ppa
That blows. That's also what I get for installing a beta.
Hi
You are simply great. Instructions work without any issue. This is the only reason I keep visiting this site every time.
Please give steps on how to install different skins for XBMC along with where they can be downloaded from.
I'm a long-time computer user but a fresh convert to Linux. Following your instructions, I installed XBMC on a dual boot Vista-Ubuntu 9.4. It works perfectly. A great media player that "looks" brilliant. I also managed to localize the weather to my hometown in Italy, after a few tries. Thanks a lot!
- Og
Good to hear that, If you face any issues being a newbie, gimme a comment and i will try my best to help you out. Here is a nice link that may help people like you in getting started with ubuntu.
http://ubuntumanual.org/posts/181/quick-list-of-things-to-do-after-insta...
Thank you for this tutorial!
Just now i have installed XBMC on my PC after reading your post!