XBMC Media Center is an award winning open source media center application for Xbox, Linux, Mac and Windows. Calling it a media center is really understating its capability since it is in fact an ultimate hub that supports almost every audio/video format and codecs available. It also comes with slick interface and include features such as playlist playback, picture viewing, audio visualizations and so on.

Installing XBMC Media Center in Ubuntu Hardy

Open your terminal. Type

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following lines to the end of the file

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-hardy/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-hardy/ubuntu hardy main

Save and close the file.

Update the repository

sudo apt-get update

Install xbmc

sudo apt-get install xbmc

Open XBMC via Applications -> Sound & Video -> XBMC Media Center

Watching video

To watch video, click on the video button, follow by Add sources to locate your video directory

Listening to song

Image viewing

XBMC setting page

Extending the functionality of XBMC

XBMC allows you to extend its functionality via the use of plugins and scripts. There is a whole library of scripts at XBMCScripts.com.

To install XBMC scripts:

1. Find and download the scripts (in zip format) you want from XBMCScripts.com
2. Extract the zip file to your desktop
3. Open Nautilus (Places->Home Folder)
4. Press Ctrl + H to show hidden files.
5. Navigate to /.xbmc/scripts/My Scripts
6. Copy and paste the script folder over.

In XBMC main menu, click on the Scripts button to access your scripts.