Arch Linux

OakRaider4Life

Member

Registered: 2012-02-08

Posts: 98

Dedicated XBMC + Gaming... Help me build my dream box!

Currently, I have a tower setup with 64 bit arch which I am running as a dedicated XMBC media box. However, I'm looking to expand the functionality of my media box to also become a gaming box (althought getting my xbox gamepads to work with it has been a serious pain so far... but that's a separate post). I can use advanced launcher with XBMC to launch any of my applications directly rom XBMC, but since I run xbmc-standalone as my xinit environment, I don't have a window manager. Which brings me to my appeal for help.

In order to be able to launch a graphical application directly from xbmc, I know that I need a window manager. What I don't know is whether I need to run the WM as my xinit session, and somehow launch xbmc on top of it, or whether I can add arguments into my launcher commands which will launch the WM for me before launching each application (preferred, if possible, to save on system resources). Also, if anyone has any suggestions regarding which WM might be well suited for this task, that would also be helpful.

Basically, I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. All I have is this  really cool idea to make this computer an all-in-one entertainment center, and I know that arch linux is the perfect platform to make that happen, I'm just sorely lacking in the nuts and bolts knowledge of how to make it happen. Hence, I am turning to the legendary Arch community for some much needed support

Any and all help is much appreciated!

OakRaider4Life

Member

Registered: 2012-02-08

Posts: 98

Re: Dedicated XBMC + Gaming... Help me build my dream box!

Just realized the title would be more aptly appended as "help me setup my dream box!", as the damn thing is already built

labp

Member

Registered: 2011-02-19

Posts: 11

Re: Dedicated XBMC + Gaming... Help me build my dream box!

I think you have to start the WM in xinit and then load XBMC... any lighweight WM would be good i guess

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: Dedicated XBMC + Gaming... Help me build my dream box!

Your ~/.xinitrc should look something like this:

xbmc &
exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch openbox-session

Or whatever wm you want instead of Openbox. Just don't place anything after the "exec ..." line and don't forget the "&".

---

"How to Succeed with Linux"

I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

65kid

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2011-01-26

Posts: 663

Re: Dedicated XBMC + Gaming... Help me build my dream box!

you don't neccessarily need a window manager if you only start single applications which run fullscreen.
I also had XBMC running directly via xinit and could launch mupen64plus/snes9x-gtk directly from the ROM Collection Browser addon, worked fine. I'm not using the emulators anymore, but it worked.

OakRaider4Life

Member

Registered: 2012-02-08

Posts: 98

Re: Dedicated XBMC + Gaming... Help me build my dream box!

you don't neccessarily need a window manager if you only start single applications which run fullscreen.
I also had XBMC running directly via xinit and could launch mupen64plus/snes9x-gtk directly from the ROM Collection Browser addon, worked fine. I'm not using the emulators anymore, but it worked.

Unfortunately, I'm looking to run full screen linux applications in addition to emulators, so I did need to track down a wm for my purposes.

Your ~/.xinitrc should look something like this:

xbmc &
exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch openbox-session

Or whatever wm you want instead of Openbox. Just don't place anything after the "exec ..." line and don't forget the "&".

Your solution was simple, and worked perfectly!

I installed ratpoison wm and simply setup my .xinitrc to look like

ratpoison &
exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch xbmc-standalone

which allowed me to launch apps with no problems while still letting me shut down the system from within xbmc. I'm one important step closer to having this machine function beautifully! Thank you all for your replies and your help