GeeXboX Media Center distribution reaches 2.0

After a number of years of development, the GeeXboX project development team has released version 2.0 of its small embedded Linux distribution aimed at Home Theatre PCs (HTPC) and media centre systems. According to developer Benjamin Zores, the team had been "struggling for months and years to design this v2.0 version, switching from one Media Center project to another", and even creating its own before the group decided "to finally stick with the most powerful one, the reference: XBMC".

The GeeXboX 2.0 main menu Code-named "Love It or Shove It", GeeXboX 2.0 includes version 10.1 "Dharma" of the open source XBMC media player and is "radically different from the 1.x series". Zores says that the project's philosophy remains the same: "aim at targeting the most PCs and devices as possible, in an as lightweight as possible way". Based on the 2.6.38.8 Linux kernel, the latest release features support for a number of embedded devices running ARM SoCs such as the TI OMAP4 Pandaboard and NVIDIA Tegra 2; support for more SoCs will be added "in the months to come".

With version 2.0 some features have been removed, including the unique ISO generator tool, legacy HDD installation and support for V4L Analog TV cards. Support for DVB Digital TV cards has also been removed but "will come back shortly". The "GeeXboX for PC" edition has grown in size, but weighs in at just 72 MB.

Further information about the major release, including a full list of new features and package updates, can be found in the official release announcement. GeeXboX 2.0 is available to download as an ISO image for 32- and 64-bit PCs, as well as ARM embedded systems from the project's site; users can use the ISO images to create a LiveCD or LiveUSB. GeeXboX is released under the GPL.

(crve)