Topic: Linksboks Xbmc Integration (Read 1606 times)

los93sol1 · « **on:** May 11, 2005, 08:30:00 PM »

Hey guys, just thought you might be interested to know that LinksBoks is being integrated into XBMC by Ysbox, GeminiServer, Los93soL (that's me), and BritneysPAIRS. Runtime is very interested in the effort and has said he will help out when he gets time. At present, the main programmers are Ysbox and Gemini. We already have it in a state that the browser will run within XBMC and have been working to make it a more proper integration, adding features, and making it more stable and mem/cpu friendly. As of now, it is not very mem or cpu intensive, but since XBMC is a very large project it is very important that we do everything possible to make the linksboks libraries as efficient as we can.

We currently have a thread running with status updates on the XBMC development boards, head over there to check it out and see the latest information. We would like to be able to submit a patch soon, but this is a very large task to achieve, there is still a LOT of work to do so if you are a programmer, please contact me as soon as possible to see how you can help out. We setup our own subversion CVS for the development process, upon your acceptance to the team working on this, I will setup your access and give you the details to login and start working when you are ready. Please include your areas of expertise when you contact me

There is a lot of attention being focused on this effort, the thread at the XBMC boards has been running for about 2 weeks and already has nearly 5,500 hits and about 60 posts so you can see there are a LOT of people watching the developments happening with the project and anticipating it's release. This is a perfect opportunity for you to get involved with something that many people have been waiting for for a long time.

Regards,
Los93soL

los93sol1 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 20, 2005, 12:34:00 PM »

UPDATE: Apparently nobody here is interested in this, I am quite surprised by that. Ysbox has done some more work, we now have LinksBoks sectioned in XBMC, it also keeps history, and forwards media files to the proper player for you now. There is still quite a bit to do so if any of you are capable and intersted, get ahold of me!
Regards,
Los93soL

SamSam · « **Reply #2 on:** May 20, 2005, 05:28:00 PM »

looks interesting but i doubd i'm capable of helping so... sorry.

thebroken · « **Reply #3 on:** May 25, 2005, 03:26:00 PM »

very intresting

fezzman · « **Reply #4 on:** May 27, 2005, 02:33:00 PM »

I would definately use it if it were out. I just can't help with the programming.

I would actually rather see it integrated into UnleashX though *wink wink*.

Since it will be running IN XBMC, would it then be possible to stream music and surf at the same time?

los93sol1 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 27, 2005, 04:46:00 PM »

yip, can play movies at the same time too, can even go to sites like ebaumsworld.com and play videos or music from there or start streams from shoutcast, etc. It is coming along very nicely, check out the development boards at xbmc's site to find out more!

John Hoek · « **Reply #6 on:** May 30, 2005, 07:48:00 AM »

Keep going on!

I like this feature.
Next to full DVD support, this linkboks integration is THE extension XBMC makes it perfect!

los93sol1 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 02, 2005, 02:29:00 PM »

I will be posting some recent screenshots later tonight. Hopefully they will generate some more interest. The project is close to reaching a beta stage, unfortunately, the programmers working on the project are very busy these days. We would like to keep the momentum going so a few more dev's to tidy things up would be very nice to have helping with the project. You do not need to have extensive knowledge of web protocols, mainly we need people to help with the actual interface with XBMC and finishing up the GUI that has been started for LinksBoks. Please get in contact with me if you think you can help.
Regards,
Los93soL

los93sol1 · « **Reply #8 on:** June 02, 2005, 06:34:00 PM »

Current screenshots as promised. You can see there is some work to be done.

In the home screen:
(IMG:http://img199.echo.cx/img199/3755/screenshot0017sd.png)

It works:
(IMG:http://img197.echo.cx/img197/4642/screenshot0024ir.png)

GUI needs a little more work. Goto in the context menu needs to be made into a button, assigned and ID, and removed from the context menu. Our skinner can then make a button for it. The idea is to use the context menu for quick access to more advanced features the average user will not use all the time but may need to access every once in awhile:
(IMG:http://img197.echo.cx/img197/4025/screenshot0032qc.png)

You can see the browser can download and forward media to the appropriate player. You can also see where the GUI needs more work. We need to get rid of the original LinksBoks menus and make our own for a cleaner integration. The media forwarding code was very recently put back into the source and has a bug causing it to be unstable at this time:
(IMG:http://img197.echo.cx/img197/5633/screenshot0044fe.png)

Just another reason why we need to get rid of LinksBoks menus that are not being used. This is actually a bug that was inadvertantly introduced during a change to correct a potential issue. Pressing B while the browser is focused causes the original LinksBoks menus to popup:
(IMG:http://img36.echo.cx/img36/189/screenshot0058em.png)

Ahhh...using the XBMC virtual keyboard is so much easier to type out what you want then the system used in the original LinksBoks application:
(IMG:http://img36.echo.cx/img36/4087/screenshot0067hu.png)

Notice the text field at the top displays the title of the web page. If the title is too long to fit, it scrolls across like an RSS feed. This same text bar should be made selectable, pressing A on it should change its function. For example, it will default to the title of the web page, pressing A will make it display the URL of the current web page:
(IMG:http://img36.echo.cx/img36/5369/screenshot0070uj.png)

The point to these screenshots is to show the current state of the work done. For the most part the bulk of the work is done. There are still a lot of things that need to be done/finished up to make for a more proper integration into XBMC. I do want to stress that the browser works very well and efficiently within XBMC and that the programmers working on the project have put a lot of effort into what you see above. I also want to stress the fact that the current development is still in ALPHA stages. Hopefully the screenshots will get some more interest going with the project so it can be cleaned up and reach a BETA stage soon so that we can start allowing more people to test it and start reporting bugs that we missed.

The above work can be attributed to Ysbox, GeminiServer, BritneysPAIRS, and another person who wishes not to be revealed at this time. Please give your feedback and help us see this project to a completion.

Regards,
Los93soL

los93sol1 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 02, 2005, 06:44:00 PM »

Missed my chance to edit! Anyways, thought some of you might appreciate the work done a bit more if you saw some screenshots of the standalone LinksBoks application as well. To see the original application Click Here!

fasmanza · « **Reply #10 on:** June 02, 2005, 07:52:00 PM »

Wow now that looks great!!

It Kicks Linksboks' *ss

Great work,cant wait for it!!

PedrosPad · « **Reply #11 on:** June 03, 2005, 02:29:00 AM »

Yeah. Looks good.

kimgitz · « **Reply #12 on:** June 03, 2005, 05:44:00 AM »

Hey you guyz are doing a great job. My regards to all of you!

fezzman · « **Reply #13 on:** June 07, 2005, 11:22:00 AM »

Thanks for the screenies...they make me giddy. Once this is out I'm thinking I may actually have to make xbmc my primary dash.

No problems running it in high-def?

green_beetle · « **Reply #14 on:** June 11, 2005, 06:20:00 PM »

that is hot! xbmc just keeps getting better and better. brilliant keep up the work!

Author Topic: Linksboks Xbmc Integration (Read 1606 times)