Raspbmc November Update released

Raspbmc is a minimal Linux distribution based on Debian that brings XBMC to your Raspberry Pi. While Raspbmc offers great features, it has been found to fall behind on speed and fluidity compared to other media center OSes. This post introduces the recently released Raspbmc November update.

Raspbmc November Update

What's New in Rasbpmc November Update

Raspbmc November update brings several fixes and improvements listed below. It also now includes a basic built-in browser. The major changes, fixes, and improvements are listed below:

  • popcornmix has now completely fixed SD card corruption issues that occur when overclocking. This is excellent and much needed progress.
  • He has also fixed a bug where having DDS fanart enabled crashes the Raspberry Pi.
  • Installs now use the new F2FS filesystem by default which offers better performance. I'm staying with the ext4 filesystem for USB drive installs though, as many users won't be able to mount F2FS on their desktop and may wish to do so.
  • USB soundcard support is available again. Simply select ‘Enable external soundcards' in Raspbmc Settings. Thanks to ‘stupid-boy' for working on an OpenMAX ALSA sink. This is much better than the previous Pulse Audio approach we had, because the audio and video are in sync. Be aware that this is experimental though. As such, I'd like feedback in this thread here.
  • AirPlay streaming is fixed for iOS 7 devices. Be sure to reboot your iOS device though. I'd like to thank Memphiz for letting me know where the issue was which made it easier for me to detect and fix.
  • Raspbmc now has a web browser! This is available under the Programs option where Raspbmc Settings is located. Note that for now only wired network connections that support DHCP will work. I'm also aware HTTPS is broken and am looking in to that — but it's a good first attempt that showcases a browser is more than achievable on Pi. I'd like to thank Rob Bishop for his work on Arora, Karnage for developing the addon for XBMC and popcornmix for helping me work out what attributes ‘recovery.elf' normally sets.
  • Speed improvements have been achieved via kernel backports and higher default overclock settings.
  • I've upgraded Windows Media Center PVR addon for Gotham and Frodo.
  • Fix for issue where WiFi cards disconnect after a period of time
  • Added support for IPV6 Privacy Options
  • Added support for LVM modules and RAID in the kernel (device mapper support)
  • Added IR to LIRC bridge support
  • Improve PPP support for users wishing to use VPN
  • Fix for a bug in XBMC 13 where the option to disable the 720p UI cap was not working
  • Fixed a message that would show above the splash screen
  • Add hotplugging to XBMC Frodo. This allows connection and disconnection of keyboards without having to restart XBMC
  • Fix incorrectly reported run time in the web interface.
  • Raspbmc no longer warns the user if /boot/config.txt does not match the settings addon.
  • Fix memory leak when playing multiple files from a playlist
  • 24 hour nightly builds are resumed again
  • Added V4L2 Raspberry Pi camera support in the kernel
  • iptables logging in the kernel for users who would like debugging
  • I've reverted to the classic Confluence skin as our Raspbmc skin developer is no longer maintaining it. You can still select it under Skin settings, but it's no longer the default skin.

Here is the link to the official Raspbmc November update release announcement.

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Installation Instructions

Ubuntu Installation and Configuration
Install Raspbmc using NOOBS

Upgrade Instructions

Ubuntu Installation and Configuration

That is it. Enjoy the Raspbmc November update.

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Anand

Anand is a self-learned computer enthusiast, hopeless tinkerer (if it ain't broke, fix it), a part-time blogger, and a Scientist during the day. He has been blogging since 2010 on Linux, Ubuntu, Home/Media/File Servers, Smart Home Automation, and related HOW-TOs.