Download XBMC Media Center (Dharma) 10.0 Beta 4

Although Team XBMC planned to release the first release candidate of version 10.0 of XBMC Media Center, it proved necessary to release a fourth beta release first. This cross platform media center software is developed for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The port for the original Xbox will be not anymore maintained by this team. Version 10.0, codenamed ‘Dharma’, contains a large number of changes. The list is too long to display here, so we will suffice with a link to the page where they can be found. Since beta 2, the following changes have been made:

Dharma Beta 4

Well, beta 3 had a few regressions. So rather than moving along to rc1, we decided to throw out one last (we hope!) beta. There a few things to take note of:

• Live now contains an Audio Mixer. You’ll find it in the Programs section. Non-Live users (Linux and OSX) may install it from the add-ons browser. This replaces the previous scripts that attempted to set volume levels. As a result, volumes may be low or muted by default, but now you can adjust them with your remote.
• After installing a skin from the add-on browser, you’ll now be prompted to switch to it. It just makes sense.
• Don’t you hate it when programs add a shiny new feature and force you to use it, even if you absolutely hate it? we do too! If you don’t want to be notified about add-ons at all, now you can disable notifications completely. Just go to the add-on browser options and turn them off.
• Ubuntu Maverick packages are now ready for testing.
• Strings have been frozen for a while already, but we decided it was important enough to get those settings in for Dharma. So translators please take notice.

This late in the release cycle, we are hoping that beta4 is relatively boring. If all goes well, we’ll push out an RC1 soon.

Dharma Beta 3

Nearly one month after the rlease of Beta 2, the latest Dharma pre-release is ready for testing. We have been working very hard to stabilize XBMC for the final release; there have been over 300 commits to the release branch since the last beta. Notable fixes include:

• Lots of Live fixes and cleanups. We want Dharma Live to work out-of-the-box as much as possible. Those who have been plagued with broken ALSA upgrades and unsupported soundcards will be happy to know that these issues have been resolved. In addition, most ION/ION2 systems should just work ™, though there are a few small issues remaining.
• Shoutcast, which is now an add-on, was causing hard-freezes. Now Fixed.
• A bug causing redundant http requests has been fixed. Scraper sites (Hi TMDb and TheTVDB!) should see significantly less requests per session.
• Several new addons. Many scrapers have been fixed. The Popular Transparency! skin is now in the official repository; a total of 9 available even before official release!.
• Many more small fixes. Small fixes are good.

There are still a few known bugs:

• CrystalHD support is great, but drivers and libraries still require manual intervention for installation in Live/Linux. This may or may not be fixed in time for release.
• No packages for Ubuntu Maverick are available as of now. We’re working hard on this.
• A few small miscellaneous bugs. Small bugs are bad.

Update: All users of Live Beta2 or earlier are advised to backup their XBMC profile (~/.xbmc) and reinstall. Due to the way some drivers were installed before, a smooth upgrade is unlikely. This should now be resolved for future releases.

The Confluence skin of XBMC 9.11.