Introduction

This multi-part post is a tutorial and build log documenting each step involved in installing and configuring your preferred version of XBMC onto a Acer Revo RL70 nettop PC.  I will cover two of the most popular  builds of XBMC, XBMCbuntu and OpenElec. The full article is split into the following posts/topics:

Part 1: Installing XBMCbuntu / OpenElec
Part 2: Media library set-up, adding additional sources and setting up network file shares
Part 3: Adding additional repositories (Repo’s)
Part 4: Configuring addon’s & streaming video (BBC iPlayer, YouTube, Vimeo etc)
Part 5: Setup Live TV – HTS Tvheadend (backend) and Tvheadend HTSP Client (frontend)
Part 6: Remote Control Setup
Part 7: Blu-Ray Disk Playback
Part 8: Recommended Hardware and Troubleshooting
Part 9: Further Reading

 

Part 1: Installing XBMCbuntu / OpenElec

In this section i will outline the steps involved when installing XBMC onto the Acer Revo RL70 nettop.  XBMCbuntu will be installed from the Live CD and OpenElec will be installed from USB stick. These steps can be applied to other hardware vendors if the appropriate version of XBMC is used.

Installing XBMCbuntu:

Irrespective of what operating system your Revo came with the first step is to download the XBMCbuntu Live CD image from the XBMC website.

Let the ISO image download and then burn the image to a blank CD-R/RW. If your Revo has a optical drive, or if you own an external USB optical drive you can install direct from the CD. Otherwise you will need to follow these steps to copy the installation files to a USB thumb drive.

Disconnect all USB storage devices other than the drive intended for installation. This will ensure you don’t accidentally wipe data from another drive.

Power on the Revo and press Del to enter the BIOS, then change the boot priority to either CD or USB depending on your chosen installation method. Then save the settings and exit.

The Revo will now reboot, ensure you have plugged in the USB thumb drive or USB optical drive.

Select the option to install XBMC Live, the XBMCbuntu setup will now start, just follow the on screen instructions. Please note that these steps will wipe all existing data from the HDD including any pre-installed operating system.

Always backup important files and ensure you have all the relevant recovery discs prior to installing any new OS, as you will need these should you later decide to revert back to your factory (out of the box) configuration.

Installing OpenElec:

First download the latest fusion build of OpenElec from the website

Once downloaded you will need to extract the files from the archive onto your PC and insert a USB thumb drive to copy the installation files onto.

Click the ‘create_livestick’ executable from the extracted files folder and follow the instructions on-screen to copy the files onto the thumb drive. Be careful to select the correct drive letter for the thumb drive  and remember all data will be removed from the thumb drive before copying the installation files.

Disconnect all USB storage devices other than the drive intended for installation. This will ensure you don’t accidentally wipe data from another drive.

Power on the Revo and press Del to enter the BIOS, then change the boot priority to USB. Ensure you have plugged in the USB thumb drive then save the settings and reboot.

Follow the on-screen instructions to perform a ‘quick install’ of OpenElec.

Once it’s finished, the installer will take you back to the main menu. Remove the USB thumb drive select ‘Reboot’ and press enter.

Your Revo should now boot straight into OpenELEC  (and doesn’t it look pretty!).