XBMC distribution choice

[Calvin Cycle]

So I have been using XBMC on Ultra Slim for a while now. It has got very slow over the last couple of weeks (I have a windows and android version working over the same network without the same speed issues). I am looking at other possible distributions and so am considering splitting between media and emulation and running multiple cards.

I am a relative noob and am enjoying exploring the Pi/XBMC/Linux world but much of it is still a mystery. My internet connection is good so what difference if any would OpenELEC/XBian/Raspbmc make and what are the pro's and con's to each. From what I have read OpenELEC and XBian pitch themselves as quick and well tested. Any opinions welcome.

CC

[GTR2Fan]

Apart from initial boot-up time, I don't think there's much to choose between them. My personal favourite is RaspBMC via the official live installer...

http://www.raspbmc.com/download/

[ghans]

One thing you need to know that OpenELEC is tailored to run
XBMC only and therefore lighter , but harder to extend.

If you want to use anything which is not available as XBMC
plugin , use RaspBMC instead , which is a complete Raspbian
underneath.

I have no idea about Xbian.

ghans

[GTR2Fan]

If you want to use anything which is not available as XBMC
plugin , use RaspBMC instead , which is a complete Raspbian
underneath.

I suppose that depends on how you define "complete Raspbian". It's fits on a 2GB (~1.8GB in reality) SD card with around 300MB to spare if memory serves. I managed to install 30+ add-ons and still had room on that '2GB' card for plenty more.

My understanding is that it's built on top of a very much slimmed-down Raspbian 'core' of essential components only. That was certainly the route taken at the project's inception anyway.

[abishur]

I've been using openELEC the past month or so and I haven't been overly impressed (no offense!). It seems to respond a bit slower than the last XBMC build I was using (Raspbian), and as was previously noted it doesn't expand very well (so no ustream for me ). That said, I also was a bit of downer on Raspbian because it made it difficult to get to the underlying OS. It can be done, and I think you can even boot directly to bash but if I recall correctly it was a bit of a process (unless they've changed it).

To be fair though, what I'm looking for is a distro which has XBMC in it and gets updated to include new features like fast-forward and rewind, but can also be used for everything else a pi can do media/gaming wise, so I'm being a little overly critical

[HiroProtagonist]

I suppose that depends on how you define "complete Raspbian". It's fits on a 2GB (~1.8GB in reality) SD card with around 300MB to spare if memory serves. I managed to install 30+ add-ons and still had room on that '2GB' card for plenty more.

My understanding is that it's built on top of a very much slimmed-down Raspbian 'core' of essential components only. That was certainly the route taken at the project's inception anyway.

This is true, however if you want to add something that's missing you can simply 'apt-get install', you're not locked into only what's provided with raspbmc.