Review: Geexbox 1.1
Written by Steve Lake
12.12.2007 at 09:12am
Section: Reviews
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Geexbox is a compact Linux distribution designed with the HTPC (home theater pc) in
mind. It's paltry 8.9mb cd footprint makes it perfect for taking anywhere you want
to go. You can even use it at home for your regular media center if you so desire.
It's biggest claim to fame is that it can play any file at any time anywhere.
You could even, in theory, take it to school with you and watch videos in class,
not that I condone that or anything. ;)
The OS itself loads quickly, given it's very small footprint, and does an incredible
job of detecting all the hardware on your system it needs, including TV-out devices.
Since it's whole goal in life is to play media files, it won't connect with any TV
capture devices, but that's a small price to pay given that it's primary goal is to play
movie files, music, and dvd's. Once the OS is done, it ejects the disk from the
cd/dvd drive so you can remove it and place something else there. This might seem
tedious for a more permanent media center setup, but it works well when you're traveling
and want to use one machine temporarily and don't want to be bothered with or can't
install Linux to play your media files.
Once into the "desktop", if you can call it that, you're greeted with a
screen with six options. The first one obviously opens the media of your choice, be
that a vcd, dvd, local or network file. You can even load subtitle files from this
screen. Overall, file support in Geexbox is exceptional, and playback troubles are
really non-existent. It's a little slow getting between screens, but that can easily
be ignored for the most part. Opening a file from a cd, dvd or network share is
easy, however the network shares option needs a bit more development, as it'll connect to
a samba or windows share just fine so long as it is not required to ask for or make you
enter any passwords. That's something the developers should consider for the future,
as the best network security always involves passwords on any file share. Even
media.
Geexbox also works well with computers and standard definition TV's, but apparently has
issues with HDTV setups. I wasn't able to verify that, but I did find information
about it during my research, so I thought to mention it at the least. Geexbox is
also supposedly able to be installed to disk as well, however I did not see any evidence
that this is possible. It might be, and that would be nice for more permanent HTPC
setups, but right now I don't see where that's possible.
One shortcoming you'll run onto early on is that Geexbox is entirely keyboard driven.
There's no evidence anywhere that I could find that indicates that it currently has
support for any kind of remotes, including USB powered ones. Again, another failing
that would need to be addressed in the future for more permanent HTPC setups. But
again, if you're just using it for a temporary or mobile media center, then it's fine.
Overall Geexbox isn't a bad miniature light weight and portable HTPC distribution.
It's still got a bunch of growing to do to become a full fledged media center,
especially on more permanent HTPC setups. But overall I liked what I saw.
Especially the more "fun" appearance of the interface. Less
professional looking, but since this involves "entertainment" rather than
"work", that's perfectly fine. If Geexbox keeps improving and adding new
features, over time it may even be a strong contender with the likes of MythTV and other
Linux HTPC solutions.
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