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Pro Ease of use of XMBC that is easy to install
Very easy to setup through XBMC Live which is a very easy to setup distribution.
Pro Great support
It's very easy to find support for any problems you may run into with OpenELEC.
Con The online installation guide is very convoluted
The online guide on installing OpenELEC is very convoluted and practically makes something very simple look like it's difficult. For example, the installation bundle comes with a script that is used to prepare the SD card, but then according to the guide you have to manually copy it to the dev...
Pro Open source
Both Kodi and Ubuntu are free and open source.
Pro Updates can be run remotely
Using a Linux distro (not only Ubuntu) with Kodi allows you to run system and software updates remotely through SSH. Not only that, it's also very easy to update the system because only a couple of commands are needed.
Con Sub-par graphic drivers support
Support for graphic drivers is not the best. For example, if you want to do any gaming on Kodibuntu you need an Nvidia card and install the proprietary drivers. Though for Kodi alone the Open Source drivers are good enough.
Pro Lightning fast booting
The booting process is very fast, it only has a brief splash screen between POST and when the XBMC menu loads up.
Pro Simple installation
Installing Geexbox into a hard drive is very simple. Just select the install option from the boot menu and it will automatically take you to a screen where you can select your hard drive. It needs very little involvement and it's done in a matter of minutes.
Con Issues with the Wifi driver
There have been several issues reported related to the WiFi driver adapter when using Geexbox.
Pro Seamless setup
The first time LinHES is launched, you are prompted by the configuration tool which is built using the same toolkit as MythTV itself. This allows for a seamless setup experience since LinHES automatically detects and configures the necessary settings correctly. This means that things like recording
Pro Great functionality out of the box
LinHES comes with a suite of programs already preconfigured to make it function as a media-centric appliance. Stuff like NFS and Samba are included for sharing files, Webmin and VNC provide remote administration capabilities, furthermore there are various remote system monitoring tools and packages
Con Support only for 64-bit Intel architecture
The latest releases of LinHES only have support for 64-bit Intel architectures. While it's not worth it to worry about 32-bit Intel systems it's worth noting that the absence of an ARM release is problematic.
Pro Free and open source
Mythbuntu is an Ubuntu flavor of MythTV. Both MythTV and Ubuntu are completely free and open source, so by extension Mythbuntu is open source as well.
Pro Customizable
MythTV (and by extension Mythbuntu) has plenty of modules that allow users to display photos, listen to music and watch movies. All of this is done from the main menu.
Con Dated UI
The UI is dated and not very pleasing to the eye.
Pro Customizable UI
There are many that can be used to customize the MetroTile screen and add custom tiles. Then, by adding custom tiles you can configure them to open any application or web page that you need. For example: Netflix, HBOGo or Steam.
Pro Familiar Windows Interface
As opposed to unfamiliar and purpose-built Linux distros, Windows still reigns supreme for sheer usability and ease of use.
Con Resource Intensive
In contrast to many dedicated solutions which can run on nearly anything, running a full Windows install requires decent hardware. This is not a lightweight solution.
Con Expensive
You will need to purchase a Windows license.
Pro Easy installation
The installation wizard automatically finds and detects all your hardware details and adds the configurations accordingly. It also asks for your permission before each step and then carries on the next screen. Everything is completed in 5 minutes.
Pro Easy to use
Even with multiple features and options, LinuxMCE is still very easy to use; everything is very intuitive and dead simple to find your way around with everything being available through a point and click UI.
Con Lots of bugs
Unfortunately LinuxMCE has some very annoying bugs. For example there are some things that will not work with the default settings, and that's a real downside for beginners. It's also rather complicated to get a weborbiter working.
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