Which distro for XBMC HTPC (lightning boot time)

[YfoMp5QBh2]

Hi All,

I have been playing about with various distro's to see which one's are the best. I have the intention of making a HTPC booting straight into XBMC.

I've Been thinking about using a cut down version of Linux with lightning fast boot (like Damn Small Linux or Peppermint OS) booting from solid state HDD or USB stick, but I need to have some basic requirements like access to internet to download content from youtube, access repo's, stream various types of content and codecs ect.

Can anyone help me out with some suggestions?

[Grenage]

I've got Ubuntu running my XBMC install, and it is ridiculously quick at booting; once the BIOS is gone, you're talking 5 seconds till the XBMC logo appears.

That said, any distro should do what you need, since you're only using it as a base. Hell, I think there's actually an XBMC install available which is based on Ubuntu.

[YfoMp5QBh2]

I've got Ubuntu running my XBMC install, and it is ridiculously quick at booting; once the BIOS is gone, you're talking 5 seconds till the XBMC logo appears.

Is that the XBMC live installation your using?

[Grenage]

Is that the XBMC live installation your using?

Oh no, I'm using a base 10.10 install. I use it for encoding movie files and ripping ISOs for the media centre, among other things. While it's only used as an XBMC rig 95% of the time, I occasionally need to do things without tying up my main PCs.

[YfoMp5QBh2]

so would you recommend a base/server install or a CLI install, then install things like XBMC on top?

[Grenage]

so would you recommend a base/server install or a CLI install, then install things like XBMC on top?

Well I personally opted for a standard desktop install, so I had gnome with a GUI if I wanted it. You can still have XBMC load up as the default environment.