RaspPi, OpenELEC, XBMC... a full distro possible?

[Roasted]

I have a Raspberry Pi that I'm using as my HTPC. It runs OpenELEC, which is basically XBMC and nothing else. It runs great and auto mounts my videos share from my Linux file server over smb. Things work flawlessly. Lately I've noticed that my wife is on her laptop more to find TV shows online to stream. This isn't exactly possible on XBMC as XBMC is largely made to play local content. Before when I had a full blown box running as the HTPC we could exit XBMC, open Chromium, and do our thing on the internet.

The Raspberry Pi is very low powered, which is a bit of a concern in regard to running a full OS + XBMC over top. I tried it with Lubuntu and it was quite slow. A full OpenELEC on the other hand was perfect, but admittedly with no desktop OS features that I'm looking for.

I'm throwing this question out here just to generate conversation on the topic. Does anybody know of a way to extend the functionality of OpenELEC so I can have an array of add-ons (that I've yet to discover anything useful) to stream online TV, or perhaps to enable a web browser of some sort to accommodate those days when my wife would like to stream online? Or is there some sort of super light OS that would be able to provide me with a web browser AND XBMC without fuss?

Sometimes I wonder if I'll be stuck ripping out the Rasp-Pi and building up another box... but I hate to put in a box that'll suck more power if the Rasp-Pi can do something additional that I'm unaware of.

Thoughts?

[cwblanch]

I have a Raspberry Pi that I'm using as my HTPC. It runs OpenELEC, which is basically XBMC and nothing else. It runs great and auto mounts my videos share from my Linux file server over smb. Things work flawlessly. Lately I've noticed that my wife is on her laptop more to find TV shows online to stream. This isn't exactly possible on XBMC as XBMC is largely made to play local content. Before when I had a full blown box running as the HTPC we could exit XBMC, open Chromium, and do our thing on the internet.

The Raspberry Pi is very low powered, which is a bit of a concern in regard to running a full OS + XBMC over top. I tried it with Lubuntu and it was quite slow. A full OpenELEC on the other hand was perfect, but admittedly with no desktop OS features that I'm looking for.

I'm throwing this question out here just to generate conversation on the topic. Does anybody know of a way to extend the functionality of OpenELEC so I can have an array of add-ons (that I've yet to discover anything useful) to stream online TV, or perhaps to enable a web browser of some sort to accommodate those days when my wife would like to stream online? Or is there some sort of super light OS that would be able to provide me with a web browser AND XBMC without fuss?

Sometimes I wonder if I'll be stuck ripping out the Rasp-Pi and building up another box... but I hate to put in a box that'll suck more power if the Rasp-Pi can do something additional that I'm unaware of.

Thoughts?

I haven't had a Raspberry Pi, but I'm thinking about getting one, so I've been looking into them quite a lot.
Isn't it possible to install a more desktop-like OS (from this downloads page)with XBMC also installed?
I apologize for lacking a more for sure answer, but a brainstorm can't hurt.

[sanderj]

IMHO the Raspi is unable (as in: under-specced) to run a modern, HTML5 browser. See if you need a modern, HTML5 browser, the Raspi is not the way to go.

FWIW: I have two Raspi's, both running Raspbian, which I use for non-GUI tasks.

[Roasted]

IMHO the Raspi is unable (as in: under-specced) to run a modern, HTML5 browser. See if you need a modern, HTML5 browser, the Raspi is not the way to go.

FWIW: I have two Raspi's, both running Raspbian, which I use for non-GUI tasks.

I kind of thought that might be the case. It's truly remarkable how terrific it runs with OpenELEC (XBMC)... I'm continuously surprised by it. That said, I acknowledge it has limitations... I guess I was just hoping I could push the bar a little bit.

[EmmEight]

Have you thought of ordering a BeagleBoard? That is my next project. It has quite a bit more under the hood.

What does ubuntu think about the Minix? I am thinking about ordering a minix and using it with ubuntu/xbmc...