Dharma Beta 3

October 13th, 2010 theuni

Nearly one month after the release of Beta 2, the latest Dharma pre-release is ready for testing.  We have been working very hard to to stabilize XBMC for the final release; there have been over 300 commits to the release branch since the last beta. Notable fixes include:

  • Lots of Live fixes and clean-ups. We want Dharma Live to work out-of-the-box as much as possible. Those who have been plagued with broken ALSA upgrades and unsupported soundcards will be happy to know that these issues have been resolved. In addition, most ION/ION2 systems should just work ™, though there are a few small issues remaining.
  • Shoutcast, which is now an add-on, was causing hard-freezes. Now Fixed.
  • A bug causing redundant http requests has been fixed. Scraper sites (Hi TMDb and TheTVDB!) should see significantly less requests per session.
  • Several new addons. Many scrapers have been fixed. The popular Transparency! skin is now in the official repository; a total of 9 available even before official release!.
  • Many more small fixes. Small fixes are good.

There are still a few known bugs:

  • CrystalHD support is great, but drivers and libraries still require manual intervention for installation in Live/Linux. This may or may not be fixed in time for release.
  • No packages for Ubuntu Maverick are available as of now. We’re working hard on this.
  • A few small miscellaneous bugs. Small bugs are bad.

Update: All users of Live Beta2 or earlier are advised to backup their XBMC profile (~/.xbmc) and reinstall. Due to the way some drivers were installed before, a smooth upgrade is unlikely. This should now be resolved for future releases.

Go forth and download!

  1. Adam
    October 14th, 2010 at 22:11 | #1

    Seems to be running great on ATV :)

  2. ALexis
    October 14th, 2010 at 23:24 | #2

    Can’t get mpc-hc to work as an external player on beta 3.

  3. Anonymous
  4. osirisjem
    October 15th, 2010 at 00:02 | #4

    Please include Ubuntu 10.10 – which was released on 10/10/10.
    ======================================
    Ubuntu 10.10 Beta

    The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. The Maverick Meerkat Beta is the beta release of Ubuntu 10.10, bringing with it new features for the next version of Ubuntu.

    This is a beta release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released on October 10, 2010.

  5. Samuel
    October 15th, 2010 at 03:06 | #5

    cannot you read the blog post ? they are working on it !

    osirisjem :
    Please include Ubuntu 10.10 – which was released on 10/10/10.
    ======================================
    Ubuntu 10.10 Beta
    The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. The Maverick Meerkat Beta is the beta release of Ubuntu 10.10, bringing with it new features for the next version of Ubuntu.
    This is a beta release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released on October 10, 2010.

  6. pcook
    October 15th, 2010 at 04:30 | #6

    Hi! I have tried installing on a Windows XP SP1 system, but it said there was a problem installing DirectX and that I should install the latest version from Microsoft, however, the latest version of DirectX seems to require Windows XP SP3. I try running XBMC and it tells me it can not find d3dx9_43.dll, so I downloaded a copy, but when I tried to register the file with the Windows, I was told that the required entry point could not be found in the kernel. This is leading me to believe that the latest update to DirectX 9 is no longer compatible with SP1.

  7. spiff
    October 15th, 2010 at 04:47 | #7

    @ osirisjem:

    it would be quite insane to change what distro we base the release on after beta3. not happening.

  8. Tzim
    October 15th, 2010 at 04:49 | #8

    There’s a small bug in french translation.
    String 338 should be “Analogique” instead of “Optique/Coax”

  9. Lee Fear
    October 15th, 2010 at 05:10 | #9

    Is there a way to upgrade rather than re-install the live version?

  10. Johnny
    October 15th, 2010 at 05:53 | #10

    Can someone tell me how to transfer the database files over to Dharma 3 if I re-install to avoid having to re-scrape everything again? Where are they located? I’m on Dharma 2 for Mac.

  11. Matt_G
    October 15th, 2010 at 06:23 | #11

    Loaded it up on my Zotac ZBOX and, with a little fiddleing, but not much, got audio over HDMI working great! This is awesome!

  12. Diekund
    October 15th, 2010 at 07:33 | #12

    Any improvement on the wireless front? I still cant seem to get my wireless network working with XBMC Live. If anyone could give me any tips i would really appreciate it (i know nothing about Linux unfortunately). I’ve been trying for a while with the live version but cannot quite get the hang of it. May give up and go back to windows7 :(

    I have an acer aspire revo 3610 if that helps

  13. wilson
    October 15th, 2010 at 08:45 | #13

    The Live Cd does not work with intel H55 Core i3 CPU+GPU
    this is the error:

    GLib-WARNING **: getpwuid_r(): failed due to unknown user id (0)

    Any Idea????

  14. wilson
    October 15th, 2010 at 09:13 | #14

    When the live cd boots (with out install) a mensagge aperar and say “the video car do not sopport acceleration”
    or something like that…. Core i3 CPU+GPU …. if i install ubuntu and then XBMC all is fine…. but i want the live
    cd for more speed but…. I can not with that error

  15. noname
    October 15th, 2010 at 10:13 | #15

    when downloading plugins, i was attempting to download three at the same time, it brings xbmc to a slow sluggish halt. The application becomes unusable and i was unable to Escape out or shutdown the application. I was able to recreate this several times. My Internet connection is DSL, which from my experience has been horrible, but to say the least its slow and unreliable. Though the speed and reliability if my Internet connection shouldn’t effect the overall stability of the app. Has anyone else experienced this issue, or can anyone else recreate it?

  16. DeadDuck
    October 15th, 2010 at 10:58 | #16

    As per wilson’s comment… is there anything in pipeline for supporting Intel HD Graphics (ClearVideo) under Windows 7/DirectX??

  17. blue3c
    October 15th, 2010 at 11:44 | #17

    Been using XBMC since the original XBOX. Love it. Dharma is awesome so far. I have no complaints. It works for me great running on a ubuntu system. Many Thanks to you guys for all your hard work.

  18. wilson
    October 15th, 2010 at 11:58 | #18

    DeadDuck…
    I dont know… I am Realy a Linux User…. What I thing strange is In Ubuntu 10.04 Intel Works Fine…. But The Live Cd (is suposed based in 10.04) It does not Work….

  19. thefreedom
    October 15th, 2010 at 12:01 | #19

    Make function autoplaynextvideo it would be time for 4 years

  20. wilson
    October 15th, 2010 at 12:03 | #20

    Diekund….
    Mira el link que te dejo….
    Si la tarjeta de red ya esta reconocida no habra mayor dificultad…
    http://bernux.blogspot.com/2008/08/conexin-wireless-desde-consola.html

    Please dont go back to Win Stay with us In linux….

  21. thefreedom
    October 15th, 2010 at 12:06 | #21

    6 years !!!
    http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=9150

    Join Date: Feb 2004
    Posts: 831

  22. Nugot
    October 15th, 2010 at 12:52 | #22

    Excellent work! Love what you are doing.

    This morning I was saw a bug that was kind of irritating, one of my DVD folders played perfectly on Beta 2, but on beta 3 it is freezing my whole machine when I try to play it? And it happen every time (replicate-able). Hard freeze, have to switch my computer of at the power switch as the usual ctr-alt-del etc don’t work. This is on a WinXP Home running on AMD AM3 X4 4GB ATI Radeon 5750.

  23. acid
    October 15th, 2010 at 13:05 | #23

    thefreedom: this is the beta and features are freezed. BTW I still do not get the point of that feature. Why not use playlist? Anyway, if it is that important for you, you might as well code it…

  24. bandi
    October 15th, 2010 at 14:21 | #24

    It seem much more unstable than the previous beta (running on arch, building from source)

  25. AAAA
    October 15th, 2010 at 14:36 | #25

    mms/h rtmp streams still don’t play correctly

  26. stoli
    October 15th, 2010 at 14:41 | #26

    @pcook

    Why on earth would you still be on XP SP1? Install SP3.

  27. Anonymous
    October 15th, 2010 at 17:33 | #27

    @Johnny
    In the settings you can export the lib I think

  28. baz1860
    October 15th, 2010 at 19:34 | #28

    @Diekund

    Assuming you’re using WPA encryption on the wireless network (and if you’re not, you should be – WEP is inherently weak and no encryption is just asking for trouble) http://morningbeat.blogspot.com/2010/01/xbmc-911-on-acer-aspire-revo.html is awesomely helpful. Solved all of my wireless issues on the 3610.

  29. chazmraz
    October 15th, 2010 at 21:15 | #29

    I really like what has been done for XBMC, I have used it since it came out for the XBoX…I was wondering if possibly the team could release
    the ability to add some of the trackers back in that have been removed from the Pre-Dharma stage, maybe just the required files and small set of instructions to add personal scrapers as add-ons???

  30. Jan Faber
    October 16th, 2010 at 03:26 | #30

    For me it works not completely (atv linux), it needs a lot of tweaking the settings and short stutters because of alsa broken pipe errors every couple of minutes keep bugging me. I have been trying to solve this with driver upgrades, settings etc…..I have given up finding a solution. Maybe I will go back to osx and try if it works there…. it is a shame; i’ ve put a lot of work into getting it all to work on linux.

  31. Stan Svec
    October 16th, 2010 at 03:51 | #31

    Like with Dharma2 version I have problem with fullscreen mode on the secondary display (TV). When I click by mouse anywhere on the primary display XBMC is minimalized. For example is impossible watch the movie on the TV (where XBMC is running on the fullscreen) and browse the internet on the monitor. Have somebody the same problem? Do you think I should report this like a bug? (sorry my English)

  32. doppelfonk
    October 16th, 2010 at 05:46 | #32

    @Diekund
    Ralink modules in 2.6.32 in ubuntu 10.04 are screwed. So I doubt that revo 3610 wifi will work out of the box on Dharma-final.
    Just tested Debian squeeze (that also comes with 2.6.32) on my revo 3610, and wifi works fine.
    If you want to stay with Live, there is this solution:
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?s=79ade28f47b1972316c74dad6c1d43b7&t=1476007
    I have tried it myself and it works.

  33. hubi
    October 16th, 2010 at 06:55 | #33

    great job again!
    please keep the “more..” button in each addon section always visible to get a quick access to the addon-management

  34. Blondejon
    October 16th, 2010 at 07:47 | #34

    apart from having to re-install some music plugins updating from beta2 to beta3 hasnt broken anything on my revo. Awesome works guys, thank you so very much

  35. Gav
    October 16th, 2010 at 09:33 | #35

    Any ideas when the full version will released? I don’t tend to use beta software too much but I really love what you guys are doing with the whole XBMC project! :D

  36. theuni
    October 16th, 2010 at 12:08 | #36

    @doppelfonk

    doppelfonk :

    @Diekund
    Ralink modules in 2.6.32 in ubuntu 10.04 are screwed. So I doubt that revo 3610 wifi will work out of the box on Dharma-final.

    We have installed wireless backports from 2.6.35. Most chipsets should work out of the box, the only work necessary should be connecting to your network (which may have a nice gui soon ;)

  37. deppan
    October 16th, 2010 at 17:55 | #37

    I’m still having issues with the audio remixing not working properly for anything but 2.0. When i try to set 5.1 (like my setup) It seems to only play the front stereo channels anyway… Anyone knows what’s up?

  38. arun
    October 16th, 2010 at 19:59 | #38

    Hi,

    I am using XBMC on ATV, everything seems to be fine with version 3 except the xbmc subtitles, before when i used to go to subtitles it used to download the subtitles and it used to work fine, but now for all the movies it says “Local subtitles available” and it doesn’t even look for the subtitles over the internet..

    I have one more issue, the Jdownloader never works for me, I installed the add on but it always says it cannot connect to the server..

    please someone post some solution.

  39. wilson
    October 16th, 2010 at 20:49 | #39

    The freeze en Beta 3 Is tooo bad… Beta 2 OK…
    I have two diferent machines is both that freezes

  40. DejaVu
    October 16th, 2010 at 22:14 | #40

    All sorts of issues with B3. Going back to B2.

    Namely, SSH issues. Sickbeard/SabNZBd and CP would NOT install. Gave me errors all over the place. Given up til Dharma’s released. Happy with B2. So will stick to issues ironed out. XBMC still FTW! :)

  41. pcook
    October 17th, 2010 at 01:38 | #41

    @stoli
    I have other machines with XP SP3. This machine has XP SP1 because I run into software (mostly games) which require Windows Media Player 8 or below, and will not function with Media Player 9 or above. Even uninstalling Media Player 9 after the update will not restore compatibility and there are no patches available. The problem is, I also use this machine for software development and like to listen to music using XBMC while doing so.

  42. Anonymous
    October 17th, 2010 at 03:19 | #42

    @wilson

    maybe you should post a debug log and give some specifics (in your own thread, now here). They can’t fix a problem just based on the statement that it freezes.

  43. olaffi
    October 17th, 2010 at 07:52 | #43

    I have an AT5IONT-i, same problem as wilson, beta2 worked perfect for my with a custom .asoundrc. With Beta3, don’t have any sound in the menu, and shoutcast is freezing. I didn’t have any of these problems in beta2, can’t really see any improvements sorry…

  44. Bobby Blixberg
    October 17th, 2010 at 07:58 | #44

    [quote]Update: All users of Live Beta2 or earlier are advised to backup their XBMC profile (~/.xbmc) and reinstall. Due to the way some drivers were installed before, a smooth upgrade is unlikely. This should now be resolved for future releases.[/quote]

    I was lucky, update from B2 to B3 went fine, everything is working well – and even simultaneous playback over HDMI and optical out is working!

  45. Placey
    October 17th, 2010 at 08:02 | #45

    @Matt_G
    Thanks mate was looking for a post on Zotac Zbox. Excellent to here will be going ahead and purchasing a bunch of these. Cheers.

  46. shakes
    October 17th, 2010 at 11:17 | #46

    I was trying to help a friend after updating to Dharma beta 2 and it would appear that USB drives are no long automounting? Is this by design?

  47. b
    October 17th, 2010 at 13:24 | #47

    just wanted to com in and say thank you for working so hard XBMC team and all those who make this one of the best softwares evar. kbye

  48. arun
    October 17th, 2010 at 13:44 | #48

    why suddenly all the video ad dons have stopped working..it scans for all the movies,TV shows but when you click on it , it comes up with empty folder..

  49. J
    October 17th, 2010 at 14:55 | #49

    Can I just chime in here and say that XBMC has, by now, left ‘awesome’ far behind and is rapidly gaining ground on ‘perfect’. Pretty soon it will overtake that, and we’ll all know what Paradise is like. Great work!!!

  50. Jack
    October 17th, 2010 at 16:57 | #50

    Running Windows version on three Revos with a central MySQL database. Did a straight upgrade to beta 3 and all three of them (so far) seem to work without problems.

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