Simplicity
Simplicity is a new skin for XBMC that’s currently in development by the creators of my formerly favorite skin Shade. Simplicity is absolutely the most professional and polished XBMC skin I have used and packs in more features than any other two skins (apart from Shade) combined.
I was originally going to use Shade as the skin for this guide, but since Simplicity is developing so rapidly (and Shade is no longer being supported) I decided to use Simplicity from the start for the sake of consistency.
Note: One caveat here is that while Simplicity is still in development, it is reasonable to expect a few quirks and inconsistencies. With that said, I have been using it as my primary skin since mid-January, 2011 and have no plans to change back to Shade (let alone anything else).
To install Simplicity we’ll want to open up XBMC Media Center again. However, before doing so it’s time to make a mental note of something here.
XBMC makes heavy usage of the keyboard and focuses much less on the mouse (since it’s intended to be used with a controller or remote). As such, it’s a good idea to become familiar with what keys provide which function in XBMC as not all functionality is convenient (let alone available) from a mouse.
So, with that in mind, the first key to find and remember is the backward slash “\“. This will switch XBMC Media Center from full screen to windowed mode (and back again) and should be quite handy while following this guide.
So now, once you’ve found the backslash key, fire up XBMC and put it in windowed mode. Now with your arrow keys navigate to system and hit Enter. Again, use your arrow keys to scroll down to Add-ons and hit Enter. Now, using the same method as above (ignore that pointing device!), select Get Addons, then XBMC.org Add-ons, and then Skin.
Under the Skin screen find Simplicity, select it and hit Enter on the Install button.
Simplicity should now be Downloading and Installing. Once it completes you should receive a prompt asking if you would like to switch to this skin. Select Yes. Simplicity should now come up as the skin though you will still be viewing the Add-ons just as you were before. You can now hit the Escape key to return to the Settings screen, and again will take you to the Home screen.
Take some time to explore and get comfortable with basic keyboard navigation (Arrow keys, Enter, and Escape) and the layout of the interface and options before moving on to Setup (next page) as I will expect from here on out you know how to get from one place to another using the keyboard.
this is great, I had lots of trouble installing xbmcin mint and this did the trick,now I am gonna follow rest of your suggestions, thanks again.
Hey, good to hear Gychang! Best of luck!
i just keep getting
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu/dists/natty/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu/dists/natty/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found
Hey Eddknightuk,
If you’re running Linux Mint 11 or Ubuntu 11.04 that’s why. XBMC has yet to add a PPA repository for Natty Narwhal. You can still use the Maverick Meerkat one though (which is what I’ve been doing without any issues. Simply replace “natty” in both the sources to “maverick”. You will need to got to Sources or Edit Sources and edit the specific entries.
I’m currently stuck on a work computer so can’t give exact instructions. If you get stuck let me know or Google it.
Best of luck!
XBMC is informing me that the Simplicity Add-On cannot be installed as it has broken/missing dependencies, any idea how to fix this?
Hey Catman,
Right off the top of my head I’m not sure. Try another theme like Neon and see if you get the same result. It may just be that Simplicity is broken currently or that something is borked in your XBMC install. As soon as I get my guide updated, I’ll likely be switching from Simplicity to Neon anyway so if that works you may be in for a treat.
Best of luck, and let me know if you have anymore questions!
This guide helped me a lot! I tried installing xbmc on Windows, Fedora, Ubunutu but this guide is definately the clearest! Great work and thank you!
Hey Aegir81,
Glad it worked well for you!
Thanks for the comment!
Excellent detailed instructions on all of your guides! Wish I would have found you sooner. Make all this so much easier to understand. Goodbye torrents!! :)
Hey SAB_Addict,
Thanks for the feedback! I’m glad my guides helped ya out!
Cheers!
Nice guide any plans to do it on Mint 12…????
These instructions don’t work with Mint 12. Adding the PPA does not result in XMBC appearing in the Software Manager..
Hey Johnny,
Nice generalization there. Anyway, since XBMC does not do a great job at maintaing a PPA with the current Ubuntu releases you may need to manually edit the Other Software entry for XBMC to reflect the code name of the highest Ubuntu release that they do support (Maverick currently). If that doesn’t fix your issue the PPA authentication bug may be getting you. In which case the easiest fix is to add the PPA via the Terminal Emulator (sudo add-apt-repository ppa:PPANAMEHERE).
Good luck,
daemox