[IDEA] Headless mode - how to run XBMC in a Raspberry Pi but output display in a laptop

[mk01]

@mixpc

XBMC for RPI is not running under XWindows. It is standalone application with direct access to video.

In order to achieve what you want you have to install solution like VNC server. XBian project is providing it as package xbian-package-vnb-server available on standard apt repo (wheezy/stable).

Officially it is provided for versions Beta1 and later (uses upstart for starting and has dependency to xbian-package-firmware). For use on A5 you would need to unpack it manually to system and install needed dependencies

Code:

sudo -i
cd /tmp
wget http://xbian.brantje.com/pool/stable/main/x/xbian-package-vnc-server/xbian-package-vnc-server_1.0.0-3b_armhf.deb
dpkg -x xbian-package-vnc-server_1.0.0-3b_armhf.deb /
apt-get install libc6 libvncserver0 zlib1g libjpeg8 libgcrypt11 libgnutls26 libgcc1 libgpg-error0 libtasn1-3 libp11-kit-dev

and create simple sysv script to launch it on start or start it manually

Code:

/usr/local/sbin/dispman_vncserver

also VNC server takes huge system resources - cpu power - on fullhd resolution its almost no use there, 1280x720 is better but for work with XBMC via VNC (development, maintenance etc) best way is to force resolution of 720x480 by putting "hdmi_mode=2" into /boot/config.txt line and reboot.