n3wt0n!

I’m going to make this as simple as possible. I’ll even stay away from the “command line” until it makes sense to use it.

First, add the repository to your software sources file. The repository can be found at Launchpad, I found it by searching for PPA XBMC jaunty from the site’s search function. The two XBMC repositories for Jaunty are

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/jaunty-ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/jaunty-ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

But we’re mostly interested in that first one (repository). Highlight and copy the first line so we can add it to our repositories. Open up the Sources manager

System > Administration > Software Sources

Then click the Third-Party Software tab. Click Add at the bottom left of the window and paste in the repository that you copied previously.

Next we need to Authenticate the repository so that it shows up in the system’s list of software that we can install. To do this, click the Authentication tab in that software sources window.

In order to authenticate, we need to import the XBMC key file for Jaunty. The public key, like the link to the repository itself, can be found on Launchpad. You might notice on the XBMC-Jaunty launchpad page the following line:

This repository is signed with 1024R/9317790E OpenPGP key.

The public key is found by first clicking that link. You’ll be presented with another link on a line like the following:

sig  sig3  9317790E 2009-04-04 ...

Click the first link to be taken to the repository’s public key. You need to copy everything below the heading. Everything includes

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

and the block of characters in the middle, all the way to the end of

-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

After that has been copied, create a file and paste the block into it. The name of the file doesn’t matter as you only need the file for another minute.

After the key has been pasted into the file, go back to Authentication tab of the Software Sources window. At the bottom left of the window is the Import Key File… button. Click it. Navigate to and select the key file you just created. Click OK.

You should now see the XBMC key information in the Trusted software providers window. That’s it for setting up the repository. Just click Close and you’ll be prompted to update the system’s available software listing.

To install, just go through the steps you would regularly to install software. Personally, I prefer to run the command from a shell.

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install xbmc

If you haven’t already done so, you can now delete the XBMC launchpad key.

Note: If you are using an ATI video card, you may need to install the ATI video card drivers from the ATI site. This is evident when you go to run XBMC and a window flashes and disappears.
It appears now that, in the updates leading up to but not necessarily including today, ATI video cards will now work properly with XBMC and no longer cause it to crash.