I got a netbook a little less then a year ago...and it's operating system died.

I then got a new laptop a few months ago (a really good one, too).

I now have this netbook sitting there, taking up space and not doing anything....
So I got the XBMC Live version and installed it to my netbook. It is now a large MP3 player!!!

XBMC 10.1 .ISO file (Warning: 414MB)

Here are some random pics:
Sorry about picture quality, these were taken with my phone.
http://anova.57o9.org/img/xbmc1.jpg
http://anova.57o9.org/img/xbmc2.jpg
http://anova.57o9.org/img/xbmc3.jpg

Wow, that is really cool! nice job.

It "died". What does that mean? When I hear that, I think of a computer's X physically breaking, like its keyboard, trackpad, screen, battery, etc.

It's operating system and some keyboard elements died.

Umm... specifics? Dead can mean soo many different things. I assume Windows?

On a side note, I noticed that you used a capital letter...

You might have also noticed that he used the wrong form of "its"

Positive encouragement. He will learn.

Its operating system died in what way, to echo previous questions? When in doubt, we're good at helping you troubleshoot OS problems and giving you the experience to carry out a more educated troubleshooting process in the future.

Well, if the keyboard was partially broken too, then I think a media center was a fine application of the laptop, since that usually only needs a mouse interface.

Sidebar: Remind me why the OP can't just slap Ubuntu on it and call it a day? That's what I use with my netbook, even with no failure at all. I personally wouldn't run Windows on a netbook.

That's basically what XBMC Live is: Ubuntu with a different interface. (It uses XFCE for the Base desktop, IIRC, and has XBMC preinstalled)

Fair enough, I wasn't quite familiar with it. Thank you for that bit of clarification.