found it...

For Ipad users, theres 2 awesome remotes constellation (my fav) http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=104567
and the offical app xbmc commander http://www.xbmc-commander.com/

Anyone wanting to use XBMC live & install to a HDD - heres my quick & dirty guide
networking
sudo pico /etc/network/interfaces

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid home (home being my wireless network name)


file server

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install samba
sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

    [xbmc]
    comment = XBMC Share
    path = /media (media being where my shares are setup)
    force user = xbmc
    inherit permissions = yes
    read only = No
    guest ok = Yes


mounting hard drives
mk dir /media/hdd1
mkdir /media/hdd2
mkdir /media hdd3
sudo nano /etc/fstab
UUID=0E74F72674F70F69 /media/hdd1 ntfs-3g defaults 0 0          (the random characters are drive specific - in this case I am mounting 3 drives)
UUID=22209A40209A1ABD /media/hdd2 ntfs-3g defaults 0 0             (you can get your random characters from running linux version of fdisk)
UUID=26F6D5C1F6D59203 /media/hdd3 ntfs-3g defaults 0 0

HDMI sound
Create a asound.conf file as follows : sudo nano /etc/asound.conf (this is how I got sound working on my micro-server to a zotac nvidia card)

Add the following text into the file, and save :
pcm.!default {
   type plug
   slave {
       pcm "hw:0,3"
       rate 48000
   }
}


updating nvidia drivers
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

And skip the x-config, as it tends to kill XBMC autostart.


sab nzb - work in progress
sudo apt-get install sabnzbdplus
sudo nano /etc/default/sabnzbdplus
You'll need to change two settings to get the application to work properly: USER and PORT. I usually just set the USER to the account XBMC runs on by default 'XBMC' and set the PORT to '8080'. This means you will later access the web interface via http://XBMCIP:8080/sabnzbd/

http://boshdirect.com- good stuff there

Thats all the sh*t I need to do when my linux server crashes after I play around - only takes me 20mins to get everything up & running into a usable state.

now im going back in to wilderness.. cherio

Its an option, the reason I wasnt going to was that Live wouldnt allow me to run Sickbead, CouchPotato, SABnzb etc. However I have noticed that XBMCbuntu might allow all of the above.

However, since I've already spent the money, my plan is to separate my server functions from the media player ones. Have the larger and louder HP away in a cupboard somewhere and a slimline media player under the tv with no other responsibilities, hopefully a rock solid media centre.

they do run on live - swap shells with ctrl 1 to 4 & startx for linux gui

How has the case been addictweb? I'm looking at ditching my AppleTV Gen 1 with Broadcom card to get more than just XBMC running on it.

Does the included remote control work well with XBMC? Also, you mentioned cooling. I'll be putting this into my cupboard, never to be seen again and it does get a bit warm in there so do you reckon it might be worth looking at cooler running components?

After getting dd-wrt working on an old WRT54G I had lying about I have funds hanging about for either my home cinema experience or a tablet pc. Not sure which to go with just yet.