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While I dont work for Scala themselves, I do work for a reseller company. Check them out http://www.scala.com/ They are far and wide the easiest solution out there, Editing is done from an interface called the designer, where branches can be created, events can be acted upon. You upload this data to a content manager which pushes all the data out to your digital signs. You can update all of the signs remotely given that they have network access to the content manager.

At my last job, (a small graphic/web design shop, advertising firm, and ISP all rolled into one) we routinely used both Linux (Ubuntu and a few Gentoo boxes as our deployed systems) and Windows in the same workplace without problems. When I left, we were getting ready to phase out a proprietary kiosk system (Scala-based software) and replace it with our own homemade Gentoo+Firefox kiosk system. Much of our ad management stuff was PHP and MYSQL-based, so it didn't matter what OS you used, and we were free to decide what to use as long as we got our wok done.

The chain of command was also very lenient and open-minded; As employees, we were actually encouraged to learn and experiment with new things because if we found alternative solutions (if they involved free FOSS, so much the better), it was ultimately good for the company.

I believe Wikipedia. True Color is defined as millions of colors here:

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gc i213224,00.html
http://www.scala.com/definition/true-color.html
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/T/true_color.html
http://www.sketchpad.net/basics6.htm

All of these sights say 16 million colors. I'm sure I could easily find a dozen more. True Color MEANS millions of colors. Microsoft is just disguising their guilt with another term. Let the lawyers converge on Redmond!

All I am trying to say is, if Apple is guilty, the WHOLE INDUSTRY is guilty.

Throw it out of court before it sets a precedent!

Andy

The main problem you'd face is how to pipe your video signals throughout the house. Even at a lowly 1024x768@60Hz, DVI is limited to 9 meters.

Isn't there some length threshold for the DVI cable beyond which the picture starts to degrade?

DVI is digital, so you either have a signal lock or you don't. Which is to say, that the cable is still going to experience the same problems as any other cable, it's just that you're going to simply lose the signal instead of experiencing degradation. This link should help you pick a cable that meets your needs. Be warned, though, 10 meters is probably about the most you'll manage to get.

Otherwise, an inspiring article. I'd also be interested to hear your thoughts on some of the XPS systems (such as the Kloss KL-i915A) in your Synergystic PC design.

I'm glad you liked the article. :-)

I'm afraid I'm not a big fan of small case designs, so I don't have much to say on the Kloss. I've always looked for a big case to provide plenty of space for airflow. Reducing the form factor reduces your ability to dissapate heat. Reducing your ability to dissapate heat means that you can't use the components to their fullest capacity OR you have to put up with a noisy fan. (You should hear my iBook's fan when I'm watching a movie with it on my lap. Sounds like someone's got a buzzsaw running in my room.)

Not only do you need to translate strings (and as you say, use real live translators to do it, at least for anything you care about), but you also need to deal with formatting order (especially in printf-like statements).

In many languages, you have strings like this:
"You, %s, owe us %s dollars."
that are used with formatted print statements such as printf() that make assumptions based on ordering: printf(get_locale_string(you_owe_us_string),name,l ocal_money_string(amount)).

In another language, the ordering of name and amount may NOT be the same. You really need to use an indexed string inserter like this:
"You, %1, owe us %2 dollars." This way a localized string could have %2 first, then %1.

In Scala (http://www.scala.com/) we handled it this way. Very effective (so far as it goes).

Another important thing: French is not just French, English is not just English. There's US English and British English; French-Canadian and French, etc. And that's ignoring things like date ordering, monetary issues, etc.

You can also use DVI repeaters to chain together copper wire cables with no signal loss whatsoever, or use fiber optic cables to achieve cable lengths measured in miles.

Take a look at Scala, it's exactly what you need. If you can get your hands on an older version, you won't need anything more than a Pentium or Pentium 2.

...when you heard amiga you were thinking "multimedia" before that term became a buzzword on a 486PC that had a cdrom.

Interesting side note: the term "multi-media" is in fact a trade mark, much like "Ping-Pong". It was first used as the name of the presentation program Scala MultiMedia, for the Amiga of course. One of the slickest presentation programs ever designed, in fact it still slaughters Powerpoint even on a 7.14 MHz A500...

They've since migrated to PC, check it out a www.scala.com. Try doing a site search for "Amiga"... They still write about it and somewhat support it (kudos to them!)