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Build Your Own Set Top Box
Kon writes "There is a lot of talk lately about how Divx and other type codecs will spawn a new industry upsurge in the manufacturing of player hardware. But what is the purpose of buying hardware when you can build your own? The only limitation is the software, but projects like Media-BOX and the Divx Project will hopefully change this ;-). And why stop with Divx, when you could potentially use this cheap home-made box to handle everything from games to HDTV (via HD tuner board) to Mp3s? Food for thought." Media-Box is Windows only, but its a long ways along. And that divx site, well, I can't read it. But this stuff is looking really excellent. I'm still itching for the Linux equivelant. I wrote a decent MP3 wrapper, but still want the online browser/tivo/mp3/dvd box. Its inevitable, but it won't happen soon enough.
Ok, first off you're going to need some sand. Lots of sand. .18 microns or below. You may have to try a few times to get this right.
Next get some bauxite ore and some copper ore. We're going to use aluminum interconnects, so the copper will only be used for the motherboard.
First off, take the sand and use it to form a silicon wafer 12 inches in diameter. (Note, previous versions of this howto specified 8 inch wafers - these will work, but your cost/chip will be much higher.
Next, purify the bauxite ore to create an ingot of pure alluminum.
Ok, now we're ready to create the general purpose microprocessor at the heart of our set top box. Using the alluminum, the wafer, a magnifying glass and a laser pointer, create a 6 issue wide superscalar 64 bit microprocessor with at least 256 KB of l2 cache. For best results, try to keep the feature size at
Be sure to have a very clean environment for this as microprocessor cores are very succeptible to dust. Your garage is not suitable unless you give it a thorough cleaning first.
Now that you have the microprocessor, the next step is to package it. It is important to use a pin grid array rather than a ball grid array as you may wish to upgrade the processor later.
*rest of guide clipped for space reasons, but you can get the latest version from the linux documentation project.*
--Shoeboy
P3-600
Abit BE-6
256MB PC-100
WD 40GB HDD
3Com 3C905B Fast Ethernet Adapter
ATI AIW Radeon DDR
Sound Blaster Live! MP3+
Philips MMS205 Speaker System (not the best I know)
Generic 4x DVD
Philips 4x CD-RW
Wireless Multimedia ready Keyboard (CompUSA speacial)
Logitech Optical wheel mouse
Windows 98SE (shut up)
Here's the kicker.......
3M MP7730 DLP Projector!
The AIW Radeon gives me the PVR features of the setop box. It also uses the Gemstar guide info that comes in with the cable signal to give me an onscreen guide, effortless recording and Reminders. The DVD is self explanatory, I hope. The Radeon does DVD playback wonderfully and The 3D performance is spectacular!
This little ever changing beauty is connected to a 240GB Media server running Linux 2.4 that's in the bedroom, as well as a fast internet connection. The setup is awesome. All my friends were at my digs sunday for the game and the thing had not one problem. We sometimes get together on weekends, get stoned and cruise Atomfilms and other broadband content sites (Yahoo's broadcast.com has been broken for months and that sucks).
I like it.
Hi,
I've been hunting high and low for a decent, small box-sized PC-compatible computer for about a year now. Trouble is, here in Germany it is close to impossible to get one unless you are willing to pay about 3 to 4 times the price of a normal computer with similar components.
- I first tried to build the box with a normal desktop case, but not only was it ugly, it was also quite loud. My dream machine is a PC-compatible system that looks like a stereo component and that is silent.
- vanilla, plain set top box hardware is hard to get in Germany if all you want is a quantity of "one".
- those few set top boxes being sold are proprietary and come with long-term contracts, so hacking them is not an option. We did not have an "iOpener" happening here, yet.
- there are very few "small" computers on sale over here. Those you can get usually are "thin clients" like the Dell Onmiplex or the Compaq Desktop iPaq that are not equipped with a TV out.
- Looking at its specs, the Multitainer is my dream machine, but it appears to have been a massive failure. I tested it at my local electronics store and it had a lot of stability problems. Also, it is curious that I cannot get a *new* machine anywhere in Hamburg (one of the major German cities). The few stores that want to sell the Multitainer all have "returned" devices from unsatisfied customers - still for a price tag of 1000 to 1250 dollars.
- I once had a hold on a bki810 computer. It was really nice, except that a) it was not upgradable with more recent CPUs and b) its TV out was sub-par. But my main problem: It was LOUD! It had the noise level of a vacuum cleaner! I tried to replace the fans, but no chance: Local electronics stores did not offer silent fans for that size...
- I've phoned down the local listing of office suppliers for small computers, but none could help me.
- I've also checked the very popular electronics classifieds, the local German eBay-style sites etc. Noone seems to sell used hardware.
After all these attempts, my summary of the problems with "build your own set-top box" is:
* Normal PC hardware is too loud. And surprisingly, some thin clients are, too.
* Few thin clients have a TV out or can be equipped with one.
* Those few thin clients that have a TV out offer a lousy picture quality, usually off-centered or not full-screen on a PAL TV. Yes, I've tried several TV out cards and none of them could come near my very cheap DVD player's TV out. Is it really that difficult?
All in all, I just wish the Multitainer would have been better. It's everything you'd need: Standard PC hardware components and a clever combination of stereo and video connectors. But apparently, it had engineering problems.
------------------
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You may like my a cappella music
Dude,
it is zapmedia.com with their Zapstation. They are dealing with harmon kardon now to get someone to manufacture some.
it is a cool system. I don't think it's a secret. Though a friend their told me also.
-Davidu
# Hack the planet, it's important.
No - it's not. Much (much) bigger and already involved in the market. Zapstation is - well, we'll be kind and call it a longshot.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Visit the AV Sciences Forum, home for those of us who measure our monitors in feet!
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
No, not DIVX, it's Divx
---
Support for the Quicktime file format IS available, and if someone were willing to tie in the quicktime/windows libraries, then we'd finally be able to watch those damned superbowl commercials online :\
For a set-top sized box, I would use the NLX form factor. This is an industry standard by the same people responsible for ATX, but it's better. All desktops should be NLX because ATX REALLY SUCKS for anything but towers. The only (very unfortunate) drawback is that NLX seems to be harder to find despite being superior to micro/mini ATX for compact systems.
NLS motherboards are about 20 by 25-30 cm (8 by 10 or 11 inches). They have no slots and an edge connector on one side that plugs into the slot of an acocmpanying riser card. PCI cards plug in horizontally--parallel to the motherboard.
Many NLX cases (and industrial racks) allow the motherboard to be removed by loosening 2 thumbscrews. To add DIMMs, you can pull out the motherboard out COMPLETELY without removing ANY cards or cables--sometimes without even opening the case! Yeong-Yang makes a pretty little VCR-sized NLX case. NLX desktop cases are compact, quiet and easy to maintain (No, I don't sell them. I just think they are neat.)
As for the NLX motherboards, they usually come with matching riser cards. Asus, Gigabyte or Intel should have them, although they are not as common as ATX and may cost a bit more. The rest is just normal commodity hardware (TV tuner/capture, DVD player, huge hard drive etc.).
I have been thinking of building such a system for a year or two now. Maybe someone else will try now...
Eventually there will be no computer monitor or keyboard. You'll hook your computer to a TV set, like the old days, except now there will be no window interface, command line, or multitasking.
It'll be pure menus, pointing and clicking for everything using a remote control. If you want a box with keyboard and monitor you'll have to go to Cray or something and pay through the nose.
It looks like when he says "TV out card" he's referrering to the RCA output on most VGA cards. There are lots of "TV out cards" but they use JPEG compression.
The problem with watching movies this way is you have to go from 24fps progressive to genlocked 29.97fps interlaced. Simply using a Microsoft media player on a TV would cause studdering because it wouldn't match the 29.97 interlacing exactly.
I agree with you on one point, but disagree with you on another.
/. and it leave a bad taste in my mouth. Of course, it is well within your right to write it even if I don't like it. If it gets worse, I'll just stop visiting this web site...
I think it is important that set top boxes made with contemporary off-the-shelf technology become popular. That way, artificially restricted technology will not become the de-facto standard. For example, MP3 has no inherent content-control capability and produces acceptable sound quality. It has become extremely popular and attempts by SDMI to squish it out of existence will be met with consumer resistance. With DATs, mini-discs and DVDs parasitic recording and movie distribution companies got their grubby hands on the technology before "unprotected" formats gained popularity. These technologies are now marginalised or convoluted with content-control schemes like CSS. Content-control is not a feature--it is a pain in the ass and will always be met with resistence if it is introduced into an already large market.
What I take issue with is the fact you tainted your argument for no reason with your personal prejuduces. No all people in the southern states are evangelical bigots who wish to restrict free speech. Nor do all Christians (evangelical or otherwise) harbour intolerant attitudes towards those with differing opinions or even aree with the opinions of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson. Conservatives and Christians to not have a monopoly on intolerant views and actions, and it is just as bad to supress or denigrate Christans as it is to do the same to Jews, Islamics, feminists or whoever else.
For the record, I live in Canada, not the southern states. I am not an evangelical Christian. I my political views are best described as libertarian--not socailly conservative. Thus, I am not personally offended by your comments. I just hate it when political retoric taints a rational argument. It happens a lot on
Right now, we have a marginally stable...
And we hope to get... Try these links for...
Linux support for the Creative Dxr DVD Decoder and drive. http://opensource.creative.com
Linux and infrared remote control http://www.lirc.org/
Linux and the ATI all in Wonder cards http://www.linuxvideo.org/gatos/
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
Is there anything like Project DivX for miniature hard disk based MP3 players? I want to build a pocket-sized music player that is free of RIAA cripples, but my areas of experience only cover part of what's needed to achieve this.
Currently minidisc is the ultimate personal sound system for me, and whem MP3 players ditch flash RAM and move to 6gig HDDs (and become more power efficient, probably via more RAM), then they'll be kind of the hill, except I doubt commercial ones will be uncrippled, so I'd like to look into building my own dream machine.
Any pointers to projects along these lines? (Even non-miniature MP3 boxes would be great - they would help me in the areas I'm weak in, while I could work on the miniaturisation).
I can't spell biscuit. At any rate, that's just what the flight sim developers called them - it might not be their proper name.
While tiny industrial PC-compatible machines do exist, they cost far too much for this job. These boxes need to come in around $200 at retail.
Good luck, I don't suspect that Sony would be very supportive, and I bet the hardware is proprietary as hell.
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
Avifile Homepage
Here is an excerpt from their 'Supported compression formats':
Video ;-) ) ;-) Audio )
Win32 VfW DLLs:
Indeo Video 3.2, 4.1
Microsoft MPEG-4 v1 & v2 beta
Microsoft MPEG-4 v3 ( also known as DivX
Cinepak Video
ATI VCR-2
I263
Win32 DirectShow filters, decompression-only
support:
Microsoft MPEG-4 v3 ( this decoder is slower than VfW one, but offers wider range of picture control features )
Windows Media Video 7
Indeo Video 5.0
Motion JPEG ( using Morgan Multimedia shareware codec )
Open-source plugins:
Motion JPEG ( using libjpeg, very slow )
Audio
Win32 ACM DLLs, decompression-only support:
Windows Media Audio ( also known as DivX
MS ADPCM
Intel Music Codec
Open-source plugins, decompression-only support:
PCM
AC3
IMA ADPCM
MPEG Layer-1,2,3 ( compression into MP3 is also supported )
MSN Audio
GSM 6.1 Audio
Win32 DirectShow filters, untested decompression-only support:
Voxware Metasound
ACELP.net
It also has support for V4L compression :)
>sue to have it revoked for being in blatant violation of the First Amendment.
>However, the Supreme Court has a very good track record of maintaining the sanctity of the First Amendment.
In case you hadn't noticed, the rules have changed. As seen in Kaplin's decision (that might be overturned, but don't bet on it), the New Strategy is along the lines of "It doesn't matter what rights the constitution grants you, it doesn't grant you the right to have access to the equipement needed to use those rights in mainstream media formats".
The constitution will protect your right to yabber on HAM radio, and it will protect your right to free speech via DVD, but unlike HAM radio, you will simply not be able to purchase any DVD equipment sporting the features that allow free speech. And the law can't touch that.
This is why making un-crippled technology (like these set top boxes) is so important - it will likely be the only way to have a soap box in the dominant media format.
You might have noticed that the DVD writer that comes with the new apples can write a single DVD, but that DVD is block so that it can't be used to master your creation - in fact you can't actually master your work at all using the DVD writer.
This is a taste of the future.
We are approaching a time when the technology of cheap, affordable production and distribution could have resulted in amature content creation (like star wars fan films, eg Troops) becoming a significant part of our media diet.
In other words, we would have less need to buy content from the industry. The industry doesn't like that idea, and this is yet another reason why these devices are now designed to preclude us making or distributing content. Piracy, while a legimiate concern, is also being used as a whitewash to lever into position the necessary infrastructure to keep consumers and artists dependant on the existing distribution structure, and thus cash cows (the artists too - both sides get screwed, the non-productive parasites in the middle with the keys to the Wall make the money).
The whole thing is frightening in its genius. I think it's going to work. I think we're going to lose. I plan to build my own hardware, but that simply isn't a consumer option - it effectively means I'm just opting out of the fight. I'm not sure if there is a better way yet.
Replying to my message again
Sorry, I was thinking of making an MP3-only box when I wrote that message, and obviously a 486 ain't enough for video. I think the bisuit PCs come in much more powerful ranges, but I don't know what.
No all people in the southern states are evangelical bigots who wish to restrict free speech. Nor do all Christians (evangelical or otherwise) harbour intolerant attitudes towards those with differing opinions or even aree with the opinions of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson. Conservatives and Christians to not have a monopoly on intolerant views and actions, and it is just as bad to supress or denigrate Christans as it is to do the same to Jews, Islamics, feminists or whoever else.
I'm not making any of these claims. You are.
Trust me, I just re-read what I wrote. It was an example. Nothing more, nothing less.
If I had suggested that there was some central server at UC Berkeley intended to censor all anti-liberal programming, would you have called me a liberophobe?
Lighten up.
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
Any particular reason you do that? The folks who hang out at the AV Sciences Forum web site can easily afford stand-alone DVD players, and choose to build home theater PCs. I consult with a high-end audio-video dealership, I go to all the trade shows like CES and CEDIA and I can assure you - a good software DVD player in a well-assembled PC delivers a better picture than any stand-alone player currently on the market (there are some pieces in prototype form that may change that when they are released).
Use software player, like WinDVD 2000 or PowerDVD, through a GeForce2 MX video card & PowerStrip scaling the picture up to the "sweet spot" of a front projector. Run it at 72 or 96 or even 120 hz to multiply the 24 fps of a film-based DVD to avoid 3:2 pull-down artifacts.
Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I wouldn't use a stand-alone DVD player if you paid me.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
I need a big boy displaying my movies.
Aaaargh! The image of Arnold Schwarzenegger holding up your DVD shelf is permanently etched into my mind! I think I need professional help!
From the Tivo Hacking FAQ:
PureDiva: Software only bundled with complete PC's. http://www.purediva.com
Ligos: Windows based PTV. http://www.ligos.com/news/pr_timeshift.html
PowerVCR: Windows based VCR. http://www.cyberlink.com.tw/english/products/power vcr2/powervcr2.asp
WinVCR: Windows based VCR. http://www.cinax.com/Products/winvcr.html
SnapStream: Windows based PTV (freeware and commercial version). http://www.snapstream.com
ShowShifter: Windows based PTV (freeware). http://www.showshifter.com
Also, the Matrox G450 eTV has some PTV software that comes with it for Tivo like functionality. Not sure how it gets its program guide though.
....the TV crashed again. Honey, will you press the reset button for me.
If you look at the way that things have been going lately with regards to content distribution, it's easy to imagine precipitous and draconian scenarios involving unreasonable restrictions for set-top boxes. Take, for example, "standard" set-top boxes such as Tivo and ReplayTV. What would happen if conservative legislators passed a law requiring manufacturers of those devices to screen programs against a "black list" and refuse to show certain material?
You might wind up with a central server somewhere in the Deep South, operated by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson or another such people. When people want to use their Tivo to record certain television programs, that server is sent the name of the program, and can send back a rejection message if the program contains things such as nudity, feminism, or Islam. You might think this is a ridiculous example, but look at the way things are going. We've got some crippling potential restrictions on how HDTV signals can be used. We've got the MPAA saying that we don't have the right to use the data our own DVDs in our own home unless we use it the way they want us to. Don't expect things to get any better.
Our last refuge might lie in our ability to develop our own solutions. We can build the codecs. We can can throw in big honkin' hard drives. We own soldering irons. There is nothing (conceptually) that is stopping us from developing our own devices. And if the government and the corporate community insist on continually levying these ridiculous restrictions on us, it might be the only option we have left. In fact, you might see a large "black market" for unregulated set-top devices spring up. The threat of this possibility should give the corporate control-freaks some pause, because if geeks have demonstrated anything over the past few years, it is that they will not be regulated. And that is a Good Thing (TM).
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
What I've got buzzing around, in the back of my head, is something like this:
(That shouldn't be too expensive, right?)
Then, this box would be connected to various rooms via Coax (for video) and line-level shielded audio (for audio). Or send the audio through a multi-zone amplifier to wall-mounted speakers. Or something like that. You'd control it via infrared control, repeated from the viewing room back to the box through wireless or wired IR repeaters.
What would I do with this box? Everything.
Could be way cool. Way, way cool. Of course, a lot of things that I'm thinking about here have significant infrastructure problems -- like, say, how do you distribute HD (TV, not disk) signals through a house?
In the end, I think the plan I'm settling on involves a big UberTiVo box with multiple inputs, but feeding some massively cool RAID server (that way, I can just use a bunch of really cheap separate computers with one tuner each, if it becomes too difficult to handle more than one input per box). Then use very simple set-top boxes (the little "bookshelf" form factor) with Composite out (or just run VGA straight to an HDTV monitor), sound (to cheap speakers or an in-room stereo), and wireless keyboard and/or game controllers. If I'm really lucky, I can get this sucker to run w/out a fan, too.
Then, everything just talks back to the main server over 100-meg ethernet. ( that part's easy!)
Anyone else tackling something like this? From this approach? Or from an approach I should be aware of? I'd love to share ideas....
david.
The Sony docs from phase 1 were complete - including the systems information you'd need for Linux e.g. cache control details, system-level instructions, page-mapping registers, etc. etc. But these docs were only ever printed in dead-tree format, so it's incredibly difficult for them to accidentally escape.
The Phase 2 docs are PDFs (I have a set at home which might escape if someone asks me nicely) but they miss out this important information.
Finally, you'd need some form of Trojan to boot the machine, at least until it's chipped - and if you take a PS2 apart, the first thing you notice is that chipping this mofo is not going to be easy! It's some of the densest electronics I've ever seen. The best bet right now seems to be "accidentally" putting a Trojan download program onto a game disk, probably hidden as a buffer-overflow bug which you trigger deliberately, possibly by sending a packet on the serial port input; possibly by inserting an unauthorized CD.
All this is assuming Sony will not be supportive ... and I think that's a fair bet.
I didn't pay for my operating system either
One of the large hardware manufacturers is working on exactly this. Linux-based it's a framework for other companies to license and customize. Their goal is to supply a reference implementation of the base system which of course takes advantage of their hardware.
Presumably consumer-products companies coming late in the game to "digital-VCR's" will be happy to license this, do some customizing (either in-house or contracted with the developer) and then ship their own branded solutions.
What's interesting about this for the /. community is just how much of this turns out to be really specialized. From kernel modifications to optimized codecs to specially designed file-systems much of this can't be off-the-shelf for price/performance reasons. Apparently they're not terribly concerned about the home-brew market feeling that it'll just be cheaper to buy a dedicated box then retrofitting other hardware, attempting to get appropriate listings, maintaining the hw/sw, etc.
Of course I'm sure they're willing to sell their own industry-generic raw hardware to anyone, it's just the package that they're holding out for big fees.
Frankly even though this topic comes up again & again I think they're probably right. Sure my PC CD-player plays music fine but I prefer to have one in my livingroom dedicated to the audio system. Same with the DVD player, while it plays fine on the box & 21" monitor I've got one in the lvingroom 'cause it's better suited / more convenient there.
I expect for many of us a TiVo-type consumer box will be far more popular then a homebuilt. It's not like building your own computer 'cause the economics aren't likely to be as sweet and it'll be difficult to get source-material (the listings.)
Different but related topic:
What I *do* think would be hot would be custom-program-selection services where one could subscribe and get a selection of program-record-instructions emailed to my TV-box. Rather then it randomly recording stuff it thinks I *might* like or my explicitly setting the recording choices a third option of subscribing to a service (sushi-cooking@asianfood.com or st-nextgen-sans-wesley@stgeek.com) would be interesting.
Of course for this to work we'd need some sort of TV-listings-XML...
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
The guy claims quality/bandwith similar to DivX, but the codec is GPL, and is SMP-ready.
I don't have any personal experience with it, but if I were designing a Tivo-like system that's what I'd look at first -- especially if I was trying to do real-time high-compression video stuff and was willing to get some hefty CPU power it will pay off...
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
Someone point me to a ReplayTV project.
there isn't one going per se (at least I haven't seen one yet), but all of the tools are there...on the hardware side, you'll need a tv tuner, and Big-Assed Harddrive (TM).
On the software side, grab vcr. VCR is a command line tool to record divx files..it eats processors though, so make sure you got a good one..if you would like something that is a little leaner on the processor, grab mp1e (sorry no web page), the files you write will be bigger, but the quality is good, and only take about 15% of my celery 400.
To see what is on TV, either grab xmltv, tvguide, or the cream of the crop Mister House
Mister House looks pretty sweet, since it already embeds links to record shows right in the listings for recording(you'll have to hack it a bit to get it to use vcr/mp1e, but it'll work), and there is already code there for remembering your favourite shows, sorting for movies, etc, etc etc...
Now if you want to get fancy, you'll grab a DVD anywhere from x10 (to lazy to throw in the link), a second sound card in your Linux box, and a second video card in your Linux box, and it will all get run from your machine sitting in your room so that you don't have a noisy machine sitting your Living Room.
And of course this also gets you access to your MP3s, and web browser while sitting on the couch...
So why haven't you built this yet Jose, you ask? I'm working on it OK, GET OFF MY BACK!! =P
The basic sleazeware produced in a drunken fury by a bunch of UCBerkeley grad students was still the core of BIND. --PV
Using a SOAP module to download TV schedules is not going to work. You'll just end up with General Hospital, Young and the Restless, All My Children and Guiding Light filling up your hard drive.
Celeron 533Mhz (basically the best I could fit on my existing PII mobo)
128MB RAM
40GB ATA/100 (running at 33 :( ) HDD, 7200RPM
ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder
Logitech AST Remote - to control mouse/applications
Software to control mouse is Girder. (It's awesome)
Black desktop ATX case
Black wireless keyboard/trackball (Compaq)
Running Win98 (Radeon can't output digital audio thru SPDIF in 2000 yet)
Creative Labs MP3+ 5.1
Cheapo black DVD-ROM drive
100Mbps ethernet
It generally performs very well. I use it for DVD (only in a secondary capacity, my regular DVD player is superior and I laugh at anyone who claims their PC's DVD player does a better job than a decent component DVD player), MP3 (primarily the reason I built it), watching MPG1/2/DivX movies and VCDs. It can also act as a WebTV in a pinch, though it's running at 800x600 and the text can get hard to read, even when set at largest font.
I do have some issues with the Radeon card (besides the exorbitant price) - it does straight-to-MPEG2 capture, which is nice, but it doesn't enforce a/v synching, which isn't usually an issue until I decide to compress to DivX. Then you usually need to fire up something like AVI Info to correct the problem. I bought the Radeon because it comes with some TV-Guide type software to control listings and recording, but in my experience, it's not really worth it. From what I hear, the ATI AIW 32 is a better card for straight PVR uses.
Just my $0.02.
www.Jackassery.com
You can have a look over at linuxdvd.org for a hardware mpeg2 encoder that works under linux. This should make at least 1/2 of the PVR work easier. (the other half could be done in software, or hardware if you have say a dxr2 based decoder.
[Science] is one of the very few things that raises human life a little above farce and gives it the grace of tragedy.
I've been on the quest for the prefect set-top box for a while now. My main issue always came down to the fact that any case/box I thought of made to much noise (i.e. fan) or was butt-ugly or was to big. The Indrema seems to be the answer and so I'm currently holding my breath. I'm even prepared to by a developer box and pay the extra $300 or so in case there are apps that Indrema won't bless. (because of potential copy-right sillyness, like storing archived NES/SNES ROMs on the harddrive) I can port/compile them myself.
It already has the web-browsing, MP3 playing, network connection, and sleek case. It just needs someone to port Mame, snes9x, DivX, etc and we're rolling. (HINT HINT HINT) And it's running Linux!! Can you ask for more? Hack a way to patch all your old controllers to work over USB and you can stick all those old consoles in the closet!!
Now all we need is for it to materialize from it's current VaporWare(TM) state....
but it works, i guess.
-Jon
Streamripper
this is my sig.
i've got a beige G3 coming to me from a friend that's replacing it, and i plan to use that for all my living room computing.
it fits under my TV, in the cabinet with the DVD player, etc, and has built-in 10/100 ethernet, component & S-video, 6G hard drive, and a CD ROM
this last is only important in that i can use either it or the ethernet to get software onto the bugger (i remotely control it via timbuktu from the office rather than hook up a keyboard and mouse) but mostly because i have Virtual GameStation and can play playstation games with the G3, as well as quake and UT. at some point, i'll add a fat video card and USB to it, and it'll do everything my blue G3 in the office can do, as well as pumping video to the big screen.
that's the plan, anyway..
- Entertaining Bits from the Ancient Kernel Tree
That the MediaBox is Linux friendly as well. In fact, here are the requirements:
Requirements for the Linux Version
Intel CPU of 600Mhz or greater (current libs have more overhead)
2.2.16 kernel of higher, JAVA 1.3 w/JMF
20Gb+ storage space (1Gb per imported DVD) recommended @ UDMA66
Wireless mouse (not required but suggested)
Settopbox form factor PC chassis (not required but recommended)
TV-out card (strongly recommended)
Internet Connection
The BookPC's are $170 from Directron.
)
Then go get an AMD K63 or K63+ 450 for $50.
K63 is a laptop processor, but works if you set the voltage at 2.1(MB doesn't to 2.0).
I clock it at 500 Mhz.
You probably need an IR keyboard or other IR controller. Keyboard is $100. Or you could have got the DVD/black version of the BookPC which came with the IR control.
Now the software. Currently I just run 'aviplay' to play divx's and some mp3 player.
But this is all manual. What is needed is a automatic way to detect and play any media when it is loaded either by disc type (CD,DVD,VCD) or by extention (Discs full of mp3,avi,mpg,mp3,mp2,mpa,ac3,vob,mov,...,xmameroms
So the architecture would be:
enum disc_type {CD, VCD1,VCD2, VCD3, SVCD, DVD, UNKNOWN};
when(disc inserted)
{
disk_type = determine_disc_type();
load_navigation(disc_type);
}
blah, blah, blah
ü or Ü
that's:
ü or ÜPotato chips are a by-yourself food.
Instead of waiting for sophomoric efforts by enthusiasts, why not just hack the functionality in the X-box? (when it's available) It has the power, and would be very straightforward if it were done correctly. I imagine one would be able to make it work with just about any of the new codecs. And setting up tv-out on a computer can be a pain in the ass, especially wiring it all up if you dont have your tv right next to the computer (not to mention how to control it with your keyboard and mouse 30 feet away). Sure, these problems can be circumvented, but only with added hardware costs. I say the X-box instead of PS2 because of its x86 compatibility, making it easier to port the stuff over. Im sure microsoft doesnt want this to happen (they stress that the xbox is only for gaming, and it would draw the ire from the movie companies), but how are they gonna stop a hack from being possible without restricting the freedom of game developers? The X-box with dynamically upgradeable codecs would be a kick ass combo, especially if it eventually works with DVD-ram technology to allow several movies on one disk. (all of the star wars trilogy on one disk that could play on an installed base of millions of units?) sounds killer.
I find it hard to believe that FAT32 would support an odd size like 32GB for files...
2GB is an unsigned 32b integer. A 32GB file would require a 36b integer.
Not to mention that I've had Win98 running on FAT32 refuse to make a large file (I was piping data in, it hung when the file hit 2GB).
NTFS supports larger files, but only 2TB from what I've heard. No idea what the max partition size is.
You want corn? I give you corn.
I may be wrong, but I'm never uncertain.