Alliance for Linux Set Top Boxes

An anonymous reader noted this article running over at Linux Devices talking about an alliance of companies working together to standardize Linux Set Top Boxes. Bigger names include ATI and Tivo. There are also a bunch of more or less irrelevant companies on the list too so the hype about 24 companies isn't really worth noting. But in the end, I'll believe it when I see products actually taken to market.

Comments

Only two interesting companies?

[shaka]

The page loaded, and what did I see?
OpenTV is the biggest platform in use in Europe, Liberate are real big in Europe (where, I think, digital-TV usage is biggest - UK, France and Germany have come a long way).
Pace builds loads of boxen, and who said Motorola and Sun (who also owns OpenTV) are insignificant!?

I've worked with developing digital-TV applications, and the current platforms suck so bad it aint even fun. MHP (http://www.mhp.org/) seems more interesting though, than OpenTV and Canal+'s platforms.

What's more, OpenTV development is based off of GNU stuff (libc, gcc et al) and they won't give away the source. After getting my story about this rejected on Slashdot a couple of times last fall, I went to RMS and had a conversation with one of their lawyers about it. Haven't heard anything since.

Re:This worries me

[wiredog]

Yeah, the only thing worse would be if one company were able to set the standard for a programming language that many of us use.

BTW, QNX is not a linux clone. Unix clone, kinda-sorta-maybe, but not linux.

You're misinformed

[teg]

Just thinking back to the wars between distributions, Red Hat, who invented Linux

We didn't invent Linux, or even the concept of a Linux distribution. Red Hat Linux was the first distribution with a decent package system, and overtook the previous leader, Slackware. And Slackware wasn't the first one either... it replaced SLS as the leader earlier.

and brought it to the marketplace, has their own proprietary code contained within the source

That's not correct - our kernels don't contain proprietary code. The only proprietary code in Red Hat Linux is netscape 4.x, which we intend to replace with mozilla (already included, the question is when we can drop netscape 4.x without users complaining too much). Our kernels come with full source code - and if you look in the SRPM, you'll find all the patches nicely separated and categorized.

Why do you think that they give pre-compiled kernels?

So we can be sure that the kernels are working and tested, and compiled with a known good toolchain, to name two reasons.

Damn...

[CraigoFL]

The one company I wanted to be on that list, Nokia, isn't there. Nokia's coming out with a very cool looking Linux set-top box called the Media Terminal.

There's been no less than 5 Slashdot articles on this new box:
Nokia and Intel to make Linux-based Set-Top Box
Nokia and Loki Together on Linux Terminal
Nokia Media Terminal
Nokia's $400 Linux Terminal For The Masses
Nokia's Linux Based Xbox Competitor

It does lots of cool stuff: PVR (Personal Video Recorder, a la TiVo), MP3, web browsing, even games, and it'll probably be easily hackable too. It should be out sometime in the fall, and I'm really looking forward to it.

More or less irrelevant?

[91degrees]

• Motorola - Major semiconductor corporation. Large range of CPU's
• Pace Micro Technology - Major STB manufacturer.
• STMicroelectronics - Huge semiconductor giant who make internals for many types of STB
• Sun Microsystems - A corporation that has server operating systems as a primary focus.

I wouldn't really say these companies were that irrelevant. They are certainly more important than TiVo and ATI.