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New Linux Set-Top Project
An anonymous reader says
"Linux4.TV is the official open-source website for interactive set-top box technologies based on the National Semiconductor Geode? SC1200 integrated processor and SP1SC10 development platform." Looks to be an interesting project, although since they require registration to download stuff, I'll never know.
First thing I noticed when I access this site.. "site launched Aug 22, 9:00 AM MDT". It's currently 8:50 MDT, so technically this site isn't available for another 10 min.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
Linux combined with a TV...now there are even fewer excuses for the average lard-ass open source hacker to get outside and away from staring at a screen. Although...being able to watch an episode of Buffy while StarOffice starts up could be useful...
I hear their mailing lists require registration as well. Those bastards!
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
a) Your clock is off.
b) Their clock is off.
c) It's an honest mistake.
d) It's a conspriracy involving time travel - since you've discovered it you may be marked for elimination.
BlackNova Traders
Right, but you'll send thousands of your closest friends over to check it out. Way to stand by your principles.
On a less serious note, is Linux 4 TV anything like AOLTV?
just imagine the redhat boxes will be tuned to nickelodeon all day, debian boxes to a mixture of simpsons and the science channel and slackware boxes will only work will black and white low res (but fast and powerful) 1920's bmovies. Of course the *BSD version will be hard to find and the MacOSX box will be so user freindly that u never lose the remote.
an xp version will only show adverts and will crash after excess channel hopping (patch to follow)!
Do Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You - ONLY HARDER!
I hear that some sourceforge projects also require that you be registered with them before you can contribute. They even require a login! I say we boycott every site that uses sourceforge for developement, in protest of this trampling upon our rights!
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It looks like National Semiconductor is trying to sell their hardware by getting Open Source programmers to write software for it. National Semiconductor wants to sell its hardware to resellers who can brand it and worry about bundling software with it so that it actually does something. Resellers will want to do this because they don't have worry about paying for software, since it will all be available for free.
On the one hand, I have no choice but to applaud National Semiconductor and the linux4.tv people for coming up with such an ingenious way to leverage the open source community to make a buck. On the other hand, it bothers me that they plan to use freely donated software to make their product more appealing. It's one thing for companies like RedHat and Mandrake to charge you for the physical version of their linux distros, but somehow it feels wrong to me for a company to set up a situation where people will want to essentially write their software for them for free. It feels like they're setting a trap for programmers and baiting it with the increased acceptance and use of linux.
I guess the bottom line is just whether or not they can save enough money buy getting free software to make their product cheaper than everyone else's, without having to use buggy code.
Random thought: Since all the software is free, I suppose you could just buy a blank, unbranded model and install everythign yourself. Now that's an appealing idea, and truer to the ideas behind the open source movement.
Mr. Spey
Cover your butt. Bernard is watching.
Read the GPL sometime. Requiring a registration to download isn't a GPL violation. As long as they provide source to anyone who gets binaries and they don't try to add any restrictions on re-distribution and modification they're not in violation.
They seem pretty set on using the SC1200 semi, but never really say why...I mean, there are a lot of chips to choose from, and I would be interested to know why the SC1200 is the one to use. Oh...okay. I get it: National Semiconductor is one of the sponsors.
But that's not bad, though. Personally I've had good experiences ordering parts from National. I wonder, when they get this done, could you choose to get the schematics and parts lists and build it yourself? Or maybe just get the printed circuit boards and key components as a kit?
I read something yesterday that said that TiVo (http://www.tivo.com) used GPLed code in their set-top system, and released the source code to the public. I am looking around on their site right now and haven't found it yet, but I would think that Linux4tv would be silly not to try to use it, if possible.
Their web site doesn't give a whole heck of a lot of information on it, but I'll give them some slack, seeing as it only launched "officially" twelve minutes ago.
I like the .TV TLD, though. Wonder if it was a bargain or if they had to pay a premium? And why the heck do you have to register to download?
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Really? Which part of the GPL does that violate?
I'm sure that SOMEONE will take care of that registration for you so that you won't have to.
"You've got mail!"
Damn near every open source/free software project requires some sort of registration before you can contribute, and many require it before you can download. Thus, my tongue in cheek post.
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Looks to be an interesting project, although since they require registration to download stuff, I'll never know.
C'mon, Taco. These things would probably make a kick-ass MP3 jukebox. They'll sit right by the stereo and use a remote with more buttons than a Macintosh's mouse.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Uh, they don't have to rev the software as often since it's
1) On a flash
2) There's not a lot there and few, if any services- it's intended to surf the web and provide a front-end for on-demand media services.
3) It's not being used in a multi-user context
Since you've got these three things, it's less likely that little Johnny Haxor is going to root this box by remote, etc.
You don't need to update things if they're not broken for you- most of the updates are for functionality additions/improvements and for bugfixes. A set-top box or other appliance like device wouldn't need the updates as often.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
It's a reference platform. It's got every piece of junk in it any board maker would want. All reference platforms are like this. It's not intended for general sale.
When I die, please cast my ashes upon Bill Gates -- for once, make him clean up after me!
There, you can buy the bare machines in bulk...
Realize, however, that a Geode isn't a speed demon- never was.
National has yet to sell any set-top solution and most of the set-top vendors have yet to make a dent in things.
Why?
Because the software's nothing like a PC- even though people don't want a PC, they want the Web to look and act like the PC on the box. It's also because they've been using underpowered chips like the Geode to save on costs (The bill of materials on most Geode based boards is ~$100US.)
That's about to change...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
So I guess I have to ask, "So, what's new?" This has been going on at Linux-Hacker.net for over a year. And they have a link to GCT-Allwell who offer a number of links to completed projects.
Viv
Gmail invites for ip
Well, see, the only people who are going to buy in because of the cute penguin on the box are us (who know what we're getting) and stupid VCs (who think, or thought, that Linux=$$$).
/Brian
If it's a digital video feed, a la digital cable (DVB format, etc.), they've got DVB cards that will handle everything except the conditional access part; that would be handled by a smartcard reader on board with the decryption keys- just like for DirecTV and Dish Network.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Probably competing- it's more akin to Nokia's OST project, though...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Problem is there isn't any 8vsb (Read HDTV) support in the platform yet. Which makes me question the long term vision of the project.
Right now most of the current crop of 8VSB computer hardware is based on the TeraLogic Janus platform. While the platform is certainly offers nice features and would be easy to integrate with any open source STB I doubt it will never see the light of day in Linux. Two years ago Teralogic was all over Linux. They sent mail to various lists, offered sample cards. Times have changed. Asking about linux drivers or even docs gets curt responces from the devel team. [Insert standard MPAA rant here].
So, while an actual opensource platform is a cool idea, certainly giving more features than Tivo or WebTV, long term, I just don't know if it's worth while.
What would you want in such a box?
"No User Serviceable Parts Inside". The end user doesn't open the box. This is TV, not PC.
So no PCI slots. PCMCIA slots, maybe.
Several disk drive bays, with disks installable by non-technical end users. (Device Bay, the packaging spec for plug-in 1394-compatible drives, would have been great for this if anybody used it.)
Set-top-box form factor. Slim, not PCI board height.
Well-shielded tuner section. Must work in fringe areas with poor antennas. (VCRs have this now, but most tuner cards for PCs don't do it well.)
No matter what, it always boots up. If a disk gets corrupted, or a hard drive crashes, you can still watch TV, even if you can't record. The base software belongs in a PCMCIA ROM card.
(OK, developers can use a flash card.)
Imagine a flight attendant offering you a inflight movie while you were sitting in an airport with a 5 hour delay. A great service, with nowhere to implement it.
Remember those cool AT@T commercials, where those cute kids pushed a button on their TV screen and out pops "Star Wars" immediately, on demand?
Have you ever
That was 7 years ago. I don't have any illusions about all these cool new ideas. I know exactly where they are heading w/out the infrastructure to support them. Cool idea heaven, somewhere is Vaporville.
http://cincyboys.blogspot.com/ Everything Cincinnati. Including the word 'Finnih'
No one wants it. Cables operators won't be carrying it becuase it costs them more $ and takes up several standard channels. When the dealine hits and 0.01% of all televisions are HDTV capable, the deadline will be put off indefinately.
I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i
That's nice. but not the same thing... not even close.
This is for the integrated demo development platform device. not a pc with a special sattelite reciever card that is useless in the states. two very different projects. with two very different levels of quality. The project talked about here is worlds apart from the linuxtv.org it's useable, can actually be purchased (unlike that sat card for linuxtv.org, I think I found a distributor in germany that might send me one if they can understand my request correctly.) and is a total solution instead of a hack. nothing to dog their work, it's cool and great. but when you do amazing things on hardware that noone can get..... you're pretty much making it a members only club.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
OCAP is currently based heavily on HTML, ECMAscript and Java. Microsoft is understandably lobbying heavily to have Java excluded. One of the more interesting requirements in the spec is that the box must run software provided by the local cable company that can control which other software can have access to low-level resources like the tuner.
I don't want to come off as a prick, but you didn't burst my bubble. But you're wrong on both counts. One, the US was not the only country that didn't switch to Metric. For example, the UK still has good old MPH on the speed limit signs. And no, we do not use the Imperial system. For instance, an imperial gallon in the UK not the same size as an US gallon.
Although Cable in your part of Canada may be behind, the DBS system in Canada is actually ahead of the game. Even better than US DBS systems actually. You can get the big three US networks in HD, as well as showtime, HBO, etc.