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New Chip Offers Virtual Windows Desktops, On TVs

Posted by timothy on from the and-nothin'-on dept.

angry tapir writes "Ncomputing on Friday announced a chip that could turn devices like TVs or set-top boxes into virtual desktops through which users can run Windows applications or access the Internet. The Numo chip contains a dual-core processor based on an ARM design that will allow devices to run Windows multimedia applications when connected to a host machine like a desktop or server. The setup uses the company's Vspace software on host machines to set up remote devices as virtual desktops."

17 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting Idea by errgh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Virtual first post. Most newer TVs can already play networked media files, show sport scores, weather and some can even do light browsing - all from either a ethernet or wireless network connection. This seems a bit ad-centric, maybe for light kiosks or informational displays.

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    1. Re:Interesting Idea by davester666 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Um, you really need a dual-core ARM chip to be able to Windows Remote Desktop?

      Cuz that seems to be what the summary says, that the Windows app runs on a real desktop, and this CPU only does the remote job.

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    2. Re:Interesting Idea by trapnest · · Score: 2, Informative

      I could do "Terminal Services Client" on pocket pc ages ago with a 300MHz ARM cpu. I doubt a dual core is needed for remote desktop.

  2. Welcome back, WebTV! by JustNilt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Actually, it looks to be potentially more useful than WebTV ever was but only time will tell. There are quite a few of my home user clients that would probably prefer something like this to a full blown system.

    Wonder how long it'l take to actually see in a live product and how much it'll really cost. The numbers in the article appear to be a manufacturer's cost.

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  3. Windows apps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ncomputing on Friday announced a chip that could turn devices like TVs or set-top boxes into virtual desktops through which users can run Windows applications

    I guess TVs have been reliable for so long someone got bored and asked "how can we totally through a wrench in this?", and the answer was "I know -- let's bring the misery of windows to the TV!". Losers.

    1. Re:Windows apps? by GNUALMAFUERTE · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It probably supports VNC, so you can probably connect to any kind of host OS. Again, it's better to just build a cheap Atom based microitx pc next to the TV.

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  4. Forget TVs by Zouden · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The real killer application for a chip like this would be in a tablet. If you can drive the cost of a tablet down by making it little more than display+battery+wifi, a whole new market could be opened up.

    Think about that scene in Avatar when the technician was monitoring Sully's brain scan. He dragged the live scan image from his desktop machine onto a tablet, so he could watch it while he walked around the lab. I think there's a market for a tablet that acts as a portable display (+touchscreen) for a bigger machine nearby, as long as the price was low enough.

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    1. Re:Forget TVs by rockNme2349 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Excuse me sir, are you insinuating that Avatar was anything but pure original storytelling?

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    2. Re:Forget TVs by wgoodman · · Score: 2, Informative

      I remember a product of this sort (I think by Viewsonic) several years back.

    3. Re:Forget TVs by gbjbaanb · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The real killer app for this is Google's settop box. Android linux providing: TV recording, TV guides, internet-streamed video, internet-streamed games/apps, video jukebox (hopefully from local or LAN storage), plus connectivity to remote services too.

      Add a keyboard and a trackpad and most people would not need a PC at all - and that means they wouldn't need Windows at all. Hmmmm.

  5. Micro == mini!? by macraig · · Score: 3, Funny

    So now my personal microcomputer is becoming a time-shared minicomputer again...? Should I dig out my corduroy bell-bottom pants, too?

  6. Re:Herr Kontroller in Redmond... by bami · · Score: 3, Funny

    But imagine a BSOD at 1080p! Hi-def kernel panics!

    We're entering into a new era of error processing!

  7. And ... by sgunhouse · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I see no mention of why anyone would want to run Windows remotely on their HDTV ... then again I'm not sure why they'd want to run it on a PC either.

  8. Re:Yes, but... by i+ate+my+neighbour · · Score: 2, Informative

    It probably runs remote desktop client on top of a lightweight Linux setup, or some other small OS. In theory, it can run Linux because it's simply an arm-based device.

  9. Re:typical by redhog · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ok, it only works for Linux/UNIX, but.. It's called X. I was doing this using a physical X station (X 11R5, from DEC) connecting to my Linux desktop, sometime around 1998, and it was _old_ tech by then - I had been given the X station by the local uni computer club, which had gotten it from some institution way earlier...

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  10. Re:typical by RMS+Eats+Toejam · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ok, it only works for Linux/UNIX, but.. It's called X.

    I believe you may have missed several occurrences of the word "fast" in the comment you were replying to.

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    Turning to a Linux advocate for thoughts on Microsoft is like asking Hitler how he felt about the Jews.
  11. This is not regular RDP by IBABad1 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I actually read the article. The key difference between this chip and traditional thin clients or terminals is that the chip will allow multimedia playback locally on the TV. RemotFX allows for a better multimedia experience through a Terminal server desktop or application by re-directing the video/audio to the TV or device that initiates the remote session without requiring the application locally. With a regular RDP connection the Video/Audio plays in the remote session on the remote host and the output is piped through the RDP client. Which is why it is choppy and low quality even on a LAN connection.

    The whole reason Microsoft has RemotFX is because multimedia content is one of the things Terminal server doesn't do well. Citrix has it own method for redirecting audio and video to the local PC. But that still requires the application to be on the local device which isn't always the case with thin-clients. RemoteFX won't require the application that plays the content to be on the local PC or TV.