[ale] Building linux entertainment devices

[Brian J. Dowd]

Zack;
Obstacles noted. Eyes open. Now that *that's* out of the way, move forward!
I heard a story about some young Finnish kid who wanted to make his own 
Unix-like OS.
He probably should have listened to the others and just given up on that 
impossible idea...
-Brian J. Dowd, DDS

>Millions were spent to do this by ZapMedia which I believe is now out of 
>business.  The problem is if you want "PC" quality sound and video yes you 
>can do it.  If you want dolby digital sound and Tivo quality output, then you 
>have got a long way to go and the base you can start with now is much better; 
>however, your going to need lots of money to buy in the quantities necessary 
>to bring the price down enough for it to work and you will need custom 
>hardware or custom hardware (chips) embedded onto your custom motherboard.
>
>On Tuesday 23 December 2003 04:40 pm, zack wrote:
>  
>
>>I am interested in examining the possiblity of building a Linux-based
>>networked entertainment device.  My main goals are not a one off, use
>>spare parts type of project, but more of looking into the possibility of
>>building a prototype for mass produced device.  The software would be a
>>slimmed down or RTOS Linux kernel, plus open source software.
>> Capabilities would include networking, video and /or sound output.  IDE
>>devices for HDD and CD/DVD would probably be required, as well as
>>(likely) PC-Card support.  CPU-wise I am thinking a low-end Intel/AMD or
>>higher end alternative CPU like you might see in some embedded devices.
>> So yeah, it's pretty much a PC, but non Intel/AMD would be considered
>>if they can handle the video.
>>
>>I need to get an idea of the types of hardware platforms suitable for
>>this type of device, and the software development I would need to do, to
>>get some idea of how much it would cost to do, as well as how much
>>develoment work would need to be done (I assume certain systems could
>>just have minimal kernel  and OSS code compiled, while others might need
>>porting or tweaking or something).
>>
>>If anyone has any experience or insight into this sort of a project and
>>would care to share, I would appreciate it.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Zack
>>
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>>
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