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A Sony Camera Running Linux
Posted by
kdawson
on Tue Jan 13, 2009 01:28 PM
from the answer-is-yes dept.
from the answer-is-yes dept.
jonr writes "At the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show, Sony presented the new camera from its Cyber-shot product line. The DSC-G3 comes with a Zeiss lens with 4x zoom, a large 3.5" touch display, and 4GB of internal memory. Most interesting is the camera's software that includes, among other things, face and scene recognition, based on Busybox and Kernel 2.6.11 for the Access Linux Platform. The camera also has built-in Wi-Fi."
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Yeah but, (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
...Does it run...oh yeah...never mind.
Being from Sony, it does run a rootkit.
And don't mod all the rootkit posts down, mod them UP. As a lesson to anyone out there even contemplating embedding malware into their products, Sony needs to pay for their bit of greedy asininity for a LONG time.
Attention! Remove HARDHACK tag! (Score:4, Insightful)
Whoever tagged this hardhack...
Why? A hardhack involves a hardware modification. This is not the case.
Typical uninformed slashdot person.
Parent
Re:Yeah but, (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.sony.net/Products/Linux/Download/DSC-W90.html [sony.net]
Here is a list of their products using Linux, as I understand:
http://www.sony.net/Products/Linux/Download/search.html [sony.net]
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Can we build a Beowulf cluster of these?
Re:Yeah but, (Score:5, Insightful)
It's simple. Sony has multiple personalities. Haven't you never noticed how they sold DVD drives that had features in them whose only use was to make it possible to rip the very DVDs Sony sold?
I think it's pretty likely that the hardware guys at Sony are like most hardware guys: pretty cool (in geek terms). And that the media guys are just like most other media guys: crooks.
Same think for marketing, management, and so on...
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First (Score:2, Offtopic)
But... (Score:2, Funny)
aye, i agree (Score:4, Funny)
It would be newsworthy only if a camera runs Vista!
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Re:aye, i agree (Score:5, Funny)
It appears you want to take a picture, allow or deny?
Parent
My 5 year old Sony TV came with a GPL notice (Score:5, Informative)
For busybox.
So this isn't a new thing for Sony.
There's even a URL at Sony's site for the code (of course). I forget what it was.
Re:My 5 year old Sony TV came with a GPL notice (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:My 5 year old Sony TV came with a GPL notice (Score:5, Insightful)
Shh. Quite. The concept that a company can support Linux and DRM could cause some peoples on Slashdot heads to explode.
Parent
Re:My 5 year old Sony TV came with a GPL notice (Score:5, Funny)
Take a picture of copyright material and watch the camera rm -rf itself. No refunds!
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
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Not quite. The Sony that makes TVs is not the same company as the one that sells music. They share little more than the name.
Not true. Sony Corp. owns the Sony Group, and has a direct historical and managerial relationship with them.
Re:My 5 year old Sony TV came with a GPL notice (Score:5, Insightful)
Not true. Sony Corp. owns the Sony Group, and has a direct historical and managerial relationship with them.
Nonetheless:
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Sony and Linux (Score:3, Interesting)
Interesting that there was an article here just the other day about how Sony has no interest in making or selling Linux laptops or netbooks.
I wonder why not. It's easy to forget that they use Linux in other products and even offer it on the PS3. So why not netbooks? Is it a matter of just avoiding the low-end, low margin segments of the market? It couldn't be any love for Microsoft, could it?
Sony's Caring Customers (Score:5, Insightful)
Both cameras and laptops require an operating system. For cameras, nobody cares what it is, as long as the thing takes pictures. As such, Sony has a free hand as to which OS to install. Laptops, are different. Customers care which OS is on their laptop. Customers (like it or not) want Windows on their laptops. If Sony doesn't provide Windows on their laptops, the customers will find another laptop vendor who will.
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Year of the Linux camera? (Score:5, Funny)
better than nothing..
Re:Year of the Linux camera? (Score:5, Funny)
If everyone who buys this camera this year sets it down on top of a desk, it will be the year of Linux on the desktop!
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Re:Year of the Linux camera? (Score:4, Interesting)
"Daddy's camera's got a penguin on the screen when he starts it up!"
Something like that happened a while ago when I got on on of those airplanes with a LCD on the back of each chair - they had to reboot the computer and the screen showed the boot sequence, including penguin. No, no no - this was the entertainment computer.
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Price (Score:4, Informative)
For those interested but too lazy to click a link:
The DSC-G3 costs about $500 in the U.S.
Cool Link (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
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I just asked mine and it said the same thing.
It almost mentioned the Year of the Linux desktop was 2003.
Wi-Fi (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
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But can it run Vista? (Score:5, Funny)
But can it run Vista?
It doesn't meet minimum hardware requirements (Score:5, Funny)
It only has 4GB of internal memory.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Windows 98SE it is, then.
More to the point, (Score:3, Funny)
Can it run crysis?
Wi-Fi cameras (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember the story about Amtrak security forcing someone to delete the photos they had taken? With the preponderance of hot spots and more and more cameras supporting Wi-Fi, this would mean that the concept of deleting photos may soon be an anachronism (and none too soon).
Re: (Score:2)
Remember the story about Amtrak security forcing someone to delete the photos they had taken? With the preponderance of hot spots and more and more cameras supporting Wi-Fi, this would mean that the concept of deleting photos may soon be an anachronism (and none too soon).
Is there any reason why you couldn't undelete them afterwards and render it an anachronism without Wi-Fi? Most of those data cards use FAT as I recall and file undelete operations are fairly trivial with that filesystem.
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Remember the story about Amtrak security forcing someone to delete the photos they had taken? With the preponderance of hot spots and more and more cameras supporting Wi-Fi, this would mean that the concept of deleting photos may soon be an anachronism (and none too soon).
That's a double edged sword.
"Erm... I can't undelete it, it's already been put on the Internet and stored in three separate geographical locations over which you have no jurisdiction" may work with a security guard or it may wind up escalating the conflict.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Not really. You just say "Yessir!" and delete the local copy.
If they continue to pressure you, you just say, "Well, I hit the 'Delete' button. What more you you want?"
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It gets better. I ran across a service for my Blackberry called Qik that lets you stream video live from the phone, and saves the video to the site straight away.
So, for example, if someone who had a phone with Qik was taping the BART shooting or something equally embarrassing to $powerful_group, even if security forced you to delete the video and took the phone, the video's already out there.
Re:Wi-Fi cameras (Score:4, Insightful)
This happened to me.
I was stopped & searched by the police on the London Transport System. I streamed it live to Qik via an N95 8GB. [shkspr.mobi]
It was very interesting to see how quickly the video spread around.
Qik - and other live streaming services - could be a very important part of our society. I dislike the idea of a panopticon - but I'd rather have one controlled by "us" rather than "them".
Parent
The 'Smart' Camera Revolution (Score:5, Insightful)
I think what we are witnessing here is the beginning of the camera revolution. Smart cameras with wireless capabilities. Soon we shall see direct integration with social networks, ability to communicate over Skype etc. Innovation from the other end of the spectrum.
Re: (Score:2)
Wouldn't it be smarter to just merge phones with cameras completely? We have mobiles with cameras in them and cameras the size of mobiles that are now being equipped with wireless networking capabilities.
Seems a small step to me.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
What we're talking about here is a $500 camera, which is a bit different from the cheap cameras they bundle with phones.
Re:The 'Smart' Camera Revolution (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Will it support Linux client access? (Score:5, Insightful)
I have been watching this happen over and over and over again. Companies developing their products to use Linux but turn around and not support Linux client access. I had stupidly picked up a wireless networked video camera that was known to run Linux on the inside and made a very stupid assumption that Linux client access would therefore be a no-brainer. WRONG! It was Windows only for client access... not even Mac could access it. That was the beginning of the eye-openers for me. It is sad and annoying... they take from the community and then don't give back.
Personally, I just don't buy anything that has the Sony label on it any longer. Not Sony-BMG music, not Sony movies, not Sony games, not Sony cameras, not Sony TVs, not Sony anything else. Sony has burned this customer too many times for me to have any faith in them and so far, I see little changes in their behavior. Their computers are complete crap too, by the way. Sony once had astounding popularity as a name brand, but they have burned more bridges than my own to be sure. I know at least 50% of Japan is anti-Sony. It is amazing that they are still humming along as well as they are.
Re:Will it support Linux client access? (Score:5, Funny)
Similar experience here. My computer uses capacitors made by Johanson Dielectrics, so I carefully picked a GPS that also uses capacitors from Johanson Dielectrics, figuring that meant they would work together, but the damned thing would not work with my computer.
Parent
Will things like these help Sony? (Score:2)
I hope developments like these can help SONY. In my opinion, SAMSUNG has of late, been chipping away at SONY's lunch [and market share] for a while now with interesting products on the home entertainment front.
BusinessWeek even ran a story [businessweek.com] for SONY at SAMSUNG.
Where did SONY go wrong?
Re: (Score:2)
Sony got arrogant and assumed what ever they'd make, people would eat up. They felt they didn't have to listen to consumers or live in reality. And I say that as someone with a plethora of Sony products in my house, and a Sony VISA in my wallet. Sony is still a very good company, but they lost sight of what once made them a great company.
I was going to buy a Canon (Score:2, Interesting)
There are several Canon cameras that allow 3rd-party open-source firmware.
If this can be flashed then it's worth a look-see.
Imagine... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)