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Linux as your VCR
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Love may laugh at locksmiths, but he has a profound respect for money bags. -- Sidney Paternoster, "The Folly of the Wise"
Re:Linux and Video (Score:1)
Re:What hardware/software does it use? (Score:1)
Besides the driver is included right in the Linux Kernel ( the bttv driver ) thanks to Alan Cox
I've got a *GREAT* idea! (Score:1)
INSTEAD... make Linus proud of you... go hack on Linux!
Re:windowsCE on the clio (Score:1)
Phone line. Is it really required? (Score:1)
Does the box really require a phone line? The text in the article said it needed a phone line to download program information. Is this really necessary? Couldn't I just tell the box to "save everything on Fox (channel 6 here) on Tuesdays at 7:30pm to 8:00pm"???
I do that with my VCR now without needing a phone line because I know what's on and know how to program my VCR. So will the TiVo box not work if I don't plug a phone cord into it regardless of the fact I know exactly when a program is on?
Re:Law of Supp/Demand (Score:1)
At least tell us what college you teach at (or the 'brain-trust' you work for) so we can send it in to US News in time for the B-school ratings.
You have to check Linux Media Labs! (Score:1)
Check-out the specs!
And a picture [linuxmedialabs.com]I hope you guys succed!
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Re:Who is moderating?-->We are! (Score:1)
Basically, all the earlier pro-WinCE posts say, "WinCE runs on this certain proprietary device (the specs of which are totally secret) and Linux doesn't run on it so it sux." These are hardly intelligent comments, and are therefore worthy of being moderated down. This being a predominantly pro-Linux site, most of the readers dislike MS, therefore MS-bashing doesn't (generally) get moderated down. Get over it, or (better yet) just don't read Slashdot (no one will miss you). Life isn't fair, if it were, the least stable, least intelligently designed, least efficient OS wouldn't dominate the desktop.
I realize you're just a Troll, but even you have to admit that, if the specs for this hardware were public, Linux could do at least as good a job as WinCE on the device. And it would do it without billions in MS research dollars.
Cheers,
Matthew
Re:why this won't always work (Score:1)
Re:Law of Supp/Demand (Score:1)
Re: 4. The point is, in the embedded systems world, the consumer neither knows or cares what OS is running on an appliance.
For example, what OS is your VCR running? Do you care?
Since very few consumers of home appliances know or care what's running, the real consumer of the OS is the appliance manufacturer. That is where the decisions are made.
The manufacturer will naturally consider the license fee per unit (which in the under $200 appliance market is VERY important) and the opinions of the engineers who will have to implement the software (how long will it take, at what cost, etc...).
Since Linux is FREE (as in beer as well as in freedom), it's down to the engineers opinion. Engineers tend to prefer a flavor of unix (or something unix-esque like VxWorks and QNX) over WinCE. To a software engineer, the ability to alter the OS is a strong attraction indeed.
Conclusion, the real consumer of the OS is embedded systems engineers, and Linux has allways had a strong following with engineers.
Re:Put the technology on a card please (Score:1)
?? It would be kewl to have it ported to x86 machines or even alpha processors. PowerPC's tend to suck rocks since their architecture is less well known than x86 or alpha architecture, IMHO. Of course there are prolly some ppl out there comfotable with PPC motherboards and processors...
Re:Video Editing (Score:1)
Umm...is there another kind of NT............?
Re:Why use Linux? It's stupid (Score:1)
Re:I do hahahaha (Score:1)
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt! Sorry, please try again (Score:1)
It didn't appear until OSR2 and that wasn't a user upgradable release so Win98 is the first Win9x variant with the ability to have more than one IP address per machine.
Re:I have 8 WinCE devices at home (Score:1)
(I wouldn't put it past the MIT hackers!)
struct OnTopicComment {
This Tivo thing looks for real. It appears the privacy rumors have no basis in reality. Also, it sounds like the difficult part was indeed the hard drive rather than the MPEG2. Think about it--all the while you're watching delayed TV, a normal HD would have to jump between two positions very rapidly. Most HD's can't take that kind of stress for very long! So $500 sounds like a very decent price. The only thing I would ask for is a way to expand it so I could copy shows elsewhere or add a Jaz drive.
};
Re:I do hahahaha (Score:1)
Re:What hardware/software does it use? (Score:1)
It is my understanding that doing Mpeg2 in hardware fast enough isn't even easy, although I shall assume it has become easy enough to do it in hardware and sell a box for $500.
They only have 1 resolution to worry about, so the specific chipset they use wouldn't have to be all that flexable either.
Sore Spot in Microsoft World (Score:1)
Re:I have 8 WinCE devices at home (Score:1)
Re:I have 8 WinCE devices at home (Score:1)
Re:Video Editing is easy. (Score:1)
Re:Windows CE still has many advantages (Score:1)
Re:Why use Linux? It's stupid (Score:1)
Check out StarOffice 5.1 and KOffice (the Gnome project Office Suite RSN!). They have created filters that allow you to see all but the latest Microsoft Office (Office 2000) formatted docs/apps and run the macros (including, with a little work in StarOffice, Access).
Of course, you could
Linux video editing, was: Star Trek on CDs (Score:1)
2.) You're right: it would be great to have all the same applications for Linux that are available for Windows, or even the Mac. Keep in mind that Windows began life as the OS on the IBM PC, meaning it had a fast-running start 18 years ago! Less than a year ago, practically no one had even heard of Linux, except us propeller-heads. (I'm sure you hadn't heard of Linux, or Slashdot, a year ago.) Give it another year or two, then notice the flood of applications coming out for Linux.
3.) While your comment that general consumer applications for Linux are scarce is correct, your implication that this means Linux is 'stupid' is wrong. Lack of applications doesn't indicate an inherant problem with the OS, just that it doesn't (currently) serve your particular needs. Use Windows if it serves your needs/wants. I use both: Linux for web-browsing/email/gateway/mail server/file server/samba server/print server/CivCTP (try that with Windows, at least without spending at least $1000 for NT Server), Windows98 for Descent 2/Starcraft/Free Agent (I still haven't found an equivalent for Free Agent for Linux, any suggestions anyone?)
Re:What hardware/software does it use? (Score:1)
Of course, record uncompressed, and you are TOAST. Ahhh, when will the wonders of compression cease.
(Just to note, I usually capture at about 352x240, 29.97 fps, 24-bit colour, 4:1 compression, AND still recompres other MJPEG videos to MPEG videos at the same time. And that's on a 64 MB, K6-2 300, with older WD Caviar 6.4 GB HD.) Wooo...
Re:Are you sure you want to get excited about this (Score:1)
I did read the privacy policy. I also know that they are using the profiling capability of the machine to target certain adds to certain users. I surmise that the way they are doing this is by encoding some extra info in the adds that are broadcast, and, by using this info, the box is smart enough to know which adds to keep, based on your profile. It must keep an archive of targeted adds on the hard drive to show to you over and over again. Note that all of this is possible within the confines of their "privacy policy". The replaytv box not only doesn't do the profiling, but they are nice enough to include a handy thirty second skip feature, so you can easily avoid the adds. Also, once you buy the box, they don't charge for their service.
Now for a REAL irresponsible accusation: if tivo wanted to avoid criticism of their equipment on slashdot, the best thing they could possibly do, whenever the tivo vs. replaytv topic came up, is to have someone make bumbling and stupid anonymous postings claiming that Linux is stupid and WinCE is the future.
Linux may be ideal... (Score:1)
Linux kernel changes? (Score:1)
Re:MPEG hardware... (Score:1)
>under Linux that supports any sort of medium to
>high bitrate video codecs? Any hardware that can
>do MPEG2? Or software?
I'm quite interested in the Tivo boxes, but more from the hardware point of view.
We're developing a centralised media recording-centre for recording multiple channels of TV and radio onto a large server. So far we've been thinking MJPEG with the Linux Media Labs [linuxmedialabs.com] card, which runs only on Linux. But still we would have to build our own TV-tuner set.
Hopefully some of the technology that the Tivo guys are using can become accessible for the rest of us as well. If I have some luck, this could happen, and it would be so perfect.
Controlling "The Dish" (Score:2)
Lots of stuff out there runs Linux. Some companies don't tell you about it, but some probing will reveal the true Penguin Nature hidden within.
Re:Sore Spot in Microsoft World (Score:1)
Let's see, 10^9=1,000,000,000 or 1 billion (with a
The market for WinCE devices will cool when MicroSoft begins to do the same to the RT/Net appliance startups as they did to the ISV's and boxshops: gouge them by changing the licensing agreements. Additionally, Microsoft, thanks to DOJ, is now more widely known to be the rapacious and unethical company those of us in the industry always experienced in our dealings with them. A startup will weight all this with the fact that there are now alternatives in the market to WinCE (remember, its been 5 years since WinCE 1.x was released and only 1 since the OSS community has been on most people's radar screens.).
However, this is only
BTW, where did you say you got your graduate degree?
Linux: The Ultimate Appliance OS (Score:2)
Simply put, Linux provides a solid foundation without having all the restrictive licensing funkiness from Microsoft. Besides, why pay Redmond a fee per box when you could be using that money to undersell your competition (or, better yet, lining your pockets with it)?
The Cobalt Cube and these set-top boxes are only the beginning. It may not always be superficially recognizable as such, but pretty soon Linux will be living in the homes of everyone in the world who has electricity. Global domination, indeed.
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Re:I do hahahaha (Score:1)
Rather than acting like an elementary school teacher and going around patronizing random strangers, perhaps you could have posted such a URL yourself.
From section 6.6 of the NET-3-HOWTO [gzol.net], available to Internet users worldwide:
Re:Law of Supp/Demand (Score:1)
So make up one. Slashdot doesn't verify your address. You could also get a hotmail address that you never used and let spam mail go there. Just try e-mailing the address I use at this account > devnull@procyon.com. I could've just as easily used bgates@apple.com or anything else I wanted. Spam-bots won't be able to get through to me using this address, but someone clever enough to put my domain name together with a slightly modified
2. If that were it's true history, then noone would want to use it.
Or, will history show that a monopoly was created and used its power to force people to use an inferior product?
3. I don't use windows, but most of my associates do. I use a Macintosh for most of my work but I will be switching to Windows because of all the nice software that's out for an Economist.
Like spellcheck and grammer check? I've noticed a trend in your postings. M$ software is always LC, whereas other OS's and companies are UC.
4. The number of consumers that want to use a product = demand. Those consumers want to use a name they have herd of (MS Windows). Because of this, the supply will flow into the market place.
A PhD you are not. Your bluff has been called. The number of current Windows users has nothing to do with the demand for toasters with WinCE. You've missed the boat entirely. Perhaps you should write Devry and complain about that degree they gave you.
I really don't see what the big deal is. You guys act like this is some sort of a religion.
Coming from someone who is spouting M$ FUD, I find that statement rather ironic.
Linux 3:16 - OSS just kicked your ass.
What hardware/software does it use? (Score:1)
Subject says it all. Anyone know what makes this thing tick? I ask because I've been looking for a way to record TV onto my hard-disk (and perhaps cut onto CDROM for archival purposes)? How can I do this in linux? Are there TV cards with good MPEG 2 recording software for linux? What about viewing a TV feed in real-time on my monitor?
I guess this is more like an 'ask slashdot' question..
-=Julian=-
appropriate name for the device? (Score:2)
that would be VHDR or VFRR instead of VCR :)
-Doviende
"The value of a man resides in what he gives,
and not in what he is capable of receiving."
What I'd like to see... (Score:1)
Re:What hardware/software does it use? (Score:1)
I'm suprised the hard disk is an issue though - I would have thought that enough ram buffers would avoid any difficulties with reading and writing simultaneously.
Re:MPEG hardware... (Score:1)
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Can I have one too please? (Score:2)
I've read about Sony using a modified gcc with some added targets to compile code for their game machines so it's not that surprising though that free software is taken into the world of embedded system.
Often, when developing an embedded system, you can spend weeks or months just building the first stages of an embedded system that can support some application. If you instead choose to port the Linux kernel or make gcc able to compile native code for the CPU of your choice, they you have already gained several months of development.
Unfortunately, I have been in the situation recently where I have had to deal with Windows CE and I can say for a fact that I didn't very much like the experience. I'd honestly rather spend some time porting gcc so I can compile native code.
How would you feel about readline support on your remote control? Alan Cox recently wrote in his diary [linux.org.uk] that he couldn't believe how Unix vendors can ship ancient shells without cursor control or job control with their systems. Well, I can't believe my stereo remote control still won't let me schedule playlists!
Re:Are you sure you want to get excited about this (Score:4)
I have read most of the posts since folks on Slashdot first started praising and bashing us. I have found that responsible poster just ask before they flame!
For the record, TiVo does not upload any information about you or the shows you watch. All the math is done inside the box. We, along with our partners, are the only PTV company who has no plans for downloading Ads to the box, and we are the only PTV company who has a Privacy Policy in black and white in our manual and on our website.
Now if you have questions about our intentions, just ask, but don't make things up. And yes, TiVo is proud to use Linux at our core.
Richard Bullwinkle
TiVo Webmaster
Re:Linux and Video (Score:1)
Also, I just love the support for directory links. Click on one in the File Save dialog and it replaces the name of the file with the name of the
Re:What hardware/software does it use? (Score:1)
The ATI All-in-Wonder 128 does MPEG-2 capture, although as yet ATI hasn't been forthcoming with Linux drivers for any of its products.
Re:Can I have one too please? (Score:1)
However, given a flexible music librarian system, it would be great to be able to select category groups by remote controll. Say you could select what genere of music, and then what era, and hit play. Wouldn't that be a lot easier than manually selecting a dozen tracks?
Re:Phone line. Is it really required? (Score:1)
Re:Phone line. Is it really required? (Score:1)
However, if you are connected to a phone line, you can use TiVo's other features -- have it record a show whenever it's on, for example.
Re:Anonymous Coward (Score:1)
That's about the only thing this goon's posted that isn't a lie.
You can't make stuff like this [harmankardon.com] up...
(insert your own "Linux port/Beowulf cluster/etc" joke here)
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Re:You have to check Linux Media Labs! (Score:1)
I need mjpeg compression because I need to grab a video sequence with little or no compression, neither spacial nor temporal.
The aim of the game is to be able to stream a video sequence let's say with no compression, to do some processing on each image, and eventually to recombine the images back either in mjpeg or mpeg2.
I am not interested in sound... but what is the problem in using a separate sound card?
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Re:Linux: The Ultimate Appliance OS (Score:1)
Muxh as I like Linux for a lot of things, DR-DOS just might (or might not) be best for such a task.
Re: BSOD crap is getting old (Score:1)
print a webpage from IE (ironically, a page
about how to network under NT) and become familiar with the BSOD. It turns out that this was (and is) a known bug.
NTSP3, 860 printer.
Fred
Does this thing just scream "MP3" or what? (Score:1)
It's in your living room, connected to your sound system.
To me this says "MP3!"
Is it an open architecture?
Re: BSOD crap is getting old (Score:2)
I can believe it. (A peril of GDI in the kernel.)
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Re: BSOD crap is getting old (Score:2)
If hardware manufacturers want their hardware to be available to the most users, they will make it part of the Linux kernel.
If they don't, and they provide online module drivers, people will not want to buy their hardware as much. Those companies that release specs will do better than those that don't.
Linux's Open Source nature certainly makes a big different in driver quality. Drivers for Linux tend to get better much faster than if we were forced to deal with the hardware manufacturer alone. Hardware manufacturers are selling hardware, not software. What should they care if their release specs or not? The ones with a clue don't care.
It's called "Commercial Advance(tm)" -- get it. (Score:1)
The manual says the technology is patented, and licensed for use by many different manufacturers. it says the algorithm uses many different factors and does sometimes make mistakes (which are not a big problem; you just use the remote control to over-ride it).
I don't think advertizers/networks are particularly threatened by this, actually, because if you happen to be the (rare) kind of person who records-then-watches most of your TV, then you're going to fast-forward through at least the annoying commercials anyway. This just makes it a lot easier.
Re:I do hahahaha (Score:1)
Since I don't run Linux, why would I know about this HOWTO?
I was just pointing out that "fuck you dumbass linux can do it" is not a very helpful way of pointing out how to use the multiple modems under Linux.
Re:Blue screen? not here (Score:1)
Re:Linux: The Ultimate Appliance OS (Score:1)
I wish people would get the facts before bashing DOS. DR-DOS can do TCP/IP networking, and is a multi-tasking OS. Any other non-problems you'd like to make up?
DR-DOS "multitasking" is cheezy (Score:1)
I used Novell DOS (DR-DOS 7) for most of '94 (before switching to OS/2 after seeing one too many nun commercials ;-) and I have to say that it's version of "multitasking" is cheezy. It's just a hack, not really any better than running DesqView or Windoze.
From a user's point of view, yes, it's multitasking. You can compile two programs at the same time, for example. It's just multiple virtual machines -- much like running a bunch of DOS programs (as opposed to native OS/2 programs) under OS/2.
But from a programmer's point of view, it's not really there. Think about the reasons that multitasking is useful: multithreading and asynchronous I/O. For example: it's nice to have a thread that reads data from mass storage into a RAM buffer, and another thread that "plays" the data, so that if the reader is briefly interrupted for whatever reason, playback remains smooth. (Ever heard an audio CD "skip"?)
DR-DOS doesn't have anything to help you do that. That's one of the reasons that xx-DOS went away to be replaced with Windoze, OS/2, and Unix. It's also why it's so damn hard to wipe the smug smirks off the Amiga users' faces, despite their diminishing numbers. Programming for a "real" multitasking OS is a lot easier than faking it under DOS.
Re:No Linux sucks with this (Score:1)
EsounD will let you play multiple sounds at once.
http://www.tux.org/~ricdude/EsounD.html
(And this wasn't always so easy and automatic on windows)
Re:They're available -- Read Other Post Below (Score:1)
Re:Law of Supp/Demand (Score:1)
What the typical consumer wants is the functionality. So, while Supply/Demand may rule the day Microsoft marketing won't.
The people who have to be impressed are the technical people who will be implementing the device.
It seems to me as well that the licensing of Linux would be a lot cheaper than WinCE for such a device.
Re:Law of Supp/Demand (Score:1)
Ph.D. in economics and a Masters in Business administration.
Sounds like that MS Linux job has been filled. (Story on
Let me ask our AC PhD a few questions....
1) Why don't you get a
2) Why would any developer risk the quality of their product on an OS that costs them money and has a history of crapping all over itself?
3) How does the number of windows users equal demand? If I run an M$O$, does that mean I demand that my VCR run a M$O$? I don't think so.
Perhaps you are a MSCFUDF [1]
[1] Microsoft Certified FUD Flinger
"You can trust us, we are using Linux" (Score:1)
Re:MPEG hardware... (Score:1)
>Example of what?
Pause for a moment. Try to remember that the entire thread is about a linux box that does some fairly amazing simultaneous mpeg2 compression and decompression while digitizing analog video. I bet that is the example the first writer had in mind. That's the proof by example that linux is capable of multimedia (for no more than $500 including the hard drive). When I first read about TiVo and ReplayTV I was certain they must be using OS-9 or some other realtime operating system. I'll be very interested in seeing the modifications they've made to make this work.!
Latency (Score:2)
But the latency is going to be higher than with ISDN or ADSL or cable or anything like that. I.E., your telnets won't feel any faster using EQL or anything like that.
Hack this box? (Score:1)
Re:Video Editing is easy. (Score:1)
Re:Latency (Score:1)
Re:Why not code this for a PC? (Score:1)
Re:I do hahahaha (Score:1)
Re:Are you sure you want to get excited about this (Score:1)
Hey, wait a minute; if what you are saying is true, I still don't care. (Yes, I stole that retort from a popular TV program).
Re:Keeping my fingers crossed (Score:1)
Re:MPEG hardware... (Score:1)
I've had better luck with ALSA. Made my two ES-1370/1371 cards work without sounding like I had dropped the speakers in to the bathtub. OSS-Lite (kernel) didn't work and neither did OSS, but ALSA sure did. I also like the driver interface, it seems to be a LOT cleaner.
BZZZZZZZZT! WRONG!!!!! (Score:1)
From my first year college economics class notes, supply and demand simply states that if there is:
More of a demand, prices are higher, and
More of a supply, prices are lower.
And vis versa, of course. That's supply and demand, Mr. Coward.
So, WinCE has more of a demand, so either prices or (to counter it out) supplies are higher.
What you are talking about is just brand names. If it was actually true anyway, every single product that gained market share first would be champion. There is a little bit of resistent to change in marketplaces, but nowhere near this much. If you have a Ph.D in economics, I'll eat this message. Sheesh.
Put the technology on a card please (Score:1)
Re:Are you sure you want to get excited about this (Score:1)
Re:They're available -- Read Other Post Below (Score:1)
Re:windowsCE on the clio (Score:1)
Quite frankly, the recent proliferation of wince devices worries me. There is a lot of nice hardware being made for wince, and I feel they're potential is being wasted, because they don't have a free operating system to run. I love the StrongARM powered Jornadas and the above-mentioned Vadem Clio w/ its 64-bit? MIPS processor. Why do they have to run wince, though.
I would love for Linux (or another GPL'd OS) to keep MS in check by providing an alternative OS for these subnotebooks and PDAs that currently only run wince.
In my dreams, I see a Linux distro called Subculture Linux which specifically targets the needs of these little devices. (I don't think it would be wise to run X on these machines, and Flash ROM is extremely limited, so installations will have to be seriously optimized for size). My life would be (almost) complete if I had a Vadem Clio that ran Linux.
Anonymous Coward (Score:2)
So, someone, look at the logs of postings, find out the IP address of the poster, and block it. We don't need these kind of irresponsible lies. Sure, WinCE might have a place somewhere, but it is way too overspecced in some areas, and underspecced in others. It is just a less bloated version of Win95 in the end. Cheap M$ crappy software.
Hmmm, and running WinCE in a remote control. Yeah right. Whack that 4Meg ROM in there, a nice 100MHz processor, 640x240 colour screen. Your lies are so pathetic they make me laugh. Go away, and read ZDnet.
On topic now...
This system looks like nothing else. Shame it isn't really a video recorder device, more of a video delay device, but having 4-30 hours of delay! Heck, whack in one of those 250Gig drives and get 300+ hours of delay!
The use of Linux is by the by, the company obviously found it to be the best solution, although I would have thought a dedicated RTOS such as QNX would have been much more suitable.
Re:No Linux sucks with this (Score:2)
But that's irrelavent. I didn't say a thing about watching video, I was asking about hardware assisted or pure software MPEG2 codecs, preferably a full hardware encoding solution. Obviously the Tivo has custom MPEG hardware tied into the unit -- I don't think you could get a PowerPC chip with the kind of power you need for software MPEG2 encoding and still get a drive and crap for $500.
The piece of hardware you'd need to duplicate this functionality on your home Linux system is that hardware MPEG2 encoding/decoding hardware. You can get crap to do MPEG1, but anyone who's ever watched MPEG1 against MPEG2 knows that MPEG1 is barely useful for this sort of an appplication.
I'm guessing since noone has ever jumped out with an answer to my question any of the times I've asked it on here, such a beast either doesn't exist or isn't very common.
Why not code this for a PC? (Score:1)
Re:You must not have a JVC (Score:1)
Re:Video Editing is easy. (Score:1)
No you haven't. Are you even paying attention? Let's say you come home 30 minutes late to watch a 2 hour movie. If your TiVo or ReplayTV has been set to record the show you can start watching it immediately while it continues to record. That is probably the biggest deal about these devices. You can completely unhook from the schedule. With a $200 VCR or your who knows how expensive 500 Gb RAID array you have no choice but to wait for the entire program to finish before you can start watching. You can easily say you don't care about this detail but if you want to get up at 5am the next morning it's a pretty nice feature.
Re: BSOD crap is getting old (Score:1)
At work, I run NT 4.0 WS without a reboot until it bluescreens, then I reboot and start over. No power-offs, just uptime.
It dies about once a month, not always with a bluescreen. (The machine's a stock Dell OptiPlex GX, P200MMX).
My win98 home computer has never bluescreened, although it innvents other modes of failure -- I don't even TRY to runn it constantly.
Linux has never crashed for me, and even X has never given me problems since I upgraded to Debian 2.0.
-Billy
Re:I do hahahaha (Score:1)
No, the correct response to a nasty little troll is to give it to him with both barrels.
Just as the response to a hypocritical pseudo-pedant who won't do his own research is to point out the shortcomings of his own arguments, as I have done with you.
You may have the last word -- I'm done with you for now.
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Re:Linux IS mentioned... (Score:1)
Re:I'll buy when I can backup/restore my shows... (Score:1)
More than that, though. I'd like to see a whole lot of extensability. Sure, network card would be cool, jaz drive, DVD-ROM even. But I think this thing's real road to success lies in an interface to a PC. That's where the network card would come in real handy.
Heck, there's so much neat stuff you could do with it. Video streaming, archiving, even printing a still frame. I liked that guy's suggestion about MP3s too, and while it's probably useful for some people, I don't think that this box is optimally set up to do that.
Well that's enough of my random musings for now. I like this box already.
Re: BSOD crap is getting old (Score:1)
That statement, all by itself, demonstrates your idiocy.
Be off with you, buffoon.
Their Linux drivers will have to be open source -- GPL'ed, in fact. I do not expect you to understand why, given the ignorance you've displayed above...but perhaps you could ask a smart person to explain it to you -- if you know of one who will tolerate you.
If you are getting tired of BSOD's, you might want to consider switching operating systems. If you are tired of people complaining about BSOD's, that sounds like a personal problem. Take it up with your doctor.
That's all for you tonight. Back in the basement you go!
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it mentions linus as the OS (Score:1)
Re:MPEG hardware... (Score:2)
My guess is the TiVo uses a hardware MPEG2 solution. I didn't think prices had come down that far on MPEG2 encoders, but aparently they have. (Last time I priced one it was around $18k, and that was only a few years ago...)
I want one on a PCI card.
never BSOD's??? (Score:2)
>kernel panics.
In four years of having a linux box up 24/7, programming and writing on it 6-14 hrs day, 6 days a week, and using either the latest stable kernel or a mid to late development kernel, I have *never* seen a panic, save for the day when we were going down the list of scsi drivers trying to figure out which one would work wiht our screwball drivers (no, this isn't the recommended way of doing it, but when you scrounge from the spare parts bin, you takes what you gets).
4 years, not one panic. While there are exceptions (usually due to hardware failure), this experience seems to be typical.
I saw one kernel panic in about six months an a mac IIci running macbsd (netbsd), which was (apparently) related to an incomplete/late-alpha driver for X.
And FreeBSD 3.1 would panic on boot about 20% of the time if there was an extended partition with linux partitions on the ide disk. It would also corrupted on write to ext2fs often enough to be unusable.
3.2 has solved the first, and I've never tried the second. Unfortuneately, trying to write to a bad floppy drive sends it into an endless loop of failure, which eventually brings the whole system down, and prevents the hard drives from being proprly dismounted. Linux has no problem with this drive (it gets the errors, but doesn't kill them).
Yes, kernel panics do exist. No, the normal user doesn't ever see them. Kernel developers see them, and folks configuring hardware drivers without the docs see them. But the overwhelming majority of regular users never do, while I've never met a windows user that hasn't seen at least several crashes, if not several every week.
You must not have a JVC (Score:2)
But it has this *stupid* "feature."
You can enter the message with the up-down controls, letter by letter, and it has a stupid green blinking light to signal its existance.
Yes, it's dumb, so just todn't use it, right? Wrong, toughcing the button sets the feature. And there's no way to disable it again short of power-cycling the VCR. And once that buttons been touched, *every* other control save the power button ceases working until you touch it again, giving you the green blinky back. And with two 17 month olds in the room, a green blinky gets touched again . . .
And then there's the screw-up with the dates and programming. I forget exactly how it happens, but its to the effect of crossing a month boundary backwards. The first time doesn't change the day of the month, but only the day of the week. The second attempt crosses both. Congratulations, you now have a date that cannot happen, and cannot delete this recording program until fixing it, which you cannot do, since all changes effect day of week and month. You have lost this programming slot until you power cycle the vcr.
I seriously doubt that claim (Score:2)
>Ph.D. in economics and a Masters in Business
>administration.
I seriously doubt that he does. Look at his analysis, it's nonsense, and he couldn't pass the qualifying exams in micro at even a third rate school with it.
He has hopelessly confused the number of people on the demand-side of the market with the quantity demanded, missing entirely that demand is a function, while the quantity demanded is the value of that function at some point. Futher, windows and wince are separate products, and there is no reason to assume that the two are complements.
But then, I'm still six weeks from having a real Ph.D. in economics, so I suppose I should defer to the phony claims and stick to being an authority on law
MPEG hardware... (Score:2)
Does anyone know of ANY video hardware supported under Linux that supports any sort of medium to high bitrate video codecs? Any hardware that can do MPEG2? Or software?
MPEG1 doesn't really hack it.
Keeping my fingers crossed (Score:3)
It got sued almost immediately, by about 50 different companies or organizations. It never went into mass production, and the company that designed it was never heard from again.
This is the last thing that advertisers want to see--it takes away their ability to force feed commercials (which is how TV stations get the large majority of their revenue) down the viewers' throats. They hit the designers, and they hit them hard.
I'm hoping and praying that the same sort of thing doesn't happen here, because it's the first step in going to digital VCR boxes and the like.
Re:I have 8 WinCE devices at home (Score:2)
only one, of course!
Guess we're already seeing the anti-Linux guys at work.
Re: BSOD crap is getting old (Score:2)
The reason I ask is that it seems that Linux users are honestly confused on the issue. Win 9x (with only some memory protection) can blue screen on normal user programs. It takes a kernel fault on Windows NT to produce the blue screen, which was the point the original poster was trying to make when comparing a BSOD to a Linux panic.
The worst thing I've seen a user space program such as Netscape or Word do on NT is to take down the entire user session and drop back to the logon screen (assuming you don't have a hardware problem). Similar things happen under Linux.
Now, of course, there's more stuff in the NT kernel to crash (graphics drivers, file sharing, IIS, extra bits of poor programming, etc.). And the STOP message should tell you what crashed. If you can't isolate the problem down to something more specific than "windows", that's simply bad troubleshooting on your part. Perhaps it's the same defective RAM that was troubling your Linux setup. (Most NT bscreens are hardware/driver related.)
I'm only making this point because on this "news for nerds" site, people can get away with saying "BSODs three times a day!" without giving any specific information. If someone posted "The Linux Kernel PANICS all the time!! ", they'd be certainly called on it.
Now it could be your talking about Windows 98. If so, who cares? *Every* OS on the market today is more stable than Win98.
--
Are you sure you want to get excited about this? (Score:5)
Info on the changes made to the kernel... (Score:3)
Subject: RE: Operating System used for TiVo?
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 17:19:11 -0700
Dear Sean,
Yes, it's Linux, and your timing is perfect. We just got finished creating our Tar.balls.
I can get you the exact details of the code that is available per the GPL, but basically it
is performance tweaks, and priority tweaks, to make Linux more of a Real-time OS. There is
also a bunch of stuff to make it work with our transactional file system, and other stuff.
I'll try to get you the full details, and if you want a burn of the CD, I'll try to get that
ready, too. We are going to charge some nominal fee for this, but I'm not sure what that
is, yet.
Oh, all tweaks are for Linux on the PowerPC chip.
Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Cheers,
Richard Bullwinkle
TiVo Webmaster
-----Original Message-----
From: sean@sks-pc.cs.kau.se [mailto:sean@sks-pc.cs.kau.se]On Behalf Of
Sean Kendall Schneyer
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 1999 4:56 PM
To: CustomerCare@TiVo.com
Subject: Operating System used for TiVo?
I read in a recent article that you were using Linux as the
operating system for TiVo. I was unable to find anything to
confirm this on your website however. Is Linux actually
being used? If so, what changes were needed to the kernel
to support your device? Is the source code for these changes
available (required under the GPL)? I would be very interested
in receiving more details.
Thanks in advance,
Sean Kendall Schneyer
---