"Century Embedded Technologies, a division of Century
Software, Inc., and National Semiconductor Corp (NYSE:NSM)
today announced the launch of a new website, Linux4.tv, dedicated
to supporting Linux developers and promoting open-source projects
for Interactive TV and Advanced Digital Set Top Box (STB)
technologies. Designed for developers and system integrators,
Linux4.tv will host freely available open-source software projects
and applications for a variety of electronic devices including
broadcast and digital TV, web browsing, gaming, and video on
demand. A complete open-source set-top box solution is available
for download immediately.
Linux4.tv will advance the development and deployment of
Linux-based set-top box technologies and standards. Several
projects are immediately available for download, including
WebMedia, Century's set-top box front-end application that provides
video middleware application programming interface (API) and
enhanced Video 4 Linux (V4L2) API with rich features such as alpha
blending, VIP overlay and Picture in Picture (PIP) support. These
APIs will streamline the implementation of TV middleware and device
drivers. In addition, the web site also includes an collection of
technical documentation for National's Geode? hardware and
platforms, video standards and source code.
The software available on Linux4.tv will be designed for
National's Geode SP1SC10 demonstration and development platform.
Based on a National Geode SC1200 processor, the Geode SP1SC10
includes a full set of multimedia functions, peripheral and network
interfaces and two PCI expansion slots. The reference platform
provides an ideal development environment for manufacturers seeking
to design one or more advanced capabilities into a set-top box,
including interactive TV broadcast services, Internet browsing and
email, time-delay recording, multimedia gateway, video-on-demand
and streaming video. National has developed Linux drivers and API
for the platform that provide a foundation for open-source
development."
