“Eagle Wireless International, Inc. …, announced today that it
has selected the Linux operating system as one of its core product
operating systems and will offer Linux as one of its standard
operating systems for its Convergence Set-Top Box (CSTB(TM))
products. Eagle markets these products under the name of
“BroadbandMagic.com” which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eagle
Wireless International, Inc. BroadbandMagic.com demonstrated its
Linux Technology in two different locations at the recent Western
Cable Show in Los Angeles, California, and plans to have these and
other Linux products available for the Consumer Electronics Show in
Las Vegas in January 2000. Eagle utilizes the Sigma Designs’ market
leading RealMagic MPEG2 core technology to provide DVD playback,
streaming MPEG2 video, and digital video editing. In addition,
Eagle will also support a variety of other compression
technologies, e.g., Wavelet technology from USA Video(TM)
Interactive Corporation, www.usvo.com, among others.”
“Eagle’s STB plans include a series of STBs focusing on the
Convergence STB (CSTB(TM)) appliance model rather than the
conventional STB. The MPEG2 decoder is embedded in Eagle’s
proprietary Socket 7 compatible motherboard.”
“Eagle’s CSTB is believed to be the first to embed this function
on the motherboard. Also embedded on the motherboard are two USB
ports, a 10/100 Ethernet connection, 16-bit stereo sound, advanced
graphics outputs, and an IR receiver for an IR keyboard/mouse
combination. Embedding these functions allows room for a PCI slot,
which can be configured for any number of enhancement devices
including, but not limited to, a variety of smart card and commerce
features. Eagle’s architecture is structured around the convergence
of video, voice, and data into one functional unit. This
architecture allows for consumer, commercial, and educational needs
to be accommodated with the same basic architecture.”