“Canonical is indeed bringing a TV to CES. But it’s not about hardware just yet: Ubuntu TV is a brand new derivitave of Ubuntu, with a full-in TV-optimized UI inspired by Unity, and full-on media center and DVR features. There’s a movie, TV and music store, a YouTube app, and of course it’s all optimized for a lean-back remote experience. The software will be free for manufacturers to package with their TVs, and Ubuntu says there will be TVs on shelves by the end of the year.”
Hope they make a version of this that’s designed to work with the raspberry pi when they are finally released.
It would make a super cheap htpc solution
The most expensive thing would probably be a nice wireless remote/keyboard to use with it.
It seems like this isn’t available as a downloadable OS (at least not yet) which is a great pity.
I’m not the biggest fan of Ubuntu (in fact I pretty much hate all forms of Ubuntu for both desktops and servers), however where I do like and run Ubuntu is on my media centres. It’s quick and easy to set up and can boot straight into XBMC so the OS remains largely transparent (but you know you have a full working desktop available should you ever need it).
So I’d definitely give Ubuntu TV a try if it is ever released as a separate product.
Hell I wouldn’t mind paying a small fee if they made a version for the raspberry pi that was preconfigured and preloaded on an SD card.
Buy the Raspberry Pi, buy an SD card from Canonical that has Ubuntu TV pre-configured and pre-loaded
Though I guess it would take some of the fun out of it 🙂
That’s easy. Get the Lenovo bluetooth keyboard/trackball, lit or unlit, starting @ less than $30(not an ad, I just love mine!).
Cheap linux-based htpc solutions already exist and run software such as mythtv, xbmc, vdr, mms, and so on.
Another note… The Raspberry Pi is capable of HD _progressive_ playback but that’s not impressive. In order for this to be a real htpc option it needs to be able to deinterlace HD content while maintaining smooth playback and sync. Additionally, the deinterlacing needs to be of at least decent quality. The Raspberry Pi has _not_ proven capable of doing this and I seriously question whether it’s possible at all. I doubt it. Remember, the Raspberry Pi is not designed & intended to be used as an htpc, but rather a cheap piece of hardware able to provide a usable desktop in an educational environment. Very big difference.
Also Ubuntu dropped support for the ARM processor they’re using. Search for “Ubuntu” at http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs for more details.
This is true, I’d love to see these paired up with something like the AMD E-450 and a built in DVR right on the set. I’m actually surprised that I can’t find HTPC mATX or ITX mobos based around this idea, cram the TV tuner and a good audio passthrough like a standard set top unit would have.
Hell, do a high end version based around the A8 or the upcoming A10. Put Desura and Gameolith on it and sell it as a TV with an integrated game console.
Seems like a pretty good idea, Gnome 3 seems to be more suited to this type of thing then an actual computer desktop.
Unity looks like it actually could be useful as a TV interface (it’s not very useful for regular computers IMO).
Prepare for these TVs to be locked down to the point that you won’t be able to fiddle with anything. The **AA will never let you hook up open hardware to “their precious”.
there has never been something so dead on arrival as this idea. every tv is coming with google tv (android) for arm built in.
Panasonic has already been using FreeBSD on the last few generations of their fantastic plasma panels.
I’m not sure why any mainstream manufacturer of high-end televisions would bother using anything as GPL-ridden as the Ubuntu TV fork surely would be. They would then be beholden to license compliance woes when they simply wouldn’t have to if they picked either Panasonic’s approach or Android/GoogleTV, where there would be limited GPL exposure (just the kernel) and significantly greater name recognition which would offset the hassle.
I doubt we’re ever going to see a really nice plasma panel running Ubuntu TV and at the end of the day I care more about the quality of the panel than what it’s actually running for an operating system internally, since that can be corrected/bypassed with whatever HTPC I choose to build out.