Commercial (embedded) Linux is already here — check your living room

Many Linux devotees answer questions about Linux and consumer electronics by saying “we're really close now”, discussing the cost savings inherent in using Linux, or simply arguing the technical merits of Linux. All of these are true, but one often overlooked fact is that both the proof and the pudding are already available in most home electronics stores in the form of the TiVo. The TiVo is a personal video recorder that turns your VCR into a conceptual doorstop faster than you can say “buggy whip”. Your local Best Buy, Circuit City, or similar home appliance vendor may never have heard of Linux — but ask them for a TiVo, and sales folks will be stumbling over each other to lead you to a stack of product for sale.

Why? Because the TiVo is a true home entertainment appliance. The TiVo automates recording broadcast video, eliminates media limitations such as the length of video tapes, and adds intelligence to the process — it just does the right thing. Your Tivo sits in your home entertainment center, recording every instance of your favorite shows, every appearance of your favorite actor, or every intersection of those two (and more). You don't even have to know that things you're interested in are being broadcast for your TiVo to find and record them for you. No more being a slave to the TV Guide.

As a product manager for TimeSys, a leading embedded Linux company, I was ecstatic when Premier Press approached me with their idea to write a book about hacking the TiVo. I wish that it was my idea, but it wasn't. Instead, it's simply impressive that the TiVo has enough commercial and cultural momentum to have a publisher take notice.

For Linux fans, the true beauty of the TiVo is that no one knows (or needs to know) that it runs Linux — they simply know that it does what they want it to do, automatically. Linux-bashers often claim that Linux is too complex for “normal” users, not user friendly, or other similar FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). The TiVo proves them all wrong in one fell swoop.

TiVos provide an attractive menu-driven interface that is eminently usable and is much less complex than any VCR. My TiVo will never flash 12:00:00. It will never miss an episode of “Friends” because I forgot to register each episode by crawling through an arcane interface. TiVo users simply create Season passes or WishLists that specify the shows that they're interested in, and the TiVo does “the right thing”.

Some TiVo detractors point at its monthly service charge as a big “uh-oh”. Since I already pay a monthly charge for utilities such as electricity, cable TV, and Internet service, I don't view one more monthly charge as a big problem. What's the difference between me missing things on broadcast television that I care about and a few dollars a month? My guess would be “shortsightedness”. True believers (myself included) can even pay a one-shot, life-time fee and never pay again. No more payments required, and satisfaction guaranteed.

Since the book came out, I've gotten a fair amount of mail saying “thanks for being brave enough to write this book.” I wish that I could take credit for that, but the truth is that the folks at TiVo are real Linux devotees — they participate in online discussions and drop nuggets of information that can lead anyone who is interested out of the proprietary forest.

Hacking the TiVo is much like Repairing Your Television or Customizing Your 1957 Chevy — it helps you work with the hardware that you already have. Hacking the TiVo doesn't explain how to steal or compromise anything — it simply explains how to supercharge your TiVo experience by taking advantage of some basic Linux features to add new disks, network your TiVo and so on. Do books like this hurt TiVo? No more than any catalog of add-ons hurts Honda, Chrysler, or any other provider of some basic technology.

As a long-time Linux and Unix geek, I find the TiVo's use of Linux to be conceptual gravy. The TiVo stores recorded programming on a hard drive — why shouldn't you add another and be able to store even more? Why shouldn't you be able to log in on it and take advantage of some spare computing cycles? My Hacking the TiVo book explains how to do all of these things and more. The TiVo (and some extinct competitors) have active online communities where many people discuss and contribute their favorites hacks, distribute software compiled for different TiVo models, and simply have a good time. Why should TiVo, Inc care? All of these people have already bought TiVos. I don't remember the Beatles complaining about their fan clubs.

The Linux community is a key value-add for the TiVo because porting free software to any Linux box or writing code to open APIs are core Linux features. Hacking the TiVo also explains how to incorporate your TiVo with instant messenger technology, caller-ID, and even how to display online information such as weather maps, stock quotes, or sports scores on your TiVo.

The TiVo is a great machine and the best proof to date that Linux is a viable solution for consumer and embedded devices. Linux is a tool, like the hammer or the automobile, that facilitates other businesses, technologies, and implementations. People simply want it to work out-of-the-box, no Computer Science degree required. Companies that produce embedded systems simply want Linux to “just work”, which is what I do at my day job at TimeSys. At home, I just want to watch TV.

The TiVo is a stellar example of the potential and value of embedded Linux — tomorrow's MP3/OGG player, PDA, home gateway, or other home appliance may be another. Factories running process control systems want the same thing, and Linux delivers. Success begets success. Let's hope that the TiVo is a tip of the Linux iceberg — a stellar example of how a free, open operating system can be as powerful as you want, while simultaneously being as easy to use as possible.

Further info . . .

• Title: Hacking the TiVo
• Publisher: Premier Press / Thompson
• Book URL: here
• ISBN: 1592001114
• Pages: 402
• Price: (List) $29.99 (Amazon/B&N) $20.99

Table of contents . . .

• Introduction
  
• Chapter 1 – Know Your TiVo
  
• Chapter 2 – TiVo Tips and Tricks
  
• Chapter 3 – Exploring Your TiVo Hardware
  
• Chapter 4 – The Hacker's Toolchest of TiVo Tools
  
• Chapter 5 – Backing Up and Restoring TiVo Data
  
• Chapter 6 – Expanding Your TiVo's Storage Capacity
  
• Chapter 7 – Connecting the Universe to Your TiVo
  
• Chapter 8 – Working With Your TiVo from Windows and Macintosh Systems
  
• Chapter 9 – Linux and the TiVo
  
• Chapter 10 – Getting and Installing New Software for Your TiVo
  
• Chapter 11 – Other TiVo Hacking Resources

Key features (according to the publisher) . . .

• Readers will be able to upgrade their TiVo systems themselves, quickly and easily.
  
• Save money on TiVo upgrades.
  
• Readers will learn how to back up and protect their TiVo systems against storage hardware failures.
  
• Learn how the TiVo works as an embedded computing device.
  
• Facilitate the development of additional software for accessing, managing, and enhancing TiVo systems.

About the author: William von Hagen is a Senior Product Manager at TimeSys Corporation, has been a UNIX devotee for over twenty years, and has been a Linux fanatic since the early 1990s. He has worked as a system administrator, writer, developer, systems programmer, drummer, and content manager. Bill has written books on such topics as Linux Filesystems, SGML, Mac OS X, and Red Hat Linux, and has written for publications including Linux Magazine, Mac Tech, Linux Format, and Mac Home. An avid computer collector specializing in workstations, he owns more than 200 computer systems.

 
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