VIA Technologies will highlight an assortment of interesting Linux-powered devices and applications based on its Mini-ITX form-factor motherboards at LinuxWorld in San Francisco this week. Demonstrations from Interact-TV, Open Source Telecom Corp., SRI International, Mini-Box.com, and Tonic Domains Corp. will showcase a variety of Linux-based home entertainment, server, Voice Over IP, and robotics products; also, MythTV, a well-known Open Source personal video recorder project, will also be demonstrated as part of VIA's “Totally Connected Home” demos.

VIA provided the following summaries of the demos in its LinuxWorld booth (#1776) . . .

• SRI Centibots — these mapping and tracking robots from SRI International's 'Centibots' project are built largely from off-the-shelf components including VIA's EPIA M10000 mainboard. Further details on this exciting featured LinuxWorld demonstration are presented in this LinuxDevices.com feature article.
• Interact-TV Telly MC1000 — a Linux-based digital home entertainment center housed in an attractive living-room stereo component-type enclosure and based on the popular VIA EPIA M10000 mainboard. It is designed to be customizable and expandable, combining Internet, cable/satellite TV, digital audio/video, and home networking features. Combining digital video recording with a free electronic program guide service, Telly lets users listen and/or burn CDs with a powerful juke box feature, and view live TV, DVDs, digital photo slide shows, or Internet information. True to the open nature of Linux-based devices, consumers can augment and upgrade their Telly unit with off-the-shelf computer hardware.
• Mini-Box.com M-100 — Mini-Box.com will show the ultra tiny M-100, a quiet, low profile, ultra-compact server that offers just about every connectivity and multimedia option one could desire, based on the VIA EPIA V-Series mainboard with a rich feature set that includes a VIA C3 E-series processor (EBGA package), integrated AGP graphics and audio, USB, Ethernet networking, and floppy drive connector. When booting from Compact Flash the M-100 runs embedded Linux that fits in less than 16MB and can also boot other operating systems from a 2.5-inch hard disk. Measuring just 1.73 x 7.8 x 8.6 in., the Mini-Box M-100 makes an ideal small footprint, low profile, quiet system for space-constrained locations requiring low power consumption and low noise levels. Lightweight with an aluminum frame it weighs only 2.2 pounds, and features a 14-key customizable keypad and a general purpose I/O port. The Mini-Box M-100 provides visual feedback such as status messages on its built-in backlit LCD, eliminating the need for a monitor in many applications.
• OSTEL Corporation SOHO-VR — For the home or small office, Open Source Telecom Corporation (OSTEL) has integrated the VIA EPIA M10000 mainboard into an advanced open source telephony server, SOHO-VR. This Linux-based PBX with automatic call distribution (ACD) includes web-based unified messaging, e-mail, fax, and voicemail. Featuring web-based system administration, the OSTEL system is a fax server, and uses the H.323 Open Source teleconferencing protocol for VoIP and serving applications as well as offering interactive voice response with text to speech conversion and speech recognition.
• Tonic Domains Corporation Urlwitzer — The Urlwitzer from Tonic Domains Corporation will show just how easy it is to transfer entire CD collections to MP3. This music jukebox and digital storage appliance with a convenient web-based control panel collects, organizes and disseminates digital entertainment, leveraging the AC'97 audio decoding standard on the VIA EPIA M10000 mainboard. The Urlwitzer encodes and categorizes CD tracks and collects CD artist, album, and song title information from the Internet for easy organization while it rips the CDs to the hard drive. It automatically configures to home networks, provides general network storage for photos, videos and other digital media, automatically backs up all home network computers and even streams music over the Internet to designated remote devices for enjoyment by users away from home. Also shown is the “robot ripping” service that uses a robotic arm to quickly rip whole collections of CDs to hard disk.
• Instant Entertainment — VIA will also showcase an embedded software suite that enables PCs to boot instantly from ROM as highly capable standalone entertainment and information resource devices with built-in Internet access and MPEG playback functionality. VIA believes that such software can help eliminate one of the main obstacles to PCs succeeding in the consumer electronics space: the comparatively long wait for a system to boot-up before digital media playback or connectivity can be accomplished.
• MythTV — Also on display will be MythTV, an Open Source PVR project running on a VIA EPIA M10000 based system.

“The Open Source Movement is providing collaboration and development of new products in areas where PCs typically have not succeeded, noted VIA associate vice president Richard Brown. “We intend to open up more opportunities for Linux developers by providing an open standard x86 platform that encourages forays into areas where one would not expect to see a computer. VIA's cool-running processor, small form-factor, and high level of connectivity and multimedia integration help bring sophisticated functionality to connected devices in the workplace, home, communities or schools. Together, the VIA EPIA Mini-ITX platform and Linux combine for a new generation of affordable connected breakthrough devices.”

 
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