LinuxTV
Encyclopedia
The LinuxTV project is an informal group of volunteers who develop software related to digital television for the Linux
operating system. The community develops and maintains the DVB driver subsystem which is part of the Linux 2.6.x kernel. The Linux kernel and the LinuxTV CVS include a fair number of drivers for commonly available PCI cards and USB devices, but the DVB subsystem core is also targeted towards Linux based set-top boxes.
The LinuxTV project was originally initiated by the Berlin
, Germany
based company Convergence Integrated Media GmbH with the goal to distribute free and open source
software for the production, distribution and reception of digital television. In 1998, the Convergence founders claimed that "Only the access to the source code of our future television sets will guarantee the independence of content and technology".
After some financial troubles, in 2002 Convergence had been taken over by the German set top box manufacturer Galaxis AG, and renamed to Convergence GmbH. Although both Convergence GmbH and Galaxis AG went bankrupt in 2005, the LinuxTV project lives on independently, being supported by the large developer community that had gathered around the project over the years.
Another significant Convergence development is DirectFB
, a thin library that provides hardware graphics acceleration and windowing features for Gtk+
-based and other graphical Linux applications without the use of an X11 server, and which its developers claim "adds graphical power to embedded systems".
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
operating system. The community develops and maintains the DVB driver subsystem which is part of the Linux 2.6.x kernel. The Linux kernel and the LinuxTV CVS include a fair number of drivers for commonly available PCI cards and USB devices, but the DVB subsystem core is also targeted towards Linux based set-top boxes.
The LinuxTV project was originally initiated by the Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
based company Convergence Integrated Media GmbH with the goal to distribute free and open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software for the production, distribution and reception of digital television. In 1998, the Convergence founders claimed that "Only the access to the source code of our future television sets will guarantee the independence of content and technology".
After some financial troubles, in 2002 Convergence had been taken over by the German set top box manufacturer Galaxis AG, and renamed to Convergence GmbH. Although both Convergence GmbH and Galaxis AG went bankrupt in 2005, the LinuxTV project lives on independently, being supported by the large developer community that had gathered around the project over the years.
Another significant Convergence development is DirectFB
DirectFB
DirectFB stands for Direct Frame Buffer. It is a software library for GNU/Linux/Unix-based operating systems with a small memory footprint that provides graphics acceleration, input device handling and abstraction layer, and integrated windowing system with support for translucent windows and...
, a thin library that provides hardware graphics acceleration and windowing features for Gtk+
GTK+
GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt.The name GTK+ originates from GTK;...
-based and other graphical Linux applications without the use of an X11 server, and which its developers claim "adds graphical power to embedded systems".
External links
- http://www.linuxtv.org/
- http://www.mythtv.org/
- DVB-Wiki