[Umc-dev] Discussion agenda for UDS-Intrepid around the integration of Elisa media center

Thu Apr 24 10:20:08 UTC 2008

Hello All,

In my opinion, UMC should be reoriented to be as similar to geexbox, movix, ... 
tose distro that are very small (less than 100MB), that boot very quickely, and
can be installable on hard drive/flash drive with minimal efforts (actually, my
cd is 280MB and i still have some troubles to make 3D hardware acceleration
working with some nvidia/ati cards which need proprietary drivers).

Maybe it can be a good idea to work with the embedded team, moblin or Ubuntu
mobile, to add to their solution, support for our desktop configurations (i386,
ia64, intel, nvidia, ati ...), that could be usable if we want to make a real
vdr box for example). I saw a screenshot on ubuntu mobile site
(http://www.ubuntu.com/products/mobile), that they have an icon of elisa/fluendo
in their desktop (i think it is about gstreamer and Fluendo libraries). Maybe
they have done some work and we could use it as a base to add Elisa media center
in it, and i386/ia64 architecture support.

And i think that a better integration of Elisa in Ubuntu will deals essentially
with:
- Ubuntu Human theme (or something similar)
- Lirc integration
- Required codecs
- Easy configuration, by web browser or a plugin into Elisa (under the "wheel"
menu) or something similar.
All in a meta package that can be installable from synaptic.
All 3D hardware integration stuff already been done by the (K/X/Ed)Ubuntu
desktop installation.
But theses steps may not be part of UMC i think.

Cheers,

Denis.

Selon Ouattara Oumar Aziz <wattazoum at gmail.com>:

> Hello Loic,
>
> I agree with you that working in the integration of the Media Center
> into Ubuntu should come prior to the Ubuntu Media Center distro ( at
> least with the actual development force). But we can still do both in
> parallel if some are interested in developing on either one or the
> other of the project. But each project shouldn't block the progress of
> the other.
>
> Now, there is one question I have :
> *What do you mean an integration of the Media Center into Ubuntu ?*
>  If you take the actual Elisa, I think (beside the lacks of some
> features as stated by Arnaud) it is well integrated in Ubuntu. I mean
> you can install it from the official repository, you can launch it via
> an menu entry ... So, in fact, we need a definition of what is the
> meaning of well integrated in Ubuntu, then set some goals to be
> reached.
>
> As a note, if integrating the Media Center in to the live CD is a goal
> to be reached, then the mail from Denis :
> <quote>
> Actually, in my attempt to make an Ubuntu derivative with Elisa embedded in
> it
> (see UMC project), i can't get under 300MB for the Live-CD (with only the
> required stuff to make Elisa working, no desktop features like office,
> drawing
> ...), till Elisa will need X11 to run.
> </quote>
> is a good starting point.
>
> Then if there is no solution to this *size* issue above, we won't be
> able to ship Elisa in the Live CD, and we'll need to focus on the UMC
> distro version to be able to ship a UMC CD .
>
> Best Regards
> wattazoum
>
> 2008/4/24, Loïc Dardant <loic.dardant at gmail.com>:
> > Hi everybody,
> >
> > I'm still in activity, and I'm interested for the UDS. Unluckily, I'm
> > student and I must attend classes during may.
> >
> > For UMC, I work for the Lirc part, as said Arnaud on the namepsace and hal
> > parts. But I'm always interested to do some other work (for example finish
> > the elisa lirc plugin, if it's still needed).
> >
> > For UMC, I think the project is maybe too big for a beginning. An
> > integration on ubuntu should be a start point for us. The creation of a new
> > flavor of ubuntu should be delay in my opinion, because we must concentrate
> > the current force on a smaller project, like elisa integration.
> >
> > It can be a good idea to develop this integration during (or before with
> > some of us who can't attend UDS) the UDS and create strike force with the
> > current UMC guys and everyone motivated.
> >
> > What do you think of that ?
> >
> >
> > 2008/4/23 Arnaud Quette <aquette.dev at gmail.com>:
> >
> > > Hi Alessandro, Florian, the UMC Team and u-devel,
> > >
> > > I should have stepped up for long to announce this on the UMC mailing
> > list.
> > >
> > > I hereby resign of my position of UMC Team leader. Running a community
> > > and such an effort requires more energy and time that I can give to
> > > this specific task. And this project really needs someone dedicated to
> > > run it and manage the many people willing to help.
> > >
> > > Note that I'm already running an important community (Network UPS
> > > Tools) and many related projects and packages, which requires my
> > > attention. Moreover, real life has caught me in many ways.
> > >
> > > This will allow me to give the tiny bit of time remaining to the
> > > important task of improving LIRC (standardized key namespace and HAL
> > > support), which will benefit back to UMC and other Media Center
> > > solutions. I'm still unsure about the debs maintenance since I only
> > > had time for coherence (thanks and sorry Lool)
> > >
> > > A word about Elisa : this is the most promising MC solution out there!
> > > kudos to the Fluendo team.
> > > But though I'm persuaded that it's the solution for UMC in the long
> > > run, it still lacks some feature completion. So some alpha development
> > > or flavor of UMC can be done using MythBuntu (kudos there to Superm1,
> > > along with the Dell job ;-), or XBMC.
> > > I don't know the state of the current HH packages, but Fluendo should
> > > still provide some working ones: http://elisa.fluendo.com/
> > >
> > > A word about UMC:
> > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuMediaCenterTeam
> > > A lot of work has already been achieved, based on Elisa, on the
> > > specifications, development, artwork and packaging. Even some things
> > > have been done on the liveCD creation. So the path isn't long to a
> > > releasable solution to the public.
> > >
> > > I'm obviously willing to help any people filling brave enough, and
> > > having the right profile, to take over this charge. And I hope this
> > > will be in time for UDS...
> > > don't hesitate if you have questions, I'm still surfacing for a few days
> > ;-)
> > >
> > > 2008/4/22, Alessandro Decina <alessandro.d at gmail.com>:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > Hi,
> > > >
> > > >  We would like to discuss the integration of a default media center
> > solution
> > > >  in the Ubuntu desktop at the Ubuntu Developer Summit for the Intrepid
> > Ibex.
> > > >
> > > >  The goal is to give Ubuntu users an out of the box, easy to use,
> > > >  well integrated and appealing multimedia application allowing them to
> > enjoy
> > > >  their multimedia content.
> > > >
> > > >  Competing desktops such as Mac OS/X provide their users with an
> > > >  immediate solution
> > > >  to browse their content and retrieve content from the Internet in a
> > very visual,
> > > >  intuitive and beautiful user interface. This is a fundamental part of
> > > >  the end user
> > > >  experience and makes a big difference in the overall feeling of the
> > desktop.
> > > >
> > > >  Major key elements towards success are:
> > > >  - giving users a both usable and very attractive user interface
> > > >  - perfect integration with the user's desktop (cross-application
> > > >  interoperability,
> > > >   visual integration, etc.)
> > > >  - it should work out of the box
> > > >
> > > >  Members of the Elisa media center team and of the Ubuntu media center
> > team are
> > > >  willing to attend the Ubuntu developer summit for the Intrepid Ibex in
> > order to
> > > >  gather around a specification. The basic idea is to take the Elisa
> > media center
> > > >  and make the necessary adaptation to fit all the use cases that will
> > > >  be discussed.
> > > >  Elisa has already an interesting UI and comes with an extensible
> > framework
> > > >  that would ease the task by an order of magnitude.
> > > >
> > > >  A specification has been created [1] and is in a drafting state at the
> > > >  moment. Anyone
> > > >  is welcome to participate.
> > > >
> > > >  An important and very practical point is that we would like to know
> who
> > is
> > > >  interested in discussing it at UDS-Intrepid and on what days so that
> we
> > can book
> > > >  plane tickets and so on.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >  Have a nice day,
> > > >
> > > >  Alessandro Decina
> > > >  Florian Boucault
> > > >
> > > >  [1]
> > https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/elisa-integration
> > > >
> > >
> > > cheers,
> > > Arnaud
> > > --
> > > Linux / Unix Expert R&D - MGE Office Protection Systems -
> > http://www.mgeops.com
> > > Network UPS Tools (NUT) Project Leader - http://www.networkupstools.org/
> > > Debian Developer - http://people.debian.org/~aquette/
> > > Free Software Developer - http://arnaud.quette.free.fr/
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Loïc Dardant
>

-- 
Windows c'est comme un Tamagoshi... Même quand tu t'en occupes il meurt.
=> Linux User  #354241 !
=> Ubuntu User #14794 !