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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think this is a great idea. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>However, I think that if you wanted to build a
*business* then a really great forward would be to try and build into the price
some slack to either "pay" developers for new feature requests, or perhaps just
to effectively offer a "licence" cost back to help fund future
developments. There is obviously no *obligation* to do this, but I would
like to think that we can give something back to Isaac and the other developers
who have contributed to this great project</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Good luck!</FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=ramon.roca@xcombo.com
href="mailto:ramon.roca@xcombo.com">ramon.roca@xcombo.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=mythtv-users@snowman.net
href="mailto:mythtv-users@snowman.net">Discussion about mythtv</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, April 27, 2003 7:15
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [mythtv-users] selling
hardware</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've already seen a post with this
subject before. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The fact is that in the very last days weeks, as
soon as I've got my box working, I'm getting friends who ask me for bulding
another one for them. At this point I've already built half dozen of units,
you can imagine, no free time since that.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>That is giving me a lot of work since right now
I was still not able to create a linux image with everything and then
just dump it on the new hardware. But hopefully I'll be able to do it in the
near future.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What I'm configuring currently is a box with a
full featured linux (I've tried with RedHat and SuSE), with a Pinnacle PCTV
pro, Hauppauge Nexus-s for Satellite TV, MSI Hermes 650-P barebone box, a
wireless PCMCIA to get networked, a 1700 Celeron and a 80GB HDF. I'm
curretly using both mythtv (CVS) and vdr (which means many overlaped
functionality).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What happens here (Spain) is that there is
nothing like TiVo (yet), and the ones that will come in the future looks like
will be related to commercial broadcasting platforms/initiatives that in any
case will be based on commercial software and a monthly fee.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What I see is that this kind of set-top box is
really attractive, but for any people who don't have previous experience
in linux (like me three months before), requires time and investigation to let
it work, as well of risks having to choose the appropiate hardware etc. At
least that was my experience.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Since I'm really excited on this idea, and as
long as it fits into my possibilities, I don't care of spending time building
those boxes. I think that it is a way also for extending the use of linux to
people who otherwise will not have ever a chance for it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Being realistic, that's not a business. I'm not a
harware dealer. In fact I'm selling those units installed, with a lot of time
spent on each one without extra cost for the buyer: the software is GNU and
the hardware, whatever it costs. At this point I do only see a testimonial
return as soon as I get discounts from the hardware distributors (5%, max
10%).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But again, I think that doing this I'm doing the
right thing and contributing to this king of projects and the linux community.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If someone else is also interested on doing this,
maybe we can setup together a serious inititiative around the globe (I haven't
seen in Spain people doing this yet). Maybe someone else is already in the
same situation like me. Let me know if anyone is interested.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ramon.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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