[an error occurred while processing this directive] February 23rd, 2003 - Year of the Fish

Hey, folks! I just got back from Chicago, where I signed an agreement with Digital Innovations, creators and producers of the Neuros Digital Audio Computer.

What does this mean?

It means Vorbis support for a portable player. It means Linux interoperability for a portable player that's supported by the manufacturer, not an after-market hack supported by some guy in Johannesburg with a dialup connection and a copy of emacs. It means that you'll be able to go out and buy a portable audio device that will play Vorbis and support Linux at your local CompUSA.

How cool is that?

We've got a lot of work to do. The Neuros hits the street on March 1, and we'll have Vorbis playback and Linux support rolling out for it in late May. Here's a little information on what's coming:

Positron

Positron will be the Linux synchronization manager, written by the one-and-only Stan Seibert. You may remember Stan from his Oscar-winning performance as the author of applications like ogg123 and the eponymous libao. It'll be command-line based, very simple and easy to use, but he's also working on a few surprises.

NeuRosetta

NeuRosetta is the firmware we're writing for the Neuros, under the firm-yet-sleepless hand of Christopher 'Monty' Montgomery. You probably know Monty as the guy who came up with this whole 'Ogg' and 'Vorbis' business in the first place. NeuRosetta will be available as a quick-and-easy firmware upgrade that you'll be able to flash onto the device for some sweet, sweet portable Vorbis love.

NeuRosetta will also have its own website, where people can get help and information on the firmware, and even have access to a lot of the source code. It will be up as soon as it's relevant. It will be designed for accessibility by Nathan Sharfi, who is responsible for the new Speex and Icecast pages here at Xiph.

The folks over at Digital Innovations will post a press release about this in a couple of days, so keep your eyes peeled for it.

Also, as a side note: We will release any and all information regarding Positron and NeuRosetta as soon as humanly possible, and the folks at Digital Innovations will, too. Neither of us can withstand a total onslaught of information requests, or we won't get any work done at all. We absolutely love hearing from people and fielding questions, but please withhold all questions in regard to the exact time and date of release. If you've got technical issues you want to ask about, please don't hesitate to call us or drop us E-mail, but we can't survive a deluge of several bazillion 'When when when' E-mails. Thanks in advance!

So, that's the story from this side. Thanks for your time, and thanks for the support! As always, donations to Xiph.org are gratefully accepted, and if you can't afford to drop us a couple bucks, just let people know about us and our associated technologies. See you soon!

Emmett Plant
CEO, Xiph.org Foundation

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