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History of video games/Platforms/L600

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The latest reviewed version was checked on 29 November 2022. There are 3 pending changes awaiting review.
The Indrema logo.

History

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Your home will never be the same.
—L600 marketing, GameSpy article[1]

Development

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The L600 was originally devised out of a desire to play Quake CTF on console.[2]

Indrema was founded by John Gildred in January of 2000 with 50 employees.[3] The L600 was announced in March of 2000.[4]

Indrema was present at Linux World 2000 in San Jose.[5]

By November of 2000 Indrema was in talks with third party peripheral manufacturers to make accessories for the console.[6]

Indrema offered developer support through the Indrema Developer Network via the CollabNet.[6]

The Indrema L600 was to cost $299,[3][6] and would have included one bundled game[7] along with one official controller.[8] Indrema stated the system would be sold at a loss.[9]

The platform technology was named the Indrema Entertainment System, or IES for Short, and the first and only console to use it was the L600.[10][9][11][10]

Indrema had been planning to attend the August 2001 Linux World Expo,[12] which was being held in San Francisco, California that year.[13]

Legacy

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The revolution will continue without Indrema
—Indrema Press Release, Gamasutra article,[3] Twice article[14]

On April 6th of 2001[14] Indrema became defunct following the pull out of Venture Capital funding, laying off all employees.[3][15][16][17] Unlike most canceled consoles, due to its comparatively open development process, the L600 offers a unique look at the gaming industry, at a time when console gaming industry practices were relatively opaque.

John Gildred later would work at Google as the director of project management on Android TV.[18]

Technology

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Compute

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The L600 was to use an x86 AMD Duron CPU clocked at 600 (later 750 megahertz[19]).[20][21]

The L600 would have had 64 megabytes of "Core" RAM, and 32 megabytes of "local" RAM.[20][21][7]

The L600 would have had an upgradable NVIDIA GeForce 3 AGP GPU.[20] This GPU was listed as being able to render between 120 million and 180 million polygons a second as configured in the L600.[21][7] The system could output resolutions as high as 1080i.[7]

Hardware

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The L600 would have had a 7200RPM 10 gigabyte IDE ATA100 hard drive, as well as a 4x speed DVD drive.[20][21] Hard drive storage capacities for up to 50 gigabytes were noted.[9] The LSeries would have used DVD-9 discs for physical games, and even CD-Rs were considered.[22][20][21]

The L600 would have had 10/100 megabit ethernet.[20][9] The system optionally supported a 56k dial up modem.[7]

A built in DVR function was planned to be released three months to a half year following launched in an updated higher end model.[7][1]

The system would have had four front mounted USB ports for controllers.[8]

The system was designed to look like high end home theater equipment,[9] and its dimensions were 12.5 inches by 10.5 inches by 3 inches.[7]

Official controllers would have had dual analog sticks, four face buttons, two triggers, a directional pad, and rumble feedback.[8]

Software

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The L600 would have ran the DV Linux operating system made in partnership with Red Hat.[3][20][23] Proprietary applications would have been allowed.[24]

The system software was optimized for running 3D titles, and OpenGL was supported as a graphics API.[25] The system also used OpenAL and OpenStream.[26] Applications were intended to always be full screen.[8]

Games developed for the system were to be certified, with either a one time freeware fee being collected, or a one time plus per copy cut for commercial titles.[8] DRM would have restricted what software could be run to certified titles only.[6] All certified software would be cryptographically signed by Indrema as a result.[27][28] Special consideration was given to open source games.[9]

Game updates were supported, though discouraged as Indrema was worried about consumer reactions to developer overreliance on updates.[27] System software was also updatable over the internet.[28]

The console used the X11 window system, and Indrema partnered with MetroLink to ensure good support.[6] Indrema had been developing a proprietary TV friendly UI API called Xtrema.[12][28]

The system software featured the Mozilla internet browser[7] and email client out of the box,[21] and would have been among the first home consoles to do so.

External Resources

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Wikipedia has related information at L600

References

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  1. ↑ a b "GameSpy.com - Articles". web.archive.org. 17 June 2001. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  2. ↑ "GameSpy.com - Indrema Dev. Diary #1". web.archive.org. 19 January 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010119183000/http://www.gamespy.com/devdiary/october00/indrema1/. 
  3. ↑ a b c d e "Video Business". web.archive.org. 19 April 2001. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  4. ↑ Hong, Quang. "Gamasutra - The Art & Business of Making Games". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  5. ↑ Knight, Will. "Roundup: LinuxWorld 2000, San Jose" (in en). ZDNet. https://www.zdnet.com/article/roundup-linuxworld-2000-san-jose/. 
  6. ↑ a b c d e Kingman, Henry. "Indrema invites gamers to become game developers" (in en). ZDNet. https://www.zdnet.com/article/indrema-invites-gamers-to-become-game-developers/. 
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h "Howstuffworks.com's "How Indrema Game Consoles Will Work"". web.archive.org. 23 January 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010123221700/http://www.howstuffworks.com/indrema1.htm. 
  8. ↑ a b c d e "GameSpy.com - Indrema Dev. Diary #2". web.archive.org. 21 June 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010621213023/http://www.gamespy.com/devdiary/november00/indrema2/index2.shtm. 
  9. ↑ a b c d e f Lehrbaum, Rick. "Update on Indrema's Linux-based set-top game console" (in en). ZDNet. https://www.zdnet.com/article/update-on-indremas-linux-based-set-top-game-console/. 
  10. ↑ a b "Indrema Developer Network - IDN Under the Hood". web.archive.org. 3 February 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010203203700/http://idn.indrema.com/under/index.html. 
  11. ↑ Knight, Will. "Linuxcare supports video games platform" (in en). ZDNet. https://www.zdnet.com/article/linuxcare-supports-video-games-platform/. 
  12. ↑ a b "GameSpy.com - Articles". web.archive.org. 2 July 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010702042101/http://www.gamespy.com/legacy/articles/indrema_b.shtm. 
  13. ↑ "CNN.com - Geeks, nerds rally at LinuxWorld Penguin Bowl - August 31, 2001". www.cnn.com. https://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/08/31/geeks.penguin.idg/index.html. 
  14. ↑ a b "Game Company Closes Its Doors". TWICE. 30 April 2001. https://www.twice.com/news/game-company-closes-its-doors-31787. 
  15. ↑ "Confirmed: Indrema Out of Business". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  16. ↑ "Indrema's Imminent Demise Reported". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  17. ↑ Becker, David. "Plans for Linux game console fizzle" (in en). ZDNet. https://www.zdnet.com/article/plans-for-linux-game-console-fizzle/. 
  18. ↑ "Find new faves faster on Android TV". Google. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  19. ↑ "Whisperings from Indrema - Slashdot" (in en). games.slashdot.org. https://games.slashdot.org/story/01/03/22/0148243/whisperings-from-indrema. 
  20. ↑ a b c d e f g "L600 FAQ". Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  21. ↑ a b c d e f "Indrema Developer Network - IDN Under the Hood". web.archive.org. 24 January 2001. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  22. ↑ "l600.txt" (in en). games.slashdot.org. http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/bill/indrema/specs/l600.txt. 
  23. ↑ "GameSpy.com - Article: Red Hat and the Indrema Console". web.archive.org. 17 June 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010617213913/http://www.gamespy.com/articles/september00/redhat_indrema/. 
  24. ↑ "Nvidia selected for Linux based X-Box rival The Register". web.archive.org. 31 July 2004. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  25. ↑ "GameSpy.com - Indrema Dev. Diary #2". web.archive.org. 24 January 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010124081300/http://www.gamespy.com/devdiary/november00/indrema2/. 
  26. ↑ "GameSpy.com - Indrema Dev. Diary #1". web.archive.org. 2 May 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010502110221/http://www.gamespy.com/devdiary/october00/indrema1/index2.shtm. 
  27. ↑ a b "GameSpy.com - Indrema Dev. Diary #2". web.archive.org. 9 July 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010709175130/http://www.gamespy.com/devdiary/november00/indrema2/index3.shtm. 
  28. ↑ a b c "Indrema's John Gildred Answers Your Questions - Slashdot" (in en). games.slashdot.org. https://games.slashdot.org/story/00/10/19/2231235/indremas-john-gildred-answers-your-questions. 
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