Never one to remain stagnant, the developers of the KDE desktop are hard at work creating what they have dubbed “Plasma Bigscreen.” This new project has one goal – to develop a user interface aimed at television screens.
This new interface will also integrate with the open source Mycroft AI voice assistant to create a smart TV platform that will include full voice control and can be expanded with Mycroft “skills.” The platform will be free, open source, innovative, and community supported. Out of the box, Big Plasma will include some simple skills, such as the Youtube Voice Application, which allows users to interact with Youtube via voice command.
Plasma Bigscreen will also include the Aura Browser, based on the QtWebEngine. This browser has been designed to work completely with arrow key navigation, so you won’t need a mouse to control the app (just your remote). In fact, the entire Plasma Bigscreen interface is intended to be easily used via remote control, and includes experimental support for HDMI-CEC (HDMI Consumer Electronics Control).
Plasma Bigscreen is intended to be used with a TV, but will also work on a regular monitor. The developers already have the platform working on a Raspberry Pi 4. Although the project is intended for small computing platforms, it will be able to run on just about any computer.
Anyone with a Raspberry Pi 4 can download the beta image here[1].
Original announcement: https://dot.kde.org/2020/03/26/plasma-tv-presenting-plasma-bigscreen[2]
