Re: USB Connecter

chedabob wrote:

oh right. ok then. flashlite seems a little bit of a sub-standard product. couldnt you write the widgets in a non-flash format? or would that mean having a proper window manager and everything?

Well, I don't think it's really substandard at all.

It's designed specifically for the realities of these type of products - modest processor performance, small memory footprint, direct access to hardware, odd input devices, and extendable to allow integration of unusual functionality.  The desktop Flash Player running on this hardware likely would not be a pleasant experience.

There's no point, for instance, in supporting Flash Video in the player if the processor is completely incapable of decoding it.  Similarly all the fancy bitmap stuff that's included in Flash 8 and 9 is wonderful for the desktop, but impractical on this processor.  This simply isn't a 2.8 GHz x86.

I've actually taken advantage of some of the expandibility that's possible with FlashLite - the player in the chumby can do a number of interesting things that the normal Flash Player for desktop machines can't.  Most of it was necessary to support things like the bend and light sensors, and to control brightness and other features.

Re: USB Connecter

are you gonna open the chumby o/s up and have a proper window manager? im not talking about minimizing, but i didnt like the look of some of the screenshots i saw, where the widget is in the middle of the screen.

i was thinking something more like the widget takes up the whole screen, but say the top left corner is designated for bringing up a menu to select between running widgets.

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Re: USB Connecter

The widget *does* take up the full screen - what you're looking as is what it looks like when the Control Panel is brought up.  That's only when you're changing a setting of some kind.

Re: USB Connecter

The OS on chumby is open. It is currently linux 2.4.20, and we plan on migrating to 2.6.xx by the time we move to full production.

Putting a proper windows manager on chumby may be a challenge though due to storage limitations and processing power limitations. I have heard there are stripped-down window managers for use on things like linux phones that you could try with your chumby.

7BAA 2E53 01C1 DCFF 497B  E7F0 9699 A303 78F0 D9B9

Re: USB Connecter

You might want to check out Qtopia as a GPL alternative to a closed Flash binary.
http://www.trolltech.com/products/qtopia

Re: USB Connecter

Yes, we looked into QTopia - unfortunately, TrollTech does not license the Open version of QTopia for commercial products, which, of course, chumby is.

From their site:

"The Open Source Edition licenses do not allow the development or distribution of commercial applications, or components of commercial applications or products."

32 (edited by jonsmirl 2006-08-29 17:40:14)

Re: USB Connecter

Duane wrote:

"The Open Source Edition licenses do not allow the development or distribution of commercial applications, or components of commercial applications or products."

I would give them a call and discuss this. I suspect that quote is referring to the need for proprietary developers to keep their source secret. If you want to keep source secret or link in any non-GPL code then you need a license from Trolltech.

However, they are offering Qtopia for download under the GPL
http://www.trolltech.com/developer/downloads/qtopia

As long as you follow the GPL they can't stop you from distributing the GPL versions. Following the GPL means making source available for your Qtopia version and everything you link to it. Of course this rules out the Flash module.

The GPL does not allow them to forbid commercial use of the code. In fact if they tried to do that they would be violating the GPL and lose their ability to use Linux.

33 (edited by Jbloodwo 2006-08-29 17:58:21)

Re: USB Connecter

the is a long long defunct ( to the best of my knowledge) desktop environment  circa around 95-96 that was called MGR
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/archived/MGR- … WTO-1.html

But i would agree with Duane.  Flash is more that good enough for such a small device.

if you have any questions about flash robustness look at this Mac SE simulator done in flash

http://www.myoldmac.net/webse-e-flash.htm

Re: USB Connecter

i saw a recent post about a linux distro running on a commodore tongue, thinks its called freeos or something. and it had icons and stuff.

i was thinking that say you had a full screen widget, but in the top left corner, when you touched the screen, it brought up a listing of all the widgets you have, and the settings panel. then you just tapped them to load them. but you would have to close the other widget (or put it in a low processor state).

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Re: USB Connecter

Are you saying that the Chumby has a built in bit torrent client? Because one of the ideas I have involves trying to cram a cheap laptop HD into a custom case with the Chumby for a tiny fileserver. I was a bit disapointed at first that I would have to do it through USB if it's possible (not sure if the little guy would be able to handle the power), but the capabilities of such a device make it very appealing. Forget clock, have a tabletop jukebox with built-in file serving so I don't have to leave my computer on.

Re: USB Connecter

A chumby would not be my first choice to build a file server - I'd be more inclined to use a mini-ITX.

Re: USB Connecter

NSLU2 is already a Linux based hackable file server with USB storage. They can be had for about $75.
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/
It has a 266MHz IXP420 CPU, 8MB flash, 32MB SDRAM, 2 USB, 1 Ethernet

Re: USB Connecter

sounds like a plan. i deffo think bit torrent is a good idea, but only for updates. cos then chumbies could seed the files overnight, when they aren't in use. hell, you could get some big HUUUUUGE folding at home team going. granted, theres crap all processing power, but theres strength in numbers tongue

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Re: USB Connecter

Mini-ITX is larger than my intended form factor. I don't want a PC. I like the info I've read on the Manga hacks, and perhaps I should settle on doing something like that. However, I like the vision of the Chumby as completely hackable, and I would like to be one of those people doing the hacking, even if this particular idea may be beyond the scope of the Chumby.

Re: USB Connecter

Isn't the second internal USB port disconnected, and wired to the outside instead?

neg

hoping for a chumby release before xmas.
every chumby is squishy, except the ones that arent.

Re: USB Connecter

neg2led wrote:

Isn't the second internal USB port disconnected, and wired to the outside instead?

The 2nd internal USB port is not connected at all. We used a dual-USB connector to simply give us the additional height to get the USB WiFi dongle above the RF shield. The external USB port *is* connected.

Joe

Re: USB Connecter

is that just cos the traces dont go to it, or because the chipset doesnt support it?

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Re: USB Connecter

chedabob wrote:

is that just cos the traces dont go to it, or because the chipset doesnt support it?

It's like this: the USB connector on Chumby only has its top USB port connected. The bottom USB port isn't connected, because its connector is rerouted over the Chumbilical cord so that the connector is on the back of Chumby. The chip only supports two USB ports, and they're connecting both ports (just not in the same place); think of those USB headers your motherboard comes with, where you can add a cord and have two USB ports, if you only connect one of them to the motherboard->USB cable, only one port works.

Re: USB Connecter

Would it be possible to hookup a USB hard drive and use Chumby as a NAS since it's always on?

Re: USB Connecter

^^

yes, but you would need samba support within chumby. or at least a small ftp server.

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Re: USB Connecter

That would look gooood... Place a chumby next -or on top- of an external HDD and make him work as a nas. He should still work like a clock, but now there's an app running on background. Something like a storage manager software. You could even display some info on the screen... Total space, free space, "top 5 most used files". And by having the external drive already attached to chumby it should be extremely easy to make him search for mp3 files and build a playlist.

Re: USB Connecter

sounds like a good idea. id just like to be able to store some mp3s on chumby, or play them off a samba share. maybe a NAS would be good for me, especially if i could pick up the hard drive and go.

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Re: USB Connecter

With the storage attached you could then cache RSS feeds and podcasts.  I would love to be able to flip on a 1/2 hour podcast in the morning while I lay there and decide to get up.

Re: USB Connecter

maybe you could run a daap server *IE itunes sharing* - i know you can run mt-daapd on a WRT54G which is a similar processor....

--neg

hoping for a chumby release before xmas.
every chumby is squishy, except the ones that arent.

Re: USB Connecter

SAMBA FTW!!! dont need no itunes lark, a samba share would be great. hell ftp or shoutcast would be great aswell. we should get Chumby FM going.

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