1 Topic by huckfinn (edited by huckfinn 2008-01-27 04:26:06)

  • From: Chicago, IL
  • Registered: 2007-11-11
  • Posts: 235

Topic: Most reliable photo widget.

I would like to ask the fellow Chumby owners/users which photo widget they are using and why. I am currently using the Flickr widget, but it locks up on me consistantly. I only have a few photos (<20) loaded on flickr solely for display on my Chumby. I would like a service that keeps them private, but at this point I would consider anything that is reliable.

I appreciate any feedback you can provide. It is possible that the lockups have nothing to do with flickr and more from using the Beta Control Panel, but this is the only widget that locks up on me. I have this widget loaded in its own channel and have tried setting the timeout from 5 minutes to forever. I started at forever as it is the only widget in the channel, but then thought that having it refresh every 5 minutes would prevent this issue - no luck.

EDIT

Now I am really thinking it has nothing to do with Flickr. I created an accout at Photobucket and set up that widget only to have it freeze on me within an hour. If others have either seen this behaviour or not I would love to hear about it. Please let me know if you are using the Beta or Release Control Panel.

Thanks.

-HuckFinn
  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2007-08-09
  • Posts: 112

Re: Most reliable photo widget.

huckfinn,
It's possible that a poor WiFi signal strength is to blame.  Just to rule it out, how close is your chumby to your wireless access point?  Could you please run this signal strength test and let us know what you get for the link quality?

You can check your chumbys signal strength by doing the following:

1. Obtain your chumbys IP address

a. From the control panel, select 'settings' then 'chumby info'
b. The IP address should look similar to 192.168.1.x (this will vary depending on your router)

2. Open a browser on your home computer

3. Type the chumbys IP Address into the address field of your browser (where you would normally type www.chumby.com) and press enter

4. Click on the 'wireless' link next to the word 'status'

You should see a reading similar to this:

             Quality

    Link   Level   Noise

     71     200      177

Your 'link' quality should be 70 or higher for optimal performance.


Thanks,
Sam
Chumby Support

sam m's Website

  • Registered: 2008-01-26
  • Posts: 14

Re: Most reliable photo widget.

I have the same problem with the Picasa widget. If I let it run constantly it will lock up after an hour or so.

I checked my link quality and it is at 89.

4 Reply by huckfinn (edited by huckfinn 2008-02-03 06:13:12)

  • From: Chicago, IL
  • Registered: 2007-11-11
  • Posts: 235

Re: Most reliable photo widget.

I have sent Duane a copy of a ssh log capturing when my Chumby locked up using the Photobucket widget. They are looking into it and will hopefully figure out what is happening. I have this issue happening on two different Chumbies and one is only 10 feet away from the wireless router so I do not think it is link quality is to blame.

EDIT>>

Also to add these two units are in two completely separate locations, so different ISP's. One is at work using a pretty reliable connection and the other is at home where I have not run into any connection problems on any of my computers. While it is possible that a connection issue occurred, I would think the Chumby could recover from that and not be locked up or frozen on a picture until I either reload the channel ( fixes it 60% of the time) or reboot the Chumby. Here is my wireless status just in case.

Inter-| sta-|   Quality        |   Discarded packets               | Missed | WE
face | tus | link level noise |  nwid  crypt   frag  retry   misc | beacon | 19
rausb0: 0000   72.  196   157        0      0      0      0      0        0

-HuckFinn
  • Registered: 2007-10-15
  • Posts: 8

Re: Most reliable photo widget.

I love the idea of the picasa widget, but mine also locks up quite reliably after an hour or so, so I think there really is a bug of some sort. It seems like it often locks up showing the same image, so I wonder if there's something with that jpeg that's triggering some lower layer bug.

Cheers,

Nick

  • Tommy
  • Busy Chum
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2007-11-19
  • Posts: 113

Re: Most reliable photo widget.

I've run PhotoFrame all day several times. I have had it hang once or twice.

A quick toggle to the Control Panel and back kicked it off again just fine.

But it does require you to be hosting pics on your own site. (Which I actually find to be a plus.)

Tommy's Website

  • Registered: 2008-03-06
  • Posts: 4

Re: Most reliable photo widget.

I'm running the Facebook photo widget continuously (it is the only widget in that channel and set on play forever) and it hasn't locked up.  But I wish it had an option to slow down how often the pictures change--I would like to have each one up for at least 30 seconds.