Topic: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

* I've been looking for an alarm clock that will wake to internet radio, does the chumby do this properly?

*Does the chumby still function as an Internet alarm clock, or is this feature disabled because it has shut down?

*Does the Chumby still work in general despite the Company closing its doors?

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

yes, to all three questions.

I use my chumby 8 as an alarm every day, though I play music off a usb, because I want to get waked up even if the internet connection is flakey or the steaming source is offline.

I wrote a little script in awk (which is included in the chumby) that reads a csv file of dates and times, and automatically sets the alarm time for each day.

that way the chumby is set to the right wakeup time for work days, weekends, vacation days, etc. just edit the file ahead of time and the chumby takes care of it. (this is not standard functionality, but easily added).

Additionally, the chumby service is about to come back to life.

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

When you say that the internet connection is flakey do you mean shoutcast station going offline?> or the wifi connection itself?

I have a wifi network and will be using wifi connection to connect it to te internet.

I will then program the Chumby (3.5" display) to wake to Internet radio via Wifi> hope this isn't too complicated> I also heard I can turn the display off at night, and have it turn back on when the alarm goes of> or Alarms, scince it seems it can program 3 different alarm times for the weekday and weekends.

What sort of script did you make and where can I find it> basically I'm looking into getting a Chumbee and as of 2014 it seems that the unit itself as about to go back online> where I can use it as an Internet cock radio alarm as well as an online portal to some online content.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

I've been working in the internet and computery industry long enough to know not to count on anything on the internet, there's too many points of failure between my chumby and shoutcast for me to call it reliable if I *HAVE* to be up and at work at a specific time.  wink

your router could have a problem, your neighbor could turn on something that disrupts your wifi, a backhoe could dig up a cable (backhoes are the natual enemy of fibre cables), backbone routers could get DDOSd, routing issues could happen, shoutcast could forget to pay their electric bil, someone could trip over a plug, etc etc...

I've seen *all* of those things disrupt connectivity, so I keep my music local wink

the c1 chumby control panel has better alarm capabilities than the larger, newer c8 model (something I'm hoping Duane will fix when he gets around to improving things *hint hint*), and allows a 'backup alarm', so if you don't respond to the alarm in a set period, it starts beeping at you like a regular alarm clock, so you're more insulated from internet flakeyness making you late for work.

I will probably put up a wiki post for my alarm script, once I make it a little simpler, it requires being comfortable with sshing into the chumby and creating custom files.

yes, the displays can be automatically blanked at night, in a variety of ways, and you can create as many individual alarms as you wish, every day, week days, certain days, specific days, pretty much anything you could possibly want.

at one point, while I was testing my script, I ran it without a limit set on how many alarms it had, and the chumby dutifilly created three hundred and sixty five unique alarms, one for each day of the year.

here's my current alarm list on my bedside chumby:

Custom Alarms
 Alarm name          Time              Audio     Duration     Backup alarm     Snooze
07:45 wed 03/05     3/5/2014 7:45 am     bromance     30 m     After 5     10
07:45 thu 03/06     3/6/2014 7:45 am     bromance     30 m     After 5     10    
07:45 fri 03/07     3/7/2014 7:45 am     bromance     30 m     After 5     10 
07:45 mon 03/10     3/10/2014 7:45 am     bromance     30 m     After 5     10 
07:45 tue 03/11     3/11/2014 7:45 am     bromance     30 m     After 5     10
07:45 wed 03/12     3/12/2014 7:45 am     bromance     30 m     After 5     10 
07:45 thu 03/13     3/13/2014 7:45 am     bromance     30 m     After 5     10 
07:45 fri 03/14     3/14/2014 7:45 am     bromance     30 m     After 5     10
07:45 mon 03/17     3/17/2014 7:45 am     bromance     30 m     After 5     10  
07:45 tue 03/18     3/18/2014 7:45 am     bromance     30 m     After 5     10   
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5 (edited by chumby008 2014-03-05 11:43:51)

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

*That's unheard of in terms of customizing the alarm settings.

In the case of lost wifi signal to wake you up in the morning> I was thinking IF..it must be done because it fails to connect to shoutcast> then a wifi extender should prevent somthing like a backhoe or people breathing too deeply from loosing the wifi signal.

*I'm not into the local music anymore so shoutcast alarm is the way to go for me"

I'm going to pick one up and try it out.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

In the case of the C1 and CC, if it cannot reach a network source for the alarm sound, it will fall back to a local sound.  If that fails, or you have the volume turned down, or you left headphones in the jack, then you can enable the "backup alarm" which will force audio out the built-in speakers at full volume if you fail to respond to the alarm as configured.

As noted, the I8 and C8 are not quite as robust as the CC and C1 devices with regard to alarms, since they were positioned a bit differently in the market.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

* Could you get chumbee to connect to your own personal internet radio server (should I decide to make one somehow?)> where it just connects to that server instead?

* also I could use a USB stick with music as well if necessary connected to the chumbee.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

*I'll be getting the Chumby one (white plastic box model)

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

chumbys play music off usb quite well wink

the c1 is a very good model, cute and friendly.

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Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

Also, the C1 has a built in fm radio

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

* I've been searching for a compact internet clock radio for years> and it seems that they've stopped making them now> Pure has a few models but not as compact> logitech had something with internet radio clock but it no longer on the market> Grace Digital has some which are nice> but still a tiny bit too big for a bedside clock..Sony has a cool one, but no longer available> the only decent one out there is Revo's Pixis RS> but a simple feature as turning the display off at night is NOT possible, so your stuck with a flashlight beside your bed at night> which doesn't work too well.

*I'm gonna pick one up and try it out.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

Hey, I even know where you can get one!

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

diamaunt wrote:

...
Additionally, the chumby service is about to come back to life.

Howzsat???!??  How do you just casually drop that in the middle of this other post and leave us hanging, Duane?  I've been lurking around the forums and FB page waiting for more like this...I know good things come to those who wait and all, but is there any more you or someone can say??? 

Very excited to see this hint!

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

after a very long slumber, the chumbys are starting to rustle around and make noises like they're going to wake up... stay tuned wink they've already done a bit (notices of some of them wanting to download a new control panel, for instance)

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

Great go see, Blue Octy is open for business! @ Duane, I'm thrilled to see you actually have new units for sale, but please resist the urge to *underprice* them. Many used ones are still floating around the $50 range. You need to stifle your good-hearted open source geek side once in a while. That European "pixi" sells for $200, and I bet their 3.5 inch touchscreens came right off the former Chumby production line. BTW, the threads of you and others explaining Chumby to the new user are great, almost like a revised instruction manual for the C1 ecosystem as it is now. Who'd have thunk it, those great widgets were just gravy on top a a device that was great in itself. Hopefully it gives you some satisfaction seeing this new device coming out in Europe now, so much like the Chumby. You guys just needed the world to catch up to you.

Congrats on being back in business two years after the death notices came out.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

slipperyp wrote:

How do you just casually drop that in the middle of this other post and leave us hanging, Duane?


Hey, I didn't say that, diamaunt did.  He just happens to be using the same avatar as me.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

bobsz wrote:

Duane, I'm thrilled to see you actually have new units for sale, but please resist the urge to *underprice* them.

Please resist the urge to overprice them, as well.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

nathanm wrote:
bobsz wrote:

Duane, I'm thrilled to see you actually have new units for sale, but please resist the urge to *underprice* them.

Please resist the urge to overprice them, as well.

but, but, but, collectors item! at least it's not a dash.

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Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

Duane wrote:
slipperyp wrote:

How do you just casually drop that in the middle of this other post and leave us hanging, Duane?


Hey, I didn't say that, diamaunt did.  He just happens to be using the same avatar as me.

I can change if you want, but I liked yours when I signed up back in 2011 and liked it, so, I nicked it, and you never complained wink

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

Well, unfortunately, chumby008 is in Canada, where I'm not currently set up to ship through the store.

If s/he wanted to do this anyway with me, we'd have to handle it directly.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

Duane wrote:

Well, unfortunately, chumby008 is in Canada, where I'm not currently set up to ship through the store.

If s/he wanted to do this anyway with me, we'd have to handle it directly.

* I could find a chumby on E-bay possibly> But if you mean personaly through your website, or something then I could go that route as well.

It's Him by the way.

I'll have to come by here and would pay via pay-pal.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

If the price for the new chumby One on the store is acceptable to you, send me an email through the forum and we'll reply to you directly - you can be our Canadian test case.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

By the way NathanM, I offered $50 on the Infocast 8 he was also selling for $300 and he took it.
Hopefully I'll see it around relaunch time!  I am a bit confused as to whether the I8 is going to become as robust as the C8 or if I'm going to have to update it *to* a C8.

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

billyjack669 wrote:

By the way NathanM, I offered $50 on the Infocast 8 he was also selling for $300 and he took it.
Hopefully I'll see it around relaunch time!  I am a bit confused as to whether the I8 is going to become as robust as the C8 or if I'm going to have to update it *to* a C8.

Well, you can simply reflash it with the Chumby 8 firmware if you want to get the same features as a C8. Follow the directions at this URL:
http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=8654

Re: Chumby Functionality as Alarm Clock

Duane wrote:

Well, unfortunately, chumby008 is in Canada, where I'm not currently set up to ship through the store.

If s/he wanted to do this anyway with me, we'd have to handle it directly.

Ohh, too late I find this out. I've already ordered a Chumby 8 via a shipping agent.