Topic: How stable is the beta firmware?

Does anyone know how stable the beta firmware (1.7.3574) is? It supports AS3, which I'd prefer to use, but if it's still prone to crashing or has some serious bugs, then I'll probably hold out.

Second question, any Chumbian's able to give an idea on when the final version of this firmware will be ready? smile

(Sorry for the cross-post, just realized there was a beta forum after posting in the Software forum)

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

I haven't had any problems for 2 months.  The beta fixed my alarm problems.

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

Zifty is not talking about the beta Control Panel, but rather the (early) beta firmware we put out to have people experiment with FlashLite 4/Actionscript 3.

As I posted in the crosspost, it's currently very unstable.

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

Thanks Duane, I appreciate your candor. I look forward to the next update of the beta!

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

Duane wrote:

Zifty is not talking about the beta Control Panel, but rather the (early) beta firmware we put out to have people experiment with FlashLite 4/Actionscript 3.

As I posted in the crosspost, it's currently very unstable.

Oops, sorry!

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

Any idea when we might see a newer beta release? Videos seem to  have problems with 1.7.3574 and even the demomode video bombs out and reports the file type is not supported. Also have an issue with several of the alarm sounds not playing at all (klaxon for example).

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

I'll try to package and release something some time next week.  If so, it'll be available on developer.chumby.com .

Please realize that this firmware is NOT intended to be a full-time stable release by any means.  The intention is solely to enable developers to create and test apps written in as3.  These apps can then be entered into the contest and will be made publicly available once we have official firmware releases that support as3.

We of course encourage developers to report any bugs encountered while trying to develop as3 apps.

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

Beta warning acknowledged and understood. I look forward to playing with the new build and all of its' AS3 goodness.

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

So I'm still new to this whole flash thing.  Do I have this right?

This beta build:
  FlashLite 4 running ActionScript 3 and is derived from Flash Player 10.1 (or 9)

The current Chumby on the following
  FlashLite 3.1 running ActionScript 2 derived from Flash Player 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash_Lite

FlashDevelop also talks about Flex and AIR.  Do either of these terms apply to Chumby programming?

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

Correct.  The beta/developer build is running FlashLite 4 and thus supports ActionScript3.

If you are using FlashDevelop then you will be using the Flex compiler to build your as3 code.  This should pose no problems on the chumby.  Some Flex specific components or libraries may not be available on the chumby so try to use generic ActionScript features.

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

A new beta/developer firmware build is now available at developer.chumby.com .  This firmware is only applicable to Infocast 8" devices and its sole intention is to allow developers to start developing apps in ActionScript 3 in preparation for the release of the new Chumby 8 device coming soon. 

We appreciate any reports of bugs or issues.

12 (edited by clay_shooter 2011-02-27 17:45:07)

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

I have a little Flash (actionscript 3) peer-to-peer program that works on the PC so I thought I'd try it on the Infocast 8.  I'm getting errors that imply some support is missing. 

I thought it was because FlashLite doesn't include the peer-to-peer included in 10.1. Then I thought was because I have two SWC libraries in my app that didn't get sent over. (Built using FlashDevelop)  Now I have no idea

*** stopping control panel
btplay client v1.4.1.38.50
btplayd not running and --start-daemon not specified, cannot continue!
Adobe FlashLite 4.0.2 Release (Version 10,1,48,3)- Chumby Industries (version 10 build 59-3719 [GCC 4.3.2])
Portions copyright (C) 2005-2010 Chumby Industries, Inc.
Built for: silvermoon; Features: Video ALSA ARM-optimizations
Build time: Wed 23Feb2011 0712
Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 44100Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
2011-02-27 19:08:47 TRACE: VerifyError: Error #1014
2011-02-27 19:08:47 TRACE: VerifyError: Error #1014
2011-02-27 19:08:48 BtPlayObject::StartBtplay() - LaunchDaemon() call response timed out
2011-02-27 19:08:48 ChumbyPipeObject::FindByRequest(108) failed - no find amongst 2 entries!
2011-02-27 19:08:51 ClientObject::MainLoop(playCount=48) master instance 0046a730 is not playing!!!
...

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

I believe 'VerifyError: Error #1014' here indicates that you are using some Libraries that our FlashLite player does not support.   Could you provide any more info about the SWCs or peer-to-peer libraries you are using?

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

Hmm.  I'm not sure what the underlying libraries are.  I downloaded the demo program and libraries from http://www.flashrealtime.com/p2p-game-lib/ which actually contains P2PGameEngine .swc and P2PMessengerLib.swc. 



I believe they use the P2P/RTMFP Groups/Protocol using their Cirrus development server.  Another example based on the same code base is at http://www.flashrealtime.com/simple-cha … oup-rtmfp/

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

Reading above, I am confused - which versions of the chumby will the beta firmware run on? Can I run it on the hacker board for example?

Re: How stable is the beta firmware?

The developer/beta firmware (which supports ActionScript3) runs only on an Infocast 8" (platform codename silvermoon) device at the moment.  The chumby hacker board is based on the chumby one (platform codename falconwing).

This table attempts to summarize.