1 Topic by dannysland (edited by dannysland 2012-09-06 07:35:39)

  • Registered: 2012-04-18
  • Posts: 34

Topic: Which widgets work or don't work with Zurk's firmware?

Just throwing this out there as a crowdsourcing question, as I've managed to get the following eight widgets working and I'm curious about what works for other people:

1. Yahoo Weather.

2. Weatherbug.

3. Gmail Viewer, though I have to re-enter my password each time I reboot.

4. Absolutely Apes Webcam.

5. Big Ben Clock.

6. Antique Rotary Clock.

7. Zephyr Clock.

8. Mickey Mouse Watch. I went to adamdorman.com, the website of the guy who created the Antique Rotary Clock and the Zephyr Clock, and I pulled down an .swf of his Mickey Mouse Watch. Works just fine, though it's not optimized for the Chumby's screen resolution.


What didn't work (either due to dependencies or my shoddy coding):

1. NOAA Weather, even when I entered the zipcode on the Chumby.

2. RSS Reader.

3. URL Image. Didn't work consistently, anyway. Some URLs worked, some didn't, but I've had trouble with those URLs before.

4. Image URL. URLs with a password (built-in to the URL) didn't work at all. Didn't test any without passwords.

5. Simple Desk Calendar.  Possibly a coding error, as it showed up as being available, but as the widgets cycled through, it got skipped.


Other weirdness: I had to go back to the laptop and re-work the code again to get rid of the non-functioning widgets. While I could delete most of the non-functioning aps while running the Chumby, they all re-appeared when I rebooted. When I tried to delete the RSS readers (I had multiple instances) I got error messages informing me that this widget could not be deleted.

2 Reply by bobsz (edited by bobsz 2012-09-06 21:39:28)

  • bobsz
  • Blue Buddy
  • Offline
  • From: Long Beach NY
  • Registered: 2011-01-01
  • Posts: 546

Re: Which widgets work or don't work with Zurk's firmware?

Good report, thanks. We had a thread about this kind of stuff you might want to start up again or merge, at-
http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=8161

As for your "other weirdness": I remember zurk mentioned you have to enter some kind of command after editing right on the chumby, but I don't remember what it was. I think it's in his readme. Because of that, I just stuck to working on the USB sticks on the computer.

What device are you using? Each has different quirks with the offline firmware and widgets. On C1 and C8, never had a problem with Image URL, but I'm not sure what you mean about passwords in the URL. NOAA Weather was having problems for a long time, even the online version. It is weird how some "simple" apps like clocks or calendars can have problems offline. I like Weather Calendar, but it doesn't work offline.

I love Zephyr Clock, glad to hear it works offline. Anyway, hopefully we won't need the offline software for a long time, as long as Santa keeps these Chumby servers going.

  • From: Somewhere on or near Earth
  • Registered: 2009-12-16
  • Posts: 774

Re: Which widgets work or don't work with Zurk's firmware?

Last time I read Zurks blog there was talk about v19 of the offline software. The current version (v18) has been out for a while. I don't know if the delay means there will be a lot of changes in the next version or Zurk feels it is mostly complete and v19 will only have minor changes. Testing may have to begin again once the next version is released.

Tar, feathers, congress. Some assembly required.

BoloMKXXVIII's Website

  • Registered: 2012-04-18
  • Posts: 34

Re: Which widgets work or don't work with Zurk's firmware?

The URLs with passwords are for the web cams at Portmeirion resort in Wales (famous for being the location of the TV series The Prisoner).

http://213.121.241.210:8881/snapshot.cg … ;pwd=guest
http://213.121.241.210:8882/snapshot.cg … ;pwd=guest
http://213.121.241.210:8883/snapshot.cg … ;pwd=guest
http://213.121.241.210:8884/snapshot.cg … ;pwd=guest

They work just fine online, but not offline.

5 Reply by bobsz (edited by bobsz 2012-09-07 20:14:57)

  • bobsz
  • Blue Buddy
  • Offline
  • From: Long Beach NY
  • Registered: 2011-01-01
  • Posts: 546

Re: Which widgets work or don't work with Zurk's firmware?

@dannysland- it looks like those "password" urls don't work on purpose- I think it's part of their webcam  security. That is, to prevent other sites from stealing the feed. Your browser knows it's a jpeg- the page shows that extension to the "snapshot." If you go in an "odd" way it strips off the file extension and it just becomes a "file." Hard to explain, but look at the screenshot here where the file type is gone:
http://imgur.com/6nEea

Maybe zurkware doesn't identify itself in a way the page accepts. Bottom line, it's not the widget, but I think this is the site working the way they want it to.

All these years I thought The Village was real.

As for editing firmware directly on the Chumby, here's the line from zurk's readme:
"You must type the following command on the chumby after you edit profiles on there directly : sync"

6 Reply by bobsz (edited by bobsz 2012-09-07 20:36:37)

  • bobsz
  • Blue Buddy
  • Offline
  • From: Long Beach NY
  • Registered: 2011-01-01
  • Posts: 546

Re: Which widgets work or don't work with Zurk's firmware?

@BoloMKXXVIII- Sorry to stray from the topic, but... Just noticed that you're a Moderator now. Great! Your advice has always been right on for me. Thanks for joining the Chumby Volunteer Corps that's keeping us going.

  • From: Somewhere on or near Earth
  • Registered: 2009-12-16
  • Posts: 774

Re: Which widgets work or don't work with Zurk's firmware?

bobsz wrote:

@BoloMKXXVIII- Sorry to stray from the topic, but... Just noticed that you're a Moderator now. Great! Your advice has always been right on for me. Thanks for joining the Chumby Volunteer Corps that's keeping us going.


Thanks! My role is really just spam removal but I am glad I will be doing my part for this community.

Tar, feathers, congress. Some assembly required.

BoloMKXXVIII's Website