Topic: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

This is listed as a prototype Chumby.  It's purported to be one of the first 50 and has a sticker that states it has not yet passed FCC Certification.  Does anybody have any insight on this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Prototype- … SwMHdXRKrP

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

Technically, those devices are not resellable.  They were given for free to testers with the understanding that they would be returned to Chumby.  They cannot legally be sold in the United States because they do not have FCC certification.

Having said that, however, the original Chumby Industries is no longer in business, and it's doubtful anyone will come knocking down your door if you somehow get a hold of one.  I suppose a Chumby fan wanting to complete their collection might be inclined to acquire one.

So...they're an interesting curiosity.  I've made no explicit effort to support them with the new servers - I don't think they worked with the old ones either.

There were two versions of those devices, codenamed "Foo" and "Katamari".

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

Did you actually look at this unit? It looks exactly like a classic and looks black not blue as seller claims. Was the Foo the first proto? So this unit will not work with current server? Kinda expensive for a fine paperweight. Historic but nonfunctional.

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

No sorry, I didn't look at it.  Dumb me.

That's not a prototype - it's a First50 unit.

We signed up 50 users to get the first 50 Ironforge (aka "Classic") production units coming off the assembly line.  The people that got those units had a special hidden section on the forum, and a personal blog that our staff would read where they would give us daily feedback, which we used to fine-tune things like the Control Panel.

Some them have slightly different hardware versions than the full production units, and we offered to swap these units out with units from later production runs, which most people accepted.  It's pretty rare to find a First50 in the wild.

I think they *will* work on the current server, though I don't have one to try to make sure. Since they have a 3.x HW version, they should default to the Ironforge Control Panel.  I think one bug a few of them have is that they indicate a HW version of 0.0 due to some manufacturing error, and we handled that specially.

"First 50" users are actually labeled as "First 50" on the forum, though I don't see that any of them have posted lately.

EDIT: I checked the stub server (the one that ran for the year after Chumby closed) and 27 of the first 50 devices connected - 16 of them as HW 3.6 and 11 as HW 0.0.

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

It strikes me as funny that someone would pay $50 extra (compared to the going rate for Classics on eBay) just for the pleasure of having a small sticker on the back of their device.

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

nathanm wrote:

It strikes me as funny that someone would pay $50 extra (compared to the going rate for Classics on eBay) just for the pleasure of having a small sticker on the back of their device.

You clearly don't have the trainspotting gene wink

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

So, how rare are the chumby classics on ebay? I'm looking to acquire one, but I wasn't sure how often they come along or how much they generally go for.

Thanks

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

Classics are not really very rare but some colors seem to be more rare. I have a Latte which seems to be pretty common and a black one which is fairly common. Duane would know the best on rarity of colors but I think Latte was very common, black less  common, white even more less and then the other colors which were several. Seems like the most rare was the brilliant green one. I also have a one of kind Classic that was dismantled and put in a cedar box. It originally had a battery back-up but the battery finally wore out. I have it connected to some exterior speakers. It sounds pretty good. I really don't use it that much. I was even considering selling it to the right person. Shipping would be a little more pricey since the wooden cedar box is about 10 inches long and about 5 inches deep and 3 inches high. I will look out for one for you.

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

I think the order of most to least common (leather/plastic) is:

Black (black/black)
Latte (tan/white)
Pearl (white/white)
Varsity (blue/white)
Cardinal (white/red)
Lime (green/black)

It's actually more or less a tie between Black and Latte.  I think my personal favorite is the Varsity one (I have two in my home office) - I'm not as much of a fan of the monocolor ones because they don't show the shapes very well.

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

I think I saw a picture of the Varsity and it was nice looking.
I knew you would have the stats on the colors.

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

happy owner of a cardinal, myself. 

I don't know why so many people like ... well, drab colors, black or white cars, white walls, blech.

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

Hmmm, I forgot one really, really rare one - Amethyst (white/lavender)

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

Ah, I had one of the Amethyst Chumbys... I think I left it at NYC Resistor to run their streaming music setup when I moved away.

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

deadeye wrote:

Topic: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

Your wish is my extremely slow and belated command!

So, as usual, I'm a little late to the party, but after being lured back by Duane's post in Announcements (Time has some funny ideas about what constitutes "weird"), I realized I might have something to add to this thread. In fact, maybe even several somethings... but, to avoid suddenly doubling my post count & making it look like I'm actually active here (or a particularly enthusiastic spammer), I'm going to try to condense them all into a sort of reply-digest... replygest?

Duane wrote:

Having said that, however, the original Chumby Industries is no longer in business, and it's doubtful anyone will come knocking down your door if you somehow get a hold of one.  I suppose a Chumby fan wanting to complete their collection might be inclined to acquire one.

And, after much agonizing (and a similar amount of discounting), a Chumby fan did exactly that (well, minus the otherwise-near-complete collection).

*glances over shoulder & listens nervously at the door for the the six ominous knocks of a black-suited hexapus*


Duane wrote:

There were two versions of those devices, codenamed "Foo" and "Katamari".

As you noted later, this one is a First 50, not a Foo/Katamari... but it's entirely possible that said incomplete collection may also contain one of those. The thing is, I'm not sure which. While the wiki gives some idea of the differences between Foo/Katamari and Ironforge, I've never found anything discussing the differences between Katamari and Foo. This one's black suede, probably hand-stitched, with punched vents on the side for speakers, and a white-on-blue "alpha prototype" (no caps) sticker on the front. After a different blooping hexapus sequence - which begins in greyscale - it (slowly) displays a Java splash screen, and then... well, and then I always seem to get distracted before delving deep enough to get it beyond that. Is there any way of knowing which precisely this is (or just what that means)?


nathanm wrote:

It strikes me as funny that someone would pay $50 extra (compared to the going rate for Classics on eBay) just for the pleasure of having a small sticker on the back of their device.

But... but... but... it's not "just a sticker". It's two stickers! :p

I'd initially assumed the 50s were identical to production run Ironforges, but, aside from the (partial) "First 50" sticker on the front & the shiny FCC warning/"Prototype" sticker on the bottom, it also has a little jump ring instead of a stud for the charm to hang on, a stamped rubber tag sewn into the seam (the thing that caught my eye in the Ebay pics) instead of the stamped leather logo on the back, and what seems to be a different sort of grommet around the back panel. (err, what was that about trainspo... look! locomotive!)


Duane wrote:

Some them have slightly different hardware versions than the full production units, and we offered to swap these units out with units from later production runs, which most people accepted.  It's pretty rare to find a First50 in the wild.
I think they *will* work on the current server, though I don't have one to try to make sure. Since they have a 3.x HW version, they should default to the Ironforge Control Panel.

Were there any significant/interesting hardware differences, or just minor tweaks and bug fixes?


Duane wrote:

I think one bug a few of them have is that they indicate a HW version of 0.0 due to some manufacturing error, and we handled that specially.

Looks like I've got one of those. Shiny! It's like finding one of those rare pennies with a double-struck mint marking and Lincoln wearing his reading glasses!

This one's showing HW: 0.0 SW: 1.4.0 FW 533 HW#: 108, and apparently was previously owned by the early adopter and flawless lurker, Albin8tor (hey, can I have his "First 50" title to go with his First 50 Chumby?). It does indeed seem to work with the server & grabs the new control panel, but runs into a few (probably local) bugs. Before de/reactivating it would load the control panel, but on exiting would only show the Settings background screen - no default clock. Now that it's activated there seems to be some trouble with the volume slider, and date/time changes refuse to stick, and (out of the 'chumby pics' channel) Creaturez may be broken. In any case, significantly more usable than the alpha, but a less curious curiosity.


Duane wrote:

Black (black/black)
[...]
Lime (green/black)
Amethyst (white/lavender)

I've got the Black & Pearl, had a Latte (gave it as a gift), and, while the Cardinal continues to elude me, have one each of the Varsity, and Amethyst (which has a black face, like the Cardinal, rather than the Varsity's white)...  but this is the first I've ever heard of Lime. Does anyone (Duane?) have a picture of this nigh-mythical beast? It sounds like a color scheme I would've loved. I'm also convinced I once saw a black/red model - like a black leather Cardinal - on Ebay, but it's entirely possible that I was drunk, hallucinating, and/or just plain old delusional.

Speaking of pictures, I don't know how well a lot of these models are documented - or how much anyone cares. Would there be any interest in photos of any/all of them? I've also got the reasonably uncommon Chumby Hacker Board & Ironforge Core package (thanks for identifying that for me, Duane), but they're... rather less photogenic.


-Bats

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

batcrave wrote:

I've got the Black & Pearl, had a Latte (gave it as a gift), and, while the Cardinal continues to elude me, have one each of the Varsity, and Amethyst (which has a black face, like the Cardinal, rather than the Varsity's white)...  but this is the first I've ever heard of Lime. Does anyone (Duane?) have a picture of this nigh-mythical beast?

scroll down a ways on this thread: http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=9237

batcrave wrote:

I'm also convinced I once saw a black/red model - like a black leather Cardinal - on Ebay, but it's entirely possible that I was drunk, hallucinating, and/or just plain old delusional.

mighta been a cardinal... the one here has a black face, then red, then cream going towards the back.

actually, there's a pic on the chumbystore: http://www.thechumbystore.com/rare/  not sure if that's a pic of the one I ended up with, or not big_smile

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

diamaunt wrote:

this is the first I've ever heard of Lime. Does anyone (Duane?) have a picture of this nigh-mythical beast?

scroll down a ways on this thread: http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=9237

Oh. Wow. That is fantastic. The color very nearly makes up for the not-leatheriness of it. Hrm... I wonder how limey a green I could manage with analine dyes on white leather... although I suppose at that point, unless I wanted to frankenstein & restitch the entire thing, I'd still have the white rubber to deal with. Ok, then, Plan B: you distract Duane while I... erm... do absolutely nothing worth noticing at all. Nope. And most certainly nothing suspicious involving a green Chumby.

diamaunt wrote:

I'm also convinced I once saw a black/red model - like a black leather Cardinal - on Ebay, but it's entirely possible that I was drunk, hallucinating, and/or just plain old delusional.

mighta been a cardinal... the one here has a black face, then red, then cream going towards the back.

No, the one I'm thinking of had black leather, red rubber, and a black face, rather than white leather, red rubber & black face... Although it could well have been a cardinal plus sufficient delusion, inebriation, and/or wishful thinking.


diamaunt wrote:

actually, there's a pic on the chumbystore: http://www.thechumbystore.com/rare/  not sure if that's a pic of the one I ended up with, or not :D

Yeah, I was just a bit too slow when those went up... and I've missed at least two on Ebay, too. Too slow on the trigger and lost lost one to a sniper, and another went up for around $80 when I had around $.80 in the bank. But one day, I shall have my cardinal Chumby! One day.... *twirls a red sharpie & eyes the unsuspecting black & pearl Chumbies*


-Bats

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

batcrave wrote:
diamaunt wrote:
batcrave wrote:

this is the first I've ever heard of Lime. Does anyone (Duane?) have a picture of this nigh-mythical beast?

scroll down a ways on this thread: http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=9237

Oh. Wow. That is fantastic. The color very nearly makes up for the not-leatheriness of it. Hrm... I wonder how limey a green I could manage with analine dyes on white leather... although I suppose at that point, unless I wanted to frankenstein & restitch the entire thing, I'd still have the white rubber to deal with. Ok, then, Plan B: you distract Duane while I... erm... do absolutely nothing worth noticing at all. Nope. And most certainly nothing suspicious involving a green Chumby.

welllllll before you get too involved, I don't know if the aforementioned lime green chumby is still at Duane's, he may have struck a deal with one of the folks salivating over it in that thread big_smile

batcrave wrote:

But one day, I shall have my cardinal Chumby! One day.... *twirls a red sharpie & eyes the unsuspecting black & pearl Chumbies*

not tellin you where mine lives, btw, nope, nuh uh.

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: Found this on eBay... somebody buy it so I don't :)

`
               *gasp!*


batcrave wrote:

(hey, can I have his "First 50" title to go with his First 50 Chumby?)

I got it! I got it!

http://bats.purp.org/forums/Chumbat+First50.png
(well, I mostly got it)


*does a little hexabatapus dance to honor the mighty forum gods... and their human servants, too*


-Bats