Topic: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

So finally my Dash gave up the fight this morning - had to switch out a power outlet and decided it was easier to just turn the power  off in the whole house. When the Dash tried to reboot, it couldn't reach the server and just sits there with a message to the same effect.

I was hoping it would have lasted just a couple of more weeks, and it may have had I not cut the power. I may try and fiddle around with it just to get it back to alarm clock functionality - all I really want is a clock that plays internet-streamed music as an alarm that also dims at night on a schedule.

Oh well, here's hoping our Chumby solution is just around the corner...

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

Mine does that every few weeks...and then magically manages to break through the Sony fog and connect again.  Yesterday it had an odd message about an "invalid consumer token" or something similar (I don't remember the exact wording) but a power cycle brought it back online.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

riblet2000 wrote:

Mine does that every few weeks...and then magically manages to break through the Sony fog and connect again.  Yesterday it had an odd message about an "invalid consumer token" or something similar (I don't remember the exact wording) but a power cycle brought it back online.

I still haven't needed to reboot/restart yet.   No channels are working -- but clock is working fine and weather is updating still.  Also, netflix appears to still work.  Just for the hell of it I've been using it to play some episodes of Frasier and Star Trek.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

Make sure you do not power-cycle your device then - that's what finally killed mine.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

My house had a power interruption today 07/06 at 0437 PDT, and the Dashes came back up.  However, I've been using them just as fancy alarm clocks lately -- haven't tried any more advanced functions.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

gfinockio wrote:

Make sure you do not power-cycle your device then - that's what finally killed mine.

I power cycled mine to clear that error.  It's working fine.  Evidently Sony is playing their usual "as is, as available" game.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

Thunder storm killed power for two hours Dash has black screen of death since.  The king is dead, long live the king.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

mjd1 wrote:

...black screen of death...

Hopefully just the "cain't do nuthin" error, not dead dead.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

Several apps still working. I have power cycled and it still works. At the very least I hope it will work as a usb picture frame if all else fails!

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

All 3 of my Dash units are working as best as can be expected. Maybe Sony meant that July 31st is the dead line. I guess we will find out soon.

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

Then again, when lately has Sony done what they said they were going to do when they said they were going to do it? big_smile

12 (edited by gfinockio 2017-07-10 13:58:48)

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

demarks51 wrote:

What would you do if you ran the company? Would you owe any of your customers an open-ended indefinite shelf life of forever?

I'd open the source code, or put two programmers on the device for a few weeks to write code to allow it to function without authorization from a server.


I would appeal to the Dash Depressants to just grow up.

Wow, that's... wow.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

The source code for all of the open components is posted - I think I linked it elsewhere.  There are some closed source pieces from third parties that they can't provide source code for, including their own media player (which supports Windows Media) and the Adobe Flash Player.

Most of the important partitions on the NAND Flash are signed with Sony's key, so they'd have to publish their private keys, which doesn't seem like something we could expect Sony to do.

It's probably possible to create an unlocked firmware release without those components, the device wouldn't be able to do very much.  It would take substantial effort to bring some replacement for the UI pieces to get it even close to what it did, and it's not clear anyone would seriously step up to do it.

I have the resources to do *some* of that - after all, we did some of the original development for the dash device - but even I don't maintain a build system, and just the part I'm doing - replacing the Control Panel, themes, and music subsystem is a *lot* of work.

I will be releasing sufficient information to run software on the device without requiring server authorization for anyone skilled enough to write their own software.  We'll see if anyone will put their time and effort into actually doing so besides me.

I will be using that ability to release software to connect to and use the chumby backend systems to provide chumby-like services.  If someone wants to do something else with the device, they are totally welcome to create their own alternatives to my offering, as long as the rights of both chumby and the third parties that produce the chumby apps are respected.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

I thought my dash was dead last night. We had a power interruption and it was looking for a network and then wouldn't authorize. I thought it was the end. But... I rebooted the thing and it came up just fine.
Seems like a waiting game.  I know I'm going to oversleep one morning because Sony shut it off! lol

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

gfinockio wrote:
demarks51 wrote:

What would you do if you ran the company? Would you owe any of your customers an open-ended indefinite shelf life of forever?

I'd open the source code, or put two programmers on the device for a few weeks to write code to allow it to function without authorization from a server.


I would appeal to the Dash Depressants to just grow up.

Wow, that's... wow.

I may sound too strong but I guess I was just tired of the complaining when there is so much to look forward to. I think one of my posts was deleted. I don't mind. I don't want to be a troublemaker. Forgive me please. I work in an environment where there is a lot of complaining and whining. "It's not my fault. Everyone's against me!"
There is more to the story than you or I know.
Having a gadget fail is NOT the end of the world.
The Gadget in question IS going to work after July 2017.
Sony is a company that is not willing to keep supporting old stuff.
I received my 3 BT speakers today and they work and sound very good for their size. You can pair two of them at the same time to get stereo sound. I thought it was very nice to offer anything at all.
Sorry for my offensive speech.

Owner of 3 Sony Dash, 2 Info 8.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

So, now that the last firmware push officially kills the dash. When can we sign up and get our devices registered with Chumby to keep them working?

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

We're currently on our third beta release, which went out on Monday.  I haven't heard much feedback from the testers, hopefully they'll chime in on their special forum section.

I know of at least one bug that needs to be dealt with before release.

We'll also have to evaluate whether or not this Sony update breaks the device to the point where our software will still work on it.  If not, then users will have to roll back the update to 1.7.1526, which I hope folks took our advice about and downloaded.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

3 BT Speakers?  Did I miss something where Sony was giving away (?) BT speakers for folks who have/had a DASH unit?  Was this something Sony offered?  If so, as a registerd Dash owner on the Sony site, I never received any info about this.

Could you please provide more info on the BT speakers?  Thanks!

Pat

demarks51 wrote:
gfinockio wrote:
demarks51 wrote:

What would you do if you ran the company? Would you owe any of your customers an open-ended indefinite shelf life of forever?

I'd open the source code, or put two programmers on the device for a few weeks to write code to allow it to function without authorization from a server.


I would appeal to the Dash Depressants to just grow up.

Wow, that's... wow.

I may sound too strong but I guess I was just tired of the complaining when there is so much to look forward to. I think one of my posts was deleted. I don't mind. I don't want to be a troublemaker. Forgive me please. I work in an environment where there is a lot of complaining and whining. "It's not my fault. Everyone's against me!"
There is more to the story than you or I know.
Having a gadget fail is NOT the end of the world.
The Gadget in question IS going to work after July 2017.
Sony is a company that is not willing to keep supporting old stuff.
I received my 3 BT speakers today and they work and sound very good for their size. You can pair two of them at the same time to get stereo sound. I thought it was very nice to offer anything at all.
Sorry for my offensive speech.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

PatM wrote:

3 BT Speakers?  Did I miss something where Sony was giving away (?) BT speakers for folks who have/had a DASH unit?  Was this something Sony offered?  If so, as a registerd Dash owner on the Sony site, I never received any info about this.

Could you please provide more info on the BT speakers?  Thanks!

Pat

demarks51 wrote:
gfinockio wrote:

I'd open the source code, or put two programmers on the device for a few weeks to write code to allow it to function without authorization from a server.




Wow, that's... wow.

I may sound too strong but I guess I was just tired of the complaining when there is so much to look forward to. I think one of my posts was deleted. I don't mind. I don't want to be a troublemaker. Forgive me please. I work in an environment where there is a lot of complaining and whining. "It's not my fault. Everyone's against me!"
There is more to the story than you or I know.
Having a gadget fail is NOT the end of the world.
The Gadget in question IS going to work after July 2017.
Sony is a company that is not willing to keep supporting old stuff.
I received my 3 BT speakers today and they work and sound very good for their size. You can pair two of them at the same time to get stereo sound. I thought it was very nice to offer anything at all.
Sorry for my offensive speech.

I dropped $400 on 2 alarm clocks.  $200 a pop for an alarm clock to work 5 years is unacceptable. Sony dropped the ball on this one plain and simple. Now tossing us some $50 dollar speakers sure it takes the sting out of it. But for me i will never purchase another Sony product after this debacle. It actually pushed me to buy a Xbox one which i am glad I did since it has native 4k support! So lemons into lemonaide.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

I just got the pop-up on my Dash C10 today. Obviously, I didn't accept it.  I just rebooted it with home held and confirmed I can still get to special options menu, so I'll leave it unplugged until I can get the Chumbyfy update.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

$50 speakers from Sony?  Did I miss this "offer?"  I checked the Sony Dash site and there is no mention of this.

Anyone have any info?  Thanks!

Crazysal wrote:

... Now tossing us some $50 dollar speakers sure it takes the sting out of it. ...

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

Having a gadget fail is NOT the end of the world.
The Gadget in question IS going to work after July 2017.

Having a company purposefully push an update that disables the device and just flashes their brand name over and over again... well, that's worth complaining about.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

PatM wrote:

$50 speakers from Sony?  Did I miss this "offer?"  I checked the Sony Dash site and there is no mention of this.

Anyone have any info?  Thanks!

Crazysal wrote:

... Now tossing us some $50 dollar speakers sure it takes the sting out of it. ...


Call this number - 1-239-245-6374 tell them you have a dash and are upset they're discontinuing it, say I heard there was an option for a speaker or an alarm clock. They'll have you email a picture to the email above then 7-10 days before it arrives they said.

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

Un oh. The 1.7.1526 firmware download page is now invalid: https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/swu-down … mdl=HIDC10

Re: Dash is Dead - The RIP Thread

So I reinstalled the 1704 update on one Dash and it still doesn't boot to a clock. I've now tried the special boot to reload firmware (1704 or 1526) but now the touchscreen doesn't work. So I can't load any firmware. It seems this Dash is bricked. Anyone else seen this or now how to work around it?