• horse
  • New member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2010-09-04
  • Posts: 3

Topic: chumby is frustrating

I've had it for a while now and to be honest I put it back into the box after a week hmm

I've dug it out again hoping the new firmware would have fixed things (sorry I can't find a firmware grump thread on here)
and now I have problems accessing the one thing that did work - which was the 'play files on USB'

I can't seem to scroll down the list,
I have to stop, enter some podcast, come out, enter something else a bit further down the list, come out
and gradually it works its way down the list until I can reach the last entry!

every other app also seems to have problems with the touch screen now


Frankly all I want/expect it to do is stream music from my PC and view a webcam,
neither of which is seems comfortable doing

even displaying a custom clock is full of fail, overnight it just randomly reverts back to the chumby version?


don't get me started on the wifi range, if I drilled a hole in the wall I could blessed well touch the router from where I've placed the chumby, yet rebooting the thing is an endless cycle of dancing about the room looking for the magic spot it which it will decide to see my wifi sad
Contrast that with my laptop which can see it from the end of the garden!


If it wasn't for the talented users who have put the time into making obvious apps like "play a few files off USB"
then this would still be an expensive brick.


Could the people who make this just spend some time giving it a few proper working applications that just simply function correctly out of the box ?

1. I'd like to stream music from my PC
2. I'd like to view an IP webcam (I don't have one yet but hell, I'd use this to view it if I did)
3. I'd like a clock with music on alarm


now I've got >some< of these working but not without pulling all my hair out in the process,
God help anyone who hasn't at least got a background in IT/programming, a long weekend and the desire not to have wasted £100 on a defective clock

  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2007-08-09
  • Posts: 112

Re: chumby is frustrating

I apologize for your frustrations, but I'll try my best to answer your questions here:

For firmware releases, you'll need to use the chumby site's software updates section here

As for the issue with the files unable to play from USB, there was an issue, but that has since been resolved with the new control panel update 2.8.57 that was released on 8/18/10.  You should have no problems now attempting to play music files from USB unless they are DRM encoded.

Regarding the inability to scroll down the music list and having problems with the touchscreen with apps, it seems as though you might just need to recalibrate your touchscreen a little more precisely.  Go to the control panel then settings>touchscreen and recalibrate using a fine tip like a stylus.  If your touchscreen continues to be off, then you should contact chumby support

Regarding the questionable wifi capabilities, your computer gets better range because it has bigger and more prominent antennas usually located in the display.  But if the signal is unusually low when the chumby is next to the router, you may have a hardware issue with the wifi card, in which case I would contact support.

Regarding viewing an IP webcam, that's a good idea.  I'll throw the idea to some of our developers to see if we can create a widget that allows you to pull an IP webcam feed.  Stay tuned on this one, and keep checking chumby.com for that app.

To stream music from your PC requires a Squeezebox server which allows users to stream their PC's music files over their network to different Squeezebox receivers, which the chumby can do as well.

As for the clock with music on alarm...that's pretty much one of the main things the chumby does.  Check out this page for more info on how to set custom alarms to wake up to the different music sources available on the chumby.

sam m's Website