Chumby

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A Chumby in the midst of downloading software

The Chumby is an ambient consumer electronics product made by Chumby Industries, Inc.. It is an embedded computer which provides Internet and LAN access via a Wi-Fi connection. Through this connection, the Chumby runs various software widgets.

Roughly resembling a small clock radio, it consists of a small touch-screen with a leather and plastic exterior. It uses AC power and turns off if unplugged and moved; a 9 volt battery connector is supplied for backup power. It comes in six colors.

The Chumby was praised as open source hardware, although it does not conform to the Open Source Definition.[1] It is designed to be customizable by users,[2] but some have criticized this as "goofy" and unnecessary.[3] Wired magazine named Chumby one of its top gadgets for 2008.[4] Its software is completely open source, running on Linux.

Contents

[edit] History

The Chumby premiered on August 25, 2006 at Foo Camp and was released to around 100 alpha release testers at the event.[5][6]

Shortly after FOO Camp, Chumby announced a free Chumby offer, where applicants would receive the same alpha-level Chumby as those previously given away. Applicants submitted ideas for software applications or hardware modifications. One of the goals for the free offer was to have Chumbys in the hands of developers who were willing to begin building applications. [7]

In July 2007, a First 50 was released to 50 random applicants, who received the next generation of Chumbys. [8] This was followed, in September, with an Insiders Release. Interested parties could send e-mail to Chumby requesting release information, and were given the opportunity to join in the Insiders Release. [9] Finally, in February 2008, the commercial release was made public on the Chumby Store. [10]. In May 2008, the price was $179.95[11] for any one of three colors, latte, basic black, and pearl. International distribution of the Chumby is uncertain as it has not yet been tested for each major regulatory regime. In Australia, the Chumby is available through ISP Internode.

[edit] Features

Close up of the rear of a Chumby, showing the speakers, USB ports, headphones jack, power button, and power port.

[edit] Hardware

The Chumby is designed as open source hardware, with schematics, PCB layouts and packaging/outerware designs available. Hardware specs are as follows[12]

  • 350 MHz ARM9-based Freescale i.MX21 controller
  • 64 MB of SDRAM
  • 64 MB of NAND flash ROM
  • 320×240 3.5 inch touchscreen TFT LCD running at 12 frames per second
  • stereo 2 W speakers, an audio output, an integrated microphone
  • two USB 2.0 ports
  • integrated WiFi
  • a bend sensor for squeeze-based user interface features
  • motion sensor (accelerometer).

[edit] Hacks

Hacking the Chumby hardware is encouraged by the manufacturer.[13] Schematics and other hardware information may be downloaded after the user agrees to the Chumby HDK License.[14] For example, users on the Chumby Forums have experimented with and documented some battery hacks, allowing the Chumby to be operated without AC power for short periods of time.[15][16]

[edit] Software

A Chumby being held and displaying a Google News story

Chumby units run on a modified Linux kernel. The software originally installed on the device is designed to play a set of user-customizable widgets, small Adobe Flash animations that deliver real-time information. This is possibly due to the fact that an embedded version of Adobe Flash Player is installed. The animations have the ability to control and interact with the low-level hardware, thereby enabling functionality such as smart alarm clocks that bring the hardware out of sleep, a web based picture viewer, a web based camera, online RSS feeds, and physical user interface features such as gesture recognition through squeezing the soft housing.

The software for the Chumby automatically updates when something new becomes available. The updates come from the free access to the Chumby network, and a modified BitTorrent client is used to upgrade the open-source portions of its firmware.

[edit] Multimedia limitations

Although the prototypes did not support video playback[17], all current retail versions use Flash Lite 3[18] which allows for Sorenson and On2 video playback.[19] Current Chumby units support GIF, PNG and JPEG images, but not progressive scan JPEG images. Newer codec standards like H264 and AAC are also not supported since they are only supported as of Flash Lite 3.1[20].

[edit] Colors

Currently 2009 Chumbys come in blue, pearl, black and latte. There are also several special edition chumbys costing extra for special colors or custom artist designs. The older 2008 Chumbys are not available any more.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Chumby HDK License Agreement". http://www.chumby.com/developers/agreement. 
  2. ^ (Walker 2008)
  3. ^ (Lyons 2008)
  4. ^ Dumas, Daniel; Charlie Sorrell (12.22.08). "The Top Gadgets of 2008". Wired. http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/multimedia/2008/12/YE8_gadgets?slide=7&slideView=3. Retrieved on 2008-12-22. 
  5. ^ Michael Arrington (2007-06-23). "Chumby: One Year Later". Tech Crunch. http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/06/23/chumby-one-year-later/. Retrieved on 2008-03-11. 
  6. ^ "Why we gave away chumbys at FOO Camp". chumblog. 2006-08-26. http://chumby.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/why-we-gave-away-chumbys-at-foo-camp/. Retrieved on 2008-03-11. 
  7. ^ "Free chumbys available (soon). "Widgetoons" wanted!". chumblog. 2006-09-13. http://chumby.wordpress.com/2006/09/13/free-chumbys-available-soon-widgetoons-wanted/. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 
  8. ^ "Chumby’s “First 50″ Program". chumblog. 2007-06-29. http://chumby.wordpress.com/2007/07/29/chumbys-first-50-program/. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 
  9. ^ "Chumby’s "Insider’s Release"". chumblog. 2007-09-11. http://chumby.wordpress.com/2007/09/11/chumbys-insiders-launch/. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 
  10. ^ "Chumby launches to the public today". chumblog. 2008-02-25. http://chumby.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/chumby-launches-to-the-public-today/. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 
  11. ^ "chumby store". http://store.chumby.com/. Retrieved on 2008-05-22. 
  12. ^ "Linux gadget to replace the clock radio?". LinuxDevices.com. 2007-06-14. http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS4509751265.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-11. 
  13. ^ "Hacking hardware for chumby". Chumby Industries, Inc.. http://wiki.chumby.com/mediawiki/index.php/Hacking_hardware_for_chumby. Retrieved on 2008-06-08. 
  14. ^ "Chumby HDK License Agreement". Chumby Industries, Inc.. http://www.chumby.com/developers/agreement. Retrieved on 2008-06-08. 
  15. ^ "Please clarify 9 Volt issue". Chumby Industries, Inc.. 2007-12-31. http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=1402. Retrieved on 2008-06-08. 
  16. ^ "DIY 5 hour battery pack-$25". Chumby Industries, Inc.. 2008-05-20. http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=2452. Retrieved on 2008-06-08. 
  17. ^ "Developing Widgets for Foo/Katamari". Chumby Industries. http://wiki.chumby.com/mediawiki/index.php/Developing_Widgets_for_Foo/Katamari. Retrieved on 2008-03-10. 
  18. ^ "Some questions?", thread on official Chumby forums
  19. ^ "Developing widgets for Chumby". Chumby Industries. http://wiki.chumby.com/mediawiki/index.php/Developing_widgets_for_chumby#Summary. Retrieved on 2008-03-12. 
  20. ^ [1], Adobe Flash Lite FAQ

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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