The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force • Hacker News Board

Re: The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force

#21

Post by mwcampbell » Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 11:56 PM UTC

andrewguenther wrote: post #11

eltoozero wrote: post #7

Bunnie is also responsible in no minor way for both Chumby[1], and the Novena[2] open laptop. Met him briefly at Maker Faire and I made sure to thank him for all his excellent work. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chumby [2]: https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/novena

I really loved the idea of Chumby. Would have killed it if it had come out more recently as an IoT device.

I didn't know about the Chumby at the time; I only read about it after the fact. But with the benefit of hindsight, I can think of one detail in the execution that probably didn't help the product's longevity. In 2009, at around the time that the iPhone 3GS and newer Android phones were using ARMv7-based processors and 256 MB of RAM, the Chumby One used an ARMv5-based chip (the i.MX233) that could only handle 64 MB of RAM. [1] Not exactly a forward-looking move. But I don't know if Bunnie could have done it differently. Was there any ARMv7 or even ARMv6-based chip available to startup companies at that time with the i.MX233's high analog integration and low cost?

[1]: https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=611

Re: The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force

#22

Post by endgame » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 12:08 AM UTC

j_s wrote: post #2

Non-affiliate link to the pre-order for Bunnie's new book: https://amzn.com/dp/159327758X OP is ~450 word announcment summarizing each half of the new book - if you're interested (hardware manufactring and hacking), you'll already know it and can skip the ads.

It's published by nostarch, so if you get it from them directly you can get a DRM-free ebook: https://www.nostarch.com/hardwarehacker

Re: The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force

#23

Post by toomuchtodo » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 12:14 AM UTC

endgame wrote: post #22

j_s wrote: post #2

Non-affiliate link to the pre-order for Bunnie's new book: https://amzn.com/dp/159327758X OP is ~450 word announcment summarizing each half of the new book - if you're interested (hardware manufactring and hacking), you'll already know it and can skip the ads.

It's published by nostarch, so if you get it from them directly you can get a DRM-free ebook: https://www.nostarch.com/hardwarehacker

There is also a coupon code on that page to get 30% off. Total cost for the ebook and the dead tree copy is $20 + shipping. A steal for Bunnie's usual high quality work!

Re: The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force

#24

Post by zdw » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 2:41 AM UTC

georgemcbay wrote: post #19

abetusk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not likely. They centered the platform heavily around Flash so that it was difficult to do any development or hacking on it.

It was quite easy to do non-Flash development and hacking on the chumby if you wanted to, though admittedly there would then be no "market" for the app (not that Chumby really had any kind of market at all, you could upload community apps but there was no ability to sell them). The chumby was basically just a small, touchscreen ARM based Linux system, before the raspberry pi made that cool (and super cheap). I've hac…

Any chance you know of a more modern set of kernel patches for the Infocast (8" BB model) than what Chumby released, or if there's any community developed support?

I have two of them and back in the day I followed Bunnie's guide here to get a browser going on it:

http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=1294

Re: The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force

#25

Post by georgemcbay » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 3:14 AM UTC

zdw wrote: post #24

georgemcbay wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was quite easy to do non-Flash development and hacking on the chumby if you wanted to, though admittedly there would then be no "market" for the app (not that Chumby really had any kind of market at all, you could upload community apps but there was no ability to sell them). The chumby was basically just a small, touchscreen ARM based Linux system, before the raspberry pi made that cool (and super cheap). I've hac…

Any chance you know of a more modern set of kernel patches for the Infocast (8" BB model) than what Chumby released, or if there's any community developed support? I have two of them and back in the day I followed Bunnie's guide here to get a browser going on it: http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=1294

Nope. Looks like you asked me this same question quite a while ago (kudos for persistence in trying to get it updated!):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7975378

Not aware of anyone making available newer, working patches since then either... I don't even have any working chumby 8" devices anymore.

Re: The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force

#26

Post by Sanddancer » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:01 AM UTC

mwcampbell wrote: post #21

andrewguenther wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really loved the idea of Chumby. Would have killed it if it had come out more recently as an IoT device.

I didn't know about the Chumby at the time; I only read about it after the fact. But with the benefit of hindsight, I can think of one detail in the execution that probably didn't help the product's longevity. In 2009, at around the time that the iPhone 3GS and newer Android phones were using ARMv7-based processors and 256 MB of RAM, the Chumby One used an ARMv5-based chip (the i.MX233) that could only handle 64 MB o…

Not really. That little chip is /still/ about the fastest chip you're gonna get for any sort of hardware hacking project for which you want a display, and the ability to prototype using one of the super cheap pcb makers.

Re: The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force

#27

Post by ekianjo » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:32 AM UTC

eltoozero wrote: post #7

Bunnie is also responsible in no minor way for both Chumby[1], and the Novena[2] open laptop. Met him briefly at Maker Faire and I made sure to thank him for all his excellent work. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chumby [2]: https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/novena

i have a chumby and the fact that it was designed to ran flash apps was a bad decision from the get go. that and the fact you could only stream apps and not download them.

Re: The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force

#28

Post by joatmon-snoo » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 5:29 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #20

beh wrote: post #4

If you haven't had the chance to read one of Bunnie's hardware teardowns, you're missing out. His teardown of the Form 2 3D printer ( https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4641 ) is a great example of his work.

That's a nice description of the Form 2 3D printer. You don't see that grade of engineering from most startups. That Formlabs makes their own mirror galvanometers is impressive, but probably necessary. The off the shelf units are either low-precision ones for light shows, or small-volume scientific instrument components.

Can confirm the necessity, having interned there. COTS galvos at that price weren't good enough.

Re: The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force

#29

Post by joatmon-snoo » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 5:31 AM UTC

zcarter wrote: post #6

Prominently featured in a recent documentary on manufacturing in Shenzhen. Recommended: http://www.wired.co.uk/video/shenzhen-full-documentary

I watched that docu before realizing who he was, and man, they could not have chosen a more appropriate person to narrate it. His work is absolutely amazing.

Re: The Hardware Hacker: Bunnie Huang's Tour-De-force

#30

Post by duskwuff » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 6:17 AM UTC

mwcampbell wrote: post #21

andrewguenther wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really loved the idea of Chumby. Would have killed it if it had come out more recently as an IoT device.

I didn't know about the Chumby at the time; I only read about it after the fact. But with the benefit of hindsight, I can think of one detail in the execution that probably didn't help the product's longevity. In 2009, at around the time that the iPhone 3GS and newer Android phones were using ARMv7-based processors and 256 MB of RAM, the Chumby One used an ARMv5-based chip (the i.MX233) that could only handle 64 MB o…

The other big problem with Chumby was its use of an embedded Flash player to display content. Made it difficult for open-source developers to create widgets -- and Adobe's effective abandonment of that runtime in 2010 didn't help, either.