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Another $99 Web Terminal
An Anonymous Coward writes: "If anyone is looking for a fun $99 hacking project, Tiger direct has Compaq Ipaq's for $99, great little web browsing terminals, they support Flash, jJava, ActiveX. The parts (LCD screen etc) are probably worth more than this. You'll need to get a USB Ethernet adapter so you can use broadband." Tiger Direct seems to have a mixed reputation for service, but at under a hundred dollars, this looks pretty tempting even if only used as a digital photo frame, or an adjunct mail terminal.
My friend has one of these ipaq devices, and he fitted it with a 20 gig laptop hard drive. That makes it rather expensive toy I guess, but it's really cool running linux. Think about one of these babies in your living room, streaming music to the stereo, checking email on the couch, maybe even controlling the tv with the right ir port. It'd be very cool.
The downside though - that hard drive makes a fair bit of heat meaning my friend can't run his ipaq for many more than twenty minutes at a time. A fan is definitely in order, but he lost interest in the project.
I bought my ThinkPad X20 from them for a great deal, and they treated me right.
When it came time for me to get a server for my Ph.D. research, they offered me educational pricing.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
Before this generates another spate of email about Linux and the IA-1, I have modified versions of Jailbait available on FBM.
They are for a 16MB CF card. Do this to put an image on the CF card:
dd if=image.img of=/dev/CF-DEVICE bs=1M
I will not tell you the root password. Boot single-user to not have to use the password, then do "passwd root" to change it.
You can boot single-user by adding the word "single" at the lilo prompt. For instance, "hdc single" -- where "hdc" is the lilo profile name.
Enjoy. The jailbait site has information on rebuilding Jailbait images.
p.s. avoid the Netgear EA101 USB Ethernet adapter, and perhaps any other adapter that uses the kaweth driver -- the hardware isn't reliable. Get a nice Pegasus adapter, like a D-Link.
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
Here's a place that lists all the IA-1s specs along with other thin clients and PDAs.
What would be nice is if someone were able to make a boot floppy or boot ROM for a NIC so that this machine could be used with the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) or some similar software. At $100, it would be great for use in schools, libraries, internet cafes, and other places where little more than a browser is needed and the additional components of a PC such as a hard drive and multiple removable media drives are more of a hassle than anything else.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
It uses passport and hotmail as the e-mail account!?!
Great for $99 I am going to learn things like where to find cheap viagra and how to increase my bust size as well as find Hot Horny 18 year olds.
Sounds like a great present to give to someone.
When you go to the page at TigerDirect.com, notice the heading of the product: Compaq iPaq IA-1 Home Internet Appliance (Recertified). What exactly does "recertified" refer to? Was this product possibly defective and returned for service? I have never had any luck with recertified or that other "R" word: refurbished. Just a warning!
According to CNET's Review, while you can use another ISP you still have to pay MSN a $9.95 monthly fee. I don't know if this still applies, but be forewarned.
TigerDirect is also selling the IA-2 model for $99, just look here.
These are refurbished models, meaning they were broken at one point, returned to the factory, and fixed, but then never sold again.
So, Caveat Emptor; you may never have a problem with your unit, but from my experience with refurbished items, I will never buy another refurb/recertified product again. (read: would work for about a week, then need fixing again) You'd be better off checking on ebay to see if you can get a deal on a new item, if you really want one of these.
Tiger Direct seems to have a mixed reputation for service
Having bought a bunch of Audrey's off them and following the hacking community at linux-hacker.net I'd just like to put in a positive word for Tiger Direct. They have treated us well with the Audrey's, taking back defective units even though they expicitly said up front when you bought them that they were not returnable. They repeatedly asked the board for input and comment on pricing and product offerings and finally sold off all the returned machines (some of which there was nothing wrong with) for parts at a dirt cheap price. I would not hesitate to deal with them again.
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
About one month ago I looked into buying my grandmother an internet device. I debated the Folowing a 486 win QNX runing on it(fast enough for web browsing a geting e-mail), an old pentium win linux on it(tried and true works with out any problems), an old pentium win win95 on it (would work ok as long as she didn't add any new programs but would be going against my beter jugment), a dreamcast (they cost 70$ hear in canada and they come with a key board), and one of theis babies.
I ended up being realy torn betwean the dreamcast and the I-paq. The dreamcast had the added bonus of being able to play games in 3d, plus to give it java compatabilty it would only cost 20$ us. I would then be able to us it a VNC terminal (thanks to vnc's jave aplet viewer). On the other hand the I-paq was a stand alone device and that would apeal to her since it's more like an other apliance (microwave, stove, blender, fax, tv).
If you're interested in knowing what kinds of hacks are available before purchasing one of these then take a look at the Linux Hacker BBS Forums.
Could I hack this to let my video output cable for my Dreamcast plug into the LCD screen? I currently have the two audio cables from the DC going into my hi-fi system... adding an LCD would rawk. Is this even remotely possible?
Out of curiosity why would your grandmother need to play DreamCast? Typically most 70+ females tend to stay away from video games. Grandma's drive at like 10 miles per hour. Could you imagine her trying to play Crazy Taxi? It would be a friggin nightmare!
A rabbit in the hand is worth 4 in the cage
So, you want to hack it?
Well then I'd start here if I were you:t raBoard.pl
http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/Ul
On this web-board, it's called the MSN Companion.
Random signature string.
Now it's on debian-sid with gnome running nicely (Trident video driver). USB networking fine (2.4.16 kernel with kaweth and pegasus both rolled in for 3com usb + linksys adapters).
The only outstanding item I've not been able to get working is the audio chip. Here's a link on what it is. The annoying bit is support for this does exist in the current 2.4.16 a97 codec drivers but via an intel i810-type chip. This is AMD based.
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess? - Joshua (Wargames)
quote
e ndone.cgi?TigerDirect
Tiger Direct seems to have a mixed reputation for service
/quote
Here is Tiger Direct's Reseller Ratings rating table:
Overall Score for Tiger Direct:2.8/7.0
These are in yes/no form:
Do you feel that you received a fair/competitive price for the item that you purchased from the company? 110/22
Were the salespeople courteous, knowledgable, and helpful? 43/72
If the product you purchased was shipped to you, did it arrive as expected without any delivery problems or delays caused by the company? 72/60
If you returned a product to the company for exchange or refund, did they exchange the product without a big hassle or refund your money without a large restocking fee? 10/64
Would you buy any products from the company again? 41/90
Would you recommend the company to a friend? 37/93
Overall, were you satisfied with this company? 43/92
Link:
http://www.resellerratings.com/cgi-bin/reseller/v
Note: I've never used Tiger Direct nor do I know anything about them. I'm merely stating the information found on the website mentioned above.
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It's OK to be social, just don't tell anyone about it.
You'll never purchase a thing from Tiger Direct.
"Under no circumstances will I ever purchase anything offered to me as the result of an unsolicited email message. Nor will I forward chain letters, petitions, mass mailings, or virus warnings to large numbers of others. This is my contribution to the survival of the online community."
The only good thing I can say is they gave a prompt refund.
Rick B.
Go here Despite it's name the message boards are pretty OS agnostic
Personally I want a eVilla.
While it's fun to think about modifying these appliances to run Linux in your kitchen (or whatever), it's important to remember that if you're really looking to put together something useful -- as opposed to re-engineering an iPaq or iOpener for the hack value -- you're probably better off getting a bargain-basement used laptop. Most of us here already have a home LAN, a Linux server, and a broadband connection, right? You don't really need a very beefy laptop to accomplish the "appliance" task. Enough memory to run X and perhaps a local browser, a color display, something to boot from, and an Ethernet adapter. I've got an old AST Ascentia J over here, complete with its wonderous 16 MB RAM and 500 MB disk. But it's got a usable color display and a built-in pointer. The battery was shot so I just threw it away. A call to /sbin/hdparm keeps the hard disk from spinning except when it's being used, so it's easy on power too.
Think twice and you can save some money. No special tinkering required.
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Just what I need, another project... Not that it isn't tempting mind you. I'm looking at this, saying "99 bucks isn't much, looks like a perfect little hacking toy" thinking of the possibilities for a Linux appliance... ssh from the bedroom or something, for those late-night (or early morning) emergencies.
Then I remember that I have three old PC's and two old laptops sitting in the closet that are ALSO perfect for this and I'll never get around to those, either.
Just in case you really did want to know and were afraid to ask, it's called "Jailbait" because it's under 16 (megs). ;)
First of all, it runs MSN messanger. (which supposedly can be changed)
Second, there is a 9.95/month surcharge to use an ISP other than MSN Here is some linkage to compaq to prove it, athome.compaq.com Follor the "2" below the asterisk at the bottom
Third of all, there is a 9.95/month surcharge for using the broadband adapter (check the same linkage, but number 3)
There are other reasons as well, but here is an alternative: The 3com Audrey. It runs QNX, there are lots of hacks and stuff for QNX, it doesn't have those freaking monthly fees, it looks cooler, it has the light up stylus etc etc etc...to see more of my reasons, go to JesusGeeks.net. The 3com audrey is OOP, but it is a sweet machine. My friend got it off (ironic?) TigerDirect a few months ago, but unfortunately they don't have it there anymore. THere are lots of ebay offeres for it. The only changes I would want with an Audrey is a full size keyboard.
The anti-salmon