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Neuros Audio Releases Its Hardware Schematics
iswm writes "Neuros Audio has released the schematics to their Neuros Digital Audio Computer. Now with open source firmware, hardware schematics, ogg support, tons of other cool features, and an amazing price tag, The Neuros is looking like an awesome competitor in the audio player market."
It can be the best product ever, because it is geeky... I am not sure it will beat the iPod which has become a de facto standard.
I however am looking forward to see it IRL.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
I have one of these ( practically smuggled from US), and it is impressive what they did. It works perfect, it's open, it works with Linux, you can hack it, you can broadcast radio, etc, etc.
Kudos to the Neuros Audio! Keep it open!
So far all the hardware players had that "Ipod Killer" tag, which isn't the TFA :).
Open firmware is cool - but hardware schematics are more iffy. All in all, I'd put open firmware over hardware schemas any day :)
Have you seen Simputer General Public License which Simputer uses for their hardware ?. I suppose Neuros has some kind of licensing model at least for defining copyright and that kind of stuff. This is kinda blind faith to re-use or work on.Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
For a device supposedly aimed at developers, and with as big as of a hard drive as this thing has, why doesn't it support FLAC?
(What would be doubly-nice is if it supported real-time recording to FLAC from a line level input, but I'll bitch and whine about the absence of that feature when they get around to having it at least *play* FLAC...)
Does anybody know if such a project is being undertaken for the Neuros? I might even pick one up and hack on it myself for my own edification.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
I actually have a Neuros. I bought one about 2 years ago. Honestly, they're a lot larger than ipods, so I doubt that they will catch on with the portable audio market. It's not really 'pocket-size.'
However, it is perfect for carrying in a backpack. The built in mic is sensitive enough for recording interviews, and the harddrive can hold alot more than other portable recorders you can buy.
FM transmitting- I love it, but it's not really powerful enough here in the Washington, DC area with all the background noise to be picked up more than 3 or so feet away.
The sound quality is decent, but the included headphones broke within two months. I did go jogging with them, so that might be the reason.
This would be an awsome product to hack on. I've been thinking about putting together a car-based mp3 player, and with the firmware now open and most of the functionality there that I want, this might be a better platform to work off of. I was originally planning on going with Mini-ITX hardware (or nano-ITX when it came out), Linux BIOS + LFS system on CF, and entirely custom software (with heavy using existing libraries). This would be much simpler, and result in just as good of a system.
On the I don't think it stands a chance at doing well in the marketplace though until it cuts it's size down some. The seperate player and hardrive backpack is fine (and infact prefered) for a car based system, but way to clunky for a handheld.
Lastly, speaking of OGG has anyone had any real-life experiance with the MPIO HD-300? I saw it in Best Buy, and it looked like a really nice system - 20 GB, about the same size as the iPod, felt solid, played OGG MP3 and WMA, was 20 bucks less than the iPod, and supposedly has significantly better battery life. This claim is backed up by the fact that in the past thier flash models have had the best battery life in the industry. On the other hand thier website has horrible english, so I would expect support to be lacking, and I can't find any sites that have actually reviewed the device (just regurgitated the press release, let users post uninformed opinions, and then called it a review). Anyone have some real info to add to this? Especially about its reliability/quality and how well it works with Linux?
I, too, have had some issues with the player. In fact, lots of people have. The support forums are absolutely flooded with people who have had problems with their Neuros.
However, I have to say, that DI has stepped up to the plate and made things right for everybody I've spoken with on the message boards and on IRC. Most of the problems are due to firmware bugs that were worked out (or, at least, worked around) - but DI has been good about fixing the hardware problems, too.
They have a very reasonable battery replacement policy ($12 + shipping), and have even been resonable about people "hacking" their players (swapping hard disks, doing the FM transmit antenna mods, etc.). Basically, they stand behind their product 100%.
However, I would caution people outside the States to consider the cost of shipping in case your unit ever has to go back to DI. That's the real killer.
A few people are posting about what would be needed to create so-called 'iPod killers.' Now folks, I don't know what exactly happens, but it seems like once a product becomes mainstream, people like to:
1. proudly declare they don't use it (optionally including reasons that only make sense to them)
2. start an open source clone of it
3. and then evangelize it based on moral goodness
Regardless of the open source version's merit, you turn people off at step one. Now, I don't know what Apple has done to you, but a killer audio player is not formed out of spite for large corporations or the mainstream. It is made based on realizing where current players falter (battery life, size, UI) and improving on those. Nobody cares if the firmware is open source except the esoteric readers of Slash.
Seriously, how many projects do you start with the intent to 'kill' another product? And here is a player with Ogg support, now the hivemind complains that it doesn't support FLAC!