Juicebox Hacking

$12? Hardly... by garcia · 2005-06-01 05:46 · Score: 5, Informative

From what I can see (walmart.com, amazon.com, and froogle.com) the JuiceBox is about $40 to $50. The only place I can find it quoted for being less is at the blog that this story links to... Perhaps they were on sale, the unit was in an opened package, or the online prices do not reflect the in-store ones. I don't know. YMMV.

It seems that this would have been a more informative link to include in the story as it gives quite a bit of information about the JuiceBox and links to some of the code from Emsoft.

It does seem like an interesting device to putz around with but I'll hold out until you can display pics via wlan to it :)

hacking? by justforaday · 2005-06-01 05:47 · Score: 4, Funny

I wouldn't exactly call it "hacking," but I've been modding juiceboxes for years. All it involves is a straw...

--
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.

Re:hacking? by lpangelrob2 · 2005-06-01 05:54 · Score: 4, Funny

I wouldn't exactly call it "hacking," but I've been modding juiceboxes for years. All it involves is a straw...
Have you ever noticed what color the hole that you stick the straw is? Silver. That's right. It's tinfoil.

There's something in these "juiceboxes" that they don't want us to know about, and someday our meddling with juiceboxes with straws will get us in trouble...

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-Rob
Marriage doesn't have to suck!
Re:hacking? by spacefrog · 2005-06-01 07:03 · Score: 2, Funny

Maybe my modding is a bit more advanced then yours, but it involves a funnel and some vodka.

Either that, or I'm an alcoholic. You decide.
Re:hacking? by Tenebrious1 · 2005-06-01 07:17 · Score: 2, Funny

All it involves is a straw...

The straw??? Now you tell me! I've been lifting up one corner flap and chewing it off to get to the juice...

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-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
Re:hacking? by morcheeba · 2005-06-01 07:21 · Score: 3, Funny

I modded my juice box in highschool.

The goal was to make the drink still cold for my long bus ride home in the afternoon. Even when I froze the drink, it got warm sitting in my locker. I started by making a form-fitting styrofoam cooler out of left-over packing material. The walls were probably 1/4" thick. Result: cool, but not ice-cold. So, on my second try, I found some thicker sytrofoam (1/2-3/4") and built a box out of that. Result: still frozen solid - success! Of course I couldn't drink it, but that wasn't the point...

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HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
Re:hacking? by Shads · 2005-06-01 07:37 · Score: 2, Funny

to quote my buddy jim, "I had to shit in the shower with the nozzle up my ass it was so hot."

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Shadus
Re:hacking? by rworne · 2005-06-01 09:03 · Score: 2

Just like that lovely Japanese song "Fushigi na Poketto." This is the song about where you have a biscuit in your pocket, you slap it, wow! Now you have two. Repeat, now you have three... Your fantastic pocket makes more biscuits!

This wonderful song used to cheer up the Japanese kids while they starving during WWII.

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I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit

Arm port of Debian by James_Duncan8181 · 2005-06-01 05:48 · Score: 3, Interesting

Get the ARM port of Debian on there and compile mplayer to an ARM target. Failing that use the debian port of Xine. Does this rate a /. article?

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"To any truly impartial person, it would be obvious that I am right."

Re:Arm port of Debian by AKAImBatman · 2005-06-01 05:58 · Score: 3, Informative

MPlayer and Xine would probably be too slow. I'm digging through the specs now, but my guess is that this has a built-in MPEG decoder chip. Alternatively, it might just accept the hit in ROM costs and store the video in a poorly compressed format. It would certainly make sense if all you're storing are a few, low-res, low-quality music videos.

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Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Re:Arm port of Debian by theGreater · 2005-06-01 06:08 · Score: 2, Informative

Or you could just go grab the juicebox source from emsoft and save yourself some time.
-theGreater.
Re:Arm port of Debian by WouldIPutMYRealNameO · 2005-06-01 06:16 · Score: 3, Interesting

I don't think it will be quite that easy. The CPU in this thing is an ARM7 with no MMU - which is why it runs uclinux instead of regular linux. That means that you can't just drop regular packages onto it. I think that you need to custom locate (in memory) each package that you want to run, and compile it yourself. I could be wrong - but it certainly isn't going to be as easy as just running Debian on it.

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Damnit - I wanted my nick to be "WouldIPutMYRealNameOnSlashdot"

Humor just isn't appreciated I guess.MOD PARENT UP by RegalBegal · 2005-06-01 05:50 · Score: 2, Funny

....you know...for KIDS!!!!

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"It'll destroy you if you try to make it mean anything to anyone but yourself." - Henry Rollins

In the words of Meatwad... by The_Rippa · 2005-06-01 05:50 · Score: 4, Funny

...do what now?

Re:$12? Hardly... by MetaPhyzx · 2005-06-01 05:51 · Score: 2, Informative

12 bucks here in columbus on clearance as well...

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Blacker than my baby girl's stare. Black like the veil that the muslimina wear. Black like the planet that they fear...

Noisy website by th77 · 2005-06-01 05:52 · Score: 5, Informative

You could have warned us that the JuiceBox link leads to an obnoxiously noisy site. Fun way to get noticed at work. Yick.

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Your favorite sig sucks

Re:Noisy website by temojen · 2005-06-01 05:58 · Score: 2, Insightful

I was annoyed at it and I don't even have speakers plugged in to my workstation.
Re:Noisy website by FidelCatsro · 2005-06-01 06:07 · Score: 2, Funny

This was clearly posted by a peeved off Admin trying to catch people out -

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The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Re:Noisy website by LetterJ · 2005-06-01 06:13 · Score: 3, Interesting

See, the fact that you can even hear sound from your PC at work is a foreign concept to me. Everywhere I've worked, hooking actual speakers to a workstation would get you smacked down pretty quickly. If you actually need the sound, they've invented tiny speakers you can temporarily strap to your ears that let you hear the sound without anyone else having to.

I'd never even think to warn about the sound on a site because I don't have publicly audible speakers connected to any PC I own except the one in my home theater.

--

The Glass is Too Big: My Take on Things
Re:Noisy website by fabs64 · 2005-06-01 06:22 · Score: 2, Insightful

... thanks ed, sure bet my housemates appreciated the sudden and stupidly loud "JUICEBOX!" at 4.28AM
Re:Noisy website by darken9999 · 2005-06-01 06:33 · Score: 2, Insightful

And you could have had the foresight to mute your speakers if you're screwing around at work.

If there's anything I've learned... by AKAImBatman · 2005-06-01 05:53 · Score: 4, Insightful

...it's that hardware intended for kids is usually useless for anything else. I've seen quite a few electronic gizmos in recent years, and every time I look at hacking them into a more general purpose device, I find that they are far too mission specific to be of any real-world use. Half the time you open them up and find nothing more than a chip, small PCB, and some epoxy holding the whole thing together.

If you're interested in replicating this, it might make a "fun" home project to build one using services like Pad2Pad, Digikey, and a handful of parts. Once you have the design down, you can sell them in bulk for a similar cost. Perhaps even as "developer kits" that allow others to fool around with them. Just don't waste your time on a toy. :-/

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Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade

Re:If there's anything I've learned... by Matey-O · 2005-06-01 06:00 · Score: 2, Funny

I find that they are far too mission specific to be of any real-world use. Half the time you open them up and find nothing more than a chip, small PCB, and some epoxy holding the whole thing together
Well there goes MY hopes and dreams of a Furby Robot Army of DOOOOOOM.

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"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
Re:If there's anything I've learned... by barawn · 2005-06-01 07:58 · Score: 2, Informative

Actually, it is. The chip you've just described is an "all-in-one" hardware design. The catch is that it seems like a flexible all-in-one design. And with an LCD screen, what could be better?

We have different opinions of "all in one", apparently. If you've got some sort of embedded PIC with OTP ROM, and it's embedded in epoxy, yah, you're probably done (hence "all-in-one" - this is more of a "all-in-three-or-four"). But this has a lot of hackability in it, as you've got easy access to all of the address and chip selects, and some versions of the board even have a moderately replacable ROM.

Regarding the video: oh, definitely. The video potential of the device sucks. But I wouldn't expect anything else for $12.

The SDCard connector, however, is an add-on that is not all that cheap in of itself.

It's just a slot adapter. Grab an SD socket from Molex (either free, $4 inside another order, or $10 from Sparkfun) and wire it up directly, as the pinout is already available.

Plus there's serial input, as well. It's disabled in the default build, so you have to replace the ROM (or via JTAG), but you'd probably want to do that anyway.
Re:If there's anything I've learned... by barawn · 2005-06-01 09:30 · Score: 2, Informative

The only redeeming factor that I see to this hardware is that it's an inexpensive LCD.

Plus a cheap MP3 player. It's probably got just enough oomph to be an Ogg player as well. The LCD screen actually makes it so that you can actually have a decent GUI.

Other than that, let's see... with a serial port, you could easily make a universal remote control with LCD screen, a digital picture frame (as seen above), or a status monitor for X (where X is some other project that spits out serial data).

Of course, if you want to be really stupid, a 66 MHz ARM7 certainly has the capability to emulate an NES.

In my case, it looks like a really, really nice front end to the Motorola GPS unit I have (spits out only serial data).

It's like picking up cool pieces of plastic and cardboard when you're a kid because you swear that you'll find a brilliant use for something so neat. Then it sits in the closet until you're an adult and throw it out.

Bah! You just described my basement, except for the fact that I do find uses for said objects. :)

Otherwise you can custom build a similar device for only slightly more

C'mon, it's $12! No way you could get the parts and board for that little.

So what's a juicebox by Ravnsgaard · 2005-06-01 05:56 · Score: 2, Insightful

Could someone please explain what this thing does and doesn't? The website doesn't really say much.

Buy one now by TimmyDee · 2005-06-01 06:01 · Score: 3, Insightful

Because it won't be a product for very long. Other than for hackers and a few "must have everything" kids, I can't see this succeeding as a product. The number of qualifiers/caveats/limitations of this thing as mentioned in the FAQ are ridiculous. Want to play MP3s? You need to purchase special software. Oh, and the sound quality is limited to 128 K/s, so all those songs you ripped at higher quality won't work. Want to watch movies? Again, special software. To store anything, you'll need an SD or MMC card (not included) to boost the storage past the 32 MB. The game selection is bound to be limited as they are cartridge based and proprietary.

Oh, and one more thing: It's not cool. By the time kids will be able to use it, they'll be old enough to know they want an iPod/GameBoy SP/PSP/DS/etc. and not some childish thing from Mattel.

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Per Square Mile, a blog about density

here are the technical specs by Anonymous Coward · 2005-06-01 06:05 · Score: 5, Informative

2.75 inch 240x160 color LCD
http://www.elinux.org/wiki/JuiceBox

YES! $12! No need to hack it... by thatguy2g · 2005-06-01 06:05 · Score: 5, Informative

My co-worker bought one of these for $12 at Target (look in the clearance items). A usefull thing to note: The "mp3 adaptor" is really an SD Card adaptor, and it plays mp3s and mpeg4 video clips. You don't have to "hack" anything, just put a 512MB SD card in with your properly encoded video clip and you're good to go. Then again, you're gonna get what you pay for. The screen can only handle a wopping 6fps. My advice: buy a PSP and a big memory stick duo.

Re:YES! $12! No need to hack it... by PayPaI · 2005-06-01 07:47 · Score: 2, Funny

The screen can only handle a wopping 6fps.
Looks like it has double the framerate needed to play anime then...
Re:YES! $12! No need to hack it... by GrassMunk · 2005-06-01 07:54 · Score: 2, Insightful

12 bucks + SD card which could cost quite a bit of moola.

Re:The Wait by FerretFrottage · 2005-06-01 06:09 · Score: 2, Funny

She's your little sister...why wait? You're not the big brother for nothing.

--
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."

Re:The Wait by afabbro · 2005-06-01 06:26 · Score: 5, Funny

I'm 25, and she's 11.

You should be able to take her in another year or so, if you train hard.

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Advice: on VPS providers

DIY Kit by KerosX · 2005-06-01 07:22 · Score: 2, Interesting

After all this time I can't believe that someone hasn't just come up with a kit/product that is embeded linux with a small (somewhere around 3" to 5") LCD panel and a network adapter or WiFi.

If there is something out there like this, I'd love to know about it. The best I've seen previous to this is hacking an old laptop and throwing it into a custom frame, but I want something that uses very little power and generates as little heat as possible.

Easier and Better - Hacked VideoNow Jr by ewanrg · 2005-06-01 07:28 · Score: 3, Interesting

Rather than hacking the JuiceBox, you might want to consider getting a VideoNow Jr and hacking that instead. There are filters out there for VideoDub, and if you don't mind a bit of dremeling, you can get it to accept a standard CD-R (get the silvery ones like Sony).

You can put up to 35 minutes of encoded video on a CD-R at a decent quality (18fps) and sound.

Why go this route rather than a portable DVD player? Somewhat cheaper, don't have to hold the unit folded open (big plus for my handicapped daughter) and RUGGED (bigger plus for my handicapped daughter). We've dropped ours numerous times on the concrete driveway getting her out of the car, and the unit skips and then keeps playing.

Of course we're not total idiots, so we've bought a backup unit for the eventual day that the driveway is harder than expected :-)

While slightly off topic by NeuroManson · 2005-06-01 08:28 · Score: 2, Interesting

While it doesn't play back DiVX/XViD/MPEG-4, Radio Shack has a portable DVD player for $99 after rebate, it has a 3.6" screen and is about the size of a portable CD player(I've tested one, and it has passable playback quality).

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name =CTLG&category_name=CTLG_003_003_004_000&product_i d=16-3912

I'm sure it can be taken apart and fiddled with, but for those who don't want to, it makes a satisfactory substitute.

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Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!

Re:PSP And Memory Stick Duo? by jericho4.0 · 2005-06-01 13:04 · Score: 2, Funny

Me and my two girlfriends like to watch porn in bed on our PSP, I'm glad you enjoy yours.

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"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis

Re:The Wait by Cervantes · 2005-06-02 04:08 · Score: 2, Funny

I'm 25, and she's 11.

You should be able to take her in another year or so, if you train hard.

This is a perfect example of why you should always quote all the way up the chain to the very top-level parent. I'm browsing at +4, and dude, that sounded SICK SICK SICK.

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If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.

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