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Hacking the Tux Droid

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the cutest-robot-ever dept.

Rockhopper writes "Ars Technica has a combo review/hack guide for the Tux Droid, a programmable penguin. 'Tux is completely programmable at practically every level, and all of the source code of the firmware and software used by the droid is available from Kysoh's version control repository. There are several ways to program the droid's behavior, ranging from modifying the firmware to coding a gadget in Python.' There's a sample Python script that will cause Tux to speak IRC messages out loud when the user's name is mentioned."

3 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Seriously? by sumdumass · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Th problem with rebooting to solve problems is that it doesn't solve the problem, it just lessens the symptoms. In the windows world, the problem was typically memory management. But just like in the linux/BSD world, it can be other things like programs having rogue functions with unintended consequences when other programs or services are running.

    Anyways, Rebooting doesn't fix the problem, it only removes the symptom which mean you should still look for the cause whether your running windows or linux. In linux, or any *nix stile OS, there should be little reason to restart the system because of something your doing. It is just designed that way.

  2. Perfect cadget to connect to the integrationserver by madsdyd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And, have it scream, while flapping its wings, "Dudes! broke the build with commit !", whenever appropriate.

    I reckon it will be no problem getting the bosses to pay for that :-)

    Or, "its time for lunch", "remember the team meating in 5 minutes", and other stuff.

    I am halfway serious, actually. :-)

  3. Re:you'd think it runs Linux by jbpro · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Gumstix boards are expensive. Their online store sells the cheapest barebones one for $99. ThinkGeek sells the Tux Droid for $99. The goal of an embedded system is to use the resources as efficiently as possible, with the smallest footprint possible. Embedded linux for this application would certainly have the *WOW* factor, but would be overkill and the additional hardware requirements would raise the price of the Tux Droid.