Startup failed, giving away free Qwerty Arm7 mobile devices for cost of postage(peek.ly)
peek.ly
Startup failed, giving away free Qwerty Arm7 mobile devices for cost of postage
http://www.peek.ly/blog/news/old-peeks-testbeds/
54 comments
For anyone interested in a similar, slightly higher specced, hackable ex-consumer device for next to nothing: ZipIt Wireless have been clearing their old "ZipIt Z2" messenger range for some time now.
http://linux.zipitwireless.com/
ARM9 ~300Mhz, 32MB RAM, wifi, QVGA display, keypad, mainline linux kernel support, etc.
Decent sized hacking community: #zipit on freenode & sites like http://mozzwald.com/
Believe prices are as low as $18 for a single one, or $10/unit if you buy 16. We bought around 20 in a group buy at our local Hackerspace. Not quite cost of postage, but still pretty cheap.
ARM9 ~300Mhz, 32MB RAM, wifi, QVGA display, keypad, mainline linux kernel support, etc.
Decent sized hacking community: #zipit on freenode & sites like http://mozzwald.com/
Believe prices are as low as $18 for a single one, or $10/unit if you buy 16. We bought around 20 in a group buy at our local Hackerspace. Not quite cost of postage, but still pretty cheap.
Did you ever do anything interesting with one?
To be honest, not as much as I'd initially hoped.
- Fitting a USB interface is possible, but it's a bit fiddly, so not many got added.
- I ported OpenWRT, as a good Linux distribution, but I haven't used it for anything after! :/
- There have been some cool projects made by others though, like the zipitbot: http://justinbox.aresgate.net/html/make_page.php?n=zipitbot
- Fitting a USB interface is possible, but it's a bit fiddly, so not many got added.
- I ported OpenWRT, as a good Linux distribution, but I haven't used it for anything after! :/
- There have been some cool projects made by others though, like the zipitbot: http://justinbox.aresgate.net/html/make_page.php?n=zipitbot
Yeah. I have a terrible urge to get all these low-end machines and they inevitably are not terribly useful.
I did just buy a TP-Link 703n which seems pretty useful for a low-end box.
I did just buy a TP-Link 703n which seems pretty useful for a low-end box.
I'm like three blocks away from that address.. Can I just come by and pick one up? I'll bring you coffee :)
You are invited to drop by for a beer on Friday a 5 and you can take a Peek with you when you go
:) 33w17fl9
:) 33w17fl9
This is a legit invitation: come by, bring a few beers, we'll give you a Peek and show you some tricks...
5pm 33 w 17th st, 9th floor Peek NYC HQ
RSVP here http://www.peek.ly/blog/news/hacker-meetup-get-a-peek-to-try...
5pm 33 w 17th st, 9th floor Peek NYC HQ
RSVP here http://www.peek.ly/blog/news/hacker-meetup-get-a-peek-to-try...
how long will it run, i'm unlikely to get out of work before 6
Now it looks like all of NYC HN is going to be there. Anyone wants to coordinate?
I am 5 blocks away too, there should be a HN NY meetup soon!
Is that an open invitation?
I'm uptown, but wouldn't mind to go down there to pick one up. So, what's the next project?
I live in NYC and also wouldn't mind just stopping by and grabbing one if possible. :)
Same. I'm at 20th and 5th.
add me to the list of pick-ups
same here
I wish those things had some kind of signed bootloader and smartcard; they'd be awesome for a secure password management device.
When I first saw the Peek, I was wondering what it would take to turn it into the ultimate drug dealer/activist/etc 2-way text device; everything proxied through a secure multi-stage relay (like Tor), anonymous flood-fill messaging (like posting an encrypted message to a usenet group; the key is the address), etc. Something with a hacked baseband to let you change the IMEI periodically would be better, though (or wifi with MAC rolling).
When I first saw the Peek, I was wondering what it would take to turn it into the ultimate drug dealer/activist/etc 2-way text device; everything proxied through a secure multi-stage relay (like Tor), anonymous flood-fill messaging (like posting an encrypted message to a usenet group; the key is the address), etc. Something with a hacked baseband to let you change the IMEI periodically would be better, though (or wifi with MAC rolling).
How much should the shipping label be for?
EDIT: From posterous:
- a mailing label for a 0.5lbs envelope from Peek at 33 w 17th st, NY NY 10011 to you
- maybe mention some of your mobile dev qualifications out of interest
- maybe mention what you want to make
EDIT: From posterous:
- a mailing label for a 0.5lbs envelope from Peek at 33 w 17th st, NY NY 10011 to you
- maybe mention some of your mobile dev qualifications out of interest
- maybe mention what you want to make
I walked out of my math class to go upstairs to the computer lab and buy a postage label to email them. I'm really hoping to get one. It will be fun to play around with.
hey - we didn't fail! We are "pivoting".
Fail, pivot... what's the difference? Our failed technology just won the most prestigious nomination in the mobile industry
http://www.peek.ly/blog/buzz/gsma-best-technology-award/
Amol from Peek
http://www.peek.ly/blog/buzz/gsma-best-technology-award/
Amol from Peek
Failing is falling on your face; Pivoting is turning right before you walk into a wall. :)
Really cool, but unfortunately USPS won't let me create a shipping label from outside the US.
UPS? Fedex? Those work
also, they specifically tell you not to include batteries...
Lithium batteries installed in devices are OK.
http://pe.usps.gov/text/pub52/pub52apxc_040.htm
http://pe.usps.gov/text/pub52/pub52apxc_040.htm
thanks. TIL.
they don't mention this on the huge banners they have at the post office that teaches you about not sending batteries and TNT.
they don't mention this on the huge banners they have at the post office that teaches you about not sending batteries and TNT.
I think it's great they want to open the system and let developers play around with these.
But I'm just wondering - I don't believe there is a wifi chip in them and it isn't clear whether its possible for the customer to get the device onto the GSM network (is there a real sim card that is accessible, etc).
With that in mind, I'm wondering if the functionality and possibility of these devices is rather limited?
But I'm just wondering - I don't believe there is a wifi chip in them and it isn't clear whether its possible for the customer to get the device onto the GSM network (is there a real sim card that is accessible, etc).
With that in mind, I'm wondering if the functionality and possibility of these devices is rather limited?
I wonder if they'll let me just stop by and pick one up, since I work about three subway stops away.
... I threw away two still-new-in-box Peeks a couple weekends ago when I ran across them while cleaning out a closet. Used the service for a few months in 2009, it was pretty neat but finally moved to a real smartphone when I started bumping up against limitations.
It's a cool looking device, and nice for them to offer them for free. We'll see if the community can invent some interesting uses for it. I couldn't begin to guess what you could do with such hardware
Have you written a post on why you guys failed? I'd be interested...
I have an old peek and a charger. Do I already have what I need to start hacking away when the dev environment tools are available?
You'll need the "flash cable," which looks like a standard MicroUSB cable but actually provides 1.8V TTL serial to the Peek (the Peek doesn't support USB but rather exports its serial RX/TX ports over a MicroUSB connector).
Peek themselves sold one for a while and you might be able to get an official one - otherwise they're not hard to build.
See http://elinux.org/Peek#External_MicroUSB_Charge.2FUpgrade_po... for more information.
Peek themselves sold one for a while and you might be able to get an official one - otherwise they're not hard to build.
See http://elinux.org/Peek#External_MicroUSB_Charge.2FUpgrade_po... for more information.
[deleted]
I requested one. Should be interesting. What is everyone going to do with theirs?
Anyone got recommendations on shipping to the UK?
So does this thing only have a mail application?
It's got nothing. The mail application was a (relatively) thin client to a service that ran on AWS, and that service was shut down in January. The idea is that you'd write your own embedded code to make the device cool.
I posted http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3544436 with a bit more info on the hardware.
I posted http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3544436 with a bit more info on the hardware.
We still run the cloud-based mail service; these devices stopped working because of plumbing stuff mostly. There are tons of devices with thin clients hitting the cloud -- that's actually what we spend all our time on these days...
But you are right about what someone would try to do with it
But you are right about what someone would try to do with it
Ah - sorry! I thought your more recent cloud offering was something totally new. Thanks for the clarification!
OK, how hard would it be to get enyo running on one of these? Doesn't that sound like a nice hack to do? ;)
It's really a disservice to yourself when there is no way to see a picture of your product or get to a proper landing page from your blog without having to Google or manually manipulate the URL.
When trying to follow the link here:
> Use this site to coordinate your discussion – http://peekhack.posterous.com
It gives a 404 Page Not Found error.
Edit: Okay, the link from the site is actually:
http://www.peek.ly/blog/news/old-peeks-testbeds/%20http://pe...
> Use this site to coordinate your discussion – http://peekhack.posterous.com
It gives a 404 Page Not Found error.
Edit: Okay, the link from the site is actually:
http://www.peek.ly/blog/news/old-peeks-testbeds/%20http://pe...
Locosto has a 104Mhz ARM7, no MMU, and I think in the configuration on the Peek has 4MB of RAM and 16MB of flash. In the Peek email/Twitter client configuration, it runs TI's embedded RTOS (Nucleus) with Peek-internal code (called, fittingly, PeekUX) on top.
http://elinux.org/Peek is the best source for data on the hardware, and http://www.geekypeek.com/ is the blog of one of the engineers on the project - if you go back a year or two there are a few interesting tidbits about the device.
(edited: 8MB of flash -> 16MB of flash per the eLinux Wiki)