Netpliance-iopener In stock $99.99 plus $9 s/h @ Circuit City

[Mr.Mike]

Not a HOT DEAL but if you are still looking for one it's not too bad! I just got this e-mail from them.


**********************************************************************
* B A C K I N S T O C K N O T I F I C A T I O N *
**********************************************************************

Dear Valued Customer:


Thank you for your interest in CircuitCity.com product(s). We wanted to let you know the item you requested from CircuitCity.com is now BACK IN STOCK.

If you are ordering multiple quantities of the same item and you encounter another out of stock situation, you may want to try a quantity less than your original desired amount. There may be quantities available to sell, just not enough to satisfy the quantities requested.

Please note that high demand items tend to sell very quickly and we suggest visiting CircuitCity.com as soon as possible to complete your purchase and avoid another out of stock situation.





Date Notification Requested: 03/16/2000

Product Desired: NETPLIANCE, INC. IOPENER

AVAILABLE TO BE ORDERED THROUGH THE
CIRCUITCITY.COM WEBSITE FOR DIRECT
SHIPMENT TO YOUR HOME AS YOU INDICATED
WHEN YOU REQUESTED TO BE NOTIFIED.



Remember, by choosing our Express Pickup option, your product will be specifically reserved for you at your designated Circuit City store plus you pay NO SHIPPING fees. Also, with our Express Pickup option, if our In Store Price is lower, we will automatically give you the lower price.


Thanks for shopping with CircuitCity.com and we look forward to serving you again in the future.



Sincerely,

CircuitCity.com Fulfillment Center


* * * Back In Stock Notification Email generated at: 07/04/2000 08:01:54 * * *

 

[crazyRay]

Several questions:

1. What city are you in?

2. Are these hackable? If so, is it a matter of removing the goo on the BIOS, or what?

3. Did they remove the IDE pins from these?

4. What is the minimum amount of time you can use their ISP service for, without violating the TOS?

 

[Mr.Mike]

1. I am in New York, although it doesen't make a difference they are only direct shipping them for about $9
2. As far as I know they are all still hackable
3. If you are good with a soldering iron you can solder back on the pins.
4. I went to order and there were no TOS for the unit so I believe it's $99 and no contract or TOS

 

[AznBruin03]

"All that for a monthly fee of only $21.95 (min. 3-month commitment). Prepay options also available. Call 888-467-3637 for more info."

Does that mean that we have to sign up for a 3 month TOS? Has anyone called the number?

 

[jbaj007]

In SoCal. shows out of stock for Direct ship, but in stock for pickup (prepay online) at Lakewood and Hollywood stores. No TOS requirements were mentioned thru checkout process Total = 99.99+tax

 

[Msatan666]

http://www.circuitcity.com/
The following New England stores have em available for express pickup (Pay on the web, pick up at the store)

Saugus, MA
Dartmouth, MA
East Springfield, MA
Holyoke, MA
North Attleboro, MA
Manchester, NH
North Haven, CT
Trumbull, CT
Williston, VT

 

[mytran]

Hey, you think they let you buy this thing with cash or do you have to use a credit card? Thanx!

 

[RiPPn]

I hate to sound like a newb, but what in the hell is this device, can someone give me a link or something describing what this device does?

Thanks in advance!

Okay, so I found information on the device @ www.Netpliance.com, so what is it you are doing to it by saudering, etc.. send me info to rippn@uswest.net

 

[AznBruin03]

hm.. just called, they're closed for the holdiday. Kind of worried about them just charging my credit card for the internet service.

 

[Looney]

If your worried about them charging you for the ISP service then use a webcertificate.

 

[AznBruin03]

Just called circuit city and the sales rep said there is a 3 month minimum internet contract. Not sure how knowledgable they are though.

Oh well, may just take my chances with a web cert as Moralpanic said.

 

[Norssak]

I got 1 !!!

Ok, I went to CC's website, found the i-opener, then clicked the buy button. What you are aiming for is called Express-Pickup. It lets you choose 3 stores based on your zip code. I had to hit BACK a few times until I went through most of the stores in my area. I found 1 (maplewood MN) and bought it through the website ($99.99 +tax)

Drove to the store (open till 6pm 7/4) showed my ID and Credit card again, signed for receipt of box and walked out with 1 i-opener.

Neither their website, nor my receipt, nor the flussi behind the counter mentioned anything about a 3 month contract. So if additional charges appear on my card (dont see how, nothing signed) I have full confidence that I'd succefully dispute them.

Of course I lack the parts to convert it today (rats). For general info: The processor is 200mhz, the bios is glued in (why?) the IDE pins are INTACT i.e. FULLY FUNCTIONAL i.e. HOME FREE CTRL + ALT + ESC gets you to a standard award BIOS where you can configure your HardDrive. The hardest part sofar was removeing all the proprietory fasteners to get at the guts.

 

[DarkKobold]

Uh, an update to all you non-i-hackers... First, the BIOS is glued/epoxied in, because it has been changed to no longer allow a simple hack of adding a hard drive with a modified IDE cable. Now, you must flash (rewrite) the BIOS, which is a tricky task for the non-profficent computer user. Now, using a program called DOLLY, you must write an old image of the I-opener's QNX (this one allows you to enter a QNX terminal by pressing TAB-4444) (this ability was removed in the most recent versions.) and then, you have to use a flashing program written by an I-opener hacker, to change the BIOS back to the original one that Netpliance released. Phew. Not an easy task.

 

[Norssak]

2 Questions for DarkKobald (didn't understand half of your post)

Assumeing that as you described, the current BIOS is of no value

-Removeing the BIOS chip seems like a small challenge, but nothing 20 min of careful picking cant do. What would you do with the extracted BIOS? Are there people selling alternate BIOS chips? Are there mother boards you can place it into in order to flash it?

-Is there a method of updateing the BIOS without removeing it? And if so what is a decent link you'd recommend

 

[Rab]

Here you go kiddies...

The board has all the information you need, just use the search function.

http://www.kenseglerdesigns.com/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowCategory&Category=default&Idle=0&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session=

BTW - To clear up a few things about DarkKobold's post...



<< Uh, an update to all you non-i-hackers... First, the BIOS is glued/epoxied in, because it has been changed to no longer allow a simple hack of adding a hard drive with a modified IDE cable. >>



This is true of most I-openers, (v1, v2, v3 &amp; some v4's.), but the latest I-openers have come sans epoxy.

(Not that it would really matter anyway - you don't really need to remove the bios to apply the bios downgrade that will enable disk access.)



<< Now, you must flash (rewrite) the BIOS, which is a tricky task for the non-profficent computer user. >>



Yep, I'll agree on this one. Some knowledge of unix is a bonus as well. (That, or the ability to follow directions to the letter.)



<< Now, using a program called DOLLY, you must write an old image of the I-opener's QNX (this one allows you to enter a QNX terminal by pressing TAB-4444) (this ability was removed in the most recent versions.) and then, you have to use a flashing program written by an I-opener hacker, to change the BIOS back to the original one that Netpliance released. Phew. Not an easy task. >>



A lengthly task, to be sure, but not too hard if you're reasonably tech-savvy. BTW, dolly is used to copy the previous (v2) image of QNX to a hard disk, NOT directly to the sandisk.

Most of the walkthroughs on the I-Opener message board include a version of Smogbound &amp; Co.'s QNXFlash. If you crack open your I-opener, only to find a Rise MP6 266 processor, you'll need to search for the thread dealing with v4's.



<< Assumeing that as you described, the current BIOS is of no value >>



The bios image is not, true. The chip, however, is. (You'll need something to flash the older bios to.)



<< -Removeing the BIOS chip seems like a small challenge, but nothing 20 min of careful picking cant do. What would you do with the extracted BIOS? Are there people selling alternate BIOS chips? Are there mother boards you can place it into in order to flash it? >>



Extracting the bios from the epoxy isn't really necessary any longer, but it can be done easily with a dental pick &amp; lit candle.

(The chip is a little tempermental after extracting it from the socket, and re-inserting it into the 'cleaned' socket. IF you do remove it, don't be suprised when you have to lift it slightly in order to get the I-opener to boot again.)



<< -Is there a method of updateing the BIOS without removeing it? And if so what is a decent link you'd you'd recommend >>



Yep, here it is.

http://www.kenseglerdesigns.com/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&amp;Board=technical&amp;Post=1027&amp;Idle=0&amp;Sort=0&amp;Order=Descend&amp;Page=0&amp;Session=

And as some of you are probably wondering... I've done the hack 4 times so far. (V2/3/4)

If you get adventurous enough, you can try adding Audio in/out, Mic jacks, VGA out, Serial &amp; 2nd USB port. (A processor &amp; ram upgrade helps usability a lot too...)

Good luck.

-Rab

 

[Theblank]

Well its pretty late (or early, however you want to look at it) and Id be interested in figuering out what this Netpliance-iopener thing is and what exactly good it does it to do this hacking stuff by switching the bios and whatever other good stuff was detailed on this post. So if someone wants ot be kind enough to spell it out in semi laymans terms or email me somthin that I can read a couple times when im more awake, it would be most abliged. Thanx,
blankscrap@hotmail.com

 

[rigor]

None in ATL.

Doesn't seem worth the trouble for such a limited machine.

Save your money go to the forsale/trade forum and piece together a small box for like $200 that will actually do something!

 

[db]

Theblank, the iO became popular b/c:
1. it was cheap (small, lcd, worth ~$400);
2. it was a challange (well, originally)

Sure, you can buy/make powerful stuff for less hassle &amp; $, but that's not the point--some people like to tinker/modify/challange b/c that's fun for them.

 

[zogg]

The i-opener is a small internet surfer that you use with a propritary isp. Thats all it was meant to do. It has a small lcd screen and keyboard with a very small case that serves as the base for the screen. With a little kit that costs something like 14 bucks from http://www.linux-hacker.net you can add a hard drive and a keybaord/mouse that has all the keys that you need for computing.You can also network these iopeners. It supposedly has a hardware modem in it and 16 megs of ram and a decent cpu. you can also see pics of the mods in progress at the link.
The reason why people like it is because it has a small foot print and can put in the kitchen or living room as a second machine without being in the way.

 

[Setral]

Well firstly their kits cost $35 and do not include a low profile fan. Costs you about another $14 - $20. Which honestly the mounting kit their offering is worth it unless you have all the spare parts laying around. This project as mentioned before is great for those who have the money, and the time, and love tinkering. Otherwise its not worth the hassel.

 

[flenn]

Yeah, I have to agree. Part of me sees this as a deal and wants to get in on it. The other part is saying &quot;Why would I want to go through all the hassle of getting this thing to work (and expense, because I'd want a laptop HD), only to end up with an extremely limited unit with the equiv performance of a P166&quot;.

Don't get me wrong, I can see why this project might be appealing to some, but I don't think it's for me. Unless I can find something more useful to use it for, I'll pass.

 

[FuzzyBee]

I *almost* bought one yesterday, but my CC didn't have them in stock, I would have to pick up from another store. Also, I didn't have the ca$h - I don't want to charge if they pick that up with the 3-month (?) TOS. Anybody know what they'd do if you bought with cash?

 

[NICKel]

You might find this interesting... News.com says the price is going up to 400.00 dollars.

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-2206875.html?tag=st.ne.1002.lthd.1006-200-2206875

 

[Sunsans]

Bought one with cash.... no problem at all...

Hollywood store in Los Angeles

 

[pete777]

does anybody knows if the label on the IOPENER box has any legal value?

It states
By opening this box, you are agreeing to use the i-opener service and paying # 21,95 per month for such service. If you discontinue using the service within 90 days of receipt, you will be charged a deactivation fee of $ 499. You understand that this fee does not apply if the i-opener system is returned within the stated return period, in new condition and with all its components and the seal on the i-opener device intact. You also agree and consent to the delivery and transfer of your name, phone number, and address to netpliance to activate your new i-opener acccount.

by the way, I bought with cash, but Circuity City has my name, address and phone