If anybody is interested in selling thiers for cash, let me know. Email me at brumgard@chattanooga.net
Timothius
Timothius
The funny thing is they must not be too concerned about getting these back, since I've been waiting over 6 months (when did we get these again?) for them to pick this thing up for shipping back, per their instructions. I even called to remind them about a month ago and still nobody showed up. Guess I'll keep it.
There's an e-groups mailing list here:
webplayer-coop-subscribe@egroups.com
The goal of the group is to contact Virgin and see about a group buy of the returned units.
I would assume that if you had a unit for sale, you could also offer it there and have it
snapped up.
webplayer-coop-subscribe@egroups.com
The goal of the group is to contact Virgin and see about a group buy of the returned units.
I would assume that if you had a unit for sale, you could also offer it there and have it
snapped up.
When I first heard about this a couple days ago I fired off an e-mail to virgin asking if they'd be willing to ship their excess units to my high school and provide technical information. I figure that both parties gain this way. The school gets free net terminals and a platform on which the students can get hardware experience. Plus Virgin can write off the losses come tax season. Hopefully my mail doesn't get lost in the shuffle of everyone's return requests.
I also looked at the internal pictures a few days ago and came to the conclusion that, assuming the bios is hacked, this would be really easy to modify. The IDE connector is intact, plus it has a mini-pci connector for which it would be relatively simple to make a mini->regular pci adaptor and hook up a tiny ethernet card (though you'd need to hack up the card for it to fit). Plus it has two connected usb ports (more than the I-Opener). The major drawbacks for my application are the apparently fragile and shoddy screen and the wireless keyboard. I'd bet putting more than one them in the same room would have some ir interference (unless you can tune them individually to use seperate frequencies or something). Plus the trackball didn't look to great - still has to be better than the I-Opener pointer though.
It'll be intersting to see how fast this thing can run consumer operating systems with its 200mhz processor and 64mb of RAM. Apparently the processor is also of a higher quality than the winchip (or the rise 266 in later models) in the I-Opener.
I also looked at the internal pictures a few days ago and came to the conclusion that, assuming the bios is hacked, this would be really easy to modify. The IDE connector is intact, plus it has a mini-pci connector for which it would be relatively simple to make a mini->regular pci adaptor and hook up a tiny ethernet card (though you'd need to hack up the card for it to fit). Plus it has two connected usb ports (more than the I-Opener). The major drawbacks for my application are the apparently fragile and shoddy screen and the wireless keyboard. I'd bet putting more than one them in the same room would have some ir interference (unless you can tune them individually to use seperate frequencies or something). Plus the trackball didn't look to great - still has to be better than the I-Opener pointer though.
It'll be intersting to see how fast this thing can run consumer operating systems with its 200mhz processor and 64mb of RAM. Apparently the processor is also of a higher quality than the winchip (or the rise 266 in later models) in the I-Opener.
I might want to sell mine. It's in very good condition with everything included in original box. I don't have the time to hack it. 
bd772@hotmail.com
bd772@hotmail.com
I will sell mine...I haven't touched it for a few months.
Make all offers to nextjob@email.com
I just don't have the time to play with it...the little woman doesn't like me to "play" with extra computers anyway...I guess four other computers do keep me busy...
--Nightmare
Make all offers to nextjob@email.com
I just don't have the time to play with it...the little woman doesn't like me to "play" with extra computers anyway...I guess four other computers do keep me busy...
--Nightmare
- Dec 6, 1999
- 10,575
- 292
- 126
The hack is progressing pretty much like the iO hack did, but at an accelerated pace due to all the accumulated experience.
People have so far gotten FreeBSD and WindowsSE working on it--if you've followed the
iO hack, all this sounds familiar. Soon s/b will have an OS on the DOC.
People have so far gotten FreeBSD and WindowsSE working on it--if you've followed the
iO hack, all this sounds familiar. Soon s/b will have an OS on the DOC.
This seems like it was a hell of a lot easier of a hack than the I-O was. Especially when you consider the things people had to come up with to make the later model I-O's work. Then again, Virgin never had a plan of stopping people from modification via hardware. All they had was the bios password, and that seems like more of a formality than anything else. Their biggest protection was the user agreement, which, until the end of the program, was enforced much more than NetPliance's agreement (plus most I-O owners got their machines without signing the agreement in the first place).
Anyone actually hacked one yet? How much space is available inside the box for things like harddrives and possibly integrating a mini-pci or usb nic within the box?
Anyone actually hacked one yet? How much space is available inside the box for things like harddrives and possibly integrating a mini-pci or usb nic within the box?
Over the life of the I-Opener, just under 50,000 units were sold. 20,000+ of these units went to hackers. (Data taken from Netpliance's SEC filings) There was a huge community and therefore huge synergy.
In contrast, Virgin only ever made available 10,000 units. A great percentage of these went to non-hackers. Hackers were deterred by the idea of a neat gizmo they couldn't hack for 3 years on end due to the required contract.
Then again, the Virgin hack will proceed much more smoothly based on lessons learned from hacking 5 generations of I-Openers. The couple thousand or so people who will dare to hack a Virgin (and manage to find one, if they don't already have one) will be pleased. The unit takes up much less space than the I-Opener, is shinier, and cuter.
But the IR keyboard is flakey. I suggest a USB keyboard.
In contrast, Virgin only ever made available 10,000 units. A great percentage of these went to non-hackers. Hackers were deterred by the idea of a neat gizmo they couldn't hack for 3 years on end due to the required contract.
Then again, the Virgin hack will proceed much more smoothly based on lessons learned from hacking 5 generations of I-Openers. The couple thousand or so people who will dare to hack a Virgin (and manage to find one, if they don't already have one) will be pleased. The unit takes up much less space than the I-Opener, is shinier, and cuter.
But the IR keyboard is flakey. I suggest a USB keyboard.
whoa!! i didnt expect all the replies ive been getting!! to answer peopels questions, I would send you 2 webplayers (u send me a $200 deposit via ecount, exchangepath, whatever)..you add HD's, win 98, any programs u can..(@your cost) and make sure the USB connection works for a cable modem (or add a network card)...i just wanna be able to run free internet programs (altavista, B&N, bluelight whatever), @home cable and occassional MS works-type programs...mp3 capability would be cool too...
if ya can do all that, and send em back to me, ill refund the deposit and send you a brand NEW webplayer (never activated in box) ....may only the best step up to the challenge!!!
spec411@themail.com
if ya can do all that, and send em back to me, ill refund the deposit and send you a brand NEW webplayer (never activated in box) ....may only the best step up to the challenge!!!
spec411@themail.com
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