i want one now :)

Posted at 10:16 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by paul

Is releasing all these hacks some kind of stealth-marketing tactic by Zipit? If so, their time would be better spent actually making the devices available where they say they’ll be available. Zipit’s website says you can buy the devices at Best Buy and Target; I went through several Target and Best Buy stores here in the Bay Area and nobody even knew what a Zipit is.

Posted at 10:32 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by LateBlt

I was just looking around at prices on ‘em myself!

That’s really nice for such a (seemingly) modest device!

Posted at 10:33 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

Jeez, I can’t even get fullspeed NES emulation on my netbook :/

Posted at 10:50 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by fenwick

Does anyone know about any store in europe selling the Zipit? Shipping & handling rates from the US would be prohibitive for a low cost device like this one. So far I’ve found only a US seller on Ebay.

Posted at 10:59 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by asdf

I can. :)

Posted at 11:00 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

@LateBlt: http://www.zipitwireless.com/where2buy.aspx?skinid=5
Looks like a list of specific target stores that have them, and mentions target and bestbuy’s online store.
$49 + their website says one has to get their service for a year with it. 49+10*12=169

Posted at 11:03 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by Kyle

$169 after service? Yikes.

I got my Eee 702 (8G) for $129.

Posted at 11:11 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by Shadyman

Please, in the name all the people who are bothered by white on black webpages, please, please, change your webpage background to something other than black. Every time I read something on Hackaday, I see black and white stripes when I go back to a regular webpage. Am I the only one? Please comment if you especially agree, or disagree.

Posted at 11:13 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by EyeCrazy

Hackaday’s color scheme is just fine.

Posted at 11:19 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by andrew

EyeCrazy: Disagree. Must be you or your monitor.

Is it a CRT, X-RAY, DLP, OLED or Liquid Crystal type?

If its one of the first 2 it might be the reason why….

Posted at 11:20 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by Steven

kyle: if you just want it for hacking on then you don’t need to register it or buy a plan so it’ll just be the $49 (or less on amazon and else where)

Posted at 11:20 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by Russell Davis

The instructions say you need a Linux computer with gparted in order to setup your Z2. How hard would it be to do this on Windows?

Posted at 11:23 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by nate

@Nate

Learn to use computers.

Posted at 11:49 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by Jimbo

nate: because you need to make a ext2/3 partition as well you’ll need linux as windows can’t format ext2/3 but a livecd will work

Posted at 11:51 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by Russell Davis

Interresting device (hardware point of view)

But what can be done with it for real?

Maybe this device is NOT intended for people like me. I use Linux but why is this cool? As a gadget maybe, but its a crippled netvook. The EEEPC has a small keyboard, this has a phone size pad!?

Posted at 11:57 am on Sep 25th, 2009 by Steven

Thanks Russell. I went through the instructions and came to the same conclusion. At first, I thought perhaps some compiling had to be done, but the formatting process seems to be the only reason Linux is required. I’m trying to find a free/open formatting tool that supports EXT3 for Windows, but I’ll probably just go with a gparted live CD.

Posted at 12:01 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by nate

It isn’t intended to be a netbook, it is an IM client (with very light media playback functions).

Posted at 12:03 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by MS3FGX

with linux it can aspire to be a netbook, silly Mr. MS3FGX man.

And wth, this is HACKADAY. This is a place of HACKS, we don’t care about INTENTED USES here, that’s the point.

Posted at 12:34 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by nemo

Hey Russell, Nate,

Yeah there’s no need to cross-compile and a livecd to do the formatting would work fine. The next userland image will probably be based on debian and that’ll bring in a lot of fun pacakges.

Steven,

lots of good things can be done with the z2. Netmap scanning, mplayer movie playing, internet radio device etc. etc. I’m always suprised at how many uses people find for it.

Kyle,

Yeah Russell is right, you don’t need to sign up for the monthly service if you only wish to run linux.

Hey LateBLT,

HAHAH that’s pretty funny. If you’re interested in Zipit corp, they are actually looking for talented programmers and kernel hackers for their next device release. Either way, they don’t need any viral marketing in my opinion… When a company encourages its community to hack its device, people will respond in a positive way. My employer (scalable-networks) is also looking for networking/CS PHDS as well.

Posted at 12:37 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Hunter Davis

Latebit: I purchased mine on clearance at the Target near me two days ago for $35. It turned out to be the contract free variety as well, so I’ve got something to play with for a while till I can put a real linux distro on it.

Steven: The zipit’s keyboard is much larger then that of a phone, and the spacing is better. What makes this cool is that it’s a linux based device, with support from the manufacturer to repurpose it as the user sees fit. Also, like I mentioned earlier, I paid $35. Much, much cheaper than a netbook, and much smaller.

Posted at 12:47 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Matt

It’s amazing you can buy a capable computer for 35$ these days…

truly amazing :)

now if only I could find on in canada :(

Posted at 12:55 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by paul

Hunter: yes i’ve had to give up my linux dev box as the kid needs it for college and to be running windows so i have reverted to my vmplayer/virtualbox image for compiling oe based stuff and a livecd (sysresccd) for partitioning and formatting.

the image is pretty big and a few months old but would do as a starting point for anyone with only windows who wants to use oe or buildroot.

if anyone wants it http://russelldavis.org/stuff/Zipit2%20Devel%20(Ubuntu%209.04).7z — userid and passwd info is in the archive. it is a 40gig dynamic hd. — iirc i think i also setup the ipkg repository on it too.

i’ll probably make a better version in the next few days as i’m a windows only shop again for a while.

Posted at 1:20 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Russell Davis

wasn’t hard to find at all online – http://www.target.com/Z2A-Zipit-Wireless-Messenger/dp/B00115PR2O I think the service plan is necessary to use it as-is, obviously won’t be necessary if you just want to it.

Posted at 1:26 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by john

any chance of a internet browser in the future?how about an app similar too kismet?thanks

Posted at 1:44 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by labrd

labrd: I don’t see why a browser couldn’t be made to work, but I read that Kismet won’t work because of incompatibility with the Z2’s Marvell chipset.

Posted at 2:07 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by nate

I think i get it.
This is ideal as my random internet radio station alarm clock!

Or as a cheap wifi home automation. Flunk one in a car and have a server at home notice arrival and turn on the automatic coffee maker :-)

I think got the picture.

Posted at 2:12 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Steven

links-sdl would probably work on it.

Posted at 2:13 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by spacecoyote

Hey Labrd, nate,

Firefox, fennec, dillo, epiphany etc all compile fine. I never got firefox loaded up correctly but the rest have no issues. Probably missing a gtk lib or something. The Z2’s Marvell chipset is the same as the iphone as far as I know, meaning no promiscuous mode and no kismet or snorting

Russel,

Nice image :) I’ll have to give that a shot this weekend, if it ever finishes downloading on my slow connection heh.

Posted at 2:39 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Hunter Davis

Hunter: it’s on the end of a fatish pipe so shouldn’t be too bad. iirc it’s based on the last svn revision sweetlilmre did before he moved to u-boot and .31

i’m planning on building one that should be a smaller download over the next few days so if that one is too large (700 and a bit meg) you might want to wait.

Posted at 2:57 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Russell Davis

Does this has a miniSd slot or not? I see on the http://elinux.org/ZipIt_MMC that you need to add your own slot or is that about a older version? (I know nothing about those zipit things).
A few friends will go to the usa next week, I think I might ask them to get one or 2..

Posted at 3:07 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by polossatik

Wow that is pretty cool and all this hacking makes it look even better.

However, what does this mean for someone like me. I know my way around a windows computer fairly well but know nothing of Linux or programming.

I would love it if you get a working web browser on it just to check forum posts and such without needing to turn my desktop on! Even a basic cellphone type browser would be amazing for a $35 device!

Posted at 3:13 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by epicelite

I got a surf 2G for $135 and the internal WIFI injects and it runs BackTrack4. It’ll also emulate various ROMs and runs windows when needed.

This device isn’t very appealing. The hardware security might be fun to mess with; if there is any.

Also for the computer geniuses trying to school other computer geniuses: The primary reason for no windows is because xscale is RISC. CE is the only MS product to ever run on top of RISC chips. The file system claim is retarded.

Posted at 3:14 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by tjhooker

Ok got it that “Z2″ model has a miniSD card.
I like
I want

Posted at 3:15 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by polossatik

I wonder if you could get Mono on this thing, then you could chuck on Airfoil Speaker and do home audio with a screen way cheaper than an Squeezebox or even the displayless Apple Express.

Posted at 3:26 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Cabe

tjhooker: I think you misunderstood (or I’m misunderstanding you). Nobody is trying to run Windows on the Z2; I’m interested in setting up the Z2 without using a Linux computer. The reason Windows isn’t used is because it can’t natively format a device for the EXT3 filesystem, which is apparently what is required for the Z2. Theoretically, you could use any OS to format the SD card as EXT3, but it’s much easier in Linux since EXTx is already very common with Linux and the tools already exist.

Posted at 3:39 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by nate

usb host support?

Posted at 3:47 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by babble

If it has a usb port I will buy one.

Posted at 4:15 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Jimbo

No usb port. If you are handy with a soldering iron there are serial leads on the motherboard.

Posted at 4:19 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Hunter Davis

Anyone know anywhere that would ship one of these to the UK?

Posted at 4:34 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Titcher

@epicelite. Take some time to learn linux. Bash and regular expression are what you need to come to grips with. Its well worth the effort. If your interested in any sort of automation.

Forget windows, MS is about selling you more software, not getting things done.

Posted at 6:16 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Paul

@Paul

Well I don’t care if they are trying to sell me more software they are a company and that is how they make money. All I need to do is not buy their software and use the free equivalent, that is sometimes better. *coughpenofficecough*

I am not trying to defend M$ or anything, just saying.

Also it is rather difficult to find proper Linux drivers for most stuff. |^:

Also I only have 1 HDD and don’t like partitions.

Posted at 7:01 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by epicelite

Also useing a terminal for everything defeats the purpose of a GUI.

Posted at 7:02 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by epicelite

@nate: Most partitioning software like partition magic and partition manager 9.0 will format ext2 and ext3 from NT.

fs-driver also adds native ext2/ext3 support to windows.

Probably would be better to use a live cd though.

Posted at 7:36 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by tjhooker

Any way to get Android up and running on one of these things?

Posted at 8:05 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by eric

Android is in the oe tree, you’d just need to get it compiling. Gpe/opie should work as well.

Posted at 8:08 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Hunter Davis

anyone know where i can get full hardware specs on this
hd size, prossesor, ram, etc…
if it has part/model names that would be good too
love this thred of hacks… but too lazy to buy one yet

Posted at 9:11 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by soggy pretzels

Most of that info is available on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipit

Posted at 9:22 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by nate

getting a little confused, do you need to pay the 1 year plan to IM or no?

Posted at 9:27 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by cm

Why does anyone give a damn about Android? It sucks the big one.

Posted at 9:30 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by spacecoyote

soggy pretzels: most of the info you want is on this page http://linux.zipitwireless.com/wiki/Z2 , and the rest is on other pages on the wiki.

Posted at 9:43 pm on Sep 25th, 2009 by Russell Davis

@”Why does anyone give a damn about Android? It sucks the big one.”
Iphone sucks too, arduino suck, Obama suck…
but there always big hype around, people just like crap, something we didnt lose in evolution

Posted at 2:51 am on Sep 26th, 2009 by therian

why does therian hate everything. He is jealous because he doesn’t know how to work with any of these platforms because he has commitment issues
stop digging when your already 10ft under.

Posted at 3:07 am on Sep 26th, 2009 by ode

@ode
which platform ? arduino , why would I if I have plenty of bare uC and know C and some asm, which other platform ? iphone ? no way I will touch that thing which limit you more than strip-jacket, no thank you, I rather program my ppc

Posted at 4:47 am on Sep 26th, 2009 by therian

This thing is pretty cheap for what it’s made up of. If only there were more (any) international suppliers, I’d snap one up like that.

Posted at 8:36 am on Sep 26th, 2009 by Just dance

Beside Amazon (refused to ship) and ebay (cannot find on it ?!) someone knows where I can find one supplier that can ship to Canada ?… thanks

Posted at 6:05 pm on Sep 26th, 2009 by Dom

Also pretty awesome, you can bring out a serial connection pretty easily.

http://zipit2system.sourceforge.net/?page_id=82

Posted at 8:23 pm on Sep 26th, 2009 by Just dance

I may just have to get one of these, though being in Canada makes it tricky. Paypal an American friend, he gets it and mails it to me.

Fun.

Posted at 3:03 pm on Sep 27th, 2009 by BenJ

Oh so i’m in a desperate need of an american friend… Beside how’s the battery life on that thing ?

Posted at 3:49 pm on Sep 27th, 2009 by Dom

Have you tried to play video with mplayer? Is the processor powerful enough to play an .avi file?

Posted at 6:33 pm on Sep 27th, 2009 by Gregg

Having a Zipit(1st Gen) and a G1, I can definitely say that a Zipit(2nd Gen) would be crap compared to an actual netbook.

Posted at 10:37 pm on Sep 27th, 2009 by cde

@justdance

Yep, and between that, the tellymate (http://www.batsocks.co.uk/products/Other/TellyMate.htm), and the old $25 monocular HUD from Wild Planet (pics/discussion http://jakehildebrandt.com/2007/09/30/25-head-mounted-display/) – you could have yourself a simple wearable computing platfor for less than $75.

Admittedly, the HUD part would be monochome and text, but a twitter feed + other IM notiications doesn’t need anything more.

Posted at 11:53 pm on Sep 28th, 2009 by mycroftxxx

I just got mine from the link in here.
Looking forward to it.
Is it possible to run a IM client inside the linux hack. Just the dosbox makes it worth 49.99 and they did not make me sign up for a plan or anything.

Posted at 10:33 am on Sep 29th, 2009 by jwp1

Ya, pidgin works etc for IM. You won’t be able to txt message phones without going through some surrogate (or using the stock firmware +payment plan)

Posted at 10:42 am on Sep 29th, 2009 by hunter davis

Hunter,
Your link for the image, does the image have an IM/Email/RSS reader type thing?

Claws or Pine possible?

Posted at 5:44 am on Sep 30th, 2009 by jwp1

Hey Jwp1,

Claws and pine both possible yes. My previous image had them im (along with firefox, fennec, dillo etc etc). I think the new debian rootfs that’s up has everything in the apt repository as well. Good luck!

Posted at 7:24 am on Sep 30th, 2009 by Hunter Davis