$125 off the Evalbot is a steal

posted Oct 4th 2010 10:35am by
filed under: HackIt

When you see $125 off something you probably assume it cost several times that to start with. Nope, this drastic discount leaves just $25 plus shipping. Use coupon-code: 2JLP-R4XRT3 when ordering the little rover. There’s a quick video snippet of it embedded after the break.

What you’ll get is a Stellaris ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller on a board with a bunch of goodies.

  • MicroSD slot
  • USB host and device connectors
  • I2C audio with speakers
  • Ethernet connector
  • 96×6 OLED display
  • Motors
  • Optosensors
  • Bump detectors

As always, we want to hear about the hacks you come up with once you have this little guy in hand.

[update, the code is now expired]

[final update -- Someone from TI explains what is going on.]

—-  from the comments.

As some posts already note, the coupon code is only available to ESC Boston attendees. That said, we’re psyched about all of your interest and understand there seems to have been some confusion, so TI plans to fulfill all of the finalized orders to date. We’re working on some logistics in getting the code up and running again for ESC Boston attendees, but proof of ESC registration will be required. Stay tuned.

We hear you about the e-store and are working as quickly as possible to avoid issues in the future. Thanks for your patience.

Bottom line – we’re glad to see the excitement around EVALBOT and look forward to checking out your projects! We encourage you to share them on our e2e Forums at http://e2e.ti.com/

-Jean Anne Booth, Texas Instruments

——-

[Thanks GDM]



518 Responses to $125 off the Evalbot is a steal

  • Spork says:

    Cool little device, I’d buy it if I had an extra $25 laying around.

  • biozz says:

    damn you new creditcard laws making it so i cant get a card >_<

  • Spork says:

    @biozz
    Curious which laws those are.

  • Brennan says:

    That’s a sweet board for an even sweeter discount, but unfortunately I probably won’t have time to learn that platform.

  • Zach says:

    I do have 25 bucks laying around so I ordered one!
    Can’t wait to play around with it!

  • onlinepharmacy says:

    yeah…brilliant video

  • dubyaohohdee says:

    arduino bot is missing arduino?

  • xeracy says:

    TI’s Store is under severe duress… the HaD effect? i doubt it…

  • tim says:

    too late :(
    it is back to 149$

  • biozz says:

    @Spork

    in my state (or the usa idk which) as of September 1st you need to be 21 in order to apply for credit or have a cosigner that is a family member with good credit http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/YourCreditRating/under-21-no-credit-card-for-you.aspx

  • xeracy says:

    @tim, did you make it all the way to check out where you could enter the coupon code? I’ve spent 10 min on TI’s site and cant get there. They are being slow as shit today, and frankly, i dont want one of these bots that much, no matter how much of a steal.

  • Ian says:

    Ordering one. It’s a very cheap platform. And $25 is $25…I can skip driving for a week!

  • Bill says:

    Umm, why such a lame video?

  • tim says:

    xeracy, and where do i get this coupon code ?

  • Chris Muncy says:

    I got mine coming! I couldn’t pass it up. Look at all of the hardware you get for $25.00! And if this is like the MSP430, I’ll either get it tomorrow or in 2 months :p.

  • jgunn says:

    Actually, it’s $25 including shipping – which is pretty sweet. As xeracy pointed out, the site is super slow at the moment, but eventually I got through.

  • Eric M says:

    I would buy it if their site wasn’t broken…

  • xeracy says:

    @tim “Use coupon-code: 2JLP-R4XRT3 when ordering the little rover.”

  • lamont says:

    After 15 or so minutes slowly going through their checkout process, it finally denied me saying they think I’m a bot. Oh, the irony. I think I eventually got the order through after another 15 minutes, in that I got email confirmation, but their site is seriously crap.

    Seriously though, the stellaris stuff is awesome, crazy fast, and I really like that you just need a single usb cable to load, communicate and debug under windows or linux.

  • Necromant says:

    .aspx…
    Hehe, no wonder they are HaD effected…

  • Malte says:

    When I ordered mine about 45 min ago (right after this post came ot) the TI store was still working fine (and fast), so this is definetly related to the rover. The code did work though, i got it for 25USD with free shipping to germany.

  • Bill says:

    There store has been trashed. I got:

    “Your activity has been detected as a Bot or Spider by our system. If you believe you are seeing this message in error you can Retry the checkout after one minute.”

  • Spork says:

    @biozz
    After reading the PDF on the law it seems that if you can prove you have “a means to pay it back” they can issue you a credit card. Having this vague of wording means that you could simply send them a bank statement with something like 3x the credit limit and they could issue the card, or any type of pay stub would qualify you, I’m sure.

    See this link for the PDF.

  • Elizabeth Greene says:

    Just received my order confirmation. Thanks HaD!

    Now to figure out how to program this thing… :D

  • bigzo says:

    I think its a con, i go through all the ordering process and i comes up Bot Activity Detected! When i continue the price is up to $149 and asks me to continue.

  • Brad Hein says:

    Sight super slow, slashdotted? err hackaday’d? :)

  • Tim says:

    Sweet. And for some reason, shipping was included, so it was $25 total! Yay!

  • tim says:

    haha, am i stupid, the coupon code is on the home page.
    But now i have finished the order and i have the message:

    Bot Activity Detected!

    is it a joke ???

  • Anon Ymous says:

    @biozz – Credit is a trap, the most aggressively baited trap you’ll ever have chance to step in.

    ONLY borrow money if what you are borrowing it for will increase in value. Ever.

    If you are jonesing for online shopping, a Visa or Mastercard debit card tied to a checking account from a local bank or credit union will work swimmingly. Failing that, you can get a prepaid visa/mastercard from Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Marts, or most gas stations. Caveat Emptor, the fees on prepaid cards are commensurate to their convenience.

  • Jason says:

    Thanks Hackaday. I actually have a different Stellaris eval board that I like a lot. Thinking I should only need minor toolchain changes to get working with this. Also, the coupon still worked for me and it said my shipping was included.

  • Xandrios says:

    And thats the biggest issue with these eval boards. The software to program them is not free – at all.

  • Peter says:

    Just ordered one. I can’t believe they’re even giving out free shipping to the UK! i did have to select some random things for my ‘companies’ end products, but they dont explicitly disallow non-corporate customers (that i could see). Lets just say i wont be surprised if i get an email saying they’ve cancelled my order

    However, when (if) i get a confirmation email with an estimated ship date, i may purchase a second one. you know, so the first wont feel lonely? (have to justify it somehow :))

  • xeracy says:

    I cant get passed the Customs Information popup that they keep throwing at me.. FML

  • Bergo says:

    stuck on the customs information page, second drop down isn’t loading.
    Anyone know if the coupon code was supposed to be entered before or after customs info?

  • Bill says:

    Got my order in. Had to go through customs form twice, and past the bot detected warning once. Just keep at it!

  • NatureTM says:

    estore.ti.com must be on a dialup connection…
    Only took me 20 minutes to place my order with an existing account. Still, it wasn’t as frustrating as Sparkfun’s free day. Four computers running 3 OS’es on 3 separate connections couldn’t get me the goods that day.

  • mugsy says:

    Be patient, it works. Took me close to 30 minutes to get all the way through only to be told I’m a bot. But it worked the second go-’round. Thanks HaD!

  • bigzo says:

    Just to let you know, my order went through on the 3rd atempt. The site must be getting high traffic. Don’t process the order after the Bot thing or you’ll be charged the full amount.

  • xeracy says:

    wow, finally got it in at 11:45am pst. took 30 min and lots of reloading. finally placed the order and no confirmation screen appeared, but it shows up on my account page, so i guess i got it in.

  • NoX says:

    I haven’t been able to resist the temptation :-)

    The TI store is very slow at this moment, but the customs popup loaded without too much problem…

    BTW what are you declaring you are going to use it? I put “Drive DC motors” but I don’t think it matters… I could easily think in 100 different applications for it…

  • NatureTM says:

    P.S. Thanks again, HaD. I <3 U.

  • Bergo says:

    Almost…ordered…

    I’ve put in my CC info.. and hit pay…

    …loading…

    LOL

  • Jaguarius says:

    So, I am in the process of ordering one now but I can’t find much info out there. What exactly can you DO with this board? I see a few comments stating the programming tools are probably pretty damn expensive.

  • compukidmike says:

    For those stuck on the customs page where the second drop-down doesn’t load, just click the submit button, and it will yell at you about it, but it also enables it so that you can choose! Good luck.

  • profil says:

    What do you need to use/program it? As I can see you don’t need anything except a usb cable, can someone verify this?
    Thanks!

  • UltraMagnus says:

    what use is wired ethernet on a robot? srsly?

  • Chris Muncy says:

    Looks like the eStore is down. Coworker cant get in at all.

  • Yeah, it looks like cool hardware for a great price, just nobody knows how to use it and the documentation comes in a $100 book

  • Jason says:

    I have the stellaris lm3s6965 eval board which also has an oled display, ethernet port is also cortex M3 based, and I use a free toolchain to develop for it. I can’t say for sure, but I imagine this board would allow for the same.

  • chango says:

    @Jaguarius There are commercial compilers, but Codesourcery open-sourced their patches to GCC for Cortex-M3.

  • Elizabeth Greene says:

    @UltraMagnus – To plug in your wireless AP.

    The coupon code box is in the upper right on the page where you enter your credit card number

  • Josh says:

    Got mine! Just gotta brave through TI’s store being destroyed.

  • profil says:

    Oh, and btw, is it possible to register without the need to enter company name. I am a student.

  • Alex Smith says:

    Is anybody else getting invalid ssl certs?

  • TJ says:

    Are all the non-company people using hackaday.com as their website during checkout? d8)

  • biozz says:

    @Spork

    thanks for the help im going to go in to the back with a few thousand in cash and open up an account and use a debit card instead XD

  • Eric M says:

    Mine finally went through. The ‘Customs’ screen doesn’t work right in Chrome.

  • Jaguarius says:

    I keep getting “the coupon code you have entered is already in use” been trying for 45 mins to get this order through.

  • Erik Johnson says:

    I think I just lost $25 in pay at work just waiting the site to load :o

  • LGSilva says:

    Thanks Hack a Day, just got the email confirmation but never got to the confirmation page.

    I will be waiting for hacks on this one :)

  • biozz says:

    XD careful HaD TI is a very powerful enemy to have XD

  • Necromant says:

    Guys, it’s getting worse out there. Still cannot get through the customs screen. Will try FF now…

  • Adrian says:

    When/where do you enter the coupon code? Is it after entering in shipping information etc? Or can you do it from the cart?

  • Spork says:

    @biozz
    I’m more careful with a debit card online, it’s linked directly to a bank account and if stolen, they can take every penny in that account. A credit card company will protect you from that. The trick is to pay off your card every time you make a purchase, so that it’s like using cash rather than borrowing money.

  • Jaguarius says:

    It’s when you get to the payment screen, you enter the coupon code and click apply, then put in your credit card details.

  • Matt R says:

    Nice video about bot, I don’t think the book comes with this kit????

  • macona says:

    Got mine ordered. Took about 45 minutes and several restarts.

  • Doublet says:

    TI really wants the hearts of the hobbyists….

  • chango says:

    @biozz Enemy? Look at the free advertising. The Stellaris chips are sweet, esp. considering how cheap they are, but nobody knows about them because Lumina… I mean TI refuses to push these to the hobbyist market like they’ve been doing with MSP430 over the last year.

  • Erik Johnson says:

    @Adrian its at the point you enter your CC information – the Coupon section on the top-right.

    For those stuck on screens with grayed out drop downs, etc; TI is using dynamic HTML/XSS and you have to wait for your browser to contact the server (forever!) before it un-grays/goes away each time.

  • Edward says:

    Managed to complete an order about 10 min before this comment.

    You must be very patient as often there are buttons that you must click, but there is no feedback indicating that they have been clicked or are clickable.

    Good luck!

  • Greenroom says:

    Dude, this sucks they even ship to Germany but i don’t have a Credit card :(

    Anybody here, living in Germany, and willing to buy two of these? (would be super-awesome of you! E-Mail: starstrider.industries@googlemail.com)

    Würde jemand hier, der in Deutschland wohnt, das teil hier zweimal kaufen? (Wäre suuuper duper lieb von dir! E-Mail: starstrider.industries@googlemail.com)

  • Chris says:

    Just ordered mine, just takes a little while haha

  • glonq says:

    This version doesn’t come with the manual. Is it downloadable? The manual has assembly instructions and a programming guide, both of which gotta be useful.

  • Greenroom says:

    @Malte Could you please buy another on? Pleeeaaasee! ? E-Mail starstrider.industries@googlemail.com

  • lizardb0y says:

    It took an hour and a half to get through the ordering process – the server is incredibly slow and kept telling me I was a bot and had to start again. I just got an order conformation email, but the TI store is still sitting on the final payment screen giving no indication that it’s doing anything.

    I had the same experience when they had the Launchpad deal, but I gave up and stopped trying.

    TI – your products are cool but your store sucks big time.

  • Andrew says:

    Just got my order confirmation letter. Took the better part of an hour for me to get everything done. Three bot notices, but it went.
    Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

  • Chris Muncy says:

    What’s your order number?

    I’m curious to see if we can figure out how many were ordered so far. My order was number 5704.

  • Necromant says:

    > This version doesn’t come with the manual. Is it downloadable? The manual has assembly instructions and a programming guide, both of which gotta be useful.

    Anyone out there still reads them? Anyway, got my order placed and card charged… Hope they’ll ship this shiny thingy…

    P.S. Anyone answered yes to the question conserning weapon design? Looks to me like “Are you an idiot [Y/n]” question…

  • Nico says:

    OUT OF STOCK… I COULD CRY… I tried to order for over an hour – but got this stupid ‘you’re a bot’ 2 times…
    Dude…

  • Ned says:

    FINALLY!
    after 1 hour and 45 minutes i finally got through! also ordered a couple launchpads because of the free shipping :D

  • redleader36 says:

    @Chris

    5710

  • HUSSTECH says:

    Woah!!!! That is one big manual on that video posted by Matt R.

    Quite lucky I saw this today, I had been wanting to learn/begin to use something like an ARM cortex. I just hope we can get to ARM rather than go through the t.i. uc/os-III interface thing…

  • Gexsta says:

    Finally after 30min of retrying!
    Retarded Store Website.
    Order number 5949

  • mr mr says:

    I received the bot detected response several times and then the following non coupon price but each time I went back to the basket until it eventually worked on the 4th attempt.
    Shipping to europe included although I expect to pay import duty and tax on the full amount, not 25usd which is a shame.

  • Anonymous says:

    I’m going to try to make it work with FreeRtos.

  • brad says:

    I never saw the order confirmation screen, but the email order confirmation came through. Works for me.

  • Wha’????

    “Items in your cart may have been removed based on product availability. Please review your cart before proceeding with checkout.”

  • darthsynack says:

    Tried for 30 minutes, tried Chrome, FF, IE and Safari, all to no avail. Hung on the customs page everytime in IE, and that was the farthest I made it.

  • Paul says:

    Order number of 5965

    I just did a search hoping to find some better pictures but I did see this deal is all over the net. Slickdeals, (other random deal forums) etc.

  • nsl says:

    today’s “how to crash ti’s website” has been successful.

  • Damian says:

    Ok people. RELAX. I just finished ordering 3 minutes ago. they RECEIVED my order. I paid $25 only. (it’s $150 – $125 coupon, yes press APPLY on the right, and NO SHIPPING COST)

    So everyone that’s stopping because they don’t have 5 minutes to wait. CHI-LAX. It goes through and you have a $25 dent in your credit card and a $150 little mini robot.

  • Pilotgeek says:

    @Gregory Strike

    I got that too, but it ended up going through. 5945!

    How to order:
    Open website. Go do something for 10 minutes. Click button. Go do something else for 10 minutes. Repeat until done.

  • Jon says:

    I love how this post pretty much ensures the DDoS of their website…

    Getting SQL errors on every attempt when it may or may not be charging me money is also quite entertaining.

  • Adrian says:

    Looks like you dont get $125 off per bot, just on the order as a whole. If you want multiples, you are going to have to go through the process multiple times :’(

  • mnlgarbe says:

    order nº 5889

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