A few months back we first brought word of the progress being made in unlocking the SMART Response XE, an ATmega128RFA powered handheld computer that allowed teachers to create an interactive curriculum in the days before all the kids got Chromebooks. Featuring 2.4 Ghz wireless communication, a 384×160 LCD, and a full QWERTY keyboard, schools paid around $100 each for them 2010. Now selling for as little as $5 on eBay, these Arduino-compatible devices only need a little coaxing and an external programmer to get your own code running.
The previous post inspired [Larry Bank] to try his hand at hacking the SMART Response XE, and so far he’s made some very impressive progress. Not only has he come up with his own support library, but he’s also created a way to upload Arduino code to the devices through their integrated 802.15.4 radio. With his setup, you no longer need to open the SMART Response XE and attach a programmer, making it much easier to test and deploy software.
[Larry] has written up a very detailed account of his development process, and goes through the trouble of including his ideas that didn’t work. Getting reliable communication between two of these classroom gadgets proved a bit tricky, and it took a bit of circling around until he hit on a protocol that worked.
The trick is that you need to use one SMART Response XE attached to your computer as a “hub” to upload code to other XEs. But given how cheap they are this isn’t that big of a deal, especially considering the boost in productivity it will net you. [Larry] added a 5 x 2 female header to his “hub” XE so he could close the device back up, and also added a physical power switch. In the video after the break, you can see a demonstration of the setup sending a simple program to a nearby XE.
Between this wireless bootloader and the Arduboy compatibility covered previously, we’d suggest you get your SMART Response XE now. We wouldn’t be surprised if the prices of these things start going up like they did with the IM-ME.
Minor correction to Tom’s blurb. The wireless communication between the XE units was never an issue. Getting avrdude (STK500) to work over wireless from the Arduino IDE was the issue.
Well, prices have already gone up from those $5. Interestingly, there are even some being sold with “accompanying instructions for hacking”
That’s my eBay listing ;)
JoeFitz bought a ton of them off eBay and created a PogoPin programmer for them, so you don’t even have to open them up once to get the boot loader on to it: https://twitter.com/securelyfitz/status/1032048143586668545
Anyone ever played with Zip Wireless Messenger?
It was possible to gain access to the embedded Linux and a crosscompilation suite was available. Build in wifi
https://www.amazon.com/K-byte-Zipit-Wireless-Instant-Messenger/dp/B0002XR9PO
There’s activity on #zipit (Freenode) if you’re interested in hacking it – if you just would like to read something about hacking on it, here’s a page I find interesting: https://mozzwald.com/zipitz2
Hi.
I had 2 of those. Played a bit but finally didn’t when on using them for anything really useful.
There was an active Yahoo group a few years ago.
Thanks for the links, I’ll have a look as a reminder of these days
Mine were the original zip it with monochrome display.
Not the z2 with colour
Great stuff Larry, and same for JoeFitz. The xe cases really are a real pain to open so I’m going to employ both techniques. Thanks for all the hard work.