netpliance hack

[Randy Rathbun]

Slashdot just posted a story that this thing can no longer be modified...
Netpliance confirms it also via a press release....

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 3/23/00 at 12:07 PM Roscoe Brooks wrote:

>From the i-opener Store at www.netpliance.com:
>
>"By purchasing the i-opener you are agreeing to use the i-opener Internet
>service. The fee is $21.95 a month and will be billed approximately 2 days
>after the i-opener is shipped to you.
>
>i-opener Internet appliances shipped after March 20, 2000 can no longer be
>reconfigured in the manner described in recent reports. Modification of
the
>i-opener in any way is in violation of our terms and conditions.
>
>[ACCEPT BUTTON]"
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: michael d hoskins [mailto:michael.d.hoskins at mail.sprint.com]
>Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2000 11:35 AM
>To: kclug at kclug.org
>Subject: RE: kclug - netpliance hack
>
>
>At first glance, I thought the same thing, but then I started reading
>more about it.  It's a good idea, but the economics don't work, unless
>you REALLY know how to tweak it and stretch dollars.
>
>I'm not sure about cheap; actually, it's very expensive, once you've
>configured it.  Read the rest of the Slashdot posts, as well as the web
>site.  See
>http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/03/11/1216231&mode=thread and
>http://www.linux-hacker.net/iopener/ (may be down, though.)
>
>To do it right, here's the skinny, according to the above posts:
>      $99.00 for the machine
>      $65.00 (minimum Internet commitment?)
>      $35.00 (IDE cable, if you do not build one.)
>      $??.?? (2.5" IDE hard drive, far more expen$ive than 3.5", assume
>$150-250)
>      $??.?? (Misc parts, can range in price up to maybe $15-25?)
>      $??.?? (Ethernet is a slow parallel "pocket" device; USB is not
>well supported, roughly $50-$80)
>      ------
>      $200 for the machine, Internet commitment, and special IDE cable,
>plus shipping and/or tax
>      $215 to $245 for Ethernet and no IDE drive, but you need a second
>box, and a lot of patience
>      $365 to $475, if you want a hard drive, without Ethernet, plus
>shipping and/or tax
>      $415 to $535 complete, plus shipping and/or tax
>      (all rough estimates, this can range more than this, of course)
>
>Now, this machine is roughly equivalent to a 166 MHz Pentium, you get a
>10" strange aspect ratio 65536 color cheapy LCD (600 by 800, NOT 800 by
>600), 32 M RAM, no floppy, no ethernet, no serial(?,) and you still have
>to do a lot of work to set it up, and you, most likely void any
>warranty.
>
>If you can mass-produce these, and will invest in one setup, shown
>above, you can use one machine to set things up, temporarily move the
>IDE drive to another machine, and (if you know how,) re-flash the 16M
>SanDisk with a small Linux kernel that knows about the "pocket" parallel
>to ethernet converter, and boot whatever else you need off the network,
>which would bring the price down (for subsequent machines) to about $215
>to $245, for a thin client with no HD, plus tax and/or shipping.  Most
>of the above concerns still apply.  At first glance, this seems like a
>great lab setup, but 10" screens, slow machines, and little RAM, plus
>you still need a server and a "deployment" Netpliance, initially?
>
>A really innovative person might find a way to boot DOS or Linux off of
>some USB device (floppy, Zip, LS120, SuperDisk, hard drive) to reflash
>the 16M SanDisk with Linux, if the Award BIOS supports booting in this
>way.  This would not require opening the case and can be a great way to
>either mass-produce or getting a machine to 'net boot.  You would still
>need a server, unless you like text-only Linux.  Many of the above
>concerns still apply.
>
>I'll not invest in the above when I can buy a brand new warrantied FAST
>machine for $400-$900, which includes a big hard drive, lots o' RAM.
>(Monitor not included in most configurations.)
>
>FreeBSD supposedly has good USB Ethernet support, but we're Linux
>bigots, so...
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: mdmcvey [mailto:mdmcvey at att.net]
>Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2000 6:12 PM
>To: kclug
>Cc: mdmcvey
>Subject: kclug - netpliance hack
>
>
>Have any of you tried the Netpliance hack in which this new webtv 
>like internet appliace is converted into a fullblown pentium PC, 
>capable of running x86 software?
>
>I just read about it in the NY Times and am pretty curious--$99.00 + 
>hard disk, mouse and keyboard is pretty nifty, especially when the 
>machine is noiseless (no fan), tiny, and draws about as much power as 
>a clock radio. 
>
>Maybe not that practical, but it sure is cheap. Its tempting to try 
>it.
>
>Mike
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>