Case in point: ThinkGeek’s manufacturer in China is having trouble grasping the latest toy design—an “action” figure based on the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Chinese have written several times to insist that there must be some mistake with the specs—it’s simply a rectangular slab of black plastic. “We had the same problem with the USB pet rock,” Liotta says. True visionaries are rarely understood in their own time.
This project is great for people who want a new platform to experiment with. The video and Internet cores are ready to go and easy to work with. We have some example widgets that demonstrate the YBox2′s capability, and the whole project is open source so you can start hacking your own.
If you’ve ever been curious about the Parallax Propeller chip, the YBox2 is a perky little platform with tons of accessories. The kit comes with PCB and all necessary electronic parts, unassembled. Assembly is not difficult, but considering the number of components, it will take a couple hours to complete.
Harper Reed, the CTO of SkinnyCorp (which makes the best tshirts!) has a YBox2. He also has some misbehaving computers. How to solve? EZ! Use your YBox2 kit as a load-monitor hooked up to a handy LCD display, hopefully he’ll post up the php and SPIN code he used to get it working (hint hint!). That will teach you to mess with Harper, web4!
And From O’Reilly Media, the YBox2 is considered as a hardcore DIY e-reader platform:
YBox2 — For the ultimate DIY experience, the YBox2 platform is a pile of electronic parts you solder together and assemble in an Altoids tin. It doesn’t come with a touch-screen, or any screen at all: you connect it to a television or monitor. It uses the tiny Propeller chip, which powers many hobbyist devices and small robots. Like the Chumby, YBox2 comes with networking capability but little storage, and would need to stream book content from the Internet. The networking isn’t wireless and of course there’s no handy rechargable battery, but if you are the kind of person who can build a YBox2 you probably know how to make those too. I am not that kind of person.
The YBox2 is a DIY networked set-top box. Connect it to your TV and you can design customized content to be delivered direct from the Internet.
This project is great for people who want a new platform to experiment with. The video and Internet cores are ready to go and easy to work with. We have some example widgets that demonstrate the YBox2′s capability, and the whole project is open source so you can start hacking your own. If you’ve ever been curious about the Parallax Propeller chip, the YBox2 is a perky little platform with tons of accessories. Check it out at the YBox2 page
Here are images of some sample widgets you can run on a YBox2 kit:
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The YBox was first invented by Uncommon Projects, as part of Yahoo Hack day. The project was a resounding success, and the following year 80 kits were commissioned by Yahoo for workshops at Maker Faire 2007. Robert Quattlebaum was one of the lucky few to attend that workshop and decided to see if he could design a second generation YBox. After much hacking, success! With a little of my help, we were able to design this kit to have more accessories than the original, and just as easy to build, yet less expensive.
Built using the new Parallax Propeller chip – 8 cores, 32KB of RAM running at 80MHz!
Works with any NTSC or PAL TV that has composite (RCA) input
Works with any network router that supports DHCP, just plug in an Ethernet cable and you’re ready to go
Kit comes with an Internet-enabled bootloader, so you can upload new programs directly from your computer, without a special cable or prop-plug (Propeller chip programmer)
IR receiver for using a TV remote control
Full color status LED
Piezo Buzzer for generating beeps, alarms, and tones
Printable catalog (PDF)
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