Virginconnect Boxen?

Bob McCown asks: "I got my Virginconnect box over the weekend. Its a nifty little toy, and has great coolness factor sitting next to the phone and answering machine in the living room. It only connects via the phoneline, no 10baseT port (too bad, the phone line in my area wont let me connect above 26.4k, but I lub my DSL!) The advertisement that is always on screen isnt that obtrusive (about as big as my thumb, in the lower right corner). Its basically a browser and mail client, and the user agreement say that they track what you do to 'enhance your online experience', so no secrets here. It comes with a USB port in the back. I havent opened it up yet, but I was wondering if anyone else has?"

Re:you suck

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, the webplayer sucks thats for sure. The USB ports do not work, and there is no real way to get feedback of any sort from Virgin. The sceen is of about the same quality as the IO, however the platform runs on a Cyrix MediaGX proc, so it sure isn't going to be that upgradeable. The OS is a Java based one, check merinta.com, as they make this box, OEMed as iBrow. Use of the unit is very difficult with the built in $1.50 trackball. All in all, you aren't missing anything if you don't get one. The IO at least has some cycles to work with. And don;t even ask about the horrible refresh smear that occurs. Never seen one worse. Useless, I'm returning mine. Won't even waste the time to give it to my folks.

Why you might want to consider not opening the Box

[Neth]

Aside: I applied for one of these and was turned down, don't know why.

But I read through the entire contract before I applied and one of the salient features of this is that you _RENT_ the box you don't own it. Opening and modifying it is clearly defined as a violation of the agreement and they can terminate your contract for it.

And who knows they might have "Chassis intrusion" detectors like the dell optiplexes have which might let them know if you do open it.

I say you've got a web browser that's costing you $50 a year, wait til the 3 years are up and then hack the thing if you're still inclined to.

10 hrs online?

[cvincent]

Sounds neat for what I want to do with it...little web browser near my phone to replace win ce device that takes down messages over the web to my machine downstairs...but that 10 hour thing sucks...I only have one line now that I am using cable...someone find a way to beat it please ! heh...that and anyone know for sure that you can get ethernet for the USB?

Re:I-Opener Redux?

[cvincent]

50 bucks a month? nope! heh, read closely...its 50 a YEAR!

I-Opener Redux?

[rjamestaylor]

Do I sense another I-Opener in the making? ;)

Linksys USB & others

[nstenz]

I believe the discussion on the I-Opener brought up the fact that the D-Link adapter used the same chip as the Linksys adapter... which means the drivers should work...? Search the old articles...

Re:10 hrs online?

[Hrocdol]

Actually, just today I saw such a device at work. D-Link makes a 10/100 auto-sense USB ethernet adapter. I have also seen a 10 Mbits only device, but the manufacturer of that doesn't spring to mind...

Solution for cell phone dilemna or Mobile Virgins

[jelwell]

I've got one solution and two new question, or "One Step Forward, two steps back." First the good news, I found a device that allows me to connect any phone device to a cell phone (only certain cell phones supported). It's called Axcell [800airdesk.com]. From the faq "The AXCELL offers a standard RJ-11 connection to any telephone device.", looks like it gets about 9600baud. egad!

Now the new questions:
1) Are there other devices like this Axcell? I've got a Sony Zuma, but I'm willing to purchase a new mobile phone - anyone have experience with these things? I'd like to find a cell phone that offers a higher access speed. ;)

2)How can I fake a dial tone? I tried to hook my Virgin up to a hotel phone line. This line does not require you dial any special number or prefix to get out, but it does not have a normal dialtone. Instead of a continuouse dial tone, instead it's like a repetitive beep where each beep is a dialtone. My Virgin wouldn't dial, it said it did not hear a dial tone. I just need a way to trick the machine into thinking it's hearing a dial tone so that it will start dialling.

Joseph Elwell.

Re:I-Opener Redux?

[Hanno]

The I-Opener was "sold" at a loss and the Netpliance folks expected people to use the pre-configured OS with the pre-configured ISP. Because of a hole in the contract, people could buy the I-Opener, then do with it whatever they wanted (including modifications such as running a different OS and not using the ISP).

Reading from their site, the Virgin Webplayer is rented at 50$ per month for three years. After that period, the machine belongs to you.

You could cancel the contract immediatly, but in that case, you'd have to return it or buy it (for 500$ in the first year). The price tag doesn't really make the device interesting.

To sum up, the Webplayer's contract doesn't seem to have any obvious holes (they probably learned from the I-Opener fiasco).

I wonder if Virgin Interactive allows their users to install a different OS on the rented machine while still using their online service. In that case, if I were in the US, I'd certainly get this machine.

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Re:I-Opener Redux?

[Hanno]

Oops, I stand corrected.

Also, I did not notice the part about the advertisement bar on the screen. There goes the chance of installing an alternative OS on the box.

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Re:10 hrs online?

[OctaneZ]

You have to remeber that as USB can only handle 12 mbps, the 10/100 USB ethernet doesn't net you that much extra speed, most likely not noticeable at all. If you are looking for a 10/100 I recomend the Linksys as it has both Linux and BSD support out there. Do remember though that these are closed machines, and just because you plug the ethernet into the USB it doesn't mean it will work. Most likely it will not; as I doubt they have included drivers for this in their install.

Re:10 hrs online?

[scruffyMark]

You can get all sorts of these devices.

NetBSD works with them by default in the current version. As far as I know it works with all of them. Linux will work with a few of them too, if you feel like using a 2.3.x kernel and doing all sorts of kludgy hacking...

I got one - here's the skinny.

[jelwell]

For starters, Merinta [merinta.com] is the manufacturer of the neato toy you have. And Prodigy [prodigy.com] provides you with your free 56K ISP.

The Machine runs Linux! and the web browser is by Espial [espial.com] that fakes being Netscape 4.x very well (frames, javascript and Layers wow). Java support is included, and many ports on the machine are accessible. I can use a java applet to telnet to another machine, but I can't telnet back in. And the wiredX (or is weirdX) Java applet that is an X client didn't work.

Those USB ports are currently only good for plugging in keyboards and Mice (or so I'm told). They say in the future they'll support printers but no plans for ethernet card support.

Supposedly there's no hard drive. But I know there's a way to browse the filesystem. I think file:/// works, if not Click on all the dropdowns for in the Help menu - one of these will put you in the filesystem.

It comes with Real (not G2) the old 16K version - that only plays sound! They should be upgrading to a newer version soon - hopefully. It might be Merinta's fault that virginconnect members don't get the Real G2 player. If you check out their "IBrow" (that's what Merinta calls it) add-on software [merinta.com] you'll see Real G2 listed. My guess is Merinta charges extra to install that!

Updates to the virgin webplayer happen via Castanet [marimba.com] remote software - I'm not familiar with this; and have not had any upgrades happen (that I've noticed) since I logged started.

Did I forget anything? I did a whole mess of research on these things. The machine would be so much less of a toy if I could hook up a high speed connection to it.

Anyone had any success getting a high speed connection connected to the webplayer?

Another thing I'd like to figure out is if there is a cell phone (or some mobile networking hardware) that I can use that I can plug into the phone line input. The machine - when booting up dials prodigy - If I can use a mobile phone line (rather then my land line) I could hook up the machine to run in my car with a DC to AC converter and a cell phone that allows standard phone lines to be connected through.

Joseph Elwell.

This comment is horribly mis-informed.

[jelwell]

For starters this webplayer is definately running Linux. There's no doubt that this is true. It looks like Merinta has updated their website since I initially looked and it does appear that the machines currently run a Java OS - but that must apply only to their new machines. Check this out: a press release [merinta.com] from Merinta that specifies that the Machines in the VirginConnect deal run Linux!

Personally, I like the screen - the Machine costs me 0$ (I was one of the first 10,000 to sign on), and my girlfriend liked the keyboard & ($1.50) trackball combo that she ran over to Fry's electronics to pick one up for her computer. The keyboard/trackball is built into one device (for those who don't know) and uses infared to communicate to the base(the color LCD screen); super cool if you ask me.

The horrible refresh smear is indeed awful. I'm hoping that Merinta will work out a deal with Mozilla to embed Gecko instead of that espial browser. But that would be a ways off.

The USB ports are only meant to work with keyboards and mice (but probably only specifice ones - that they don't give you a list of). I don't think drivers are downloaded on the fly - so if it's not there, you can't use it. Forget about a USB compatible ethernet card - I'm sure they didn't put USB ethernet drivers in the machine.

There might be some hope in opening the device with a screwdriver and pulling an I-opener stunt - however the "must use it 10 hours a month" deal will get you hosed if you break it. They make you pay something like 500$ if you do consistently (i think they give you 3 months) fail to use it 10 hours a month AND do NOT to return the device. That price goes down each year - until the end of the third year when the machine is oficially yours.

Joseph Elwell.

Haiku

[YASD]

Slowly, carefully
The case is gently opened
A Virgin no more

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