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Handhelds Hardware

Does Anyone Use Cybiko? 22

Posted by Cliff from the is-there-anybody-out-there dept.
MooseGuy529 writes "About two years ago, for Christmas of 2000, Cybiko, a Russian company (IIRC) created the Cybiko, a handheld wireless device for teens/"tweens." They later created the CybikoXtreme, a sweeter-looking model with voice chat/recording and a nicer keyboard. Unfortunately the wireless didn't go that far (150-300 ft max) and Cybiko went on to UK markets and then to making games for cell phones. However, I have seen several cool uses of Cybiko, including Using the Cybiko for APRS over Ham Radio and using MiaChat to connect the Cybiko to AIM. People have suggested things such as using them in schools for wireless roll-call or such things. My question for Slashdot is does anyone know of or have ideas for any interesting uses of Cybiko?" For the curious, Ask Slashdot last did a story on the Cybiko back in February of 2001.
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Does Anyone Use Cybiko? More

Does Anyone Use Cybiko?

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  • Couldn't give them away (Score:5, Informative)

    by jenniferj ( 16471 ) on Friday October 11, 2002 @06:49AM (#4430924)
    There can't be many people doing anything with them... I work for a major office supply/electronics superstore, and we clearance those things (both the original and the extreme) down to amazing bargains, and they still didn't sell. I think we finally wrote them off as lost causes. No one knew what they were.

    I thought they were to expensive for something aimed at young teens, and that may have had a reason for why they never took off...
    • It's too bad, that - a few months back I bought an extreme, just because it was cheap enough (clearance rack, but the battery was dead - though I managed to get a couple built for it - yeah, had to crack the case and solder it in).

      I wanted an ultra-cheap PDA to store a small DB for things like "books I want" vs "books I have" (expand to VCDs, etc). I didn't want to spend a butt load of money on a real PDA, and besides the extreme seemed to have more than enough for my needs. Someday I plan on getting it working with USB and Linux (there is a GPLd serial port interface [tomshiro.org] for Linux for the older cybiko, but it doesn't work with USB, though the author thinks it would be easy to mod to get it to work - anyone with more experience than I want to take a crack at it?).

      It is too bad it didn't take off - it is really a VERY interesting device, light on memory, but it has expansion options, it is quite sleek looking (extreme), and has a lot of free software for it. There is dev tools for the thing, plus a version of BASIC (yeah, yeah, I know - but I just think about how it has as much memory as the old skool boxes, and text adventures would be a fun thing to put on it, etc). It really wasn't that expensive when it first came out, compared to similarly marketed products. It was one of those products that didn't really have a niche - it doesn't seem like it would make that great a PDA (because it has a tiny keyboard which is hard to use), nor a game machine (though it is better here), plus for kids it wouldn't be tolerated in schools (I doubt any PDA is, though). But the price was great - I wish I could get a Palm or something for $30.00 with all the functionality, etc.

      Does anybody know of a PDA (that isn't WinCE) that is under $100.00?

  • Robots (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cybermace5 ( 446439 ) <g.ryan@macetech.com> on Friday October 11, 2002 @01:17PM (#4433292) Homepage Journal
    Hmm. Might have to look into this, I'd like to rip the guts out of one just for the wireless link. Been looking for something cheap to do wireless linking for computer control of my tankbot. The cheapest link solutions I've seen weighed a couple pounds, and cost the same as a year of Starbuck's double lattes.

    Does the Cybiko Xtreme communicate with the regular Cybkio? I think a good scheme would be [Computer] > USB > [Cybiko Xtreme] > RF Link > [Cybiko] > Serial Port > [Robot]. Shouldn't be too much latency right? ;-)
  • No.

    No, wait, I mean yes. Yes. Er...

  • Can anyone point to some good websites for these things that would describe the hardware etc? I'm looking for something cheap to use for robot wireless links. Ebay has mass quantities of these things for around $15 USD.
  • We bought a couple at work over 2 years ago just to see what they could do. to my knowledge they were the first cheap consumer RF devices designed to forward-hop messages using intermediate idle devices in order to reach other devices out of range. I mean, the possiblities of such networks are enormous - what if every urban wireless phone, cell phone, car radio, etc. possessed the capability to forward packets or messages: could we bypass proprietary networks and exist for free in a dense environment using these ad-hoc networks? How dense?
    I know there are lots of questions and factors (bandwidth capacity, antenna visibility, range, density, packet length, amount of traffic, response time, etc.) but don't you want to know if it can exist? I do.

    Does anyone know where more info on these kinds of networks might be found?

    Oh - so what did we find playing with them? Well, 2 is not enough to play with the packet forwarding feature, the devices are maddeningly involved (lots of config parameters, lots of free games to play with and set up and lose parameters for when your batteries go dead), 100 feet or so of range is small, my kids love hacking around with them, the included pal finder game is interesting (that you set up by checking off attributes of yourself and your ideal "friend", and it buzzes when you get in range of someone who has set up their cybiko with those same attributes you admire) - endless play possibilities. I wish I had one in grade school.
  • Their problem was they thought that the Cybiko itself *was* the killer app - instead, everyone waited around for someone else to write it.

    I thought I was on the forefront of personal comms technology - turns out I walked around shopping malls for 6 months trying (in vain) to find someone else with another damn Cybiko.

  • Check out http://www.devcybiko.com if you are interested in seeing what kinds of hardware/software information is available and what people are doing.

    There are still some people working on API's and software in general, but I havne't ever heard of anyone else having one - and i'm not sure anyone I know would volunteer that information anyway. (That's like admitting that you play gameboy)

    I bought one for myself and one for my girlfriend and we had fun doing IM's back and forth, playing pool, and generally messing aroudn with them.

    The other day i loaded up the Cybiko SDK and found that the loader program doesn't work with XP... I realized I had to install the NDIS and USB drivers, so I did, but it didn't work at all. I've gotten it to work in the past, but I didn't bother trying to get it working... I've had them for a while, and i'm not sure I can get them to do anything cool enough to justify the time invested.

    EOF

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