$13 device that could be turned into a Graphic LCD by electronic + Linux hackers

tom61

[H]ard|Gawd
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Wal-Mart edit: Now Target too! is clearancing out Mattle JuiceBoxs for $13 a peice (less some places). The really interesting thing is that they use an embedded form of Linux called uCLinux. Looks like they would make really good displays for a PC for temps and visualisations (like parrallel LCDs). I was thinking about moding mine, but I have been working and buying things for my ultra-portable project.

They have traces for serial connectivity, and most 8MB models (the ones without LED) have a de-solderable SOIC ROM chip(replace it with a flash rom with apps for display).

Wiki for the JuiceBox
Forum on Linux Hacker (be sure to read the really big thread)
 
That sounds really awesome. I'm going to run up to walmart right now and check it out.
 
Damn my walmart sucks. Didn't have any.

Antonio: it's probably just an instore thing, so this is a big YMMV.

edit: also, it looks like they began clearancing these a couple months ago, so there might not be many left out there.
 
intresting, ill check out my local wallmarts and see if i can find them.
 
Yeah, the smaller towns are typically out of them, but bigger ones typically have some in at least one wal-mart. You can get them on Ebay pretty cheap too. Wal-Mart's site doesn't have the JuiceBox's clearanced, but they are clearanced in-store.
 
I just checked the site, so that could be the problem.

@Whatsisname
It's a portable media player that has these little cartridges that you buy with movies and music and stuff on 'em. Check out the site, you'll understand.
 
Might be worth grabbing one from Ebay. If you do find some at Wal-Mart, look for the MP3 kit for it for $9. The kit allows you to play MP3s from SD cards, and show photos in an odd format (more info on the format on the forum above). Heck of a deal, considering it comes with a 32MB SD card, USB SD card reader (runs under Linux fine), and a USB extension cable, in addition to the adapter and software. Oh yeah, it seems the bigger Wal-Marts have two clearance sections, one for toys, one for normal stuff, be sure to look in both.

Some more of my thoughts on using one of these as displays; Since the JuiceBox is basically a computer itself, you can just send it the values for the different things (audio frequencies, song names, temps, etc.) and have the JuiceBox keep track and display them. I.E. for WinAmp or XMMS, you could send the name of the song at the start and have the JuiceBox scroll it on it's own, and then send the audio values raw, and have the JB render it as bars and keep track of the fall-off. Also, you could do multiple visualization styles (like waveforms, bars, etc) and change between them using the front buttons.
 
none at my local wal-mart

although it looks like the sd card it reads has to be formatted in fat12...which could be a stumbling block for using anything besides the one that came with the kit...i have no clue how to format a sd card in fat12...
 
It'll read FAT16 too, it had no trouble reading my 1GB SD card formated FAT16. The only trouble it has is if you try try to use an SD card that lacks the SPI interface.
 
Appearently Target has these for $25 now, so try there if you have one nearby. Not as good as $13, of course, but not that bad for something with this much potential.
 
Dammit. I checked a couple Targets around here and they have the juicebox for $24.98 and the mp3 kit for $22.98. Not bad I suppose, but more than I want to pay for something I'm probably going to end up breaking anyway. They both had about 10 juiceboxes, though, so I'll check back in a few days. They also had a shitload of the little cartriges. Has any serious headway been made as far as hacking these things go?
 
Did you price check them? Often the tags don't get marketed down immediately.

As far as hacking progress, not much. The people that know how, or could figure out how, on the Linux Hacker forum have been doing other things so far. Seems pretty straight forward if you compare the S3C44B0X development platform to an opened Juicebox, though. I'm busy with my uPC, and more importantly the uPC is eating up much of my spendable money, otherwise I'd have a JB doing something interesting by now.

The built-in picture viewer is fairly usefull, I'm considering using an un-hacked (to be hacked later, though) as a kind of LCD case badge. It has a slide-show mode that JuiceBox doesn't turn off for.

There was another forum dealing with JB hacking, but the site has disappeared.
 
Yeah I thought about that so I scanned them with the price-checking terminals at both stores, but they both came up $24.98. :(
 
I'd like to pick up one of these, pull the screen, get an old overhead projector, and see what I can work up!
 
shadowbreaker513 said:
I'd like to pick up one of these, pull the screen, get an old overhead projector, and see what I can work up!
I can't imagine it'll look too spectacular(or even good) considering it has a resolution of 240x160. Also, I think a slide projector might be more suitable for an lcd so small.
 
YEESSSSS, got my older sis to take me down to wal-mart and i got one... what are they for again? ehe
 
I looked at those things the other day at target when i was looking for DOOM 3 xbox.
 
no but seriously, ive been screwing around with it for atleast 2 hours... I think its broken.
piece of shit! :p
 
i got mine today for 12 and 11 for the MMC kit from Target

its added to the box of intresting stuff ive been aquring to play with :D
 
Shit this just made slashdot so they're probably going to all sell out now. I better head back up to Target to see if they've been reduced yet.
 
jpmkm said:
Shit this just made slashdot so they're probably going to all sell out now. I better head back up to Target to see if they've been reduced yet.

Seems the average Slashdotter can no longer remember that there are stores whose name doesn't end in '.com', at least from most of the posts on the thread. The rest can't see the potential of the device, and some are even recommending getting a Video Now instead.
 
antoniohawk said:
Just got one, but my Target didn't have any mp3 kits. :(
How much did you pay for yours? I've checked a couple targets around KC(MO side though) and they're still at about $25.
 
I got mine for 12.48 apiece. I'm gonna have to check some other Targets for the mp3 kit though.
 
I guess this is sort of a noodish question, but can it be used like a regular lcd?
 
netcoord said:
I guess this is sort of a noodish question, but can it be used like a regular lcd?
It is a "regular lcd". How exactly did you want to use it? It uses a proprietary interface(I believe; it is pretty nonstandard at least) so you are pretty much locked into using the controller that it comes with. Most of the hacking so far has been a couple layers above the actual lcd layer.

My targets finally dropped the price to $12.48 a couple days ago, so I picked up one with the led and one without the led. They were out of the mp3 kits, though.
 
i was thinking of attaching to my case. maybe with a mirror of my of my screen or something.
 
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