Juicebox Hacking

magic_user writes "Now that Mattel's JuiceBox can be had for $12 (Target, WalMart), this seems like a perfect toy for hackers. I've found a picture frame hack but what I'm really looking for is a way to play my own videos on it. It runs uclinux so this shouldn't be too hard, right? "

Arm port of Debian

[James_Duncan8181]

Get the ARM port of Debian on there and compile mplayer to an ARM target. Failing that use the debian port of Xine. Does this rate a /. article?

Hardware Req

[Anonymous Coward]

At 12$ a pop I seriously doubt that thing has much video playback potential due to hardware constraints.

Re:Noisy website

[LetterJ]

See, the fact that you can even hear sound from your PC at work is a foreign concept to me. Everywhere I've worked, hooking actual speakers to a workstation would get you smacked down pretty quickly. If you actually need the sound, they've invented tiny speakers you can temporarily strap to your ears that let you hear the sound without anyone else having to.

I'd never even think to warn about the sound on a site because I don't have publicly audible speakers connected to any PC I own except the one in my home theater.

Re:Arm port of Debian

[WouldIPutMYRealNameO]

I don't think it will be quite that easy. The CPU in this thing is an ARM7 with no MMU - which is why it runs uclinux instead of regular linux. That means that you can't just drop regular packages onto it. I think that you need to custom locate (in memory) each package that you want to run, and compile it yourself. I could be wrong - but it certainly isn't going to be as easy as just running Debian on it.

DIY Kit

[KerosX]

After all this time I can't believe that someone hasn't just come up with a kit/product that is embeded linux with a small (somewhere around 3" to 5") LCD panel and a network adapter or WiFi.

If there is something out there like this, I'd love to know about it. The best I've seen previous to this is hacking an old laptop and throwing it into a custom frame, but I want something that uses very little power and generates as little heat as possible.

Easier and Better - Hacked VideoNow Jr

[ewanrg]

Rather than hacking the JuiceBox, you might want to consider getting a VideoNow Jr and hacking that instead. There are filters out there for VideoDub, and if you don't mind a bit of dremeling, you can get it to accept a standard CD-R (get the silvery ones like Sony).

You can put up to 35 minutes of encoded video on a CD-R at a decent quality (18fps) and sound.

Why go this route rather than a portable DVD player? Somewhat cheaper, don't have to hold the unit folded open (big plus for my handicapped daughter) and RUGGED (bigger plus for my handicapped daughter). We've dropped ours numerous times on the concrete driveway getting her out of the car, and the unit skips and then keeps playing.

Of course we're not total idiots, so we've bought a backup unit for the eventual day that the driveway is harder than expected :-)

While slightly off topic

[NeuroManson]

While it doesn't play back DiVX/XViD/MPEG-4, Radio Shack has a portable DVD player for $99 after rebate, it has a 3.6" screen and is about the size of a portable CD player(I've tested one, and it has passable playback quality).

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name =CTLG&category_name=CTLG_003_003_004_000&product_i d=16-3912 [radioshack.com]

I'm sure it can be taken apart and fiddled with, but for those who don't want to, it makes a satisfactory substitute.