Joggler

[pete_c]

I am curious if there's any interest in the O2 Joggler here.

They have been discontinued and can be purchased for a reasonable amount used. Very nice little Atom based capacitance touchscreen. Here are some of the specs from the Joggler Wiki. There are two documented OS implementations with work well with it. One being Ubuntu 11.04 Linux and the other being Android 2.3. Just recently getting MS XPSP3 running on it. It does well. Its a bit smaller footprint than the Chumby (Infocast) 8". I removed the internal WLAN and replaced it with a USB stick. I am though playing with it right now using a 1.8" microdrive and have ordered a new USB SSD drive for it. Its a very impressive little touchscreen. With some hardware modifications it would do well mounting it on a wall maybe customizing a power injector for it.

I'm thinking of keeping one on my desk just to play with different TS stuff using Ubuntu, Android or XP on it as its easy to swap the OS.

Based on Intel's Poulsbo/US15W mobile chipset.
CPU: 1.3GHz Intel Z520 Single-Core, Hyper-threaded, Atom CPU
Chipset: Intel US15W (400/533MHz FSB)
Graphics: Intel GMA500 (with hardware acceleration for H.264, MPEG2, MPEG4, VC1, WMV9)
Storage:
512MB RAM (NOT user upgradable - not easily anyway)
1GB internal filesystems (soldered, non removable)
1MB EFI bootloader and nonvolatile parameters (socketed)
Network Features:
Wired Gigabit Ethernet. Realtek RTL8111C
WiFi B/G/N based on the Ralink RT2870 chipset (connected to the internal USB port).
Audio: IDT STAC9202X5 Audio with 2 speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack
USB (High Speed USB 2.0 Ports):
1 x external.
1 x internal (+2 with soldering).
Power: 5v DC
Screen: 7in Sharp LQ070Y3LG4A 800x480 LCD, 16m colour (24-bit), LED backlit, capacitative touch-screen
Size: 180 x 130 x 115mm
Weight: Approx 650g

 

[electron]

specs aren't too bad, the unit reminds me of the Advent I used to have.

 

[pete_c]

Yes, tonight I was able to fit one of the first gen reasonably priced USB SSD's inside of it. Runs faster with the SSD than the microdrive or the flash memory USB. So far been playing with a custom Ubuntu 11.04, Android and now this small XPSP3 lite on it. Runs great. Loaded it with TTS Neospeech with no stuttering. Plays back 720 HD just fine.

Wondering now if the 800Mhz Chumby's would run a bit faster with an SSD USB?

 

[electron]

Which USB SSD are you using? For my in-wall touch screen (Atom CPU, stripped down version of XP), I use an older Sandisk CF card, seems to work pretty well, but I don't use it as a workstation.

 

[pete_c]

I'm using one from KingsSpec dot com. I never heard of the company nor an SSD as small as a large flash USB drive. The last picture shows the SSD USB flash drive plugged into the USB port which the WLAN USB card is typically plugged in on the Joggler. There is no room for anything else inside though. There is a PATA port (after soldering a connector) but no room inside for a 1.8" microdrive (or CF); so i am left to using just the USB ports. Android and Ubuntu 11.04 have been running fine on the Joggler; so its kind of a little do all box candidate for HA touchscreen automation small footprint device. I'm going to keep one on the desk such that I could play with HSTouch on the Android, Linux or XP versions of the software. The overlays / configurations are all the same. With Linux its just adding Mono and SDL. With Android it runs just fine with no additions. XP gives you the options of TTS voice fonts. Multibooting the EFI into the various OS's isn't that much of an issue.

I use CF cards to boot (chroot) the Chumby's into Linux then RDP to W2003 for touchscreen application. They work well.

What type of in wall PC with an Atom CPU / LCD are you using Dan?

My "legacy" Atom touch screens utilize first gen Atom's mounted in a microcase with Liliput monitors (latest) - 3rd gen LCD now after maybe 6 years. These though utilize standard 2.5" hard drives and are booting full XP - although I could change it. The Liliput monitors are the automotive style LCD touch; they are doing well. Kind of "mickey mouse" connectivity though with the CPU/Case either mounted in the basement rafters (with the monitor, USB and power cables going to the Liliput) or in the attic with same going to the 2nd floor wall. Way different than just one cable going to the HAI OmniTouch screen. Personally for the "el cheapo" Android tablets with 2.2 its better to root these and redo the Android build or even better (for Homeseer) to install CE on them (as Homeseer touch runs better in CE).

I've been trying (?) to get a hold of a 600Mhz ARM CPU in wall style test WinCE touchscreen from China sold with 3.X-5.X" touch screens. The price is good at less than $100. Sold with development Linux / CE 6.0; having some communications issues with the vendor though.

The Joggler though has a small footprint and is self contained with a capacitance screen. Redoing the heat sink it would be a good candidate for a small wall touch screen. Its like a bit over an inch thick. Way different sensitivity on the capacitance screen versus the resistive screens (say Liliput or Chumby).

Here are some pictures of the SSD drive.

 

[electron]

I have the 12" AOI unit seen here (http://www.cinemarsolutions.com/hardware.aiotouch.php). I didn't get it through Cinemar tho, I got it direcly from OEM. That said, it's probably the last time I will ever spend this much on a touch screen again, since the iPad + nice dock makes a lot more sense now (financially, etc.).

 

[pete_c]

Thanks Dan.

I have one 12" LCD up but not used too much (in Living room - but we never use the living room so its never on). I also have Planar LCD's but they are still just sitting in boxes collecting dust (due to WAF never used). Mostly used smaller resistive USB connected in a clam shell (automotive style) LCDs. (both 4:3 and wide screen 5-9"). These are closer too to the 5.7" HAI OmniTouch screens in size.

I have seen though from just idle chit chat that the preferences are for smaller IPOD and thinner IPAD on the wall like devices are what the masses prefer relating to say the touch screen keypad approach to an HAI/Elk devices. Heck; my sister quit using her netbook preferring instead to utilize her Ipad. On a similiar note though my wife will not touch my "contructed" touchscreens with her preferences being only to use the OmniTouch screens or uses the multifunction Harmony remote preferring to continue to utilize like 5 different remotes for the family room MM setup.

The Joggler (with its capitance screen) "fit" more to my liking relating to a discreet wired solution; once I figure out the heat sink / mounting methods. I like the size of the screen.

 

[manxam]

Hey Pete, I seem to run into your name everywhere I look whenever I'm playing with a small embedded device! I can literally follow you from forum to forum but it appears I'm always in your wake Considering you've already done all of the legwork, would you mind jotting down your experience with XP on the joggler? I just purchased 2 from the same forum as you and they should be here in a couple of weeks.

While I'm usually more of a *nix guy, I think XP would better suit my need for these devices.

Did you ever get the sound driver working, is the screen still slightly off centre, etc?

Thanks,
Mark

P.S. Not a stalker but I worry myself sometimes

 

[manxam]

Ah, found your thread on the HS forum and noticed the new WinXP from Mevi. Has this corrected all of the issues outstanding with the previous versions? I'm hoping to use one as an HS touch client and Sonos controller and the other.. who knows?

 

[pete_c]

There was never any issues with the Wintel releases other than the sound (which is fine now), Internal NIC, RAM, pagefile stuff. This wasn't so much an image issue but a wintel drivers issue.

I've read about folks having a pixel shift / Display issue. I have three Jogglers right now and have seen this once only. I just reloaded the video drivers and the image shift went away.

The only issue which remains on any of the Wintel releases is related to the internal Realtek NIC. It seems to have been designed to work without a MAC and get its MAC address from the internal WLAN card. Without the internal Wireless card (I have one set up this way); the internal NIC makes up a MAC address. Personally a firmware update to the internal NIC would probably solve the issues; but its kind of invasive and there is a chance that you could trash the Realtek NIC. Another thing maybe would be to modify the EFI such that it puts in a MAC and maybe does some sort of hard reset. There is an issue with the PHY settings on this model NIC. All I read about though is pulling the CMOS chip or resetting it via the bios to fix the hanging issues.

Everything else is working fine with all of the Wintel releases. I have 3 Jogglers on line right now running three different EFI's for booting into XP. They are running HSTouch and speaker dot exe with no issues. The only difference in the latest XP Wintel version so far is the eye candy and version of EFI. There are quit a few EFI wintel boot versions and they all kind of boot Wintel a different way. I have a 4th Joggler and a Joggler carcass on its way to me. Maybe doing a case mode to put a Joggler on a wall.

A slight shift now we are now looking at a multiboot EFI such that you can boot into say Ubuntu, Android or Wintel via an EFI boot menu (which already works with a keyboard) and a faster Wintel version using W2003 (almost embedded) lite.

Personally though I want this for my home office desktop Joggler as I have been playing with HSTouch Android and Linux versions too. I would want an internal USB SSD with three OS's on it for the Joggler using the multiboot options.