Chumby software development

Technology

chumby_20071228.jpg

MakeFan: wrote in to remind us that those cute little Chumby devices are for sale now. The best thing about the little wireless touchscreen appliance is that they were designed to be open and hackable. The underlying operating system is Linux, and there are a number of lower level OS hacks, but you can also pretty easily whip up slick “widget” applications as well, since the Chumby’s normal mode of operation is to play Flash Lite 3 applications.

The Chumby developer wiki has source for a number of sample widget applications that will help you get started if you’re new to Flash. If you’re a seasoned pro, Flash Lite 3 isn’t all that different from developing in standard Flash / AS2. You just need to avoid a few features like bitmap caching, and lay off CPU and graphics intensive code.

If you’re interested in developing for the Chumby community, but don’t have a device, you can make an account on the chumby.com site. After logging in, you can upload your widgets to a “Virtual Chumby” and see how they would run on the device.

Resources:
Chumby Flash development overview – Link
Chumby Flash development forum – Link
Widget development Wiki – Link

6 thoughts on “Chumby software development

  1. Tim Kissane says:

    Great work, Brian! A nice service. I stumbled this post.

  2. Tim Kissane says:

    My mistake! Thanks to Tom Hoffman for the server and Brian for the post. I should have more coffee before posting.

  3. Tim Kissane says:

    I’ve done it again! The olpc.org link is a parked domain scam. The real link for the XO is http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php.
    Okay, I’m going back to my Ruby refresher…

  4. medotaka1 says:

    excellent

Comments are closed.

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

I'm a tinkerer and finally reached the point where I fix more things than I break. When I'm not tinkering, I'm probably editing a book for Maker Media.

View more articles by Brian Jepson

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK