I had a chance to tinker around with the new kit available from Adafruit Industries the YBox2 Kit – DIY Set-top box – very fun, you can make your own stand alone Twitter viewer, weather widgets and more – and of course, fits inside an Altoids tin.
The YBox2 is a DIY networked set-top box. Connect it to your TV and you can design customized content to be delivered direct from the Internet.
This project is great for people who want a new platform to experiment with. The video and Internet cores are ready to go and easy to work with. We have some example widgets that demonstrate the YBox2’s capability, and the whole project is open source so you can start hacking your own. If you’ve ever been curious about the Parallax Propeller chip, the YBox2 is a perky little platform with tons of accessories.
The YBox was first invented by Uncommon Projects, as part of Yahoo Hack day. Robert Quattlebaum is the main designer behind the YBox2.
- Built using the new Parallax Propeller chip – 8 cores, 32KB of RAM running at 80MHz!
- Works with any NTSC or PAL TV that has composite (RCA) input
- Works with any network router that supports DHCP, just plug in an Ethernet cable and you’re ready to go
- Kit comes with an Internet-enabled bootloader, so you can upload new programs directly from your computer, without a special cable or prop-plug (Propeller chip programmer)
- IR receiver for using a TV remote control
- Full color status LED
- Piezo Buzzer for generating beeps, alarms, and tones
- Pushbutton for input
- Lots of examples programs to try out
- Fits in an altoids tin!
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