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General discussion (archive)Obsession with fooling with gadgets?(14 posts)(14 posts)
(14 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted July 11, 2013
So I'm curious, and I like you folks, so I figured I'd ask here... are there many of you that find the need to toy with / jailbreak / hack-in-some-way any and all gadgets they own? It's something I end up drawn to doing with almost every electronic device I own. I wiped the crap Apple firmware on my iPod to run Rockbox instead (which I highly recommend, as you can play FLAC and other lossless music files and do a whole lot more), I freed my PSP and my first Xbox, turned my Nook into an android tablet, and am constantly toying with computer parts, etc...

Is this common among people who aren't tech-smart? I know my way around a computer and am competent, but I am in no way gifted with techie stuff. Fascinated with it, but not great at it. I haven't broken anything toying with it yet, which I suppose is a good sign. I find myself driven to do this with any device I own though, and it seems a bit silly and excessive. Is it just that I have way too much time on my hands, or do many of you folks share an appreciation for toying with gadgets?
Posted July 11, 2013
I don't do that stuff as much as you do, but I do fiddle a bit with various gadgets. I just bought an Ouya, primarily for that sort of thing.
Posted July 11, 2013
I'm damn curious about the Ouya, but I want to hear / read more reviews and info about it before giving in and getting one.
Posted July 11, 2013
I don't really feel the need to do that stuff without a reason. Its just sometimes I have to do it when I'm in China since a lot of stuff is blocked and you have to find a way around imposed limitations.
Posted July 11, 2013
It depends on how I use the device. I haven't bothered hacking me Android because I mainly use it for music, but I hacked my PSP for emulation and my Wii for homebrew.
Posted July 11, 2013
I have that but I'm also lazy so I usually stop at one point as I lose any motivation since I'm just doing for the challenge, to see that it works or try something specific. I've rooted my Nexus 7 and Samsung S3 Mini and I use a couple of apps on both that require root so on that part I'm grateful that I bothered with it even though it's such an unnecessary hassle it drives me nuts thinking about it (the creators should just add an activate root & now you lose warranty-button and let you restart it). I haven't tried any custom ROMs or kernals as I'm too lazy to find solutions if something mess up on the way or down the road.
Posted July 11, 2013
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akhliber: I'm damn curious about the Ouya, but I want to hear / read more reviews and info about it before giving in and getting one.
Well, I'm damned impressed by the hardware side of it. It seems extremely well made.

The software side sucks though, but then it's just been released. I expect there'll be lots of firmware updates in the future, as well as a lot more stuff available for it.

It's basically built to be hacked though, so if you're into that sort of thing, by all means get one. However, if you primarily want to use the built-in functionality and the software from the Ouya store, I'd hold off on buying one for a while.

Edit: There is also work being done on custom firmware at XDA Developers, but it's not ready yet. However, I fully expect that eventually you'll have all the functionality of a modern phone as well as the Ouya-specific stuff at your fingertips, including being able to install games from the Play store, which you can't do with the factory firmware.
Post edited July 11, 2013 by Wishbone
Posted July 11, 2013
Remember to keep your gadgets clean and tidy to avoid infections.
Posted July 11, 2013
Be careful! I'm a tech idiot myself and last time I tried to fix something by myself this happened:
Attachments:
ooops.gif (354 Kb)
Posted July 11, 2013
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akhliber: So I'm curious, and I like you folks, so I figured I'd ask here... are there many of you that find the need to toy with / jailbreak / hack-in-some-way any and all gadgets they own? It's something I end up drawn to doing with almost every electronic device I own. I wiped the crap Apple firmware on my iPod to run Rockbox instead (which I highly recommend, as you can play FLAC and other lossless music files and do a whole lot more), I freed my PSP and my first Xbox, turned my Nook into an android tablet, and am constantly toying with computer parts, etc...

Is this common among people who aren't tech-smart? I know my way around a computer and am competent, but I am in no way gifted with techie stuff. Fascinated with it, but not great at it. I haven't broken anything toying with it yet, which I suppose is a good sign. I find myself driven to do this with any device I own though, and it seems a bit silly and excessive. Is it just that I have way too much time on my hands, or do many of you folks share an appreciation for toying with gadgets?
I don't do hardware unless it doesn't work or comes with insufficient instructions.

Even for software, if it works as advertised and what it's supposed to do fulfills my needs, I'm happy to just use it without looking under the hood.

I prefer writing software over tweaking existing software unless the existing software needs tweaking.

Like you, I'm curious, but there is just so much to know... that I prefer to focus first on knowing what I need to know to get the job done, which is quite a lot already.
Post edited July 11, 2013 by Magnitus
Posted July 11, 2013
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akhliber: I wiped the crap Apple firmware on my iPod to run Rockbox instead.
Lol I love this idea. But I have iPod nano 4G and it looks like it's not supported.
Can you suggest something else?
Posted July 11, 2013
I used to a couple of years ago, now only if there is some urgent need.
Posted July 11, 2013
Well, my job is tinkering with large gadgets. Like particle accelerators and superconducting magnets. :-)
Posted July 11, 2013
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akhliber: I wiped the crap Apple firmware on my iPod to run Rockbox instead.
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simon_vd: Lol I love this idea. But I have iPod nano 4G and it looks like it's not supported.
Can you suggest something else?
I've never had another brand mp3 player, but many can run Rockbox... the Nano's though, not so much :(
I'd recommend looking through the supported devices and check reviews of any mp3 players that interest you, or track down a used 60gb iPod Video (5 gen I believe?) as it is the largest capacity, newest iPod that supports a stable version of Rockbox. Tons of people I know upgrade to newer iPods and just leave the old ones laying around the house, so it may not be *too* hard to come by one. You'll want to get something with a decent amount of space, as lossless music files are a *lot* bigger.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Obsession with fooling with gadgets?(14 posts)(14 posts)
(14 posts)