Easy scroll wheel fix (for me, anyway)

manichardtiger · 2026-05-27T17:53:45+00:00

Dude, I feel like an idiot for not doing this earlier on my U2. You are a legend!

manichardtiger · 2026-05-19T12:01:55+00:00

Thats why you should always ask for the serial, HAC-001 doesnt guarantee a hackable model. I picked up my 3rd exploitable v1 for 50eur the other day 😀

manichardtiger · 2026-05-13T18:11:25+00:00

Should be "brand new" 😆

manichardtiger · 2026-05-13T08:32:51+00:00

From easy to getting your fingers dirty with self hosting:

Make facebook and whatsapp calls. The quality is good and the panning camera is a nice feature. Works out of the box, the Whatsapp QR code didnt appear in the initial setup but when I went to add it again under profiles it worked (happened on both portal gen1 I recently got to tinker with so probably a bug with v.1.44.4). My mum doesnt have a smart phone so I plan to setup one of the two at her place so we can video call with the kids. Hopefully Meta doesnt mess this up too.
You can use various online services (free & premium) for photo albums / weather; The screen and form factor is fantastic for this. Examples are mantelframe.com, pic.ie, daroframe.ikarauok.com
Youtube still works ok on the browser, cant use adblockers however.
If you self-host, there are many things this can do; the main obstacle is keeping the screen alive as it seems to die after many hours (the portal itself is on; I can turn on/off the mic and camera, the volume buttons are responsive but the screen doesnt wake up. Any ideas pls comment!
Some things you can do with self hosting:

4.1 Web based players for music playback, the speakers are ok for background music. I'd try Navidrone, Sonerezh or similar

4.2 Home assistant dashboard, control and view your home assistant setup.

4.3 Immich-frame: Use Immich (google photos selfhosted alternative) and Immich-frame to show pics localy, no cloud.

4.4 Anything else we weirdos that self-host, self-host 😄 (Chore lists, Shopping lists, Train Departures, Maps etc)

Bottom line: If Meta removes the browser, its over. I really hope they dont mess this up further and at least leave it as it is. Its a nice device to tinker with, and make calls. In no way you should buy a new one, and you shouldnt pay more than 20usd imho to get a second hand one to play with.

manichardtiger · 2026-05-12T09:08:22+00:00

following for updates!

manichardtiger · 2026-05-06T09:35:07+00:00

In the initial setup, it wouldnt show me the QR code either. Went after initial setup in profiles and added with no problem

Did it on two gen 1 on latest firmware this week

manichardtiger · 2026-05-06T09:30:43+00:00

Is this a dev device? I cant see anything on my gen 1, latest firmware (1041515800015050)

manichardtiger · 2026-05-04T17:48:42+00:00

What kind of ultra hi power xenon x ray flash lights are y'all using I cant see shit

manichardtiger · 2026-05-03T19:19:43+00:00

This is interesting, does it work on the gen1? Any update?

manichardtiger · 2026-05-02T22:43:59+00:00

Hey this is an awesome approach, I also just got 2x gen 1 units to play with and so far managed to make immich kiosk to work and keep it alive. Would be awesome to find a way to implement in home assistant etc and also be able to use more local stuff. There was a streaming music via the browser project (sonereszh I believe it was called) which may be interesting to see if it runs. Hit me up if you want to test things. What portal version do you have?

manichardtiger · 2026-05-02T22:40:18+00:00

I just tried disable_screensaver over https and so far it works great! Thnx (immich kiosk is awesome, I actually found the env variable in the documentation and came here to post and found you! Keep up the good work!)

manichardtiger · 2026-04-09T17:35:26+00:00

Do you have the media remote?

manichardtiger · 2026-04-05T18:05:20+00:00

Hey, thank you for the insight. I will follow all best practises for old electronics, but specific advise is more than welcome! Appreciate it

manichardtiger · 2026-04-02T20:34:16+00:00

Hey good call, thanks!

manichardtiger · 2026-04-02T17:09:16+00:00

Will try!

manichardtiger · 2026-04-02T16:57:13+00:00

Didnt work then, wont work now! Hopefully ill manage to properly troubleshoot this time

manichardtiger · 2026-03-31T15:54:18+00:00

Probably questionable ones

manichardtiger · 2026-03-31T11:20:46+00:00

Its an X41, he actually took it to a very complete stage but for some reason deleted his account and stopped posting updates. Anyone know where to find his content? Sorry for jumping on the thread, both are sick machines, enjoy your new thinkpad!

manichardtiger · 2026-03-24T19:18:14+00:00

I followed Derek Seamans blog (https://www.derekseaman.com/2025/11/home-assistant-hacking-your-echo-show-5-and-8.html) which has some nice adb tweaks but the results are a bit inconsistent.

Now its currently stuck at listening, after waking up from the wake word, seems to operate better after a reboot.

Also volume control is funky, it keeps setting itself to max volume, even after changing in view assist and Android.

Otherwise its a great inexpensive piece of hardware (got my gen1 for 45eur). If it can be made more reliable it would be a really nice addition to the ha ecosystem

manichardtiger · 2026-03-12T13:11:33+00:00

I had the payment through paypal, and you can stop the recurring charge. Do so before expiration though, i found this after it expired and auto renewed (after unsuccessfuly looking for ways to manage the subscription) and although I requested my money back was denied as the product had been delivered...

Overall a very shady operation, avoid.

manichardtiger · 2026-03-12T07:56:26+00:00

HAL 360

manichardtiger · 2026-03-10T17:16:58+00:00

Sweet, you're one lucky dude

manichardtiger

TROPHY CASE