Make: Online : Bug Labs - "Hiro P" BUGbase

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Mehrshad sent in an update about the first round of BUGBase units, he writes -

We've just uploaded a few photos of the "Hiro P" BUGbase to the web. We had originally planned to issue an announcement on Monday morning before we opened the Bug Labs store (which opens at noon EST on Monday), but we've decided to announce early. The photos in question can be found here.

This is the BUGbase "Hiro P" model. It's what the first batch of BUGbase units will look like, and is much like the BUGbase we've been promoting, only with a minor aesthetic change to the front panel and no onboard 802.11 wi-fi.

Why no wi-fi? The issue extends from developing a set of open source wi-fi drivers, and we had to make a decision on our first production run - either ship early with no wi-fi, or delay the ship date until the driver issue was resolved.

However, to compensate the Hiro P customers, we will be offering them a BUGwifi module *at cost*, and we will also be giving them a *free* BUGvonhippel module. Additionally, we will be extending the early adopter program to the new batch of wireless-enabled BUGbases.

Bug Labs - "Hiro P" BUGbase - Link.

Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: James on January 18, 2008 at 3:47 PM

They make the announcement about no wi-fi now? Surely they've known about this for some time.

How will the no-wifi BugBase price compare to price of future BugBases with wi-fi? Are we looking at another early adopter penalty, like with the $20 gouge for iPod Touch apps?

Reply to this comment

Posted by: Jeremy Toeman on January 18, 2008 at 4:09 PM

James,

There's an early adopter discount for ALL bug products, so if you'd prefer to wait for the wifi edition, that one will also have a discounted price. Plus the Hiro P is coming with a free module...

Best,
Jeremy

Posted by: gene hacker on January 19, 2008 at 2:19 PM

Hiro p is a reference to Hiro Protagonist from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, for all who don't know. I just hope the Bug modules don't snow crash though.

Posted by: rich on January 19, 2008 at 6:44 PM

Hmmmm... I really *want* to like this, but the price seems to keep rising on us. An open source company would disclose more than this. You're kind of alienating your community ahead of time. Just a warning here, guys.