--
Adam Serediuk
adam@i-opener-linux.net

--
Adam Serediuk
adam@i-opener-linux.net

April 14, 2000

Dear Circuit City Customer,

We are writing on behalf of Circuit City regarding the i-opener that you recently ordered. The product you ordered has been discontinued, but there is a new model at the same price and includes all the benefits of the i-opener. The difference is that modification of the i-opener in any way is no longer physically possible in the new model.

In connection with your purchase of the new i-opener model you will need to activate an i-opener service account to be able to use the i-opener and agree to the Terms of Sale below. The Fee for the service is $21.95 per month and will be billed approximately 2 days after you purchase the product.

If you wish to cancel your order, or for a refund if you pre-paid, please contact the Circuit City location where you ordered your i-opener.

Sincerely,
The Netpliance Team


Terms of Sale

By opening the i-opener box from Netpliance, I understand and agree that purchasing the i-opener is contingent upon the activation of a new i-opener account. I further understand and agree that if I fail to activate the i-opener account within 30 days of purchase or cancel before 90 days after purchase date, Netpliance is authorized to charge my credit card a $499 fee representin the full value of each i-opener system purchased. I understand that the fee does not apply if the i-opener system is returned to the place of purchase in new condition with all components and the seal on the physical hardware is not broken, within 30 days of purchase. I have read the above conditions and understand my obligations under this agreement. I agree and consent to the delivery and tranfer of my name, phone number, and address to Netpliance to activate my new i-opener account.

7600A N. Capital of TX Hwy, Austin, TX 78731 TEL:512-493-8300 FAX:512-493-8399 www.netpliance.com

I have found a place called Badflash (www.badflash.com) that can reprogram
the I-Opener BIOS flash eproms. He has an image of the original I-Opener
BIOS and I have verified the image is good.

He can reprogram an I-Opener BIOS if the chips are sent to him, or he can
supply a new flash eprom and program that and send it. His posted prices
are $10 to reprogram a BIOS and $18 for a new 2Mbit BIOS programmed with the
I-Opener BIOS.

Check the site because he indicated if he gets a large demand for this one
part he can cut a deal on the price.

Lastly, he has some Flash eproms that require 12V to program them. Since
the I-Opener is designed for parts that are programmed with a %v source,
these parts would be essentially READ ONLY while installed in the I-Opener.
They could not be reprogrammed remotely by Netpliance.

I just got off the phone with a customer service rep with Netpliance. She
told me the following:
- My unit, ordered on March 16th, was still in Taiwan.
- The stories about a holiday or the IO were in route were LIES. They had no
direction from management as to what to tell customers, so they lied.
- The old IO has been discontinued and been replaced by a new model (The
"un-hackable" goo & cut-pin IO)
- She read me the service agreement that needed my approval before the new
model could be shipped from Taiwan.
- The agreement states (roughly): Customer will be billed 2 days after
shipping, 30-day money back guarantee if the seals are not broken and the IO
is still in new condition, Customer will pay for 90 days of the internet
service @ $20+ per month, If customer stops the internet service, he will be
billed $499 for the full retail price of the IO.

From: Kristi Copeland
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2000 8:52 AM
To: David Young; Denine Kennedy; Amy VanWyngarden
Subject: Scripting for Backordered customers
Importance., High
This is the text of the letters and email that we're sending to all the suspect hacker customers.
Dear Mr./Ms. Customer. We are contacting you regarding the i-opener that you recently ordered from us. The product you ordered was discontinued. The new model is the same price and includes all the same benefits. This lefter/email is to verify that you would like us to ship the new, modified i-opener and to confirm that you agree to our purchase agreement below-. By purchasing the i-opener you are agreeing to use i-opener service of $21.95, which will be billed approximately 2 days after your i-opener is shipped to you. If you decide to deactivate your account within 90 days of receipt, a deactivation fee of $499 will be billed to your credit card, Your i-opener includes a 30-day money back guarantee. The i-opener system can be returned for a full refund if it is returned to us in -new condition with all components and the seal on the physical hardware intact. to confirm your order.
We look forward to hearing from you
Kristi Copeland Director - Sales and Support Netpliance, Inc. Tel: 512-498-3990 Fax: 512-493-8498

Customer: "Hi, I'd like to cancel my i-opener internet service."
Rep: "Sure, no problem. May I ask why you would like to cancel our service?"
Customer: "Well after using a cable modem on my previous computer, dial-up is just too slow. Also the fact that I cannot enjoy and Java, Flash, or Shockwave media on the Internet is a real drag."
Rep: "That's too bad. Now you're sure you want to cancel your service?"
Customer: "Yes, cancel my service please."
Rep: "Sure no problem, we actually encourage customers to cancel their service."
Customer: "Why?"
Rep: "THANK YOU, THOU HAVE BEEN OWNED."
*click*

Hmm.. over the past few days, we have been recieving emails from people
who have been having problems with getting their I-Openers from Netpliance.

Apparently, I-Opener may have placed the orders, which where made during the period between March 16th through March 20th/23rd, on a "hold-till-they-call" status, at which point, they will read you your new terms of service agreement.

As for the Circuit City I-Openers, from the reports recieved through emails sent to us by would-be I-Opener owners, Netpliance may have issued a "recall" statement to Circuit City regarding "manufacturer's defect" on the I-Opener. Wonder if they might have been referring to the four cut pins. :)

Is it just me or did Netpliance originally make the claim that orders on or before March the 20th will be honoured as per before the new terms of service came up?

I surely hope this isn't any indication of how they plan on handling the "Dev Corner" portion of their business.

Wish there was good news to post, but hey, when lemons are tossed your way, make lemonade, right? :)

Keep the emails coming. :) We ARE reading them, but for the oddest reason, life keeps us busy. ^_-

Woo-hoo! There be BIOS logos a'changin!
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/tackhead_1999
Click on "Day 3" for today's hack:
- 8 pictures showing me gettin' funky with the cable.
The last cable pic (adapt8.jpg) shows evidence that
the plastic housing of the i-opener was probably used
in another, more expandable, design.
- 3 pictures of the boot logo hack described below:
Solution:

1) Acquire AWDFLASH.EXE 6.31
- This is the BIOS flasher you'll use to extract your old BIOS
image (which will also help you tell if running through the
tutorial or letting the unit be "updated" affects your BIOS)
2) Acquire CBROM130.EXE
- This is the utility you'll use to examine the contents of the
BIOS ROM dump and modify it accordingly. They were really
nice, including a /logo option for changing (ta-dah!) boot
logo screens.
3) Boot to straight DOS. In Win9x, will usually mean adding
a BootGUI=0 line to your C:\CONFIG.SYS file. You may have
to use ATTRIB.EXE to make the file writable first.

4) When booting, hold down the SHIFT key to prevent loading of
EMM386.EXE or anything else that ASDFLASH.EXE tells you it
doesn't like.
5) Help for AWDFLASH and CBROM in case you get confused:
AWDFLASH /?
CBROM130 /?
6) Extract your old BIOS ROM to a file:
AWDFLASH /Pn mybios.bin
7) Copy your old BIOS ROM somewhere safe:
COPY mybios.bin mybios.bak

8) We assume you already have a favorite .BMP of a penguin or daemon
handy. (640x464, 16 colors, Windows BMP)
9) For kicks, examine your old BIOS ROM:
CBROM130 mybios.bin /D
See the various components there? The one we're after is the logo
bitmap, by default "welcome.bmp"
10) Rewrite your old BIOS ROM:
CBROM130 mybios.bin /logo penguin.bmp
This overwrites mybios.bin, creating the file for your new BIOS.
If your logo is too complicated and doesn't compress well, you
may run out of space. You can use CBROM to tell you whether or
not your BIOS image with the new logo is "full" or not.
11) Assuming you didn't run out of space, flash your new BIOS and
just for paranoia's sake, make another backup.
AWDFLASH mybios.bin /Py oldbios.bak /Sy
12) Reboot - and pray for the best! As usual, don't try this unless
you're prepared to take the risk of turning your i-opener into a
doorstop.

I have just added a section to my web page about Controlling the LEDs
under DOS and Windows. Included is a link to a .ZIP file with six
programs I wrote -- on, off, and toggle for each LED. The .ZIP includes
the (trivial) assembly language source and a 9 byte .COM file for each
function. Many thanks to Roastbeef for doing the research to find out
what port and bits control the LEDs.

http://www.geocities.com/iopener_hack


--
Adam Serediuk
adam@i-opener-linux.net