For anyone looking to see what current issues there are and conversations surrounding those issues I suggest you look here.
If you have any issues you could potentially post within the git also
I noticed in this thread that mycroft-msm is not installed which prevents the installation of skills locally using the cli within terminal of the MK-II.
This would imply they are in the process solving the way in which to install, but like what others are saying you could easily use balena etcher and install a sandbox image; that will enable the installation of skills
For now I’d like to keep my Mark 2 as it is on Dinkum … I’m assuming it’s the future of Mycroft, but it’s not at all clear if that’s true.
I’ve installed mycroft core on my desktop PC running Ubuntu using the instructions on Linux - Mycroft AI and have learned a lot … hopefully what I’ve learned will be transferable to Dinkum.
@Wolf0 , I’m guessing you figured this out already, but just in case, the issue is that the new Dinkum system is not fully backward compatible with classic core, so to use classic skills they’ll need to be ported to Dinkum, including the “Install Skill” and the “Dice Skill”. once those have been ported you’ll be able to do what you were trying to do.
I’ve been following this strange saga (drama?) of the Mark II. I continue to be baffled by the poor communication from the company and the fact that I still, despite reading quite a bit here, have no idea what the real situation is.
When I saw @uptheirons (HUGE Maiden fan as well!) call to report to the FTC I felt neutral about it. On one hand it seemed warranted because it does seem like purchasers didn’t get what they were expecting. On the other hand it felt a little severe, but if the company isn’t giving refunds then maybe it’s not so severe.
I’m going somewhere with this… not sure if anyone here listens to the “Malicious Life” podcast, but it’s an excellent IT security podcast! Today I listed to an older episode titled “LabMD Vs the FTC” and WOW, what an incredible and sad story of government abuse. No partisan crap, just a very interesting story about one companies abuse from the FTC.
Here’s a link to the episode: https://pca.st/episode/127289c5-0a59-4237-8de7-19802aecf887
After listening to that episode I feel differently about reporting Mark II to the FTC. I don’t believe the MyCroft people are bad people or meant to screw anyone. Maybe they’re just bad at business and made a bunch of mistakes, but not nefarious or ill intentioned. I could be wrong, who really knows. Anyway, listen to that podcast before you report them. Getting the FTC knocking on MyCrofts door would very likely be a death blow and I’m not sure how many here really want that to happen, I know I don’t.
The real shame is how a well intentioned (at least at inception) department like the FTC can become an abusive, destructive force. Shame.
I want mycroft to succeed but I also want to use the units I paid for as intended.
A little clear, open communication would go a long way.
So I amend my statement - don’t report to the FTC… yet. We need an official response with not only why this happened but how this will be remedied with some semblance of a timeline to complete this in.
It is funny my off the shelf cobbled together version with an rpi and seed restudio hat performs better than the official product.
For the record, I both bought the Mark II and invested a small amount in Mycroft’s StartEngine (sort of a kickstarter for crowdsourced venture capital) last year.
I am disappointed at the company’s complete 180. In the course of what seemed like a few days, they went from a group who was radically open about development to creepy radio silence like many commercial tech firms. I can only assume this was due to a leadership change. Enough time has passed to conclude that this is the new normal.
I don’t believe there is any reason to involve any regulatory action. You paid slightly more for a Raspberry Pi than you might haver otherwise. So be it. I have lost my tiny StartEngine investment. Mycroft.ai has become just another shadowy tech company who will attempt to raise funds the normal angel investor way. They will not succeed. They do not have enough money to survive competition from Amazon, Google, and Apple if they are competitor without a distinction. They will not raise enough money to last the year.
@mcdonc I agree on the part of “a group who was radically open about development”.
I remember that up to the end of 2021, they recorded most portions of their “stand ups” and put the videos on the web. I commented one time that doing so is “pure genius”. I felt in a way that I was part of the team. But that stopped in 2022. I miss the videos, but understand the pressure. I wouldn’t want my “stand ups” recorded and put on the web. Would you?
Then you write: “to creepy radio silence” - not so sure I would agree on that … We have seen recent posts from “gez”, and “kens” and even the CEO, Michael Lewis. I appreciate them. Yes, they have not addressed the biggest issue (for me) which is the fork of all skills from mycroft-core to “dinkum”. It would be great to see that issue addressed.
In the end, FOSS for voice will win, just as GNU/Linux has supplanted UNIX. The 2020s will be seen as the decade of “voice”, We need patience…
Well, yes. I actually sent a query to the company asking if they needed developers after seeing those (they did not). And I wouldn’t want to completely cease recording them if I had been doing it for a while. Or, at least, if I had to, I would make sure that folks understood I was going to do so. Either would be in better service of demonstrating the only thing that actually matters for their business model: a commitment to openness. I would understand that without that continued demonstration, I will be out of business very quickly.
If those exist and I’ve missed them, I apologize, although I don’t think it would change my diagnosis.
The reason I’m realistic about this is that I’ve worked at at least one company who had a similar trajectory in the early '00s (traansitioning from open-source-to-traditional without great comms). They no longer exist. They wouldn’t recommit to opennesss, but they could not compete with enormous competitors like Microsoft as a closed company. They were buried within seven months of making that choice. Patience is not on Mycroft’s side: the salaries need to be paid, and new investors need to be found.
If you mean in a broader sense, sure. I’m only talking about Mycroft.ai.
Quit whining, it’s a brand new device being made that they obviously ran into timing issues. Why did you even order it to begin with if you are that impatient?? You should have just built your own!
I ordered and have already received (2) Mycroft Mark II’s, so if anyone should be pissy then I think it would be those of us that have even more skin in the game than YOU. But guess what, i’m just going to sit back, get baked and wait. I might also try out the core version in the meantime, but you know what i’m NOT going to do? Report this small company trying to make something cool to the FTC because they are delayed and i’m impatient. It’s not like they can’t update the shipped OS to be able to install skills and such, so just sit back and shut up.
Today I have received my 3 Mark II devices. I am a bit shocked by I read here and fully agree with “No response is the worst response”. Someone from Mycroft should put the folks in here at ease.
From a security perspective I can understand why Mycroft went the Dinkum route. Although I think they chose the wrong technology for this. Simply put, a skill is nothing more that a “little” python program that runs when your Mark II detects utterance related to that skill. You as the owner of that device trust the skill developer has no evil intentions, but the python program could execute any python code depending on how hardened Mycroft is. Most probably a malicious skill could still steal/share your information with the skill developer. In the worst case scenario it could create a backdoor in Mark II to execute malicious code at will. Usually you want pluggable features like this to be sandboxed and only give it access with consent to what is needed, similar to apps on your smartphone.
These security related issues is not something you want to happen in a consumer product like the Mark II. I believe this is the reason why installing new skills is not made easy in the Dinkum version.
Being a software engineer myself I could not help myself and followed the steps from: Porting the Hello World Skill - Mycroft Mark II
Following these steps I succeeded in getting the “Hello World” skill working. Like this it should be possible port other skills. But this is only advised for the tech savvy or brave amongst us.
I am OK with limitations in the software. But I want to know exactly what those limitations are, and how to use the system with the limitations.
Instead the information I initially got was completely wrong/misleading.
What I first got my mark ii device, I saw Account, which tells me:
To add skills to your device(s), you can use voice commands (e.g. “Hey Mycroft, install alarm skill.”) or visit our skill marketplace. (link deleted due to forum requirements)
This is wrong. Furthermore it which has a link to Mycroft Marketplace which tells that I do have the Installer skilled installed. This is also wrong. Sure, the installer is not listed on the skills page, and no doubt that is the authoritative page, but, this just confused me.
As a result, I spent some time trying to get a new skill set installed verbally only to find I don’t even have the Installer installed.
But solving this would be simple, all they really need is to supply a link or qr code to these forums when sending the Mycroft Mark ii. Maybe a wiki page would be really good too.
And the blog on how to port code (link above) looks really good too.
