DSR704 - Proof of Concept

[ocomik]

I recently purchased a Philip's DSR704. I'm trying to establish whether this system can actually be hacked to enable the USB ports to support Ethernet.

Over the last few days I have tried various tools (Sleeper's ISO, Cobelli's Guide, etc...) and nothing appears to make a difference. Checking the rc.sysinit.author file appears to contain the correct entries. Serial bash is enabled as well as the pegasus nic drivers. Neither one of these will allow me to access the unit. My serial cable is a null modem cable that passes a continuity check as well as "shortening" rx and tx to echo back to the terminal screen.

Microsoft (MN-110) USB-to-Ethernet adapter (OEM ADMtec ADM8511 Pegasus II USB Ethernet).

My hope is to find someone that has successfully connected this specific model to their network. At this point I'm starting to believe that the existing tools available will not allow this to be accomplished.

If you can provide some insight or know definatively that this can be accomplished, please let me know.

Thanks
Mike

www.ocomik.net/blog/index.html

cross-posted on tivocommunity

[Juppers]

The USB ports work fine on the unit. I think I used tivoscripts for one of them or something similar.

I recently purchased a Philip's DSR704. I'm trying to establish whether this system can actually be hacked to enable the USB ports to support Ethernet.

Over the last few days I have tried various tools (Sleeper's ISO, Cobelli's Guide, etc...) and nothing appears to make a difference. Checking the rc.sysinit.author file appears to contain the correct entries. Serial bash is enabled as well as the pegasus nic drivers. Neither one of these will allow me to access the unit. My serial cable is a null modem cable that passes a continuity check as well as "shortening" rx and tx to echo back to the terminal screen.

Microsoft (MN-110) USB-to-Ethernet adapter (OEM ADMtec ADM8511 Pegasus II USB Ethernet).

My hope is to find someone that has successfully connected this specific model to their network. At this point I'm starting to believe that the existing tools available will not allow this to be accomplished.

If you can provide some insight or know definatively that this can be accomplished, please let me know.

Thanks
Mike

www.ocomik.net/blog/index.html

cross-posted on tivocommunity

[AlphaWolf]

I recently purchased a Philip's DSR704. I'm trying to establish whether this system can actually be hacked to enable the USB ports to support Ethernet.

Works fine for me. Then again, I applied all of my hacks manually. So far there isn't anything I can't do with the DSR704.

[Juppers]

Works fine for me. Then again, I applied all of my hacks manually. So far there isn't anything I can't do with the DSR704.

Run 4.0? :)

[ocomik]

Works fine for me. Then again, I applied all of my hacks manually. So far there isn't anything I can't do with the DSR704.

AlphaWolf,

I'm glad to hear that someone who owns this unit has got it working. Can you provide me with some specifics (urls, file names, etc...) that allowed you to get your unit going? If this information cannot be posted, please PM or e-mail me.

My goal, besides getting this working, is to create a definitive guide for this particular model.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

Mike

www.ocomik.net (http://www.ocomik.net)

[Juppers]

My goal, besides getting this working, is to create a definitive guide for this particular model.


The steps to hack a DSR704 are no different than a HDVR2, DVR40, DSR7000, or any other S2 Dtivo. You can pick any of the multiple guides available on the site for S2 dtivos, and they will all work, with the exception of running 4.x.

[captain_video]

Sleeper's tivoscript works fine with a DSR704. I don't know if the drivers it loads (pegasus or ax8817x) will support your particular USB adapter but there are many others that work fine with it.

[AlphaWolf]

I'm glad to hear that someone who owns this unit has got it working. Can you provide me with some specifics (urls, file names, etc...) that allowed you to get your unit going? If this information cannot be posted, please PM or e-mail me.


I didn't do anything out of the ordinary afaik. I followed duo's (aka d7o) monte instructions, then used alldeadhomiez usb drivers, then applied the hacks I wanted. Everything I did was done the same way you do it on every other tivo.

[ocomik]

I didn't do anything out of the ordinary afaik. I followed duo's (aka d7o) monte instructions, then used alldeadhomiez usb drivers, then applied the hacks I wanted. Everything I did was done the same way you do it on every other tivo.

First, thanks to everyone that has responded. I do appreciate the assistance and feedback.

I can tell you this is very frustrating. I'm fairly tech savvy and have modded multiple systems (check www.ocomik.net) and have always been successful. At this point I'm having problems putting my finger on the specific issue of where I'm going wrong. Here's some details of what I've been doing.

I used "tivoscripts1_02.iso" (21,184 KB) burned using Nero 6. CD, boots fine and drives are set as follows:
HDA = DOS HD
HDB = CD-ROM
HDC = Original Tivo & Replacement Drive

Selecting the "Monte" option and following instructions verbatum. The only question that I remember being asked re: the "Apple_Free" copy. I chose the first option.

After completing the Monte, returning the drive and booting I see the following:

1. Powering on
2. Green screen appears for approx 20 seconds
3. Few more second screen appears, Philips logo screen, & DirecTV acquiring screen
4. Normal channel screen

If I have my serial null modem cable connected I see garbage characters until I reach the DirecTV acquiring cable THEN characters stop. Settings are 9600-8-n-1-no flowcontrol.

Link light on adapter is not lit. I have tried to ping the unit just in case something was wrong with the adapters link light. No luck.

Questions:

Is the green screen normal? Everytime I read about this in the forums, it appears that the inidividual was not able to get their unit to operate.

I have noticed that after a couple of minutes of operation the unit jumps back and forth between the Tivo screens and the channel screen. It jumps around about four times and I have only seen it happen while the serial null modem cable is connected. Is this indicative of anything?

I'm using a Western Digital 1200 (120 GB) drive. The USB-Ethernet adapter is a Microsoft OEM model that is listed as being supported on Cabelli's guide.

Are there variations of the pegasus drivers floating around the Internet?

I have gone ahead and included rc.initsys.author

========== start rc.initsys.author ================
#!/bin/bash
date>>/var/hack/log/hackinit.log

#Enviroment Variables
export PATH=/sbin:/bin:/tivobin:/busybox:/tvbin:.
export TIVO_ROOT=
export MFS_DEVICE=/dev/hda10
export IGNOREEOF=1000
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/lib/modules
export TERM=xterm
export PS1='\h:\w$ '

#Start BASH
/bin/bash</dev/ttyS2&>/dev/ttyS2&

#Setup HOSTNAME
/bin/hostname tivo

#Load Pegasus ethernet drivers
insmod /lib/modules/usbcore.o
insmod /lib/modules/usb-ohci.o
sleep 10
insmod /lib/modules/pegasus.o

#Set the IP address
ifconfig eth0 199.4.11.163 broadcast 199.4.11.255 netmask 255.255.255.0
route add default gw 199.4.11.1 netmask 0.0.0.0 metric 1

#Load telnet daemon and ftp dameon
tnlited 23 /bin/bash -login &
tivoftpd
cd /usr/mfs_ftp
/usr/mfs_ftp/mfs_ftp.tcl &
cd /

#Load tivoweb
/usr/tivoweb-tcl/tivoweb

#Load kmem to prevent scrambling
kmem 800b23b4 00001021

sleep 300
/usr/scripts/callfixsub.sh /usr/scripts &
/usr/scripts/sps30
/usr/scripts/sort
================ end rc.initsys.author ======================

I left off the rc.initsys file because of length.

At this point I'm not sure if I'm looking at a single problem or multiple problems. I would like to request a couple of things:

First, upon review of this extended material does anything stand out. Is there anything specific in the questions that I've asked that would indicate an issue?

Second, if you have successfully got this to work can you e-mail (ocomik@nospm.millecon.com) [remove "nospm" section] the specific files you have used and any URL that worked?

Currently I have at least 40 hours into this project not counting researching the various forums for information.

From the length of my post, I guess you can tell I committed to getting this resolved. Thanks again to everyone for the assistance already provided.

Mike

www.ocomik.net
www.ocomik.net/blog/index.html

[Blahblah2001]

A couple of things:

1) For the null modem, you need to have the baud rate set to 115k setting.
2) The unit "jumping around", as you put it, indicates that it is running the hacks, as this is the SPS30 hack which allows 30-second skip.

My humble diagnosis would be that the pegasus nic drivers do not support whatever device you are using.

[ocomik]

A couple of things:

1) For the null modem, you need to have the baud rate set to 115k setting.
2) The unit "jumping around", as you put it, indicates that it is running the hacks, as this is the SPS30 hack which allows 30-second skip.

My humble diagnosis would be that the pegasus nic drivers do not support whatever device you are using.

Blahblah2001 - Thanks... I went ahead and increased the bps to 115200 and sure enough my serial bash showed up.

This is one of the reasons why I spoke about putting together a definitive guide for this model. I know in a couple of posts I came across that 9600 bps or lower should be used.

As for your hypothesis re: the NIC drivers I'm thinking the same thing. The adapter is a Microsoft MN-110, which is an OEM adapter (ADMtec ADM8511 Pegasus II USB Ethernet) and should be supported by the pegasus driver.

Does anyone know if this is the exact same chip that is in the wired Linksys USB adapter?

Well thanks again... This should go along way in getting me moving in the right direction.

Mike

www.ocomik.net
www.ocomik.net/blog

[cali]

before David gets to you, I should like to remind that if using the sleepr cd, it does specify bash @115K and does tell you so.

[RKone]

Does anyone know if this is the exact same chip that is in the wired Linksys USB adapter?


By the looks of this (http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-usb-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg18124.html), the driver is the same, it just needs to add the lines to recognize the vendor id..

[ocomik]

before David gets to you, I should like to remind that if using the sleepr cd, it does specify bash @115K and does tell you so.

Cali,

Thanks for the response... The following was taken from the "Sleeper" CD image that I downloaded. Was it modified? I'm not sure.

TiVo Updating Over Dedicated Internet HOWTO
By Frank Pineau
[Excerpt]
Once you have a good hardware serial connection to your TiVo, fire up your favorite terminal program (I used Minicom) and set it to use the serial port, no dialing strings, flow control, or anything, 9600, 8,N,1 (if that doesn't work, try 38400,8,N,1). Plug your TiVo in and hit enter on your terminal once. The timing is a little tricky here. I've found that you need to do it within three seconds of plugging in the TiVo. Your mileage may vary. Don't wait for the TiVo to start showing graphics.
[End Excerpt]

The inconsistancy of the information regarding the process for specific models makes this whole process much more complex than I believe it should be. I don't argue with the fact that people should strive to do their homework first before seeking the easy answer but the vast amounts of inconsistant information does make it difficult.

I'm still sold on putting together a definitive guide for the Philips DSR704 and would welcome a peer review when it's complete.

Mike

P.S. Who's David?

www.ocomik.net
www.ocomik.net/blog/index.html

[ocomik]

By the looks of this (http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-usb-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg18124.html), the driver is the same, it just needs to add the lines to recognize the vendor id..

RKone,

Looks like you discovered the reason for it not being recognized. As for the driver code that is listed there, is that the whole code and just needs to be compiled or just an exceprt? If it needs to be compiled (I believe it's C) what would be the best tool to do that with?

I'm a little unsure of how to proceed except to search and see if someone has already compiled it.

I guess I could just go out and get another adapter but that would be taking the easy way out.

Thanks for the feedback...
Mike

P.S. Thanks again to everyone, you sure have paid dividends... I look forward to reciprocating.

[NutKase]

Cali,

Thanks for the response... The following was taken from the "Sleeper" CD image that I downloaded. Was it modified? I'm not sure.

Not sure about your sleeper CD as I've never used it BUT I and many others have helped users in this forum time and again on proper (1152000) serial settings. Search for 'garbage' and 'serial' to read a few.

Any tivo 'brand specific' guide will just be a rehash of others.

If you want to set up a cross compiler and recompile drivers for your adapter I'm sure everyone will appreciate it. I took the easy way out and searched the back shelf at Wal-Mart for a WUSB11 with ver 2.6 firmware :)

[Blahblah2001]

If you want to set up a cross compiler and recompile drivers for your adapter I'm sure everyone will appreciate it. I took the easy way out and searched the back shelf at Wal-Mart for a WUSB11 with ver 2.6 firmware :)

Heh, nice one. I should've done that, but got v 2.8 instead :( Hopefully I'll figure out cross-compiling the drivers or someone will post them :P

[ocomik]

Not sure about your sleeper CD as I've never used it BUT I and many others have helped users in this forum time and again on proper (1152000) serial settings. Search for 'garbage' and 'serial' to read a few.

Any tivo 'brand specific' guide will just be a rehash of others.

If you want to set up a cross compiler and recompile drivers for your adapter I'm sure everyone will appreciate it. I took the easy way out and searched the back shelf at Wal-Mart for a WUSB11 with ver 2.6 firmware :)

I went ahead and purchased the Belkin adapter, which did the trick. I knew I was taking a gamble on the Microsoft but after taking it apart and seeing that the it was a supported chip, I thought I'd be OK. Wrong!

Also I appreciate your comments re: establishing a 'brand specific' guide.

Thanks
Mike

www.ocomik.net
www.ocomik.net/blog

[bkaplan]

Blahblah 2001,

Did you suceed in recompiling the drivers for the 2.8 wusb11? I am in the same boat.

[RKone]

Unfortunately, it's not so easy as simply compiling a driver for the 2.8, unless you're using v4.x software. With 3.x software, the kernel needs to be recompiled with wireless extensions enabled.

The good news however is that it's all been done for you, I've got 3 posts here (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24626&page=7) with the files and information on how to install it. I've been using them reliably since I posted them, I believe blahblah2001 has also (at least he said it was working).