hack Hughes SD-DVR80 with RID#

[Juicy]

I'm in the process of gathering information and files to hack my Hughes SD-DVR80. I have the Hinsdale guide for installing a 2nd drive, because I want to add a 120GB drive. However, I'm confused by the plethora of information and don't know where to start.

I want to start by replacing the 80GB drive with the 120GB, so that I can screw around with the 120GB and put the 80GB back in when I want to watch TV. Once I get the 120GB running smoothly, I then want to make the 80GB the slave. I know I should make a backup of the 80GB.

My questions (which I'm searching and reading to try and answer):
* Hughes SD-DVR80, running OS 3.1.1e-01-2-351, has a RID#. I want to go to v4.0 OS so I get folders, etc. What kernel do I install? I've seen posts about v4.01a, v4.01b, getting v4.0 and hacking it to v4.0x, etc.
* What files do I need? I have v4.0.1a virgin kernel file vmlinux.px, with file size 1640132 bytes. I have 2 killhdinitrd files, and don't know what to use. They are killhdinitrd-0.9.2.zip, and killinitrd-s2-v4.0.gz (which is a 4KB file, and is a single ELF binary).
* I want TivoWebPlus installed. I have the v1.0 file (tivowebplus-1.0-final.tar.gz) from http://tivo.fp2000.org/twp. I assume I can install this after I get the v4.0 OS up and running in the Tivo? Same goes for Tivo Hack Manager; I got the v3.3.22 beta file (hackman-V3.3.22.beta.zip) from http://www.tivohackman.com. Install this after TivoWebPlus is installed?
* I want to unplug the phone line, since I understand that TivoWebPlus gets guides info over Internet. I purchased a Netgear WG111, which is a USB 2.0 Wireless 54G network adapter. It looks as if the v4.01a kernel has support for this USB network device.
* How is v4.01a kernel different from v4.01b kernel?
* It also seems that since I have a RID#, I need to do a few additional hacks.
* It also seems that people suggest NOT using the Sleeper ISO.
* I also have a 162MB file tivo-s2-4.0.1b-02-2-xxx.mfs, and 10.3MB file mfstools2.iso.

Comments? I'm trying to get all of the answers before I ask anyone, but I'm having a hard time sorting it all out. I appreciate any help/advice.

[bjp999]

This is a pretty good place to start:
Look here. (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39356).

Good luck.

[The Only Druid]

You seem to be approaching this reasonably well, but I've put a few corrections in here.
I want to start by replacing the 80GB drive with the 120GB, so that I can screw around with the 120GB and put the 80GB back in when I want to watch TV. Once I get the 120GB running smoothly, I then want to make the 80GB the slave. I know I should make a backup of the 80GB.
The Hinsdale Guide (which you know about) will provide you with all the info needed for this.

My questions (which I'm searching and reading to try and answer):
* Hughes SD-DVR80, running OS 3.1.1e-01-2-351, has a RID#. I want to go to v4.0 OS so I get folders, etc. What kernel do I install? I've seen posts about v4.01a, v4.01b, getting v4.0 and hacking it to v4.0x, etc.
You might not want to go to 4.x. While it is entirely doable to have 4.x on a RID box, the only real features you get over 3.1.1e are HMO/MRV/Folders, so be sure its worth it. If you're only looking for folders, you could wait for 6.2 to be hacked. I don't know enough about 4.x hacking to tell you what kernel to apply. One caveat: if your locals are on the 72.5 dish, you're not going to get them with 4.x


* I want to unplug the phone line, since I understand that TivoWebPlus gets guides info over Internet. I purchased a Netgear WG111, which is a USB 2.0 Wireless 54G network adapter. It looks as if the v4.01a kernel has support for this USB network device.
You've got a bit of a confusion here. TivoWebPlus can pull some data from the web, but it mainly draws off the guide data on the Tivo. Moreover, the Tivo (which is a DirecTivo) gets its guide data from the satellite. The reason you want to pull the phone is to prevent it from calling home and reporting that its running the wrong software. Of course, there is a simple TCL hack to prevent this regardless.


* It also seems that since I have a RID#, I need to do a few additional hacks.
* It also seems that people suggest NOT using the Sleeper ISO.
4.x+RID Installation Guide (http://nh-gym.com/4xrid.htm) is your first step.

Dont even look at Sleeper's. Besides not being functional for this (you cannot use it for the 4.x hacks), its just worthless at this point.

[Juicy]

You might not want to go to 4.x. While it is entirely doable to have 4.x on a RID box, the only real features you get over 3.1.1e are HMO/MRV/Folders, so be sure its worth it. If you're only looking for folders, you could wait for 6.2 to be hacked. I don't know enough about 4.x hacking to tell you what kernel to apply. One caveat: if your locals are on the 72.5 dish, you're not going to get them with 4.x


I wanted to go to 4.x because of HMO and Folders, don't care about MRV. I also want to be able to FTP to the DTivo to get programs I record onto my computer.

What do you mean by 72.5 dish?

[The Only Druid]

I wanted to go to 4.x because of HMO and Folders, don't care about MRV. I also want to be able to FTP to the DTivo to get programs I record onto my computer.

What do you mean by 72.5 dish?

Well, I misspoke, I meant 72.5 bird, not dish, referring to the satellite. DTV has more than one satellite, obviously, and there is a dish at 72.5 degrees that covers a lot of the new locals that were made available between 3.1.1c and 3.1.1d (e was a bugfix). If your locals are on that bird, you're not going to get them on 4.x. Coincidentally, there's another thread (don't recall it off hte top of my head) that is talking about someone working on bringing those locals to 4.x.

6.2 will include those locals, obviously.

Now, HMO features (specifically the mp3/photo playback) may possibly be in 6.2 (we don't know for sure yet), but folders definately will be. Now obviously there will be a bit of a pause, since 6.2 will take a little bit of time to hack. If we're lucky, it will either run a 3.1.1c kernel, but otherwise the 6.2 hack will probably involve an inline monte of a 3.1.1c (3.1.5 maybe?) kernel to pass the security check. We wont know this until a final release of 6.2 is available, and we don't even know when THAT will be.

FTP'ing for extraction is going to require the hack (unless through some miracle DTV implements TivoToGo in 6.2 and just hasn't made it available to the beta testers). I'm not a programmer, so take this next paragraph w/ a grain of salt: I believe that the current tivoftpd will run just as well under 6.2 as 3.x/4.x, since the architecture is the same. The only question will be how long it takes to properly circumvent the security check, in order to run non-signed code.

So here are your options:

1) Run 3.1.1e, with a 3.1.1c kernel (killhdinitrd'd). You'll have all the locals, and all the hacks, although you wont have folders/HMO.
2) Run 4.x. You'll have all the hacks, folders and HMO, but if you're unlucky, you won't have locals.

With either of these, upgrading to 6.2 (once its fully released) should be simple (using either a downloaded image, or the slices that will auto-download to your system), but it will be a question of how long until 6.2 is hacked (especially the crucial question of when the proper patch for tivoapp is released to prevent encryption).

[Juicy]

How do I determine if I'm using 72.5 for local channels? I went into System Information and couldn't find any info regarding local channels.

[The Only Druid]

How do I determine if I'm using 72.5 for local channels? I went into System Information and couldn't find any info regarding local channels.

The only way I know to check is to see if you get locals when you have something other than 3.1.1e installed =(.

Anyone know a way to check besides that?

[PlainBill]

I covered this in another thread (http://dealdatabase.com/forum/showpost.php?p=211511&postcount=468) earlier today.


PlainBill

[midspan]

How do I determine if I'm using 72.5 for local channels? I went into System Information and couldn't find any info regarding local channels.


What state do you live in ?

[The Only Druid]

I covered this in another thread (http://dealdatabase.com/forum/showpost.php?p=211511&postcount=468) earlier today.


PlainBill
Thanks Bill; always glad to learn something new.

[Juicy]

What state do you live in ?

I live in AZ, and I only have 1 satellite dish on my roof.


I can think of several ways. One would be to look at the pointing direction of the two dishes. If the one for locals points further east than the 'regular' one, your locals are at 72.5. Another is to look at the multiswitch used for both dishes; I can check on the precise model required for locals at 72.5. A third way is history - how long have you been getting locals? Another way is by using Lyngsat to determine if your locals are on the 72.5 satellite.


There's nothing listed for AZ on the LyngSat 72.5 satellite, so I assume I'm in the clear for this issue.

[Juicy]

So here are your options:

1) Run 3.1.1e, with a 3.1.1c kernel (killhdinitrd'd). You'll have all the locals, and all the hacks, although you wont have folders/HMO.
2) Run 4.x. You'll have all the hacks, folders and HMO, but if you're unlucky, you won't have locals.


It seems as if Option 2 is possible for me, since I'm not using the 72.5 satellite for local channels. That being the case, I'm back to trying to figure out what to do. I burned the mfstools2.iso file to CD (burn image), and burned the tivo-s2-4.0.1b-02-2-xxx.mfs to CD (burn data). I don't know what's in this file (does it have killhdinitrd, TivoWebPlus, etc.) ... any ideas?

[The Only Druid]

It seems as if Option 2 is possible for me, since I'm not using the 72.5 satellite for local channels. That being the case, I'm back to trying to figure out what to do. I burned the mfstools2.iso file to CD (burn image), and burned the tivo-s2-4.0.1b-02-2-xxx.mfs to CD (burn data). I don't know what's in this file (does it have killhdinitrd, TivoWebPlus, etc.) ... any ideas?
The mfstools iso doesn't have any of the other utilties you need. What it has are the tools required to mount/view/edit the tivo filesystem, and to perform backups/restores of images. What you'll want to do is either burn all your utilities to another CD (you can hot-swap discs) or copy them to your fat32 drive.

[Juicy]

The mfstools iso doesn't have any of the other utilties you need. What it has are the tools required to mount/view/edit the tivo filesystem, and to perform backups/restores of images. What you'll want to do is either burn all your utilities to another CD (you can hot-swap discs) or copy them to your fat32 drive.

Isn't the 162MB tivo-s2-4.0.1b-02-2-xxx.mfs file a Tivo disk image, and it needs to be restored to disk by mfstools?

[The Only Druid]

Isn't the 162MB tivo-s2-4.0.1b-02-2-xxx.mfs file a Tivo disk image, and it needs to be restored to disk by mfstools?

Yes, although I'm not sure why you asked. Perhaps you misread my post: I said it doesn't contain any of the OTHER utilities. You'll need the mfstools to expand that image to your new drive, but you're ALSO going to need things like killhdinitrd, tivoftpd, etc.

[Juicy]

Miscommunication. I've burned a lot of utilities on my data CD, including Superpatch4All, bootpage, and other stuff. I know it's going to take me several tries to get it right and get all of the programs I need, but I'm ready to go. Fortunately I have 2 computers on a switchbox, so I'm using one to read and the other to backup/restore images.

[Juicy]

I did an mfsrestore of the tivo-s2-4.0.1b-02-2-xxx.mfs file, but ran into kernel issues. I have virgin kernels for 3.1.1c, 3.1.5, and 4.0.1a, ran killhdinitrd on each, and used directions at http://www.dellanave.com/projects/tivo/4xrid.html. When he says to put the killhdinitrd'ed vmlinux.px file into /tivo/var, I first tried 4.0.1a. The DTivo would get stuck at the grey screen "Welcome. Powering up...", but using 3.1.1c I'm up and running, except my wireless USB Netgear network adapter isn't seen because there's no "Edit phone and network settings" option, just "Edit phone settings.", but there is a choice that says "Learn more about home networking". Is it that the USB ports aren't supported until 4.x kernels? I don't know what to think, because the directions talk about using 4.0.1b and 3.1.1c.

[Juicy]

http://customersupport.tivo.com/knowbase/root/public/tv2006.htm

This page says that the Netgear WG111 Version 2 (which is the network adapter that I have) requires TiVo Software Version 7.1 or later. I don't see why any network device wouldn't work. What is Version 7.1 anyway? I'm seeing OS version, kernel version, and now there's also TiVo Software Version to worry about?

[Juicy]

Here's the latest ... I followed the 4.x+ RID Installation Guide for the 4th time, making absolute sure I did everything right. Here's what I found after I plugged the drive back into the DTiVo:

o I purchased the TCD240080 PTVUpgrade InstantCake ISO, because I'm trying to use a 120GB drive on my DirecTiVo.
o It immediately took me into Guided Setup, which I completed.
o Before choosing "Clear and Delete Everything", I went into "Phone & Network Setup". It had a
choice to setup the network, so I chose Static IP, entered an IP, Gateway, and DNS. It also had
a wireless adapter option, but said it didn't detect one. Does it not like Netgear WG111v2?
o I then chose "Clear and Delete Everything". It did its clearing, then rebooted.
o Upon reboot, it took me into Guided Setup again, which I completed again.
o This time there was no choice to setup the network or wireless adapter option. It also said last
called Failed. I have fakecall.tcl in the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author file.

Any idea what's going on? I've gone as far as I can ... I'm stumped.

[PlainBill]

You've already identified the adapter problem. It's supported in '7.1 or later'. You've got 4.0.1b, which is earler. :(

I believe fakecall.tcl has to run a couple of times before the 'called failed' nag goes away.

PlainBill

[Juicy]

Thanks for the help, everyone, especially you PlainBill. So there are that few wireless adapters that work with the TiVo? If there's a need for more software people to get involved to make more work, I should help out since that's what I do for a living.

I already own a Linksys WET11 (wireless ethernet bridge) for my Xbox. If I buy the Linksys USB200M, then connect that to the WET11, it'll be wireless and should work, right? The TiVo can't see past the USB200M, and then I can just switch whether TiVo or Xbox is using the WET11. Or will the TiVo be required to be networked at all times?

I own a Linksys WRT54G router ... even better, I should be able to buy another WRT54G and connect the Xbox directly to it (remove the WET11 from the picture), and then connect the USB200M attached to the TiVo, and both should then be networked, and the Xbox will have an 802.11g connection instead of 802.11b. The living room WRT54G should connect to my office WRT54G for its internet. From reading more, it sounds like it's better to buy an Access Point instead of another router, but it should work with another router. That way I can always use the 2 routers on separate internet connections should I ever get a 2nd move (or sell it to someone).

[Juicy]

I purchased a Linksys USB200M and a switch, and now have the USB200M plugged into the TiVo, a CAT5 cable between the USB200M and the switch, and a CAT5 cable between the switch and my Linksys WET11 wireless bridge. I can now go into Settings and assign an IP, gateway, DNS, etc.

Getting closer ...

[marky]

You've already identified the adapter problem. It's supported in '7.1 or later'. You've got 4.0.1b, which is earler. :(
PlainBill
Are you saying, because TiVo doesn't support the WG111 until 7.1, that no earlier versions can be made to do so as well?

[PlainBill]

Are you saying, because TiVo doesn't support the WG111 until 7.1, that no earlier versions can be made to do so as well?

No, I'm saying it's not supported 'out of the box'. Jamie located the Linux 2.4.27 source code for a number of adapters and backported them to 2.4.4 (3.1.1x), 2.4.18 (4.0,1x), and 2.4.20 (3.1.5x and others). If you are a whiz at backporting and recompling drivers, this will be easy for you. Otherwise, your best bet is to try another adapter.

PlainBill