Please check my understanding of HR10-250 hacks...

[tivofnd]

First some background. I've done capacity hacks on numerous dtivo from SIR4040 to R10 boxes but have not ventured into any "real" hacks (shell, extraction, etc). I am very comfortable with Linux (down to kernel/driver level) and system setup (networking, filesystems, disk management, etc) so I appreciate technical details and want to understand exactly what's going on.

I just bought an HR10-250 and want to do a number of hacks that I've not done before. I've spent the last 2-3 weeks reading everything I can find but some seems outdated and some are not clear if they apply to the HDdtivo or only SDdtivo units. So far, I've backed up my virgin drive using mfstools (lba48 version) and restored/expanded to a new 500GB drive.

Here are the hacks I'm planning to apply and want to know if there are any important or cool hacks missing. I'm using IronMan's HR10-250 hacking doc. Looks like the main steps are as follows (leaving off some safety checks and details):
1. run killinitrd to make hacks stick
2. install tivoftp.mips
3. activate networking
* QUESTION: I want to use a DWL-120 ver F wifi adapter that I happen to have, is there a driver that supports this? I saw the wifi driver thread but it did not seem to mention a specific driver for this one.
4. install devbin, netbin, and ps
* QUESTION: it seems easier to just cp them over at the same time I install the ftp server, is there any reason why ftp is preferred?
5. install tivoweb
* QUESTION: same as above, is it ok to cp instead of ftp? Also, I have TivoWeb v1.2.1 so do I need the twebplus-patched.tar?
6. for extraction there seems to be two options:
a. mfs_ftp, TyTools w/ tserver
b. vserver, mplayer w/ tivo support
* QUESTION: are these two options or are they actually related in some way?
* QUESTION: I run Linux primarily at home so option b seems more applicable. Is that correct?
* QUESTION: Is there a reason I can't or shouldn't install both?
7. install ciphercheck.tcl and csoscout.tcl
8. disable encryption
* QUESTION: Am I correct that all of the above steps can be accomplished with the drive in the PC? It seems that the only time I must telnet in is when running any of the tivosh/tcl scripts.

These are some things that I want but as I understand it, aren't available:
1. folders! Please tell me I'm wrong and there is a way to get folders.
2. HMO including network guide download
3. faster guide. Is there a way to speed this up? It seems sluggish after my
SDtivo running 6.2 software.

Final question is about sw updates. I've read countless threads about this but still don't quite understand all the nuances. It does not seem like any of these hacks would cause loss of programs but I'm not sure. If it doesn't cause loss of programming then can I simply rehack after the sw upgrade finally comes down? If I do loose programs on upgrade and rehack, is it possible to extract all the programs prior to the upgrade and then copy them back after the upgrade?

Sorry about the length of this post but I wanted to get it all out there.
Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

[cheer]

1. run killinitrd to make hacks stick
It's actually killhdinitrd -- killinitrd is a different thing. But odds are you won't be able to directly run killhdinitrd on the kernel that's already there. Instead, you need to get a kernel from Tivo software version 3.1.5 (no letters) and run killhdinitrd on it. Alternatively, pop for the $5 PTVUpgrade LBA48-aware Enhanced Boot CD, which has pre-killhdinitrd'd kernels on it.
2. install tivoftp.mips
That's an old version. Better instead to install Alphawolf's all-in-one utilities, which include tivoftpd.
3. activate networking
* QUESTION: I want to use a DWL-120 ver F wifi adapter that I happen to have, is there a driver that supports this? I saw the wifi driver thread but it did not seem to mention a specific driver for this one.
Can't help you there -- I'm doing wired.
4. install devbin, netbin, and ps
* QUESTION: it seems easier to just cp them over at the same time I install the ftp server, is there any reason why ftp is preferred?
I'm not sure what devbin and netbin are. ps is one of the many items included with AlphaWolf's tools. And no, no reason why ftp is preferred; cp is fine.
5. install tivoweb
* QUESTION: same as above, is it ok to cp instead of ftp? Also, I have TivoWeb v1.2.1 so do I need the twebplus-patched.tar?
TivoWebPlus 1.2.1 is probably all you need.
6. for extraction there seems to be two options:
a. mfs_ftp, TyTools w/ tserver
These are actually two different methods. mfs_ftp is an ftp daemon that runs on port 3105 (by default). It essentially gives an ftp interface to the videos on your Tivo, and you can use any ftp client for extraction.

TyTool w/tserver is a paired client/server app. TyTool can be used for extraction w/tserver, as well as editing and muxing to mpg and/or vob. It's Windows-based.
b. vserver, mplayer w/ tivo support
* QUESTION: are these two options or are they actually related in some way?
* QUESTION: I run Linux primarily at home so option b seems more applicable. Is that correct?
* QUESTION: Is there a reason I can't or shouldn't install both?
vserver/mplayer is most often used for streaming. Additionally, with vserver you can stream directly from TivoWebPlus. If you're a linux user, you probably want mfs_ftp for extraction and vserver for streaming. No reason you cannot install all of the above.
7. install ciphercheck.tcl and csoscout.tcl
Shouldn't need these under normal circumstances. Additionally, ciphercheck.tcl is depreciated. Use the ciphercheck included with AlphaWolf's tools.[/QUOTE]
8. disable encryption
* QUESTION: Am I correct that all of the above steps can be accomplished with the drive in the PC? It seems that the only time I must telnet in is when running any of the tivosh/tcl scripts.
Probably. I've done most of this via telnet/ftp, but that's just a personal preference thing.
1. folders! Please tell me I'm wrong and there is a way to get folders.
2. HMO including network guide download
3. faster guide. Is there a way to speed this up? It seems sluggish after my
SDtivo running 6.2 software.
No, no, and no. FYI guide data comes from the satellite.
Final question is about sw updates. I've read countless threads about this but still don't quite understand all the nuances. It does not seem like any of these hacks would cause loss of programs but I'm not sure. If it doesn't cause loss of programming then can I simply rehack after the sw upgrade finally comes down? If I do loose programs on upgrade and rehack, is it possible to extract all the programs prior to the upgrade and then copy them back after the upgrade?
If you set upgradesoftware=false in your bootpage parameters, you don't have to worry about upgrades. But no, normally a software upgrade will not get rid of your videos.

[PlainBill]

Two notes on software upgrades. As Cheer indicated, including 'upgradesoftware=false' in the boot parameters will ensure software upgrades will not be installed. After the hacks for the new software version are found, it can be installed and hacked manually without ever pulling the drive.

Any such upgrade would most likely include folders and a faster user interface.

PlainBill

[tivofnd]

Thanks to both of you. Your responses were very helpful. I acutally did have killhdinitrd but typed it in wrong. I missed the detail about the kernel for the 3.1.5 sw ver but have that now. A bunch of other posts suggest using dd to copy the file but is that really important or is cp sufficient? Also, thank you very much for pointing me to AlphaWolf's all-in-one package. I ran across that over a week ago and didn't know exactly what it provided back then. After looking at the contents of this vs the ones used by IronMan, I much prefer this one. I would have jumped in front of a bus if pico was the only editor option. ;)

I've been looking at the various threads about using large drives on the hr10-250. I just restored on to a 500GB and specified -s 500 to increase swap but there's some indication that this doesn't work correctly. Can I simply boot using mfstoolscd, find the swap partition, and run mkswap on that partition to fix?

Thanks again.

[fantmn]

... Can I simply boot using mfstoolscd, find the swap partition, and run mkswap on that partition to fix?

Thanks again.

You will want to use the mkswap found in post 28 in this thread (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43316&page=2). A sample command and results can be found in post 32. I do not think the mkswap in the mfstools CD has the -S switch. The mkswap in the post is staticly linked (includes all the modules needed to run) so you can run it after you boot using the mfstools CD. It also seems to be recommended to use the -r 4 option on the mfsrestore command. Hope you found that tip. Also the hexdump function in devbin supports the -C option while the hexdump in AlphaWolf's all-in-one package did not. If you need the function you can just load the hexdump from devbin in a different dir and point to it to execute.

[tivofnd]

Thank you. Reading those posts now. What does the -r 4 do exactly? Curious if I can just do what it does manually or do I have to rerun mfsrestore?

[PlainBill]

Thank you. Reading those posts now. What does the -r 4 do exactly? Curious if I can just do what it does manually or do I have to rerun mfsrestore?
The default options for mfsrestore cannot properly create an mfs partition greater than roughly 275 Gig (I'm sure someone will jump in with the exact size). The -r 4 switch fixes the problem. It's not an issue in your case because the new mfs partition set will be 250 Gig.

PlainBill

[Jamie]

Thank you. Reading those posts now. What does the -r 4 do exactly? Curious if I can just do what it does manually or do I have to rerun mfsrestore?-r controls the minimum allocation unit in the new media partitions added when you expand (-x) with mfsadd or mfsrestore. It's necessary when creating new partitions larger than 274GB. If you are going from a 250GB to a 500GB, you don't need it, since you are expanding by less than 274GB. It can't be changed after the fact.

There are some details on the mfstools command line options here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=2651877#post2651877), but this was written before the 274GB partition size problem was understood.

{Edit: PlainBill beat me to it...}

[PlainBill]

-r controls the minimum allocation unit in the new media partitions added when you expand (-x) with mfsadd or mfsrestore. It's necessary when creating new partitions larger than 274GB. If you are going from a 250GB to a 500GB, you don't need it, since you are expanding by less than 274GB. It can't be changed after the fact.

There are some details on the mfstools command line options here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=2651877#post2651877), but this was written before the 274GB partition size problem was understood.

{Edit: PlainBill beat me to it...}
Yes, but your explanation was clearer. Kudos.

PlainBill

[tivofnd]

Ok. nevermind my dd vs cp question for the kernel.. I just did a pdisk -l and realized that the kernel is on a raw partition (no fs)... then checked the killhdinitrd support thread and realized I'm an ***** because of=/dev/hda6 should have told me everything I needed to know. Thanks. :)

[tivofnd]

Thanks to everyone for the help. I've successfully hacked my tivo. :) It was quite painless actually. The only gotcha I hit was that the memory location for turning off encryption was wrong on IronMan's guide. I suspect he wrote it for an older version of software. A quick search turned up AlphaWolf's post specifying the correct mem location for 3.1.5f. Worked like a charm. Now I'll have to research what to do if/when a sw update ever happens. I have a pretty good idea I think but still need to do some reading.

BTW, for those who want to go wireless, I've got an interesting solution. Instead of trying to find the right driver/adapter combo or paying the robbery rates for a bridge (aka. gaming wifi adapter), I was able to convert a D-Link 800ap+ to a D-Link 810+ (which is a ethernet/wifi bridge) with a simple firmware upload. Check out this link if you have an old dwl-800ap+ sitting around:
http://www.seattlewireless.net/dwl800ap+hack

I originally bought the 800ap+ because it could be configured to act as a repeater for other dlink ap's but I've since rewired my home so a repeater is no longer necessary. I found the 800ap+ at tigerdirect a couple of years ago as refurb units for about $20. It's only b not g so speed isn't great but with the price and convenience, you can't beat it. So, using an Netgear FA-120 (which works great with the 7718x module) along with my converted 810+, I've got a cheap wifi solution that doesn't require me to find additional mips modules. Plus, this way, if I ever want to go wired or g (via bridge), I don't even have to reboot. :D

One last question.. Does anyone know what the video bitrate is for SD vs HD on dtv? I can probably figure it out but I thought somone might know the answer off-hand. I want to see what network rates I have to sustain to watch recordings on my desktop pc.