Belkin F5D5050 on a Instant 6.3 build

[sheepdog_tx]

Got a 6.3 HDVR2 running great with a FA120 that a friend was kind enough to loan me til I find a replacement. I bought a Belkin F5D5050 to fill this need however I'm having trouble getting it working. Unit plugs and plays in XP but does nothing on the Hughes after a rebooting. While I'm used to linux builds I don't see the usual etc/sysconfig directory. Searched the forums and checked the FAQs but still confused. Could really use a little help so I can return my friends adapter to him. Thanks in advance.

[Narf54321]

The Netgear FA120 is an ax8817x device. Obviously that is working.
The Belkin F5D5050 is supposed to be a pegasus device.

Do you have the pegasus.o module loaded?

[botcher]

Change the usbflag on the Instant Cake "baked" drive from USB2.0 to USB1.0

This will load the correct drivers for your device. Since the FA120 is working (and is a 2.0 device), it sounds like your flag was set to 2.0 during setup. You should be able to change it via the serial bash cable rather than pulling the drive. Or use your friend's FA120 to get in, make the change, swap adapters, and reboot. There's a post explaining how to change the various install flags on the ptvupgrade web site. Do a search for "flags".

Be sure to reboot the tivo with the adapter plugged in once you change the flag.

[sheepdog_tx]

Are you sayign this is a 1.x USB adapter? This is a brand new in the box. I have a hard time believing a new adapter made for a 100 mb network is handicapped by a 12 mb USB cap.

[ScanMan]

It's definitely USB 1.1 - hard to see that from Belkin's site or the user manual. Here are the specs from TigerDirect. You really have to do your homework before you pull the trigger. It's getting harder to find cheap tivo-compatible USB adapters these days with the discontinuation/disappearance of the FA120, ASOHOUSB et al. The D-Link DUB-E100 is still popular although currently a bit pricey for my liking and recent ("B"?) revisions require the backport drivers. Again do your homework...not a criticism, just some friendly advice.

[botcher]

I've tried both USB1 and USB2 adapters using Tivoweb and extraction, and saw almost no difference between them. I also recall reading somewhere in one of the posts by the provider of the drivers, something to the effect that the current usb2 drivers for Tivo can't utilize the full potential of USB2.0 anyway, and also many users commenting about not noticing big differences when upgrading to a 2.0 adapter. but I could be wrong. Too much reading too long ago.... I can tell you that my Tivo is lucky to transfer between 1-2mb when using TyTools.

[cheer]

I've tried both USB1 and USB2 adapters using Tivoweb and extraction, and saw almost no difference between them. I also recall reading somewhere in one of the posts by the provider of the drivers, something to the effect that the current usb2 drivers for Tivo can't utilize the full potential of USB2.0 anyway, and also many users commenting about not noticing big differences when upgrading to a 2.0 adapter. but I could be wrong. Too much reading too long ago.... I can tell you that my Tivo is lucky to transfer between 1-2mb when using TyTools.

There can definitely be a difference, but as with everything, it depends on a number of factors.

First...stock Tivo drivers, especially in older versions, were slow. The backport drivers help a lot in this regard. If you're running stock drivers, then you might well not see a huge difference when switching between 1.1 and 2.0.

Second...the Tivo is a very slow, underpowered linux box. The less it has to do, the better it can do what you ask. Tune the tuner(s) to non-existent channels and that will cause it to stop buffering live TV, which makes a big difference.

Third...most recent versions of Tivo software have netfilter enabled in the kernel. Even if you've disabled it, you can get better performance by monte-ing to a custom kernel built without netfilter.

Fourth...gigabit helps. Not because of the gigabit speed, as we all know the box never gets near Fast Ethernet speed, but because of jumbo frames. IF your switch can handle jumbo frames, AND your Tivo->Ethernet adapters can, AND your PC can...you can get even faster speeds.

On a 6.2 DirecTivo SD-DVR80, I've seen transfer times go from just under 1 megabyte/sec (stock) to around 2.0 megabytes/sec (backport drivers) around 2.4 megabytes/sec (backport drivers, custom kernel) to about 4 megabytes/sec (backport drivers, custom kernel, both tuners tuned to non-existent channels). Others have reported topping 6 megabytes/sec w/the addition of gig-E. YM, as always, MV. Check the soapbox derby thread for more.

[sheepdog_tx]

Ok followed the directions at http://www.dvrplayground.com/forum/thread/11504/ which worked... sorta.

I got about a 5% of the transfer rate I had before and I can no longer FTP or Putty due to time outs. Weeeee! Selling this turd and getting an FA120. Thanks anyways