Tivo Control Station release 1.1.0

[Zirak]

EDIT: THIS THREAD IS DEPRECATED. FIND THE CURRENT SUPPORT THREAD ON THE TCS WEBSITE DOWNLOAD PAGE

I have decided to move support for Tivo Control Station to this forum from the TivoCommunity underground. The underground seems more like a sandbox these days. This forum has clearly become “the right place.” For those unfamilar with TCS, see the website which includes descriptions and screenshots.

DUE TO CHANGES IN THE MODULE API, ALL PRIOR RELEASES OF TCS ARE OBSOLETE AND WILL NO LONGER RECEIVE UPDATES.

This release of Tivo Control Station includes:

• A new shareware fee, with liberal exemptions for students, the unemployed, and tivo developers who have made significant contributions to the art. See the License file for details.
• New Installation instructions. No matter what you think you know, you will need to read this post in its entirety, the README and the LICENSE.
• A TCS Network Server which will reduce the load TCS places on the tivo by about 90%. The network server runs on a unix based machine on your local network. By running the modules that gather and parse data from the web (Quotes, NFL, Weather, etc) on the network server as opposed to the tivo, the load on the tivo is drastically reduced. If you don’t have access to a unix machine on your local network, you can still run TCS in “classic” mode, with the tivo doing all the work.. The release package is generally configured to assume that you will be running a network server. If you are not running a network server, you will need to link several modules back into the modules directory. I.E, Quotes is not configured to be on by default for classic mode. You will also need to deactivate the network server in the config/prefs file. The README is quite specific on what needs to be done. The Network Server is the most significant feature of the new release. If you have a machine that will run a network server, I strongly encourage you to run one. A Tivo can NOT be a network server for other Tivos.
• Ability for third party module developers to push module updates out through TCS autoupdate. (Contact tcs(no)@(spam)zirakzigil.net to be setup)

Network Server Features:

• Same code that runs on the tivo.
• Same startup commands as on the tivo.
• Ability to serve multiple tivos.
• Ability to run predefined shell scripts on the network server from the tivo remote. You can literally start any process on the network server machine from the remote. A sample script that brings up xeyes is included.
• Ability to gather web information MUCH faster than a tivo. Check weather for another zipcode and have it displayed in 5 seconds.

Network Server Requirements:

• Root access to a unix machine on the local network. (Root only required for setup, the network server is not required to run as root)
• TCL installed.
• NFS server.
• It is unknown if a Mac/OS X box will work properly as a server. I have no reason to think it will not, it just hasn’t been tested. If you have success, let us know. EDIT: People have reported getting the network server running on Mac OS X. Version 1.1.1 is required for it to work "out of the box."
• It is unknown if a cygwin environment will work properly as a server. I have less confidence about cygwin than OSX, but it too hasn’t been tested. If you have success, let us know. EDIT: People have reported getting the network server running on Cygwin. Version 1.1.1 is required for it to work "out of the box."

Separate module directories for the network server and the tivo.

Obviously (if you think about it) some modules must run on the tivo, however you can pick and choose which modules you want to run where. Generally, if you can run a module on the network server, you should.

New/Improved Modules:

• NCAA Basketball (March Madness is here!)
• Several modules to support the network server
• Extended information in the Quotes module (which has been fixed).
• Weather module fix for negative temperatures.
• MLB module is broken, and should be removed. It will be fixed when the regular season starts.
• Several other modules repaired

Get it from the TCS Home Page

Tivo Control Station is copyright 2003, 2004, ZirakZigil, LLC.