TivoHD -- my 1st attempt

[dlfl]

Originally Posted by jt1134

my comments apply to both the tivohd and original s3

sa == standalone ; ie: not a directv combo box

OK, what is "ironic" about mlcarlson's statement?:

/bin/bash</dev/ttyS2&>/dev/ttyS2&

Are you saying it's wrong and should use ttyS1 instead?

[mlcarson]

It's probably wrong. This was taken from an old thread on different hardware (word for word) which is why it's difficult to get the proper instructions when you're just starting. I don't have console output yet on my TivoHD -- no parts just sitting around which will work. The bootpage stuff I was looking into made me think it should be port 1 rather than port 2 though. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Jamie]

/dev/ttyDSS should always work, and is a link to the correct ttyS# device.

Note that getting serial port access on a tivohd takes some hardware work too. There's a thread about it here.

[dlfl]

Originally Posted by Jamie

/dev/ttyDSS should always work, and is a link to the correct ttyS# device.

Note that getting serial port access on a tivohd takes some hardware work too. There's a thread about it here.

Does one have to have serial port access on the HD to (in-place) hack it? Isn't there a way to use the ethernet port and telnet client? (I did look at the linked thread but it didn't help me.)

[wouldrichest]

Originally Posted by dlfl

OK, what is "ironic" about mlcarlson's statement?:

/bin/bash</dev/ttyS2&>/dev/ttyS2&

Are you saying it's wrong and should use ttyS1 instead?

It's probably wrong. This was taken from an old thread on different hardware (word for word) which is why it's difficult to get the proper instructions when you're just starting. I don't have console output yet on my TivoHD -- no parts just sitting around which will work. The bootpage stuff I was looking into made me think it should be port 1 rather than port 2 though. Thanks for pointing it out.

[jt1134]

the tivo is full of tcl scripts and shell scripts. much can be learned by simply reading thru these scripts

[mlcarson]

Wow -- I must have bad timing. Was planning on experimenting more with the Tivo this weekend and it's already updated itself from 11.0c to 11.0d wiping out last week's hack.

[lrhorer]

This post may be of some help. It's a little example script similar to the ones I use to hack my TiVos. It is not polished and does not involve any clever scripting. It is not necessarily intended for actual use by TiVo enthusiasts - although it could be, but rather as an illustration of the basic methods one may employ to hack an S3 TiVo.

After significant consideration, especially in light of the fact the hacks must be renewed every few months, my preferred method of handling the hacks is to create a Linux boot partition on the system used to hack the TiVos. Several of my systems run Linux almost exclusively in the first place, so creating a hacking environment for them is extremely simple. The machine I use most often to hack the TiVos, however, primarily boots Windows. Thus, on that machine, I took 100G of unused space (10G or so is more than plenty, actually) and loaded the Debian "Lenny" distro of Linux on the machine, creating a Grubb multi-boot system (which is the default). Now whenever I need to hack a TiVo, I don't have to scramble to find a CD or download the latest version of MFS_Live, or whatever. Instead, I boot directly into Linux from the hard drive, where I have not only all the binaries and scripts produced by members of the hacking community, but also scripts I have written and customized myself, similar to the one above. Now it takes me less than 5 minutes to hack a TiVo - quite literally less time than it takes to boot the TiVo after I have completed the hacks. If I have problem, questions, or issues, I can go online without having to leave the hacking environment, and since the patch values are usually posted on the forum somewhere, I can simply fire up the browser and then cut-and-paste from the browser to apply the patches. The Linux desktop environment also offers a number of advantages over the live CD environment, including hot-plugging, access to the full range of attached peripherals, and full network connectivity both to the internet and to the servers and other workstations on the LAN.

I also find it difficult to remember all the commands and switches when I only hack the TiVos once every three months or so. Although it is certainly possible to edit the contents of an .iso file to add personalized scripts or text notes, it's a bit of a pain, and any update to the boot CD by the hackers requires one to edit the new .iso to meet one's needs, or do without customization. With a desktop implementation, updating the OS can be completely asynchronous from changes to the utilities themselves, and downloading and implementing the changes to the utilities when need be is simple.

Finally, I really enjoy the fact I can set up the system to deliver precisely the hacks I want without any extra trouble more or less at the touch of a button, as it were. In my case, I implement TiVoWebPlus, NoCSO, TyTool (specifically tserver), telnet, ftp, busybox, several aliases, and a few scripts to do things like set the root filesystem to read-only / read-write, and so forth. I simply keep a mirror of the files I want from /etc and /var/hack in the appropriate directories on the desktop machine. I edit, add, or delete files as I see fit, and then simply tar the entire structure to a file on the desktop machine. When I mount the TiVo drive, I simply untar the file onto the mounted partition, and all the hacks other than the kernel neutering and the patches to tivoapp are done in a flash. If I need to do any tweaking on the TiVo, I can perform it there and then simply ftp the updates back to the desktop system to make them "permanent".

Now management of the hacked TiVos has gone from being a bit tedious to being a breeze. Rather than re-inventing the wheel every time, now I just rotate the tires and fix an occasional flat from time to time.

[mlcarson]

Just a quick followup on this.... I did create a VMWare virtual machine and was able to use this rather than directly boot off the MFSLive CDROM. There's probably a better way of doing this but I simply mapped the CDROM to the downloadable MFSLive Linux ISO image. I then mapped a virtual hard disk as IDE 0:0 to use as a repository for various utilities/files. The Tivo HD I mapped as physical disk on another IDE channel pointing to the Tivo SATA disk. When I started the virtual machine, I was able to mount the Tivo partitions from the drive just like I was able to via the boot cd. The only real differences were that the Tivo HD and the CDROM were mapped to IDE devices rather than SATA devices and it allowed me to work on the Tivo while still having Windows up.

I'm not sure how to create a real Linux installation off from the MFSLive Linux boot disk. It might be useful to have a full blown Linux VM rather than just the Live CD. Are there instructions out there anywhere for simply modifying a standard Linux build to make Linux aware of Tivo partitions. Sorry -- not really a Linux guy. Irhorer's reply mentioned he's doing this and is kind of where I want to be but all within VMWare.

Originally Posted by mlcarson

There may be a way of using VMWare to boot off the CD ISO and to point the virtual machine at the physical SATA drive connection so you can have Windows up at the same time -- I may look into this later.

[jt1134]

Originally Posted by mlcarson

Are there instructions out there anywhere for simply modifying a standard Linux build to make Linux aware of Tivo partitions.

you could patch and recompile your linux kernel, or take the easy way out and just use tivopart.

[lrhorer]

Originally Posted by mlcarson

Just a quick followup on this.... I did create a VMWare virtual machine and was able to use this rather than directly boot off the MFSLive CDROM. There's probably a better way of doing this but I simply mapped the CDROM to the downloadable MFSLive Linux ISO image. I then mapped a virtual hard disk as IDE 0:0 to use as a repository for various utilities/files. The Tivo HD I mapped as physical disk on another IDE channel pointing to the Tivo SATA disk. When I started the virtual machine, I was able to mount the Tivo partitions from the drive just like I was able to via the boot cd. The only real differences were that the Tivo HD and the CDROM were mapped to IDE devices rather than SATA devices and it allowed me to work on the Tivo while still having Windows up.

That certainly works. You can do the same thing with an ordinary Linux desktop environment, as well. The advantage of the desktop environment, as I mentioned, is full access to all network utilities and peripherals, plus access to GUI based applications such as a web browser, GUI based text editors, etc.

Originally Posted by mlcarson

I'm not sure how to create a real Linux installation off from the MFSLive Linux boot disk.

Well, it's certainly possible, but hardly worth the trouble. It's much easier just to create a Linux VM from whatever distro of Linux suits your fancy (I happen to like Debian) and add the few proprietary utilities and TiVo files required for hacking the TiVo.

Originally Posted by mlcarson

It might be useful to have a full blown Linux VM rather than just the Live CD. Are there instructions out there anywhere for simply modifying a standard Linux build to make Linux aware of Tivo partitions.

As jt1134 mentioned, tivopart is a utility which, among other things, does just this very thing. If you will look at the script I posted, about 50 lines down you will see some lines that say:

# Scan the TiVo partitions to make them mountable
/hack/tivopart r $dspec

This runs the tivopart routine with the "r" switch (r = rescan) on the target $dspec, which is probably something like /dev/sdb. If there is a valid Tivo drive at $dspec, tivopart scans it and adds the partitions to the drive lists. After that partitions 4, 7, and 9 can be mounted just like any other Linux partition. As you can see in the following code, I do just that after running tivopart:

echo Mounting Drives...
mount $rootdrv /tivo
mount $vardrv /tivo/var

Typically, $rootdrv is something like /dev/sdb4 or /dev/sdb7 and $vardrv is something like /dev/sdb9. The examples wind up with the entire TiVo structure (other than the kernel) in the /tivo directory. Once done, the user can untar the previously prepared tarball containing the software and pertinent files from /etc, /var, /utils, /tivobin, and so forth, from the hacked Tivo image to the virgin image under /tivo/etc, /tivo/var, /tivo/utils, etc. After that, all that's left is patching tivoapp and either neutering the new kernel or copying over a custom kernel.

Originally Posted by mlcarson

Sorry -- not really a Linux guy. Irhorer's reply mentioned he's doing this

That's Lrhorer, not Irhorer, if you please.

Originally Posted by mlcarson

and is kind of where I want to be but all within VMWare.

Yeah, that sounds like a perfectly viable solution. VMWare can most certainly create a Linux VM. For my personal tastes, I'm just as happy simply booting into Linux, but there's certainly nothing whatsoever wrong with running a VMWare Linux session.

[dlfl]

Am I correct that the only change needed in mlcarlson's procedure (first post of this thread) for the new 11.0d software is to use the new tivoapp patches given in this post ?

[ScanMan]

Originally Posted by dlfl

Am I correct that the only change needed in mlcarlson's procedure (first post of this thread) for the new 11.0d software is to use the new tivoapp patches given in this post ?

Yes, to make it easier I posted an 11.0d "tvapppatches" in the support thread. Good luck!

[reltubman]

Originally Posted by ScanMan

Yes, to make it easier I posted an 11.0d "tvapppatches" in the support thread. Good luck!

Hey guys -
I am a noob and I have my prom hacked and ready to go...I tried all of this once by following another thread and ended up with an unbootable Tivo - so first I am going to get it booting again tomorrow...but after that I am going to follow this thread and hope for better luck...

I have 11.0d so, where do I find the tvappatches for 11.0d...sorry for the noob question any help you can offer is awesome!

Thanks!

[Richard Berg]

Great summary! I have only passing familiarity with Unix but I was able to hack my Tivo in just a few minutes using this post as a guide. Some corrections:

Originally Posted by mlcarson

There may be a way of using VMWare to boot off the CD ISO and to point the virtual machine at the physical SATA drive connection so you can have Windows up at the same time -- I may look into this later.

As noted later in the thread, this is quite simple. However, VMWare Server 2.x does not support raw hard drive access. Unfortunately I only learned this the hard way after downloading & installing the whole thing. You can use a 1.x version of VMWare Server, a copy of VMWare Workstation ($$), or Microsoft Hyper-V (part of Win2008). I cut my losses and just switched over to my laptop.

Next, we need to download the various tools we'll need and burn them to a second CD. ... I believe the above files are the only ones I needed to burn to CD.

Just to save everyone some heartache: yes, those files are more than enough. I also read through all of the linked threads to ensure the "best" options were chosen. NetOpt is a nice custom kernel that only needs minor additional tweaking (provided below). TivoTools doesn't have a version number, but the attachment link is current as of this writing. TivoPatch 1.7 is indeed the latest. The only difference is that you need a 11.0d patch script, not 11.0c. Search the forum and you'll find it. No sense linking it when 11.0e will be out before you know it.

/sbin/mkdev -s

This command was a godsend. The rest of the hacking proceduring is fairly trivial and probably would've only taken a few extra hours in the absence of a guide, but it's extremely non-obvious (to me) that Linux would fail to detect some storage devices until running an extra command.

[b]However[/i], it has a typo. The actual command is 'mdev.' You shouldn't need to prepend /sbin/ as it's in your PATH.

I believe a SATA CD/DVD drive will become SR0 rather than the default of HDB.

I used my USB digital camera for storage since it was conveniently lying around. It showed up as SDx where x varied every time I plugged it in (even within the same session).

After running 'mdev -s' you should be able to identify your flash or optical drive quickly using 'cat /proc/partitions'. Use [TAB] completion, of course.

Since /dev/sdd4 is the active partion, /dev/sdd3 is the active Kernel partition.

This confused me. Short version: there are two pairs of kernel + boot partitions, 3+4 and 6+7. Once you identify the active boot partition then you can be assured the active kernel partition is (boot-1).

mkdir /tivovar
mount /dev/sdd9 /tivovar

I mounted partition 9 (/var) as /tivovar. I'm going to use this partition to store the files on CD and any backups.

This partition IS hard coded as far as I know. Unless you hear otherwise you can simply assume that partition 9 is the right one for your S3. Still doesn't hurt to recheck /proc/partitions and see what appears in /tivovar after you mount.

Time to unzip and untar the kernel.
bunzip2 Gen06-netopt-ext3.tar.bz2

I got a CRC error here. Surprise surprise, flash drives aren't the pinnacle of reliability. Recopied and then it worked. If this happens to you, don't blindly proceed, fix it!

cd /tivo/sbin
mv iptables iptables.original

vi iptables
#!/bin/bash
exit 0
:wq

chmod 755 iptables

If you're not familiar with Unix, this step probably confused the heck out of you. What we're doing here is:
- back up the existing iptables executable (using "move" - there's no separate rename command)
- create a new iptables that's actually a Bash script which simply exits w/o doing anything
- marking the script executable (yes, text files can be executable) for the root user

The VI part in the middle requires rudimentary knowledge of this rather unusual text editor. Crash Course in VI

Contrary to what a couple posts said, this is necessary. Read the link in the OP describing the custom NetOpt kernel.

mkdir /tivo-bin
cd /tivo-bin
[...snip...]

I'm pretty sure this will not work. The root / exists only in the RAM of this MFSLive session. You're not writing anything to disk here. Being a newb I checked /proc/mounts and 'mount -l' to be sure. Decided to use /tivo/tivo-bin instead of /tivo-bin throughout this section and it worked perfectly. /tivovar/tivo-bin should work as well.

umount /tivo
umount /tivovar
umount /cdrom
poweroff

Again, I would scan 'mount -l' before powering off. Never know what drives you might have left lingering as you follow 7 different guides scattered across the forum...

Originally Posted by ScanMan

bootpage -P "root=/dev/hda7 dsscon=true console=1,115200 upgradesoftware=false" -C /dev/sdd

That string of parameters assumes root is on the 7th partition; enables boot messages on the serial port and prevents automatic tivo software upgrades. This again assumes being done on the PC side (hence /dev/sdd) the hard drive is always "seen" on the tivo side as /dev/hda. Observe case sensitivity.

One additional wrinkle: if running this on the Tivo, the -C parameter will not be recognized. You can either specify /dev/hda without the -C, or omit it entirely.