Emulator available

[ehintz]

Update 25 October 2005
As of this date I no longer run the NZ emulator, it is now hosted by Wibble and DJC. The post below is preserved as instructions are still accurate for setup on the new emulator. However, this post will be deprecated once instructions for the newer oztivo images are posted.
End update

I got the emulator runnning on my website over the weekend, so setup is considerably less painful. Various notes: guide data is coming from jaidev/tim, the only difference is it's coming through the service emulator. The headend slice is courtesy of jaidev (thanks!). AFAIK, if at some point in the future we (the nz types) migrate to another emulator, all one would need to do is edit tclient.conf to point at the new IP, but this is untested (as we've not yet had an emulator, let alone moved house from one to another). Regardless, I expect to leave the emulator functioning indefintely, so even if we find another solution later mine will continue to function (as long as I can still get guide data from jaidev/tim). As usual, use at your own risk, it works fine in my rather large test group of one, YMMV, if it blows up your TiVo, drinks all the beer in your 'fridge, and leaves dirty socks on the table it's not my fault...

Setup instructions as near as I can remember them:

Start off with the oztivo image, get it networked, and edit the file /etc/tclient.conf thus:

# This is for the server emulator on minnie.
127::210.48.107.133:80:::

Instructions for editing files on the Tivo can be found here (http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=259) if needed. You can optionally setup DNS on the tivo and use either "www.pbp.net" or "emulator.caffeine.co.nz" at this stage (so that if the emulator moves IPs in the future you won't need to re-edit this file). This thread discusses the option (http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?p=2412#post2412).

Plug your tivo into the tv via the video out jack on the back. Reboot, run guided setup with the following options:

You'll see "TiVo Service Terms"

Press 'select' to go to next screen

"Program Source" Select Cable and press "Select"

"Zip Code" Enter 02113 if on SkyDigital, 02115 if on Saturn Cable

"Time Zone" Doesn't matter.. just select the first one (Eastern) and press Å*Select'

"Daylight Savings" select "no" and press "select" butto

"Area Code" Enter 002 and press 'Select'

"Phone Dialing Options" select 'no : continue' and press 'select'

"Setup Call" Press select to go past this screen


It will take a while to connect and do it's thing.

Let it do its thing (go make a coffee or play quake for a bit) ;)

When finished press 'select'

"Dial In Numbers" choose 'none of the above' and press 'select'

"No local Numbers" choose 'sales and marketing program' and press Å*select'

"Cable box" select yes and press 'select'

"Cable Providers" choose 'Sky Digital Auckland' or 'Saturn' as appropriate and press 'select'

On the screen where it asks about how the box is connected, set to appropriate choice for your environment (either composite a/v in or s-video).

On cable box brand, you can try to see if yours is supported in the existing lists but it probably won't be. If it isn't just select some random one and let it go (I chose Motorola choice 1, 3 digit channel, no enter key, but any will do as you're going to replace it later anyway). I am told Saturn uses General Instruments 10006-fast.

Let it do it's daily call bit for guide data.

You're done with G/Setup, reboot.

Unless you got your cable box working in the step above (i.e. you're on Saturn with the Gen Instruments or you have a Pace decoder on Sky) you'll need to add your cable box IR codes. Presumably there will be an existing tcl script for your box. If not you need to make one, go to the oztivo site for instructions on how to do this (http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Howtoir/IRCapturingCodesWithTivo). If there is an existing file, you can skip the first 6 steps of this document and start with 7 to load the codes.

After your reboot you should be up (though as always the machine will need to think for a few hours before it's really ready to run, but live tv and such will work fine).

Drop me a line with any questions or whatever. ed at hintz dot org

Update 18 Apr

An existing machine (installed via the command line/add channels bit) can be converted to the emulator with minimal fuss. Go into messages & setup:system reset, and choose "repeat guided setup". Then follow the instructions as above. I just did this with mine, and all existing recordings, season passes, and all items on the to-do list were preserved. Note of course that you will need to configure the tivo such that it will do guided setup (on the oztivo image this is done from tivoweb under the PAL/NTSC link, if using an older image you may need a different method of changing to NTSC or PAL+GS). The entire process took about an hour and a half.

Additionally, if you run guided setup in NTSC mode, the tivo seems to (reasonably) expect an NTSC signal, so you will need to provide it one in order to finish the setup. I used a Region 1 DVD, but any NTSC source will presumably do.

Update 1 May

IP address changed; webhost moved to new upstream providor.

Update 16 August

Added link for thread documenting how to edit files.

Update 17 August
Note- if converting from loadguide/manual setup to emulator, as per the 18 Apr. update, you also need to edit tclient.conf (otherwise the Tivo will be talking to the Aussie emulator, and it won't work so hot...)

Update 1 October
Added support for Saturn cable, modified instructions to reflect this.

Update 13 November
IP address changed; webhost moved.

Update 16 November
Added option for DNS.

Update 23 January '05
IP address changed; webhost moved.

Update 25 October '05
IP address changed; NZ emulator now provided by Wibble and DJC.

[ehintz]

Oh, I forgot to add, you'll probably want to set the time on the Tivo, set it to localtime:

settime [YYYYMMDDhhmm[ss]]
settime -rtc

[brucer]

Hi Ed, is there any advantage to switching to the emulator if I already have a Tivo up and running using loadguide?

[ehintz]

Not really. With one major caveat.

If guide lineups change later (for instance back in Dec. the Hallmark channel morphed into the Disney channel), getting a headend slice update from the emulator basically changes this on the fly. By contrast, changing it via the command line versions can be sketchy. When I changed mine, it b0rked the hell out of the box, and I eventually had to do a clear/delete everything and start over from scratch (the thing got wildly unreliable, crashing 3-6 times daily). I now think this was because after modifying/deleting the Hallmark channel I still had references to it in the form of manual recordings in Now Showing and season passes, so perhaps using due care to remove these before modifying the channel would work. Others were able to morph the channels without issue (probably because they had no references to Hallmark in season passes or now showing). Anyway, point being that any updates to guide lineups are slick and easy (and preserve existing recordings) with the emulator, and can get ugly otherwise.

I suppose I'd say if you already have it running and accumlating season passes and such you're better off leaving it alone until such time as you need to do a clear/delete all(this is where I'm at for the moment-somewhat ironic to host the emulator yet use loadguide myself).

Also, I've no idea if/how loadguide performs under a dialup connection. This was part of the reason for setting it up; a mate just got his Tivo, and rather than do the manual setup on his I figured it was a good opportunity to try running the emulator. Also, since he's on dialup, I figured the built-in phone home capability with the emulator would be preferable to figuring out how to make it dial for loadguide. As a point of reference, the current configuration is a paradise dialup using the emulator, and it's working nicely so far (2 guide data slices loaded during the daily call process). I also was able to make a test call work with an ihug dialup. Since I'm sure somebody's gonna read this and ask about dialup, config info is found here (http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Network/NetworkingWithBuiltinModem). :D

I also found that the referenced ppp-options file (on the 1.3 image) did not function, I replaced it with this:

/dev/cua1
115200
crtscts
debug
kdebug 1
asyncmap 0
netmask 255.255.255.0
defaultroute
nodetach
nodeflate

[brucer]

Thanks Ed, well it sounds like the emulator is definitely going to be the preferred option for new setups, right now I've just got my Tivo running again after re-imaging to try and fix a bad video glitching problem so I think I won't fix what aint broke ;)

Bruce

[ehintz]

Words of wisdom, those...

[zollymonsta]

*snip*

Plug your tivo into the tv via the video out jack on the back. Reboot, run guided setup with the following options:

You'll see "TiVo Service Terms"

Press 'select' to go to next screen

"Program Source" Select Cable and press "Select"

"Zip Code" Enter 02113

"Time Zone" Doesn't matter.. just select the first one (Eastern) and press «Select'

"Daylight Savings" select "no" and press "select" butto

"Area Code" Enter 002 and press 'Select'

"Phone Dialing Options" select 'no : continue' and press 'select'

"Setup Call" Press select to go past this screen


It will take a while to connect and do it's thing.

Let it do its thing (go make a coffee or play quake for a bit) ;)

When finished press 'select'

"Dial In Numbers" choose 'none of the above' and press 'select'

"No local Numbers" choose 'sales and marketing program' and press «select'

"Cable box" select yes and press 'select'

"Cable Providers" choose 'Sky Digital Auckland' and press 'select'

On the screen where it asks about how the box is connected, set to appropriate choice for your environment (either composite a/v in or s-video).

On cable box brand, you can try to see if yours is supported in the existing lists but it probably won't be. If it isn't just select some random one and let it go (I chose Motorola choice 1, 3 digit channel, no enter key, but any will do as you're going to replace it later anyway).

Let it do it's daily call bit for guide data.

*snip*



... and of course, don't forget to credit Tim's site where some of this information came from ;)

[ehintz]

... and of course, don't forget to credit Tim's site where some of this information came from ;)

Heh. Or to be really anal, "grant", who provided it to Tim who provided it to me... :) Starting to sound like a Gilbert and Sullivan song...

I thought of just pointing to the faq, but figured it would be more confusing, since only the first bit remains the same, and then we branch off into bits not covered by the first one... But for full disclosure of credit, props to Tim/Grant, OzTivo (http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view), and TivoCanada (http://www.tivocanada.com) (and of course Jaidev, who got his due up front for the headend slice, and jaidev/tim, who likewise got credit for guide data creation and supply).

[zollymonsta]

Good on ya mate ;)

[Tuatara]

This is great Ed. I seem to have something wrong with my setup towards the end however -- the tivo says it can't detect my video signal. I've tried booting the Tivo in NTSC and PAL modes with the same result. I'm using composite video from a Motorola Sky box, which works fine when I plug it into my TV or video. The tivo however reckons there is no video signal.

I've searched around without seeing a similar report. Any ideas?

Thanks
Matt

[ehintz]

This is great Ed. I seem to have something wrong with my setup towards the end however -- the tivo says it can't detect my video signal. I've tried booting the Tivo in NTSC and PAL modes with the same result. I'm using composite video from a Motorola Sky box, which works fine when I plug it into my TV or video. The tivo however reckons there is no video signal.

I've searched around without seeing a similar report. Any ideas?


Not offhand... I'd try plugging other stuff into it to see if it picks up on that (DVD, VCR, whatever). If those work and Sky doesn't, maybe different cables or something. Regardless, it probably doesn't have anything to do with the emulator, just the Tivo's inputs(though you could test this by doing a manual install ala Tim's FAQ). Might try starting a thread with the same question if none of my suggestions work, others may have ideas.

[ehintz]

Not offhand... I'd try plugging other stuff into it to see if it picks up on that (DVD, VCR, whatever). If those work and Sky doesn't, maybe different cables or something. Regardless, it probably doesn't have anything to do with the emulator, just the Tivo's inputs(though you could test this by doing a manual install ala Tim's FAQ). Might try starting a thread with the same question if none of my suggestions work, others may have ideas.

I did find one interesting bit... I just ran the guided setup with the Tivo in NTSC mode and it wasn't happy-same no signal message. I guessed it was because of the PAL signal, so I pulled out an NTSC DVD (Monty Python German episode, heh) and once I plugged it in the Tivo let me proceed. Though if you're using the oztivo image you should be able to choose the PAL-GuidedSetup option and get through the GS fine. I'm not using the oztivo image at the moment, so things are different in my world...

[Tuatara]

That's exactly how I did it in the end -- cheated with a DVD signal to get through the setup, and then returned to the Sky signal after reboot. Unfortunately it still isn't working -- it's fine with a DVD signal, but won't accept the sky decoder or VCR. The Sky signal works fine when I plug it directly to the TV. What's worse is that it appears to be intermittent -- I could see live TV when I originally turned on my tivo, and I did get it working once during setup, but haven't been able to get it back since. I'd blame hardware, but the DVD signal always works.

The PAL/NTSC setting appears to make no difference. I've tried both S-video and composite. I think I'll walk away for a few hours and no doubt it will magically fix itself ;-).

One note that might help somebody -- if the cable box setup script doesn't work, saying it "can't open object", try changing the box number in the script. Mine was 88887; it succeeded with 10001.

Cheers
Matt

UPDATE. Just in the wrong mode: switching to PAL does appear to have done the trick :cool:

[deanm]

Is this down?

I get "Downloading Call Failed. Call interrupted"

Tried last night at @10:00pm and again this morning at 10:00am.

[ehintz]

Whoops. My bad. I didn't change the ip addr on the emulator's tivo.conf file, so after connecting and identifying a new slice available, the Tivos were trying to get the new slice from the old IP. I noticed I had trouble last night as well, but was to beat to figure it out. Kept falling asleep during the calls... Anyway, mines updating now, so it looks like all is well.

[number6]

I saw this recent email post on the OzTivo mailing list digest. Its from Warren the guy who does the emulator maintenance in Australia. He reports trakcing down and solving this interesting bug in the emulator - are we at risk of suffering the same problem?

Note: The Tivo Canda guys won't have this problem as they have the same Timezone as the US.
Folks who use the emulator outside of the US (i.e. in different timezones) are possibly going to suffer from this problem.




Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 21:43:51 +1000
From: Warren Toomey <wkt@tuhs.org>
Subject: [oztivo] Solution found to recent guide problems
To: Wktivoguide Owner <oztivo@minnie.tuhs.org>

All, I believe I have found a solution to the problem of missing
TV guide data on the TiVos. Right now, everybody doing a Daily Call
to the Emulator on minnie should have guide data up to Monday 14th
June. If you don't, please tell me your TiVo's unique number and
I'll fix it so that your next Daily Call will get all the data.

For those people interested in the cause of the problem, read on.
Here's how the Emulator on minnie works. Your TiVo connects to the
Emulator, tells it what "headends" the TiVo has, and asks for new
guide slices. The Emulator looks up the last time that your TiVo
connected, and sends the TiVo a list of slices newer than the
previous connection.

Now, because the TiVo software is brain-dead when it comes to
timezones, all ozTiVos actually run as if they were in the GMT
timezone; we have to do some magic around the daylight saving
changeovers, but that's not relevant here.

What is relevant is that your TiVo sends in the time of the current
connection as the number of seconds since Jan 1, 1970. But, because
the TiVo is set up to be in the GMT timezone, this number is actually
8 to 10 hours _ahead_ of the real time on that TiVo.

Aside: Here's an example. Right now my TiVo is saying 9:30pm
Wed 9th June 2004. So is my wall clock. But remember that
the TiVo thinks its in England, and right now it's only
11:30am there (ignoring daylight saving). When it is _really_
9:30pm in England, it will be 7:30am Thu 10th June here!

So, when the TiVo connects to the Emulator, the Emulator actually
records that the connection was 8 to 10 hours in the future. So,
if your TiVo happens to do a Daily Call in the 8 to 10 hours before
the new slices become available, then a) it won't get them as they
don't exist yet and b) will be recorded as connecting in after the
slices became available, so the TiVo must already have them!

The solution is for the Emulator to completely ignore the timestamp
that the TiVo sends in, and simply record the actual connection
time. When the TiVo phones home next time, the last connection is
correctly retrieved, and any new guide slices since then can be
downloaded. I've made this change to the Emulator on minnie, and
hopefully this will fix the problem.

While diagnosing the problem, I counted the number of TiVo unique
ids and timestamps currently known by the Emulator. At present 286
different TiVos are making Daily Calls to the Emulator on minnie.
That's an impressive number!

Cheers all,
Warren


Any comments Ed?

[ehintz]

Any comments Ed?If I understand correctly, it won't affect us, because our emulator is physically (and "mentally") in the US running PDT (and ergo ~-7-9GMT rather than positive, meaning the system won't have the future connection issue). Regardless, I pm'd Warren and asked for the code mods, so if/when I get 'em I'll apply 'em anyway

[finethen]

Hi Ed,
Love the emulator, thanks to those that have slaved, following the emulator setup instructions works well as long as I run a video feed through C or S Video. I however wish to use the RF connection on my PAL TiVo and eliminate the external tuner. I have tried different source selections (cable, aerial, sattelite/aerial etc) during guided setup but keep striking out with getting a signal. What am I missing......apart from Brain Cells? :confused:

[ehintz]

Hi Ed,
Love the emulator, thanks to those that have slaved, following the emulator setup instructions works well as long as I run a video feed through C or S Video. I however wish to use the RF connection on my PAL TiVo and eliminate the external tuner. I have tried different source selections (cable, aerial, sattelite/aerial etc) during guided setup but keep striking out with getting a signal. What am I missing......apart from Brain Cells? :confused:Hmmm... Probably would require a whole new headend and all that. The current stuff is designated as a cable box (since all of us working on it were on Sky Digital), so I believe we'd have to create an entire new headend for it. For the moment you'll probably have to go the old manual route, I don't expect I'll have the time to set that up for a while(of course, if somebody else wants to create the headend and all that I'll be happy to add it to the emulator). I'm still sitting on doing the Saturn one-though I think Zolly may be giving it a go so maybe I'm off the hook on it. ;-) Anyway, I've already got 2 weekends shot this month with Fire Service training so it's unlikely I'll have the time to create a new headend terribly soon.

You might be able to manually remove/add channels after running guided setup. I believe you'd have to add a RF signal source, then channels, and map those channels to the same FSIDs as the emulator uses (7998001 through 7998099, with a couple of odballs in there like UKTV at 7998101). I think it would then still do the daily calls and pull data from the emulator. A new headend slice might cause problems, but then again maybe not, as it would only affect cable lineups. Anyway, it might be easiest to just follow the old manual procedure and use loadguide to pull the data slices...

[finethen]

Thanks for that Ed. Saves alot of time discovering I think. Next question is where should I be looking if my computers dont want to know about ftp transfer to my TiVo. I have pinholed port 21 but am getting failed connection. I am able to access the TiVo with Telnet and TivO web :confused:


Update: Oops had to make the system read/write ...... right now it copies

I should be able to apply for a propellor soon huh? I have the hat.

[Marv]

Hi guys,

Having some trouble but I think im getting there...

Problem is im not sure what prog to use to network, ie make changes on the Tivo files.

Im stuck at the

Start off with the oztivo image, get it networked, and edit the file /etc/tclient.conf thus:

# This is for the server emulator on minnie.
127::66.238.88.163:80:::

ANy help or pointers on where to get help would be appreciated.

Marv

[Tuatara]

Im stuck at the

Start off with the oztivo image, get it networked, and edit the file /etc/tclient.conf thus:

# This is for the server emulator on minnie.
127::66.238.88.163:80:::

Uh ... line one, right? ;-)

Presuming you have a Tivo with ethernet card, it includes a DHCP client so should appear on your network automagically.

To edit tclient.conf you need a telnet client to connect to your TiVo. Windows and Mac OS X have telnet clients on the command line (type telnet <your-tivo-ip>).

Edit the file with one of the several command-line editors on your Tivo -- nano is perhaps the easiest if you're not familiar with text editors. Type nano /etc/tclient.conf to enter text editing mode.

Setting up a Tivo does require a little familiarity with the Unix command line -- or at least it's much easier -- so if you have a Unix-savvy friend they'll probably be a big help.

Cheers
Matt

[Marv]

Hi Matt,

Thanks,

Yeah line one hehehe...

I have a Tivo with the Turbocard installed, ie slotted into the mobo. I presum e it loaded the info with the bootdisk?

Dumb question 1: When you say appear on the Network automagically can you explain?

Marv

[Tuatara]

Dumb question 1: When you say appear on the Network automagically can you explain?
You need to get your tivo on a network so it can fetch the guide data occasionally. If you plug the ethernet card into a local network that has a DHCP server, the Tivo will be automagically assigned an address. Most ADSL routers etc include DHCP servers and will tell you what address the Tivo acquired.

If you have a different setup, then it's probably covered in the Oztivo wiki which has lots of info about various networking setups.

http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/Howtonetwork/WebHome

Cheers
Matt

[Marv]

I have a ethernet hub with 1 pc plugged into it... where do I look to find the address?

[brucer]

one way (there may be a better way but this what I did) is to use a port scanner (google for "angry ip scanner"), this will show all active IP addresses on your LAN, if you only have one PC and your hub is not a router then there will probably be only 2 valid addresses, your PC and the TIVO.. try connecting via telnet (I use the free PUTTY telnet client) or web browser to confirm.

[fixxer37]

If your hub has a dhcp server built in which gives out IPs, like a router of some sort, then it should be manageable by a web interface, so that it can be told what IP address it can allocate. Go into the web interface of the hub (if this is what you're sure is giving out IPs on your home network) and check to see what it has allocated/and what range it is.

If it tells you what it has allocated, then you're sweet - just use that address. Other wise go up one by one in the same range that your PC has been allocated e.g. 192.168.0.x

If your hub doesn't have a dhcp server built in, perhaps it is your PC that is giving out IPs, (say, by internet connection sharing - there for the above guess method will have to do).
Or, you have a hub, (which is dumb i.e without server) and your PC is getting an internal IP from an ADSL router - therefore the method of web interface will work also...
Hope this is clear.

[Marv]

:D Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the help, I don't think my hub has a built in server, I think its the ICS giving out the IP's, Ive been trying the 1 by 1 checking and Im up to 192.168.0.70! I am told it only goes up to 255!

I will try the angry IP scanner thing, tonight when I get home from work.

I have done a few different things to try to get the IP,

- Tried using ipconfig in a Command Prompt
- Tried using ipconfig /displaydns in the Command Prompt
- Tried random pinging from 192.168.0.1 -.70 (so far!)
- Tried pinging 192.168.0.255 - which Im told should give out a list of all IP's attached.

Im a little concerned that I have installed the thing wrong, however I get 3 green lights on the Ethernet Switch when the Tivo is powered up. Which I think shows something is there.

Ive just gotten hold of a cable that I will hopefully be able to do a serial network with, stand by for more questions on serial networking to the Tivo!!!

Another suggestion I have had is that I may be able to reconfigure the Turbo card once I can get in with the Serial cable...

Anyway I got some sleep last night first time in a few nights so things seem possible again!!! Shame I missed recording the Test match on Saturday, but we lost anyway, pretty sure I won't miss having that to remember in the future... :D

Thanks again for all the help, :p

[clive]

Just wanted to sign in and introduce myself. Clive, Wellington, JetStream via a linux router/server, Sky Digital (Pace).

Like I suspect a number of people, I read the FFWD article and decided I just had to have one. After a couple of days of browsing around, I ordered the standard kit from George at eksys on a Friday, he shipped it the next day and it arrived on the Tuesday. I ordered a new 120GB HDD and got to start setting it all up this afternoon.

Started with Tim's TiVo howto for getting the OS image onto the HDD and getting it physically mounted. I then switched over to Ed's recipe at the top of this thread to go the emulator route. Finding the IP address leased to TiVo wasn't an issue - the linux box's dhcp leases file has the answer.

Stalled at the "edit /etc/tclient.conf" bit (the nano editor wouldn't save the edited file back to disk) until I found that the root partition is mounted read-only. So before writing anything back to that partition (including ftp'ing files onto that partition), we need to first do a "rw", then edit and save the file, then do a "ro" to make it read-only again. I see somewhere up this thread this is mentioned but it might be a bit subtle for some that follow. The Steve Jenkins networking howto explains all you need to know about partitions.

After that, the recipe runs pretty much as described, except near the bottom where the IR stuff just fell into place by following your nose through the setup wizard. Then the settime command per a later post and wait about 4 hours to index. A reboot and all is good.

Had some minor jittery video earlier but that seems to have gone now. Have always used composite video out of the Sky box but tried to go S-Video using a SCART-RCA+S-Video adapter. One of the 2 SCART outs gave very jittery video and the other was stable but no colour (tested connected straight into the TV). Have I got a dud Sky box or is SCART out or the SCART-S-Video adapter just not a good idea? I got it from Jaycar and it has an input/output switch. Have gone back to composite and that looks pretty good for now.

First impressions: 1. absolutely fabulous 2. you pioneers have done a fantastic job with this and 3. how did teenage daughter just pick the remote up and start using it and why can't I get it back now?

The VCR is now sitting sadly in the corner while the one-eyed wonder box sits quietly in its place ...

Clive

[Marv]

OK finally finally finally Im in!!!

I have got the tivo prompt on the Hyperterminal. I have played around and got the thing going and have even got to the point where I was using Nano to edit the file.

Couple of issues 1 Minor - Whatever I type into the Hyperterminal double prints, ie I press g and it shows gg, then when I press enter it goes back to one g, weird but not too bad.

Next thing I did was edited the Tclient file, played around with Nano learnt how to use it and when I went to save it says can't save - read only file!!!

Oops was half way through typing this and then came across your post Clive,,, You are a legend. Is it poss to do the RO RW thing over the Serial connection?


:confused:

Marv

[clive]

God we are sad b**tards. If you're in a telnet session - or I suppose using serial (don't know never tried it) - (ie you can run "nano" and edit a file), then all you have to do is type the command "rw" at the tivo command prompt BEFORE editing the file (thus making it writable), and then "ro" AFTER you're done saving it so as to set the partition back to "read-only".

Go to bed NOW, google for Steve Jenkins' network hack howto tomorrow and the mount thing will make more sense.

Clive

[ehintz]

Can someone verify if /etc/tclient.conf (or more accurately the partition containing /etc) is read only by default? I don't recall running into the r/o issue, but then again if I did I know the solution and would just do it without thinking... If it's not r/o by default though then I'll need to modify the instructions to mention this...

Oh-and funny story about the FFWD article... Some weeks back, on my morning commute into Wellington from Plimmerton, a young fellow sat down next to me and started reading the magazine. He stopped at the Tivo article and read the whole thing, I was very tempted to lean over afterwords and introduce myself as the guy mentioned in the article, but didn't... Still, I found the small-world aspect of it amusing. And yes, I'm a bit of a reclusive geek in meatspace. Big surprise, eh? ;-)

[fixxer37]

Have always used composite video out of the Sky box but tried to go S-Video using a SCART-RCA+S-Video adapter. One of the 2 SCART outs gave very jittery video and the other was stable but no colour (tested connected straight into the TV). Have I got a dud Sky box or is SCART out or the SCART-S-Video adapter just not a good idea? I got it from Jaycar and it has an input/output switch. Have gone back to composite and that looks pretty good for now.


Hi there, I had mine perfectly set up with composite (I have almost the exact same setup as you - Linux/jetstream/pace sky STB). Then I thought, well Svideo is better than composite, right? So I got a scart with svideo + 2 rca out and used the s-video that george shipped with the tivo. You have to run guided setup to change the input. I then found the quality BAD, and grainy - could be my cables going from sky into tivo. So I then changed to composite into tivo - I had to run Guided setup AGAIN. And S-video from tivo to tv. THIS RESULTS IN JERKY VIDEO. So I changed back to composite and composite and all was sweet - and cursed myself for fixing it when it wasn't broke. You can re-run guided setup through tivoweb, or see the Guidedsetup 3.0 howto doc on minnie and find the bit re-doing guided setup. I don't know about anyone else with Pace boxes, but for me it was composite that gave the best results. Hope this helps.

[fixxer37]

Can someone verify if /etc/tclient.conf (or more accurately the partition containing /etc) is read only by default? I don't recall running into the r/o issue, but then again if I did I know the solution and would just do it without thinking... If it's not r/o by default though then I'll need to modify the instructions to mention this...


Yes I can confirm it is ro by default.
Can someone post the FFWD link? I saw an online listener article, but that was after I stumbled across Oztivo which I frantically read to see CAN IT BE DONE!!?? (IN NZ...)
However I had heard of tivo from years ago, but ruled it out... wasn't until the wife and I watched Sex and the city about 5-6 weeks ago and one of the girls was in love with her tivo, and the wife said - That looks great, oooh I want one!
Cheers...

[clive]

Can someone verify if /etc/tclient.conf (or more accurately the partition containing /etc) is read only by default? I don't recall running into the r/o issue, but then again if I did I know the solution and would just do it without thinking... If it's not r/o by default though then I'll need to modify the instructions to mention this...



Ed, I can verify that the (latest) 3.0 oz release 1.3 iso sets up a /dev/hda4 partition that is mounted at / as read-only. /var and /hack are mounts for separate partitions mounted read-write. Hence, /etc is on /dev/hda4 and needs RW prior to editing or ftp'ing into and then RO after.

As my contribution to the effort, I intend to start over from scratch and carefully document a step by step howto for NZ conditions based on the emulator approach. I think non-linuxers will struggle a bit without something like that at current state of the art. It might be worth maintaining our own iso with that pesky IP address fixed???

In an email discussion with George of eksys while I was sorting out my order, I asked him if he had noticed increased interest from NZ (sent him a copy of the FFWD article). Without quoting sales numbers to these parts, he replied that he definitely had.

Will be interesting to see for how many the Sky+broadband+possibly linux+lazy $600+wow! stars align - tho' those obviously aren't the only possibilities. Can you get a count of unique connections to your emulator?

One other random thought - does anyone else think that the series 1 Philips front panel is a piece of absolutely classic design? I can't stop staring at it wedged there between my Denon HT receiver and DVD player. At 2 am this morning, I SWEAR the big black all-seeing eye winked at me. ;)

[clive]

I don't know about anyone else with Pace boxes, but for me it was composite that gave the best results. Hope this helps.

Yep, wasted a whole lot on S-Video cables etc. I'm going to call Sky anyway to get that $9/month second UHF STB deal ('cos ya just know there's gonna be tears while me and the 5 females in my household clash over channels) - so will see if I can get any sensible technical comment on the performance of their Pace SCARTs.

[clive]

Can someone post the FFWD link?

It's not online afaik. I've got it as a pdf if you want to share your email address. The mag itself is the current one in most any bookshop.

[Marv]

Hey Guys,

Clive, Im the only sad b**tard, at least your'e awake playing with the Tivo, Im awake trying to get the damn thing going...

Have had more success and a little more failure (what Im trying to do is to enjoy the JOURNEY not only the destination).

I have successfully changed the /etc/tclient.conf (using ro and rw and nano) and seemed to be getting closer. However after doing this I rebooted the Tivo, and got through to the dial screen, where after about 2 minutes it told me I was getting a dialing failure.

Could this be to do with the IP address thing, ie does this show that my Turbocard is not working afterall?

The card is flashing and lights appear on the Ethernet Switch but still no luck getting the IP address. Checking back in the instructions I see somewhere that I should run nic_install?!? Has this been my issue all along?

PS I too read the FFWD just how much commission are you on Hintzzzz? :D

I will be going home to play soon!!!

Marv

[finethen]

Hi I have been down that track and in my circumstances when the light was running the connection was clean, when it was dead you needed to do the nic_install. The turbonet card boots up without help but if you have a cachecard TiVo needs to be told. Look on your router interface for the ip address for your TiVo, that will determine if you have a connection, then type the IP address for your TiVo into your browser and you should get tivoweb.
If you are nano'ing with the drive in TiVo your network connection is perfik.

You have made I think an incorrect selection of source in guided setup as I also got a similiar error. Try Guided setup again. I am just a junior here and cant claim success in my own endeavours to get free to air through a PAL tuner but have acheived a very straight forward guided setup working perfectly for a sky decoder.

P.S. any help on FTA through an aerial connection would be good.

[clive]

I have successfully changed the /etc/tclient.conf (using ro and rw and nano) and seemed to be getting closer. However after doing this I rebooted the Tivo, and got through to the dial screen, where after about 2 minutes it told me I was getting a dialing failure.

Could this be to do with the IP address thing, ie does this show that my Turbocard is not working afterall?

Mate, I'm about half an hour ahead of you, so bear with me. First, I suggest you make sure that the edit produced the desired result. At a prompt type "cat /etc/tclient.conf | more", down arrow through to the line you changed and check that it reads exactly as Ed prescribed. I didn't use nano, as it did weird things with the formatting of comment lines (#) that had me gasping and I was itching to get through to tivo nirvana - instead I ftp'ed the file out to my linux box, edited it with something I understand (midnight commander) and ftp'ed it back.


The card is flashing and lights appear on the Ethernet Switch but still no luck getting the IP address. Checking back in the instructions I see somewhere that I should run nic_install?!? Has this been my issue all along?

By "no luck getting the IP address" I take it you mean typing "ifconfig" returns you just a "lo" block of data but no "eth0" block??? If that's the situation then tivo cannot find a DHCP server on your network, which is bad. If you do get a "eth0" bunck of data the you have an IP address, its in the second line of the block prefixed with "inet addr:" Come back with more info.

I can't recall from your earlier posts what your network details are - are you using a TurboNet card and do you have a firewall/router out to JetStream? Lights (usually a green one) on a normal ethernet card mean that it has drivers loaded and detects a correctly wired connection to an ethernet node (eg switch) at the far end of the cable. Most also have a yellow light that flashes as data is transferred. Same basic deal at the switch end, as you've mentioned, so it should be sweet at the hardware level. Not sure about this turbo card thing but mine definitely had a green light that lit once I had a cable connected to my switch.