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Qs: USB 1.1 -> 2.0 hack; Video on Home Media; 802.11g; Pre/Post-July 2004 units; etc.
Hello,
I just got a TiVo and am excited about it. I got the r24004a unit from Circuit City during their Labor Day sale for around $70 bucks (w/rebate, of course). I have a few questions, please. (I've been able to find some of these answers on the web but it seems there is some comflicting information). 1. USB a. From what I've read the USB ports are v1.1 but it appears there is a hack to move it to 2.0. Is this correct? What is the process? b. Are there any plans for being able to use the USB port for anything other than networking? Say, for plugging a USB HD into to expand recording options? Or saving/restoring settings on a key/thumb drive? etc. 2. VIDEO ON HOME MEDIA: Has there been any thought to having the Home Media option being able to play video from a computer as well? e.g. Home Movies edited on a computer to be published on the TiVo server and played through the Tivo? 3. 802.11g: With USB 1.1 it is a waste of money to go the 'g' route (unless question 1a above can be done), but I have read conflicting reports about 'g' products even working. Wouldn't a 'g' device fall back to the 'b' speed/standard automatically? I have a D-Link 614+ that is 802.11b but will be looking to move up to 'g' soon. As I look into networking options for the TiVo I want to build in at least a little obsolescence insurance. With that setup what option would y'all recommend? 4. PRE-JULY 2004 & POST-JULY 2004: I suspect that the unit I got was so cheap so as to clear out these pre-July 2004 models and make room for the Post-July 2004 ones. Are there any big differences between the two (other than being black and silver respectively)? 5. HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT OR UPGRADES: a. From what I've read, it is better to replace the original (keeping it in a safe place in case of emergencies) with a new one. What is the capacity limit on the replacement (and/or additional) hard drive(s) that can be used? 160Gig? 250? No limit? b. It appears that when doing hacks/hard drive work the drives should be the master and slave ones on the computer and then a program booted from CD. However, I currently have a tower with four hard drives (five partitions), an old Zip, and an re-writter all hooked up. I have two more IDE spaces available but they are on a secondary PCI Promise IDE controller. Can I hook up the TiVo drive(s) to this and have the CD-ROM boot up find it Ok or should I find an old machine, take out the hard drives, and hook everything up through it instead for simplicity? 6. One more question, please: what are your favorite sites for help with TiVo hacking? Thanks for your help. It is greatly appreciated. Peace, Scott Heitshusen P.S. I do not ever check this email address. It is for posting and spam collecting only. Please post to group or email me at ' Thanks. |
Scott Heitshusen wrote:
5. HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT OR UPGRADES: a. From what I've read, it is better to replace the original (keeping it in a safe place in case of emergencies) with a new one. What is the capacity limit on the replacement (and/or additional) hard drive(s) that can be used? 160Gig? 250? No limit? Depends on which version of the Linux kernel your TiVo is using. The old version is limited 137Gig, new versions support LBA48. b. It appears that when doing hacks/hard drive work the drives should be the master and slave ones on the computer and then a program booted from CD. However, I currently have a tower with four hard drives (five partitions), an old Zip, and an re-writter all hooked up. I have two more IDE spaces available but they are on a secondary PCI Promise IDE controller. Can I hook up the TiVo drive(s) to this and have the CD-ROM boot up find it Ok or should I find an old machine, take out the hard drives, and hook everything up through it instead for simplicity? The TiVo bootable CD-ROM has a kernel that may or may not see the extra drive controller. You could try booting from that CD-ROM before making any changes to see if it reports more than just hda,hdb,hdc,hdd. -Joe |
Scott Heitshusen wrote:
5. HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT OR UPGRADES: a. From what I've read, it is better to replace the original (keeping it in a safe place in case of emergencies) with a new one. What is the capacity limit on the replacement (and/or additional) hard drive(s) that can be used? 160Gig? 250? No limit? Depends on which version of the Linux kernel your TiVo is using. The old version is limited 137Gig, new versions support LBA48. b. It appears that when doing hacks/hard drive work the drives should be the master and slave ones on the computer and then a program booted from CD. However, I currently have a tower with four hard drives (five partitions), an old Zip, and an re-writter all hooked up. I have two more IDE spaces available but they are on a secondary PCI Promise IDE controller. Can I hook up the TiVo drive(s) to this and have the CD-ROM boot up find it Ok or should I find an old machine, take out the hard drives, and hook everything up through it instead for simplicity? The TiVo bootable CD-ROM has a kernel that may or may not see the extra drive controller. You could try booting from that CD-ROM before making any changes to see if it reports more than just hda,hdb,hdc,hdd. -Joe |
On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 08:37:15 -0700, Scott Heitshusen wrote:
Hello, I just got a TiVo and am excited about it. I got the r24004a unit from Circuit City during their Labor Day sale for around $70 bucks (w/rebate, of course). I have a few questions, please. (I've been able to find some of these answers on the web but it seems there is some comflicting information). 1. USB a. From what I've read the USB ports are v1.1 but it appears there is a hack to move it to 2.0. Is this correct? What is the process? it's USB 2.0. The 'default' drivers are probably the 1.1 drivers. You can hack/find USB 2.0 drivers for some stuff. i.e. I loaded the pegausus ( USB 1.1 ) drivers for my low-speed USB ethernet device. I removed those and loaded the USB2.0 drivers for my USB200M 2.0 ethernet thingie. I got a kernel crash when I tried to have both low speed and high speed drivers enabled. I didn't try and debug that since I really didn't need both USB Ethernet things going at once. 6. One more question, please: what are your favorite sites for help with TiVo hacking? http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/index.php See http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=28921 for an easy way to hack your box and add USB2.0 drivers for the USB200M ( linksys usb ethernet )... some wireless things are supported... but I don't know which ones and which tivos they work with. The newest ( 5000 models - silver ) don't seem to allow for much hacking... the DirecTV Tivos run different kernels than the non-DirecTV tivos. Each has it's one, differn software. Make sure you know what you have and what it can do before you start breaking stuff. jack |
On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 08:37:15 -0700, Scott Heitshusen wrote:
Hello, I just got a TiVo and am excited about it. I got the r24004a unit from Circuit City during their Labor Day sale for around $70 bucks (w/rebate, of course). I have a few questions, please. (I've been able to find some of these answers on the web but it seems there is some comflicting information). 1. USB a. From what I've read the USB ports are v1.1 but it appears there is a hack to move it to 2.0. Is this correct? What is the process? it's USB 2.0. The 'default' drivers are probably the 1.1 drivers. You can hack/find USB 2.0 drivers for some stuff. i.e. I loaded the pegausus ( USB 1.1 ) drivers for my low-speed USB ethernet device. I removed those and loaded the USB2.0 drivers for my USB200M 2.0 ethernet thingie. I got a kernel crash when I tried to have both low speed and high speed drivers enabled. I didn't try and debug that since I really didn't need both USB Ethernet things going at once. 6. One more question, please: what are your favorite sites for help with TiVo hacking? http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/index.php See http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=28921 for an easy way to hack your box and add USB2.0 drivers for the USB200M ( linksys usb ethernet )... some wireless things are supported... but I don't know which ones and which tivos they work with. The newest ( 5000 models - silver ) don't seem to allow for much hacking... the DirecTV Tivos run different kernels than the non-DirecTV tivos. Each has it's one, differn software. Make sure you know what you have and what it can do before you start breaking stuff. jack |
Joe,
thanks for the response. If the kernel is the old one, (1)can it be upgraded via a hack and (2)if not, can a drive be partitioned before setting it up for TiVo and all partitions (each under the 137Gig limit) be used and recognized by TiVo? -Scott |
Joe,
thanks for the response. If the kernel is the old one, (1)can it be upgraded via a hack and (2)if not, can a drive be partitioned before setting it up for TiVo and all partitions (each under the 137Gig limit) be used and recognized by TiVo? -Scott |
"Scott Heitshusen" shaped the electrons to say:
If the kernel is the old one, (1)can it be upgraded via a hack and (2)if not, can a drive be partitioned before setting it up for TiVo and all partitions (each under the 137Gig limit) be used and recognized by TiVo? 1. Not in a Series2 - but the older S2 units should get the software upgrade at some point. (The new, silver, S2 untis have LBA48 and support large drives - which is how Humax has one with 250GB.) It *may* be possible to take software from a new S2 and load it on an old S2, but the HW had changed and I don't know if anyone has done so. 2. No. The TiVo recognizes 137GB per drive. It isn't a partioning issue, it is a physical addressing issue. -MZ, RHCE #806199299900541, ex-CISSP #3762 -- URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me. "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098 URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris |
"Scott Heitshusen" shaped the electrons to say:
If the kernel is the old one, (1)can it be upgraded via a hack and (2)if not, can a drive be partitioned before setting it up for TiVo and all partitions (each under the 137Gig limit) be used and recognized by TiVo? 1. Not in a Series2 - but the older S2 units should get the software upgrade at some point. (The new, silver, S2 untis have LBA48 and support large drives - which is how Humax has one with 250GB.) It *may* be possible to take software from a new S2 and load it on an old S2, but the HW had changed and I don't know if anyone has done so. 2. No. The TiVo recognizes 137GB per drive. It isn't a partioning issue, it is a physical addressing issue. -MZ, RHCE #806199299900541, ex-CISSP #3762 -- URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me. "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098 URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris |
(Scott Heitshusen) shaped the electrons to say:
1. USB a. From what I've read the USB ports are v1.1 but it appears there is a hack to move it to 2.0. Is this correct? What is the process? I've heard that there is, but I don't know the details. b. Are there any plans for being able to use the USB port for anything other than networking? Say, for plugging a USB HD into to expand recording options? Or saving/restoring settings on a key/thumb drive? etc. Just rumors, nothing announced. TiVo has, in general terms, talked about things like MP3 players, etc. But never in specific terms, just in terms of what is possible. 2. VIDEO ON HOME MEDIA: Has there been any thought to having the Home Media option being able to play video from a computer as well? e.g. Home Movies edited on a computer to be published on the TiVo server and played through the Tivo? Yes. TiVoToGo may support this. Mostly when anything is said about TiVoToGo it is all about moving content from the TiVo to a PC, but TiVo did a survey earlier this year about what people wanted, etc, and about half the survey was made up of questions relating to moving content *to* the TiVo. So they're obviously thinking about it. 3. 802.11g: With USB 1.1 it is a waste of money to go the 'g' route (unless question 1a above can be done), but I have read conflicting reports about 'g' products even working. Wouldn't a 'g' device fall 11g products are not supported, period. The TiVo doesn't have any drivers for the chipsets used in 11g devices, even if they can fall back to 11b. 4. PRE-JULY 2004 & POST-JULY 2004: I suspect that the unit I got was so cheap so as to clear out these pre-July 2004 models and make room for the Post-July 2004 ones. Are there any big differences between the two (other than being black and silver respectively)? Software. The new units run 5.x software which includes a newer kernel with LBA48 support for large drives. And they have some more bells and whistles, like being able to control the LEDs on the front, etc. I don't know if there are any deeper changes, but the basic functions are the same. 5. HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT OR UPGRADES: a. From what I've read, it is better to replace the original (keeping it in a safe place in case of emergencies) with a new one. What is the capacity limit on the replacement (and/or additional) hard drive(s) that can be used? 160Gig? 250? No limit? In your unit - 137GB. That's a kernel limitation. In the new 540* units, no current limit. Drives over 300GB have been used successfully. b. It appears that when doing hacks/hard drive work the drives should be the master and slave ones on the computer and then a program booted from CD. However, I currently have a tower with four hard drives (five partitions), an old Zip, and an re-writter all hooked up. I have two more IDE spaces available but they are on a secondary PCI Promise IDE controller. Can I hook up the TiVo drive(s) to this and have the CD-ROM boot up find it Ok or should I find an old machine, take out the hard drives, and hook everything up through it instead for simplicity? Probably, but it depends on your system and how those drives show up in the scheme. You can always try it - see: http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/ 6. One more question, please: what are your favorite sites for help with TiVo hacking? There are several - DealDatabase.com is the most popular site. See the links he http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=tivolovers -MZ, RHCE #806199299900541, ex-CISSP #3762 -- URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me. "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098 URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris |
On 8 Sep 2004 08:37:15 -0700, (Scott Heitshusen)
wrote: 1. USB a. From what I've read the USB ports are v1.1 but it appears there is a hack to move it to 2.0. Is this correct? What is the process? Some models may have USB 2.0 hardware, but the drivers are still for 1.1. It may be possible to add these drivers yourself, but I don't know the particulars. b. Are there any plans for being able to use the USB port for anything other than networking? Say, for plugging a USB HD into to expand recording options? Or saving/restoring settings on a key/thumb drive? etc. Expanded storage? Doubtful. Backing up user settings? Now, THAT would be killer. 2. VIDEO ON HOME MEDIA: Has there been any thought to having the Home Media option being able to play video from a computer as well? e.g. Home Movies edited on a computer to be published on the TiVo server and played through the Tivo? Don't know. Should be possible from a technical standpoint. Keep an eye on TiVo2Go, due later this year. 3. 802.11g: With USB 1.1 it is a waste of money to go the 'g' route (unless question 1a above can be done), but I have read conflicting reports about 'g' products even working. Wouldn't a 'g' device fall back to the 'b' speed/standard automatically? I have a D-Link 614+ that is 802.11b but will be looking to move up to 'g' soon. As I look into networking options for the TiVo I want to build in at least a little obsolescence insurance. With that setup what option would y'all recommend? Since newer models do have USB 2.0 ports, it seems that it is only a matter of time until the required USB and wireless drivers are added. I'd go with one of the officially supported adapters, if I were doing wireless. Me, I just love pulling cable. :) See http://customersupport.tivo.com/know...ic/tv2006.htm? for a list of supported Ethernet adapters. 4. PRE-JULY 2004 & POST-JULY 2004: I suspect that the unit I got was so cheap so as to clear out these pre-July 2004 models and make room for the Post-July 2004 ones. This is my assessment as well. Are there any big differences between the two (other than being black and silver respectively)? The newer design (post July 2004) has LBA48 support, and ships with software version 5.0. Plus they look cooler. 5. HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT OR UPGRADES: a. From what I've read, it is better to replace the original (keeping it in a safe place in case of emergencies) with a new one. It's a matter of preference and your comfort level, really. I keep backups of my TiVos on CD-R discs. I can re-image onto a new HDD and be up and running within an hour or two--less if I have a spare HDD laying around the house. I do have a 20GB Series1 HDD shelved, mainly because I have no other use for it. What is the capacity limit on the replacement (and/or additional) hard drive(s) that can be used? 160Gig? 250? No limit? All models are limited to two hard drives. 137GB per drive on older models. Newer models with the LBA48 kernel have no practical hardware limit with today's available drives. LBA48 addresses up to 144PB, IIRC. I recall reading that the MFS file system has a limit of 256GB per partition. I am not sure how this affects large (250GB) B drive upgrades. For what it's worth, Weaknees is selling a 700-hour 2x300GB Series2 at http://www.weaknees.com/tivo/tivo_700.php One guy is even working on 2x400GB. b. It appears that when doing hacks/hard drive work the drives should be the master and slave ones on the computer and then a program booted from CD. However, I currently have a tower with four hard drives (five partitions), an old Zip, and an re-writter all hooked up. I have two more IDE spaces available but they are on a secondary PCI Simply disconnect the drives that you won't be needing. Use the primary and secondary IDE channels on the motherboard. That leaves you space for TiVo A and B drives, a CD-ROM drive, and a FAT/FAT32 drive to hold your backup. See the Hinsdale FAQ at http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hins...to/index9.html 6. One more question, please: what are your favorite sites for help with TiVo hacking? www.google.com :) Also see www.tivocommunity.com and http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/ -- TiVo Series 2 60hr (upgraded to 310:09 + Lifetime) Philips Series 1 HDR212 (upgraded to 156:29 + TurboNet) I watch too much TV, but no one cares except my wife. |
On 8 Sep 2004 08:37:15 -0700, (Scott Heitshusen)
wrote: 1. USB a. From what I've read the USB ports are v1.1 but it appears there is a hack to move it to 2.0. Is this correct? What is the process? Some models may have USB 2.0 hardware, but the drivers are still for 1.1. It may be possible to add these drivers yourself, but I don't know the particulars. b. Are there any plans for being able to use the USB port for anything other than networking? Say, for plugging a USB HD into to expand recording options? Or saving/restoring settings on a key/thumb drive? etc. Expanded storage? Doubtful. Backing up user settings? Now, THAT would be killer. 2. VIDEO ON HOME MEDIA: Has there been any thought to having the Home Media option being able to play video from a computer as well? e.g. Home Movies edited on a computer to be published on the TiVo server and played through the Tivo? Don't know. Should be possible from a technical standpoint. Keep an eye on TiVo2Go, due later this year. 3. 802.11g: With USB 1.1 it is a waste of money to go the 'g' route (unless question 1a above can be done), but I have read conflicting reports about 'g' products even working. Wouldn't a 'g' device fall back to the 'b' speed/standard automatically? I have a D-Link 614+ that is 802.11b but will be looking to move up to 'g' soon. As I look into networking options for the TiVo I want to build in at least a little obsolescence insurance. With that setup what option would y'all recommend? Since newer models do have USB 2.0 ports, it seems that it is only a matter of time until the required USB and wireless drivers are added. I'd go with one of the officially supported adapters, if I were doing wireless. Me, I just love pulling cable. :) See http://customersupport.tivo.com/know...ic/tv2006.htm? for a list of supported Ethernet adapters. 4. PRE-JULY 2004 & POST-JULY 2004: I suspect that the unit I got was so cheap so as to clear out these pre-July 2004 models and make room for the Post-July 2004 ones. This is my assessment as well. Are there any big differences between the two (other than being black and silver respectively)? The newer design (post July 2004) has LBA48 support, and ships with software version 5.0. Plus they look cooler. 5. HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT OR UPGRADES: a. From what I've read, it is better to replace the original (keeping it in a safe place in case of emergencies) with a new one. It's a matter of preference and your comfort level, really. I keep backups of my TiVos on CD-R discs. I can re-image onto a new HDD and be up and running within an hour or two--less if I have a spare HDD laying around the house. I do have a 20GB Series1 HDD shelved, mainly because I have no other use for it. What is the capacity limit on the replacement (and/or additional) hard drive(s) that can be used? 160Gig? 250? No limit? All models are limited to two hard drives. 137GB per drive on older models. Newer models with the LBA48 kernel have no practical hardware limit with today's available drives. LBA48 addresses up to 144PB, IIRC. I recall reading that the MFS file system has a limit of 256GB per partition. I am not sure how this affects large (250GB) B drive upgrades. For what it's worth, Weaknees is selling a 700-hour 2x300GB Series2 at http://www.weaknees.com/tivo/tivo_700.php One guy is even working on 2x400GB. b. It appears that when doing hacks/hard drive work the drives should be the master and slave ones on the computer and then a program booted from CD. However, I currently have a tower with four hard drives (five partitions), an old Zip, and an re-writter all hooked up. I have two more IDE spaces available but they are on a secondary PCI Simply disconnect the drives that you won't be needing. Use the primary and secondary IDE channels on the motherboard. That leaves you space for TiVo A and B drives, a CD-ROM drive, and a FAT/FAT32 drive to hold your backup. See the Hinsdale FAQ at http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hins...to/index9.html 6. One more question, please: what are your favorite sites for help with TiVo hacking? www.google.com :) Also see www.tivocommunity.com and http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/ -- TiVo Series 2 60hr (upgraded to 310:09 + Lifetime) Philips Series 1 HDR212 (upgraded to 156:29 + TurboNet) I watch too much TV, but no one cares except my wife. |
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