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