The SApper - A "Zipper-like" tool for standalone tivos

[rbautch]

Originally Posted by Da Goon

First you'll need to get serial bash. Here's how to make a cable : http://www.tivohelp.com/archive/tivo...ki.net/35.html
Here's how to use a cable: http://www.geocities.com/mlm19811999...rial_bash.htmlI believe that rbautch said he was requesting permission to use replace_initrd with the sapper to remove the initrd from your stock kernel for wireless support. Meantime, you may have to monte manually.

My request was denied. Note that you'd only have to monte to an 8.x kernel if you're using a 140 or 240 tivo, and if you absolutely need wireless. For other prom-modded tivos, like the 540, DT, or S3, an 8.x kernel is installed by the SApper by default. IMO, a cheaper, better, faster, and simpler solution is to use a wireless bridge instead of a wireless adapter. Of course, my bridge cost $10 AR.

[Da Goon]

Originally Posted by rbautch

IMO, a cheaper, better, faster, and simpler solution is to use a wireless bridge instead of a wireless adapter. Of course, my bridge cost $10 AR.

+ 1

[MungoJerrie]

Originally Posted by ogre73

Via the console, you mean in the program like HT or TT?

Yes, I prefer TerraTermPro for console stuff; never did like HyperTerminal but it will work.

Originally Posted by ogre73

I am using the cable that came with the tivo. If I need to mod it, I can do that. I have two, and I do electronics for a living; just not software.
I need to hook up with a null modem cable? This I could not find mention of in hours of searching. Please specify, do I need a null modem cable, or is there a different type of adapter that I need? I will be able to hook everything up and go through it all this afternoon/evening.

Yes, you need a null modem pinout. Da Goon pointed the way for you but before you start hacking up cables, if you mozy on to RatShack and buy a null modem adapter and gender changer, that will work with the tivo cable for probably <$10. You could also use something like an old serial mouse that you solder an 1/8" stereo jack to.

[ogre73]

Originally Posted by Da Goon

First you'll need to get serial bash.

Got it. I am going to attach the notepad file of it to this post.

Originally Posted by MungoJerrie

but before you start hacking up cables,

Not to worry about that; I do electronics for a living. Just not software.

Originally Posted by Da Goon

If you can find older drivers on your old system partition from 7.2.2 or 7.3, etc, then you can use them.

OK, how would I look for these? I'm afraid that I'm not familiar at ALL with Linux.

Originally Posted by Da Goon

The easiest way to use wireless with 8.x software is to use the stock tivo usb modules and to monte to a 8.x kernel that's had it's initrd removed. Google search for a bit and you'll find some useful information at a place that can't be linked to. I believe that rbautch said he was requesting permission to use replace_initrd with the sapper to remove the initrd from your stock kernel for wireless support. Meantime, you may have to monte manually.

Is monte absolutely the way to go, or is there another way? I have pretty much all night to get this working, and now that I have serial bash, I'm not afraid to try some things.

Originally Posted by rbautch

IMO, a cheaper, better, faster, and simpler solution is to use a wireless bridge instead of a wireless adapter. Of course, my bridge cost $10 AR.

I understand, but I am currently on a VERY low budget with this (wifey is already upset about the time I have spent so far), and I already have the Belkin that was working properly. If possible, I would love to get that working.
Should I look at doing something with Jamie's backport drivers?

[Soapm]

Originally Posted by JWThiers

I wouldn't want to have to support (no offense is intended here) every newbie tivo hacker that wants to use superpatch (its a moving target as opposed to Dtivos OS which is a static one).

None taken and we really appreciate the time and effort each of you give us. Hopefully one day I can answer a question and save you a post

The assumption is that if you want to MRV between SA's and DTivos (relatively small number) They will ask.

So supperpatch is only needed to MRV between a SA and DTIVO? I never caught that part. I guess I wouldn't need it since I plan to MRV to my XBOX.

Maybe a wiki is needed for SApper for this type of thing.

Great idea...

[Da Goon]

Originally Posted by Soapm

So supperpatch is only needed to MRV between a SA and DTIVO? I never caught that part. I guess I wouldn't need it since I plan to MRV to my XBOX.

Superpatch is good for many a thing. Mainly, it disables encryption. You'll probably need this to MRV with your XBOX. It also enables MRV, HMO, and HME on dtivo's since they don't come with it normally. For a standalone, it removes a few of the restrictions of MRV. Normally your tivos can't MRV with tivo's on another subnet, but a superpatched tivo can. etc, etc..

[ogre73]

Last night I ran the SApper tweak.sh from the bash prompt, and now when I boot with the wirless adapter plugged in, it says message 88, it recognizes that there is an adapter there, but when I go to set up the networking, it doesn't recognize the adapter.
I feel like I'm very close, and I read some stuff last night here and at ddb, but it seems like almost everything is to do with Dtivos and SA are not as well supported. Also, since I am (I think) running the newer modified 8.x kernel, I don't think that most of the stuff I read applies to me. Am I on fairly new ground, here, or am I just failing to understand something obvious that should be the next step?

[MarkF2]

OK - Thanks to Da Goon and Russ I am now operational, I can transfer files from my subbed SA DT to my unsubbed DTivo both ways. One last trick was that I had to run ser_mrv_name on my DTivo again, and reboot both units.

Now I need to get wireless back on my 8.3 SA DT. Can someone point me in the right direction?

[Soapm]

Originally Posted by MarkF2

OK - Thanks to Da Goon and Russ I am now operational, I can transfer files from my subbed SA DT to my unsubbed DTivo both ways. One last trick was that I had to run ser_mrv_name on my DTivo again, and reboot both units.

Now I need to get wireless back on my 8.3 SA DT. Can someone point me in the right direction?

So you saying Sapper is working right out of the box (except for wireless)?

[ogre73]

Soapm,
I am a novice and a limited user (I haven't tried most of the enhancement script upgrades yet), but SApper worked "right out of the box" for my 240, except for wireless. I am having trouble getting my Belkin 5050 wireless USB adapter to work, but everything else I have done seems fine.

[MarkF2]

Originally Posted by Soapm

So you saying Sapper is working right out of the box (except for wireless)?

Yes, Sapper out of the box worked for a SA DT649 (except for wireless). I wanted to be able to connect to my DirecTv Tivo as well and exchange files back and forth (MRV), this was a bit more involved and now that is working too.

[rafaelmac]

Hey there folks! I've got a new but slightly similar problem to what I've read about here so far.

I d/led instantcake for my sony svr-3000 SA. Got the LBA48 thing too. And the Sapper. Followed instructions. Booted from CD (cd:secondary master, tivodrive:secondary slave).

I get to the prompt that says: "ptvUPGRADE /#" I type "mount /dev/hdc /cdrom"

cd mounts - read-only.

I type "cdrom/sapper" (and, incidentally, I've typed every syntactical version of that I can think of, with no success).

Result: "No such file or directory."

Can anyone help?

Also, at this point (even without running SApper), could I just take the Tivo drive and drop it into my unit and be back to stock Tivo -- albeit with a much larger drive?

Thanks,
Duke

[MarkF2]

I think secondary master is HDB not HDC. Try changing to "mount /dev/hdb /cdrom" and report back on your error (if there is one). Also in this case your target Tivo drive would be HDD..

Originally Posted by rafaelmac

Hey there folks! I've got a new but slightly similar problem to what I've read about here so far.

I d/led instantcake for my sony svr-3000 SA. Got the LBA48 thing too. And the Sapper. Followed instructions. Booted from CD (cd:secondary master, tivodrive:secondary slave).

I get to the prompt that says: "ptvUPGRADE /#" I type "mount /dev/hdc /cdrom"

cd mounts - read-only.

I type "cdrom/sapper" (and, incidentally, I've typed every syntactical version of that I can think of, with no success).

Result: "No such file or directory."

Can anyone help?

Also, at this point (even without running SApper), could I just take the Tivo drive and drop it into my unit and be back to stock Tivo -- albeit with a much larger drive?

Thanks,
Duke

[MarkF2]

Whoops I re-read your post you had it correct, try moving your CD-rom on to a primary channel and then try it with the appropriate letter mount.

Originally Posted by MarkF2

I think secondary master is HDB not HDC. Try changing to "mount /dev/hdb /cdrom" and report back on your error (if there is one). Also in this case your target Tivo drive would be HDD..

[MungoJerrie]

Originally Posted by rafaelmac

Booted from CD (cd:secondary master, tivodrive:secondary slave).

I get to the prompt that says: "ptvUPGRADE /#" I type "mount /dev/hdc /cdrom"

cd mounts - read-only.

I type "cdrom/sapper" (and, incidentally, I've typed every syntactical version of that I can think of, with no success).

Result: "No such file or directory."

Can anyone help?

Did you try?

/cdrom/sapper

or

cd /cdrom
sapper

[rafaelmac]

Originally Posted by MungoJerrie

Did you try?

/cdrom/sapper

or

cd /cdrom
sapper

Yes, I did try those things. And any other permutation I could think of. Tried "DIR" to see what files/directories are there. No sapper. Changed directories numerous times and can find no sapper file. Though it does exist on the cd, because I can see it in windows explorer.

Tried typing "SH" before the commands. Tried appending ".sh" to commands.

Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, however. From what I gather here, in the best case I'll end up with a hacked SA Tivo, that will lose "hacked" functionality in a certain amount of time. I'm not sure I care enough to continually manually update the hacks (in any of the various methods) in order to keep them.

Frankly, I would be satisfied to have my old Tivo back and simply an upgraded 320G hard drive.

Is this possible?

Thanks for suggestions.

Duke

[Spectrum44]

The listed in the current SApper instructions is Babkak Javadi. After I paid the 60.00 for the Prom change and sent the guy the UPS tracking number for my TiVo, I didn't hear from anymore. I redirected delivery of my TiVo Back to me. Do you know anything about this guy???

Cliffton

[Soapm]

How did you burn the Sapper disc? Sounds like you used a format not readible on Linux. Try burning a new disc at a lower burn speed.

[rafaelmac]

All due respect but that doesn't seem likely, as the computer did boot into linux, from that same cd. I've burned several, incidentally, with the same results.

Thanks, though.

Again, can anyone direct me how I can simply get going again with a plain vanilla Tivo upgrade? In other words, without going through the SApper thing. I've got the instantcake image and lba48.

Duke

[MarkF2]

Follow the instructions in the Instantcake text file from the DVRupgrade website. I found that it was just easier to have 2 instantcake CDs b/c the instruction require it to load from a slave CD drive and I was setup to boot from a master CD drive.

Originally Posted by rafaelmac

All due respect but that doesn't seem likely, as the computer did boot into linux, from that same cd. I've burned several, incidentally, with the same results.

Thanks, though.

Again, can anyone direct me how I can simply get going again with a plain vanilla Tivo upgrade? In other words, without going through the SApper thing. I've got the instantcake image and lba48.

Duke

[Omikron]

Originally Posted by Spectrum44

The listed in the current SApper instructions is Babkak Javadi. After I paid the 60.00 for the Prom change and sent the guy the UPS tracking number for my TiVo, I didn't hear from anymore. I redirected delivery of my TiVo Back to me. Do you know anything about this guy???

Cliffton

Cliffton,

I've already sent you a reply to your PM on the "other" forum, and replied to your last threatening email, but since you've found it appropriate to air out your paranoia on this open forum, I'm replying to you here, to remind you to check your email and/or PM's.

If anyone is actually curious about any feedback I may have, they are free to check DDB, but I kindly ask that any any such discussion be kept off TCF as this is not sales support forum.

[MarkF2]

I'm one to vouch for Omikron/Babak. Quick service and he went above and beyond trying to help me trouble shoot some issues.

Originally Posted by Omikron

Cliffton,

I've already sent you a reply to your PM on the "other" forum, and replied to your last threatening email, but since you've found it appropriate to air out your paranoia on this open forum, I'm replying to you here, to remind you to check your email and/or PM's.

If anyone is actually curious about any feedback I may have, they are free to check DDB, but I kindly ask that any any such discussion be kept off TCF as this is not sales support forum.

[rbautch]

Originally Posted by Omikron

Cliffton,

I've already sent you a reply to your PM on the "other" forum, and replied to your last threatening email, but since you've found it appropriate to air out your paranoia on this open forum, I'm replying to you here, to remind you to check your email and/or PM's.

If anyone is actually curious about any feedback I may have, they are free to check DDB, but I kindly ask that any any such discussion be kept off TCF as this is not sales support forum.

I can also vouch for Omikron. I have found him to be extremely honest, professional, and enthusiastic about his prom-mod service. I've spoken to him on the phone, and corresponded with him on several occasions. He provides this service only because he genuinely enjoys the work, and I know for a fact that he's not making a whole lot of money on the deal. Previous prom-modders have come and gone quickly because it is a thankless job that won't make you rich. Cliffton, I hope you can work out whatever misunderstanding you have with Omikron.

[manuelpl]

I tried, the new version 1.9 beta. Prior to this version I used it , and did not work at all with Wireless option. In fact when the wireless adapter was connected, the tivo would reboot itself into a loop.

This time around issues where addressed with wireless, by using an older 7.X version wireless driver.

However things are not right. Wireless driver, I believe reverts back to 8.x which makes the wireless not work again, this time there is not rebooting loop.

Maybe I'm doing something incorrectly ?
Anyone else experiencing this problem ?

My setup Tivo Stand Alone Series 2 24008A, using an Original Tivo wireless usb adapter.

[rbautch]

Originally Posted by manuelpl

I tried, the new version 1.9 beta. Prior to this version I used it , and did not work at all with Wireless option. In fact when the wireless adapter was connected, the tivo would reboot itself into a loop.

This time around issues where addressed with wireless, by using an older 7.X version wireless driver.

However things are not right. Wireless driver, I believe reverts back to 8.x which makes the wireless not work again, this time there is not rebooting loop.

Maybe I'm doing something incorrectly ?
Anyone else experiencing this problem ?

My setup Tivo Stand Alone Series 2 24008A, using an Original Tivo wireless usb adapter.

How did you determine it reverted back to 8.x drivers? Did it ever connect?

[manuelpl]

Yes it connected, after running sapper, I was able to telnet into it. After rebooting a third time it doesnt recognize my wireless card. Im not sure if it contacted tivo to get updates ?
Im assuming that the older driver got reverted to the new one ? Maybe its something else.

I think maybe if I restore my image , run sapper , and not reboot it will recognize my wireless card.

Manny

Now that I think of it , maybe when I ran the enhancement scripts ( Third reboot ) it caused to fail , I will try it with our the enhancement scripts lets see what happends.

[rbautch]

Originally Posted by manuelpl

Yes it connected, after running sapper, I was able to telnet into it. After rebooting a third time it doesnt recognize my wireless card. Im not sure if it contacted tivo to get updates ?
Im assuming that the older driver got reverted to the new one ? Maybe its something else.

I think maybe if I restore my image , run sapper , and not reboot it will recognize my wireless card.

Manny

Now that I think of it , maybe when I ran the enhancement scripts ( Third reboot ) it caused to fail , I will try it with our the enhancement scripts lets see what happends.

If you answer "yes" to installing the backported drivers during the enhancement script, that would indeed break your connection.

[manuelpl]

So I figured out why my wireless card was not working.

When I ran the Setup with Sapper @ work , It asked me for the SSID , in this case Wifi_G.

Everything worked well , until I got home, and this is where the problem starts.

I have my own Wireless at home with the same SSID Wifi_G.

Even though both my Wireless points ( I use Apple Airport Extremes ) are identically named Wifi_G , my modified tivo it looks for the original Wireless point , that the sapper script connected to first probably a mac address thing.

To further prove my hypothesis , I brought the tivo back to work , and it connected right away.

To make things more strange , I also brought my Wireless point from home to test.

After booting the Tivo with the Original Wireless point, and acknowledged the wireless card working, I switched original Wireless point, with the one from home, without turning off my tivo. At this point Tivo recognized the wireless point from home.

I then proceeded to reboot the tivo, leaving the Wireless point from home on , to see what happends, well it connected without a problem.

Strange

Now I am going to try the enhance scripts, which im sure wasnot causing me the problem to begin with.


Thank you

rbautch

[manuelpl]

It did not work , I think when you detect the wireless point for the first time , you need to use the same wireless point , and not change it.

This time Im just using one wireless point, lets see what happends.

Manny

[manuelpl]

Im up and running now.

thanks