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Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

zeus.ugent.be

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Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

#41

Post by joezydeco »

rbanffy wrote: post #31
joezydeco wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, the Raspberry Pi started as a failed set-top box.

I always thought that SoC was wildly popular.

It is, because Broadcom had a surplus of them and couldn't get anyone to adopt it for a streaming device. So an enterprising Broadcom FAE decided to turn it into an "educational" Linux desktop device.

The "wildly popular" part came when people realized BRCM was dumping these boards cheaper than any existing Linux SBC at the time. The educational angle is long gone.

Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

#42

Post by dsr_ »

xwdv wrote: post #7

I struggle to think of what purpose a device that wasn’t meant to be a Linux computer would realistically serve beyond nefarious goals.

I don't know about supported video playback capabilities, but being a settop box under your own control is pretty good by itself. It can play back music, video, do light desktop duty -- any place you just need one or two browser tabs, it will probably work.

Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

#43

Post by theodric »

rbanffy wrote: post #34
hbossy wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting a cheap NAS.

Or, if you manage to get a dozen, it can become an educational cluster where students can get hands-on experience with managing computer clusters.

Entirely correct, although I question the value of investing time with such a goal in mind when ex-corp laptops, desktops, and thin clients are available, inexpensive, likely more powerful, and require no hackarounds to be serviceable Linux systems. I feel an effort like this should be enjoyed for its hack value, rather than for any potential practical purposes.

Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

#44

Post by moremetadata »

death916 wrote: post #3

Really interesting writeup. Might be fun to try something similar with some old devices I have.

Its on my bucket list of things to do, because here in the UK there are plenty of TalkTalk Youview (Huewei DN372T) TV boxes with 320GB hard drives that overheat and hang with the last official update from Youview and despite asking there is no way to revert these back.

However with so many being available on Ebay et al and the HD-less (DN360T) forcing people onto streaming services, I think its only right to reprovision these to work in a hive networked manner with external storage so people can store as much broadcast footage as they have storage for, and stream from any device.

Being an early adopter of Media Portal over a decade ago, but finding it impossible to secure windows even back then despite only using it for satellite transmissions, I think Linux should receive more attention now.

Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

#45

Post by felipesoc »

severine wrote: post #29
felipesoc wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an android TV using armbian with a nextcloud instance, transmission, pydownloader, radarr and sonarr. I have another running a quake 3 server. They are cheap raspberry pi alternatives with a nice case and a very good power supply using 12v instead of 5v, which is more stable.

Vey interesting, does the remote also work? How do you asses Linux compatibility of those boxes?

I just look for ones with a rk322x chip and use this image:

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/12656-csc-armbian-for-rk322x...

Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

#46

Post by rbanffy »

theodric wrote: post #43
rbanffy wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, if you manage to get a dozen, it can become an educational cluster where students can get hands-on experience with managing computer clusters.

Entirely correct, although I question the value of investing time with such a goal in mind when ex-corp laptops, desktops, and thin clients are available, inexpensive, likely more powerful, and require no hackarounds to be serviceable Linux systems. I feel an effort like this should be enjoyed for its hack value, rather than for any potential practical purposes.

If you get one model up and runnning, getting a couple dozen of them up and running is easy. 2GB and 4 cores per node is not too shabby either. My last Pi-based cluster has Pi Zero's as nodes, with single puny core with a very minimal 512MB per node.

Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

#47

Post by NayamAmarshe »

Klasiaster wrote: post #39

You can also get a similar board with that CPU here: https://libre.computer/products/aml-s905x-cc/ It's optimized for mainline Linux and since u-boot supports UEFI booting, you can just throw a downloaded Fedora arm64 image on it and it will boot.

+1 for Libre Computer. Le Potato is awesome.

Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

#48

Post by haolez »

I've worked with STB hardware before and they usually suck. The processors that I worked with were all from MIPS and it felt like all useful instructions were removed, except for the bare basics. Forget anything related to vectorization, for example. They were painfully slow.

Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

#49

Post by NKosmatos »

Vendors of STBs should unlock them so that we don't get so much e-waste.

These boxes are most of the times locked, whereas they could be repurposed for many interesting uses (linux machines, android boxes, educational devices...), now they will be thrown away, remain in closets/garages or at the best be recycled.

Tried to unlock my Vodafone TV box (Sagemcom DIW387 if I'm not mistaken), but with no luck since there is no community to "hack" it.

Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)

#50

Post by kasabali »

haolez wrote: post #48

I've worked with STB hardware before and they usually suck. The processors that I worked with were all from MIPS and it felt like all useful instructions were removed, except for the bare basics. Forget anything related to vectorization, for example. They were painfully slow.

These boxes generally utilize stock Cortex A53/A55 which are quite good IMO.
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