author here, surprised to see this on HN. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask :)
Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)
11–20 of 113 posts
Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)
#12Out of interest, what logic analyzer/logic analyzer software is the author using?
(author here) this is indeed a Salea clone (one of the first results when searching for 'logic analyzer' on Aliexpress), with pulseview/sigrok as software. I try to use cheap tools if possible, so it's more accessible for other people to reproduce.
Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)
#13I struggle to think of what purpose a device that wasn’t meant to be a Linux computer would realistically serve beyond nefarious goals.
This is an ethically neutral activity. The mere act of transforming a device into such a computer doesn't add or remove any nefarious goals, if you have those goals, you can get another device intended to be a Linux computer and still accomplish them (and it would be much easier). If the transformation is done in contravention of the owner, it's bad, but it sounds like from the article that the ISP has written it off and in any case, they say they are doing this nondestructively.
Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)
#14I struggle to think of what purpose a device that wasn’t meant to be a Linux computer would realistically serve beyond nefarious goals.
(author here) We use the device instead of a Raspberry Pi, not for anything too serious: we attached it to a screen and have a small server running with an API where you can write single pixels into the framebuffer (a bit like /r/place)
Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)
#15Very cool, I wish I could do this sort of thing.
Same here. I appreciate the projects like OpenWRT that make this kind of thing possible for mere mortals like me. I flashed OpenWRT onto an old Verizon combo DSL modem/router[0] and now it's a VPN endpoint. I think the most complicated part was uploading the initial firmware via TFTP. But it looks like you can now just use the web interface, so it's even easier. Props to the people who figure this stuff out and make it available.
Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)
#16It is impressive that that they were able to run linux without making permanent destructive changes.
Had a pogoplug that I was able to repurpose as a linux server for some odd cron jobs and occasional backups.
Assuming there are no such constraints to revert, what other general purpose consumer devices are hack friendly and can be turned into low powered linux boxes ?
Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)
#17It is impressive that that they were able to run linux without making permanent destructive changes. Had a pogoplug that I was able to repurpose as a linux server for some odd cron jobs and occasional backups. Assuming there are no such constraints to revert, what other general purpose consumer devices are hack friendly and can be turned into low powered linux boxes ?
Check out the OpenWRT Table of Hardware.[0] It runs on all kinds of stuff.
Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)
#18I struggle to think of what purpose a device that wasn’t meant to be a Linux computer would realistically serve beyond nefarious goals.
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.
Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)
#19I struggle to think of what purpose a device that wasn’t meant to be a Linux computer would realistically serve beyond nefarious goals.
On the contrary, I struggle to think of "nefarious" goals.
Re: Turning a TV set-top box into a Linux computer (2022)
#20I love these kinds of writeups, thank you!
How did you determine what addresses to read things into? (the chainloaded bootloader, then its initrd/ FDT / etc.).