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Chromecast Rooted

forum.xda-developers.com

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Re: Chromecast Rooted

#41

Post by kudu »

cookiecaper wrote: post #40
Thaxll wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

xbmc is terrible on a Raspberri Pi, it's way too slow.

It's greatly improved with XBMC 13.0+, which included a bunch of optimizations to make XBMC on the RPi more bearable. Go through the XBMC Raspberry Pi wiki page to turn off things that waste CPU (like the RSS ticker). It also helps to use rpi-config and select the modest overclocking option (the one that doesn't change any voltages). XBMC is very smooth after doing those things. The only issue I still have is that th…

Just wondering, what distro are you using? Did you set up XBMC on Raspbian yourself or are you using something pre-packaged like OpenELEC or Raspbmc?

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#42

Post by bane »

notjustanymike wrote: post #18
darklajid wrote: post #15

Anyone having a Chromecast and able to tell me what I'm missing? Currently I've got xbmc running on a Raspberry Pi. Connected via HDMI, online via wifi and I can stream more or less everything (videos, images, music) from my phone to that thing - not sure if there's a decent way to do that from my laptop running Linux. What are Chromecasts used for? Should I buy one?

$35 and let's me use my phone as my remote for Netflix, HBO Go, and Hulu. Drop dead simple casting. Also it doesn't stream from the phone; it simply takes in commands so it might save your battery some.

Don't forget plex, entire chrome tabs, podcasts, photo libraries etc.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#43

Post by mixologic »

GuiA wrote: post #11
mixologic wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main benefit appears to be the ability to load your own ROM onto it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2578653 And the main benefit of that ROM seems to be that you can set an alternate DNS server to get around (some) forms of region controlling, as well as set your own application whitelist - not sure whats missing from the existing whitelist or what killer app you would root this for, but if I ow…

> if I own the device, I should have total control over the device. I agree (mostly) with you, but I still want to prod at this because I think it's interesting. I'm guessing you probably own a (recent) car, a microwave, etc. Do you have total control over these devices? If not, does it bother you as much as not having total control over the Chromecast? How are they different (or not) from a Chromecast? A phone? A co…

I've completely disassembled and re-assembled my (not recent) winnebago diesel, including rebuilding the engine. Almost every part on that RV has been redone by me, because I wanted to, and I didn't have to resort to any sort of safecracking tactics to be able to do that. If microwaves were built on top of a general purpose computing platform, then yes, I would want root access to them.

The only reason that total control is not granted by default is that companies fear that they will no longer control their customer. I can understand in instances where safety or device damage may be an issue (like, no, I dont want root access to a tesla for example), but for consumer devices, I should not be forced to use apples store to add software to my phone. I should not be forced to use googles software to use their hardware either.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#44

Post by maccard »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #28
Touche wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phones are poor remotes.

The phone is a poor remote like democracy is a bad system of gov't. If your remote has a keyboard on it then more power to you, but none of mine do, and the phone is 1000x easier.

My TV remote has a keyboard - it's absolutely garbage.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#45

Post by ocb »

javajosh wrote: post #37
kusuriya wrote: post #34

35 dollars for an android device that can now be turned into an XBMC device with netflix.... I think I may give the chromecast a second swing...

For those who don't know (as I didn't) XBMC[1] is an open-source media center/entertainment application that supports a variety of OSes, including Android. And, apparently, the project is going to be renamed "Kodi" in the near future. [1] http://xbmc.org/about/

It blows my mind that XBMC is still being developed, let alone relatively popular on several platforms. I used it pretty extensively on a modchipped Xbox ~10 years ago as my first real "streaming" box (i.e. to play pirated movies from my computer on my TV). Strange that they didn't drop the 'XB' from their moniker earlier.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#46

Post by fpgaminer »

kusuriya wrote: post #34

35 dollars for an android device that can now be turned into an XBMC device with netflix.... I think I may give the chromecast a second swing...

Is it just me, or is it odd that we rejoice when things like this happen? It just doesn't feel right to reward companies who release locked-down hardware. Don't get me wrong, I share in the excitement for a $35 XBMC capable android device. But on the other hand, it seems a better idea to spend money on a product that isn't locked down in the first place.

I haven't followed the Chromecast, but why is it locked in the first place!?

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#47

Post by userbinator »

exploited a new vulnerability in the Chromecast which allows root access

Normally, vulnerabilities would be considered a bad thing. Heartbleed is a great example of that. But in cases like these, it's a very good thing. This is why I always like to remind those whose goal is to build more secure systems to consider the implications of their work, lest our devices become even more secure against us. They usually have in mind a world where everyone has full control of their devices which are then highly secure against attacks by others, and that's a good thing; but I think it's far more likely to turn into one where corporations have all the control and devices are secure against their owners, especially as typical users continue to choose security over freedom.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#49

Post by [deleted] »

mcescalante wrote: post #6

Does anybody know anything more than I about what this will enable (now)? Or is this just the first step of many in creating a hacker community around the Chromecast and software is to come? I've got one, and I'd love to make better use of it, or even help develop some stuff for it if it's that time :)

[deleted]

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#50

Post by thibauts »

One thing it may allow is grabbing the private key it uses for Device Authentication and emulate a Chromecast on other devices. It would enable streaming from Chrome to anything using the Chromecast protocol. See [1]. I had a go at implementing the protocol server-side on node, so it's basically waiting for a valid cert. I couldn't test it much though it should work. See [2] and [3]. Any help welcome.

[1] https://github.com/thibauts/node-castv2/issues/2

[2] https://github.com/thibauts/node-castv2

[3] https://github.com/thibauts/node-castv2/blob/master/lib/serv...

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