Kurt Granroth wrote:

> On Dec 31, 2003, at 12:54 AM, Rob Wultsch wrote:
>
>> I picked up a tivo over the weekend (Hughes HDVR2, directv series 
>> 2...) for 100 bucks and though I have yet to power it up, I have gone 
>> thought the box and was surprised at what I found in terms of 
>> software license crap.
>> [snip]
>> If anyone out there is much of a tivo person, I am wondering if it is 
>> easily possible to get it to act as a
>> 1. DHCP server (the tivo should have more uptime and less time being 
>> fussed with than anything else)?
>> 2. A samba server (so that my music may be played on any other 
>> computer without slowing down the hard drive/ taking up space)
>
>
> Possible.. maybe.  Easily possible.. no.
>
> Both the Series 1 and Series 2 TiVOs use Linux as the operating 
> system.  The former uses a PowerPC CPU while the latter uses a MIPs 
> one.  That means that if you just take your binaries from your Linux 
> box and upload them to the TiVO, they won't work (assuming you are on 
> a normal x86 Linux box).
>
> HOWEVER, you can get a cross compiler that will compile stuff for the 
> TiVO as long as you have the source.  People have ported all sorts of 
> standard Unix utilities to TiVO that way.
>
> That said, the x-compiler isn't a perfect solution.  Once you get into 
> the realm of adding a DHCP or SAMBA server, it becomes quite a bit 
> more complicated due to all the dependency libraries.  Keep in mind 
> that the TiVO Linux distro is quite stripped.  Mind you, each TiVO 
> comes with a built-in DHCP *client* and it's not terribly difficult to 
> get a SAMBA *client*.. but I've never heard of anybody doing the server.
>
> Some links:
>
> http://tivoutils.sourceforge.net/
> http://www.tivofaq.com/hack/
>
> Have fun!
> Kurt

I knew most of the above, but thanks for the links.
Why should I fear dependency issues when I might call upon upon the 
power of the mighty D. That's right, evidently it is possible to get apt 
running on a tivo.
http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20662

My first task is getting the bash shell up, but everything will wait for 
the xbox to be finished.