TiVo Community Forums Archives - Serial Connection to TiVoWeb

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Serial Connection to TiVoWeb
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Posted by: Jon S

I posted the following on the UK site but haven't had any responses - I'm probably too impatient. I then noticed this forum that may be more appropriate. Apologies if this is bad practice to duplicate threads

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Good afternoon,

I am trying to connect to TiVoWeb using a serial lead but without success. I have TiVoWeb pre-loaded on my TiVo drive (I didn't do this). I have set up a Generic Null Modem with settings I have found on the Internet. However when I "Allow Caller Access" and select Apply it never gets past the Status of Monitoring.

I'm afraid my PC knowledge is not too good. My PC has two serial ports. No idea which is which so I've tried both in combination with swapping the COM port in the Generic Null Modem.

Can anybody give me some pointers?

The following is an extract from the Generic Null Modem Log. Basically I opened Dial-Up Server, checked "No Caller Access", selected Apply, checked "Allow Caller Access" and selected Apply. Status says Monitoring and the modem log is as follows:

06-27-2004 14:07:45.81 - Generic NULL Modem in use.
06-27-2004 14:07:45.81 - Modem type: Generic NULL Modem
06-27-2004 14:07:45.81 - Modem inf path: MARKCR~2.INF
06-27-2004 14:07:45.81 - Modem inf section: MC02
06-27-2004 14:07:46.06 - 115200,N,8,1
06-27-2004 14:07:46.06 - 115200,N,8,1
06-27-2004 14:07:46.06 - WARNING: Unable to load the 'FlowControl_Off' string.
06-27-2004 14:07:46.06 - Initializing modem.
06-27-2004 14:07:46.06 - Send: <cr><cr>
06-27-2004 14:07:46.07 - Waiting for a call.
06-27-2004 14:12:27.77 - Hanging up the modem.
06-27-2004 14:12:27.77 - Session Statistics:
06-27-2004 14:12:27.77 - Reads : 0 bytes
06-27-2004 14:12:27.77 - Writes: 2 bytes
06-27-2004 14:12:27.77 - Generic NULL Modem closed.

Posted by: classicsat

First off, get serial bash workin, then you know the physical connection works.

Then you get serial PPP working on the PC (with Otto's howto, except have the PPP server assign a range of addresses, not DHCP), then get the Tivo to make its connection with serial PPP.

Once you do that, you have to force that serial PPP connection to be always on.

I don't know the issues of doing it with 2.x on a UK Tivo, as I have a 3.0 US Tivo.

Posted by: Jon S

Hi Classicsat, thanks for the information.

Trouble is you've got a bit ahead of my PC/techie knowledge. What I've got at the moment is a TiVo Hard Drive with TiVoWeb already installed. My instructions said that I could access TiVo with a serial cable (supplied) by setting up a null modem and a Dial Up Server. I've done these as best I can. Apparently I can then communicate using Telnet, Ftp or Explorer (for TiVoWeb). To be honest Ftp and Telnet mean nothing to me. TiVo is also set up for me to use a TurboNet card instead of a serial cable. I may look into getting a TurboNet or Cachecard in the future if I like what I see.

Now none of my instructions involve doing anything on TiVo since this should already have been done.

Now you mention the first thing I need to do is to get a serial bash working to prove the phyical link is working. That sounds a good idea. Unfortunately I have no idea what a bash prompt is or how to set one up.

What it be possible to explain this too me so that I can try it out? I'm actually quite excited at the prospect of accessing my TiVo from my PC, trouble is I'm getting a little lost in the technicalities at the moment. Any help (and it probably needs to be at the simplest level for me to understand) would be gratefully accepted.

Jon.

Posted by: classicsat

You need a cable to connect the serial port on the PC to the serial control port on the Tivo, and to access that with a terminal program.