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Still a problem increasing live_cache buffer
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Posted by: fatalmp3z

I have read, read and read some more.

I have a 14 hour Philips TiVo upgraded with a 60 gig maxtor (thanks all), and have been trying to increase my live buffer to 2 hours, for the fun of it.

I started by adding the line ... export LIVE_CACHE_SIZE=41400
to my /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file via the serial bash prompt. I then tried out the TiVo, no increase in buffer.

I then found out there were 2 partitions, so i mounted the hda7 partition and edited the other rc.sysnit file. Both have that same export LIVE_CACHE_SIZE=41400 line now as the very last line before the .... bin/bash & /dev/ttyS3..
at the very end of each file.

Should i put them at the top of the file?

Now here is the weird part. When i enter the following commands, here is the result:

bash-2.02# echo $LIVE_CACHE_SIZE
41400

AND

It shows my setting as 41400 via the set command

I was also told to try and remove the 'export' in the command.

Any other help/suggestions?
Thanks

Posted by: Mocktar

How are you verifing that you still have 30 minutes? Do not go by the green bar to indicate how much buffer you have. When you upgrade your buffer, the green timeline bar will only show 30 minutes but you really have more.

Posted by: Gromit

I would think that the results of the echo rule out the export causing a problem. I can't recall if bash likes 'export var=x' or just 'var=x' but I think it will work either way (and the echo seems to confirm this).

Posted by: Otto

Here's my suggestion: Stop editing rc.sysinit for every little thing.

Get to the boot menu. The password is 'factory'. If it's not, set it to be so by getting a bash prompt on the tivo and doing "crypto -u -srp factory".

Then, in the boot menu, change the boot options to have LIVE_CACHE_SIZE=whatever in the boot line. Simple. Easy. Effective.

Sounds like the main problem is that you're setting the LIVE_CACHE_SIZE after myworld starts. Set it before myworld starts and it'll probably work. Also, don't use the green bar as a guide to how big it really is, as has been stated before.

Again, I really recommend NOT editing rc.sysinit for this, because it's a real pain if you make that number too big and cause a reboot cycle or lockup. Make REAL sure that you have enough free space on your drive for it to make that cache! It reserves the space permanently, and subtracts it from your total space. You can revert it by changing it and rebooting again, but still, if it can't hold that space on bootup, it'll probably lock or reboot endlessly. If you change rc.sysinit, you gotta pull out the drive, load it in a computer, edit it, etc, etc. With the boot menu, you can edit it right there and then, no harm, no foul.

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Otto, Supreme TiVoWarrior - Moderator - AVS Forum - Tivo Underground
"If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will!" -- Yoda

Posted by: pv

Since rc.sysinit starts myworld (which is what uses the variables), the environment variables need to be set before the line that kicks off myworld. For purposes of future processes (such as if you killed and restarted myworld) they're set, but they weren't set in time to do it at bootup.

You need to put the set commands at the top of rc.sysinit, or better yet in the boot settings (after setting the boot mode password to "factory" if it isn't already). PV

Posted by: fatalmp3z

GREAT, I thank you all, I never did go by the green bar but I tested with timing and testing, and always got 30 minutes, never more

Thanks for the free space warning, and since I just upgraded and only have 2 1-hour shows on the now showing menu, I think I should be fine, but thanks again

Ill edit out the comments out of both rc.sysinit files and do it through the boot menu, as that makes perfect sense why it doesnt work properly.

Now where would you view what changes have been made to the boot menu, to see what things have been entered?

And again a big thanks to everyone, this forum really has been SUPER helpful and very knowledgeable.

[This message has been edited by fatalmp3z (edited 10-31-2000).]

Posted by: pv

quote:
Originally posted by fatalmp3z:
Now where would you view what changes have been made to the boot menu, to see what things have been entered?

From the boot menu itself - there's an option on the "edit boot parameters" screen where you can choose not to change anything (iirc, you type a '-' at the prompt. There's a message that tells you specifically what to do).

Note - that isn't the default! The default is to REMOVE all the boot parms (if you just press enter), and I don't imagine things will go well if you remove the setting that determines which boot volume to use. Be careful! The first thing you should do is cut the current setting and paste it into a notepad page so you can easily put stuff back if you mess it up. PV

Posted by: fatalmp3z

And we have success.....

I removed the lines from the rc.sysinit files totally, and added it as aboot parameter. Went really easily and verified it with watching the TiVo.

Thank you all

Now i did accidentally just hit the enter key once instead of '-', but i did have a copy of the root=/dev/hda4 that was alreasy there. The interesting thing tho is after i hit enter, then hit the 'p' option again, my boot parameter was now root=/dev/hda7 runfactorydiag=true

or something similar about the factory. but i fixed it, added my line and went on my merry way

Posted by: Otto

Interesting. It didn't do that on mine, it just blanked the line out.

However, that makes sense. The runfactorydiag parameter turns on the stuff to download the files and test the thing when it's still at the factory.

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Otto, Supreme TiVoWarrior - Moderator - AVS Forum - Tivo Underground
"If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will!" -- Yoda

Posted by: jerobi

Please excuse my naiveness on this one...

Can you give me a quick rundown on how to access the boot menu? Also, you made it sound like I could do this right form my TiVo instead of a PC. So I assume that you use your TiVo remote to enter all of the data in? That sounds odd to me but maybe it's correct after all...(?)

-Jerobi
(Whose 70 hour TiVo is working wonderfully!)

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www.niftyness.com is hilarious!

Posted by: Otto

No, you hook a null modem cable between your PC and the tivo, then reboot the tivo and hit enter in a terminal window on the serial port just after it powers on.

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Otto, Supreme TiVoWarrior - Moderator - AVS Forum - Tivo Underground
"If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will!" -- Yoda

Posted by: pv

quote:
Originally posted by jerobi:
Please excuse my naiveness on this one...

Can you give me a quick rundown on how to access the boot menu? Also, you made it sound like I could do this right form my TiVo instead of a PC. So I assume that you use your TiVo remote to enter all of the data in? That sounds odd to me but maybe it's correct after all...(?)

None of this happens from the remote - you need a PC, the serial to mini-stereo plug adapter that came with your tivo, a serial cable, and a null-modem adapter.

Once all that stuff is attached to your PC and the tivo, the real fun begins. Section 4.3 of the hack FAQ has a short description of some of the process. It works as written there only on some tivos though; if your tivo didn't have its boot password preset to "factory", you have to yank the A drive, install it into your PC, and do some surgery with Dylan's boot disk.

It can get even weirder than that if your drive is locked. If the simple approach (hooking up and praying for "factory" doesn't work and you get lost in the faq, write back here. This procedure is considerably scarier than the upgrade, but if you've already taken the drive out once to do a backup, you shouldn't have any problems. PV