TiVo Community Forums Archives - HELP! with bash prompt please!

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HELP! with bash prompt please!
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Posted by: randyf

Well, I have read about a zillion pages, and finally tried to get a bash on my TiVo with no luck..

Here's the setup

Sony SA box
V2.51 software
Serial Cable tip=2 ring = 3 sleeve =5
using hyperterm, set to 9600,n,8,1 no flow ctl
Shorted tip to ring on cable, and saw echo to test cable / port / hyperterm

have edited rc.sysinit using joe, and also tried using the copy method, but here are the questions that I think I *may* be missing.

I am NOT linux literate, So I'm sure this is obvious to those who are!

FIRST, I am having trouble determining what are spaces in the command line I.E. S3>& and S3 >& look very similar dependin on font / printer, etc.

I have tried using JOE, and inserting the line:
/bin/bash </dev/ttyS3 >& /dev/ttyS3&
............^...............^...^
with SPACES at the arrows...

I have tried it several times, and the TiVo starts up, and then before it gets to the " almost there " screen, it appears to reboot, and start again.... This time, it goes all the way through and starts up, but not prompt on the serial port.

any idea what might I be missing ?

TIA

Posted by: bkc56

I've just been through this, so I'll throw in my two-cents worth...

Serial Cable tip=2 ring = 3 sleeve =5

I don't have the pin layout handy, but be sure you've put a Null Modem in your serial line. I used the provided Tivo cable and then added a cable of my own wired as a Null Modem to play multi-player games between a couple computers.

set to 9600,n,8,1 no flow ctl

Looks correct.

From other threads, I found that once I DID get a prompt that doing:

stty sane

tivosh

cleaned up things a bunch.

edited rc.sysinit using joe

Specifically: /mnt/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

Don't forget to do it to both partitions: /dev/hdc4, and /dev/hdc7.

/bin/bash </dev/ttyS3 >& /dev/ttyS3&

Looks good.

Beyond the above, I'm not sure what else to try.

Posted by: Aussie

A Linux lesson, from who one is still learning himself :)

Okay, let's consider what you're doing with the command by looking at its parts, of which there are four...

/bin/bash says "execute bash, which lives in the /bin directory"

< /dev/ttyS3 says "bash is to get its input (<) from the device /dev/ttyS3"

>& /dev/ttys3 says "bash is to send its output, including errors, (>&) to the device /dev/ttyS3"

the ampersand (&) at the end of it all says "all this is to be done as a background task".

All of these components of the command should really have blanks around them, so the command should really look like this, using hashes (#) to represent blanks, for clarity...

/bin/bash#<#/dev/ttyS3#>&#/dev/ttyS3#&

Now, I believe that your problem was caused by the lack of a blank before the final &, if I'm understanding this right all output would go to a non-existant device called ttyS3&, and background execution would not be invoked.

I hope this (a) is correct, and (b) helps!

Any "real" Linux folk please feel free to correct!

Cheers

Aussie

Posted by: randyf

AHHH!

it is all starting to make more sense now!

These linux commands are very much like DOS commands

CTTY mode, piping using > < etc...

I guess I GOTTA break down and set up a Linux box to play more if I'm to quit looking foolish!

thanks 4 the tip.. can't wait 2 try it.

Posted by: Aussie

Hi randyf,

Yep, you ought to set up a Linux box and have a play with the commands and stuff. Let's face it, its all free, why not? You don't even need a book (although I admit to buying about 10 so far:)), there's a mile of stuff on the web.

It looks awfully inscrutable at first but most of it is really very DOS-like.

It's cruel to make your TiVo talk to Windows :D

Cheers

Aussie