# freesliceupgrade.tcl



## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

Hi I am making a script called sliceitfree.tcl that will copy back ported drivers, copy all hacks (if possible, it will utilize find / -name _____ to try to find all hacks), and everything else that the slicer does. The only part I am stuck on is how to edit the software upgrade file to say exit 0 instead of reboot. I was wondering if anyone knew how to do this in tcl. I could do this whole script in PHP in 10 minuets, but then it is useless on the tivo. I am a seasoned php programmer, not a seasoned tcl programmer.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

Just include the commands from the install file (installSw.itcl) in your script. Instead of editing the file just replace it.

I'm not sure how to automatically edit the file, I know you can add commands to the end of the file but that won't help you.


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## willardcpa (Feb 23, 2001)

chris22 said:


> Hi I am making a script called sliceitfree.tcl that will copy back ported drivers, copy all hacks (if possible, it will utilize find / -name _____ to try to find all hacks), and everything else that the slicer does. The only part I am stuck on is how to edit the software upgrade file to say exit 0 instead of reboot. I was wondering if anyone knew how to do this in tcl. I could do this whole script in PHP in 10 minuets, but then it is useless on the tivo. I am a seasoned php programmer, not a seasoned tcl programmer.


OK, I have seven hacked Dtivos. So something like this would be very helpful.  
But, I have to ask myself. Self, do you want to use a script written by some Dude who spells it "minuets"??


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

Retracted....


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

re: installSW, there's an easier way:
if you write a wrapper tcl script, define a proc reboot, then source the real installSW, it'll call your reboot instead of looking for one thru bash (tcl automagically checks unknown commands against bash, so reboot is equivalent to exec reboot)

You can also add code to provide the correct slice name


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## willardcpa (Feb 23, 2001)

Gunnyman said:


> Not to mention it's a smack in the face to Lou.
> Pay the 20 bucks for slicer or do it manually.


Well, Gunny, you left yourself open to this question. Can I just buy the slicer and use it to upgrade to 6.2a, having used the Zipper on some of my units and your "unguide" on at least two of em? I think I saw someone say that I will need a new superpatch version, I've hunted around over at DDB but can't seem to locate a new version for 6.2a? I read DaGoon's procedures, but I get lost in the "copy your hacks" step - I've done so many on an "ad hoc" basis that its almost impossible to remember what they all are; bufferhack, NCID with one server and six clients, changed headings (names) on telnet bash, and TivoWebPlus, some have Conflict resolve, some have Hackman, ones got "outside" access via a dyndns server, ad infinitum.
What some of us "sheep" need is a new thread that takes us step by step through how it's done using the slicer. Thank in advance.

Edited to add, I found stonersmurfs 6.2a version of superpatch at DDB.


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

yes
slicer then ftp the new superpatch and execute works fine


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## kramerboy (Jul 13, 2001)

Gunnyman said:


> Not to mention it's a smack in the face to Lou.
> Pay the 20 bucks for slicer or do it manually.


Sorry, but I've gotta call B.S. on that statement..... :down:

Dude wants to write an app to help people get their Tivo's to 6.2a. He's willing to give it away. Honestly, I don't know if this guy's script will work or not. I think it was a bit harsh to come down on the OP like that.

Gunny, you helped a lot of people with your Zipper script and *YOU* gave it away for free. _Not to mention_.... Seems like the Zipper did something very similar to another script the Lou sells. PTVnet was released first, wasn't it??????

I just don't see this as being all that different.

Just my 2 cents.


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

agreed
I kinda flew off the handle there huh?
been a crap afternoon


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## rbautch (Feb 6, 2004)

I applaud chris22's desire to make a contribution to the TCF, but I'd be careful about what you drop in the lap of the community, especially since this process has the potential to brick a tivo for a newbie who can't recover it easily. As a contributor to the slicer, I've seen the source code, and I can tell you it's not as trivial as it might seem. It's filled with many checks and features to protect users from screwing things up. One of many examples is a series of checks to confirm that installSw does everything it's supposed to before it will let you reboot. The slicer also goes to great lengths to be compatible with both standalones and Dtivos, PTVnet and Zipper, and implements MFS network settings for 3.1.5f tivos which previously set network settings with ifconfig. Unless you plan to incorporate every feature of the slicer, test it on every possible tivo, and provide support for it, it can arguably be considered inferior to the slicer. 

Believe it or not, Lou at DVRupgrade was very helpful to us in the development of the Zipper, and he certainly doesn't mind a little healthy competition. I don't think he'd have a problem with this script. Still, I have to side with Gunnman on this. You're essentially taking someone else's idea, copying it and giving it away for free, but not improving on it at all. I think that's the distinction between this and the Zipper.

P.S. I'm coming out with my own free version of Windows Vista. I'm calling it Windows Russta.


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## willardcpa (Feb 23, 2001)

Gunnyman said:


> yes
> slicer then ftp the new superpatch and execute works fine


OK, from what I have read 6.2a looks like its gonna be a "must have" eventually. So most folks that have used the zipper are gonna need to upgrade to it eventually, and most of them (myself included) don't have the patience/knowhow to do it on our own. So we are gonna be leaning on you for help. Since it looks like the easiest/most painless way to do this is as you indicated. Why don't you hit Lou up for a small comission on the referrals and put up instructions on the Zipper site along with the requisite links to get the commission.
Seems like a win-win for everybody involved. I'm sure that Lou will get tons more Slicer sales on the SD Dtivos that got zippered than he did on the HD Dtivos that needed the slicer for 6.3a etc. So it would seem to be a good move on his part too.
And some of us are going to need more hand holding/instructions than "ftp the new superpatch and execute". "ftp it where, how to you 'execute it', do I need to unzip it, - remember as one of our co-TCF members says in his sig. "Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently motivated fool"  
Not asking for a rewrite of the zipper, just something like the "unguide".
Of course, we could all go over to DDB and tell em Russ and Gunny sent us over for help upgrading our zippered units to 6.2a - I'm sure they'd me more than willing to help out.


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

willardcpa said:


> Why don't you hit Lou up for a small comission on the referrals and put up instructions on the Zipper site along with the requisite links to get the commission.


He gets one . He has a referral link in the zipper going to the images.
I only know this because I have created very complex scripts in PHP. Shopping cart systems, School Grade books, Post 4 Host cpanel account creators (I have done a few), LS: TSS (A full support / Account Creator / etc. system, still in the works).

Only the Account Creator and LS: TSS are free. Everything else costs a lot more than your S3 tivo with lifetime.

PS I am only 15.... and *HIGHLY DYSLEXIC*.


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## willardcpa (Feb 23, 2001)

chris22 said:


> He gets one


I didn't know that on the zipper wiki FAQ it mentions the PTV boot cd and instantcake downloads, but not the zipper.


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

CORRECTION:
He _used_ to, I believe.


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

rbautch said:


> Still, I have to side with Gunnman on this. You're essentially taking someone else's idea, copying it and giving it away for free, but not improving on it at all. I think that's the distinction between this and the Zipper.


not improving on it except making it open source/free... that's plenty of difference.
and it's not like the slicer was a unique concept... hackers have been using more primitive versions more specific to their requirements long before the slicer existed

I don't begrudge ptvupgrade wanting to make a buck, but the idea of this being intellectual property so nobody can make anything that works like it, that I take issue with.



> P.S. I'm coming out with my own free version of Windows Vista. I'm calling it Windows Russta.


go for it, tho I think the name needs some work


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

willardcpa said:


> I didn't know that on the zipper wiki FAQ it mentions the PTV boot cd and instantcake downloads, but not the zipper.


I don't make anything on the Slicer. The Boot CD nets me $.25 a download.


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## Joe C (Jul 8, 2002)

Where is the new superpatch on DDB ? I thought it was pulled, I've searched and can not find it.


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## MungoJerrie (Mar 30, 2006)

It's in the "6.2a slices now in the stream" thread in post(s) by stonersmurf.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

Joe C said:


> Where is the new superpatch on DDB ? I thought it was pulled, I've searched and can not find it.


Can't link to it but it is in in a post by stonersmurf (love the name), in the Series 2 Support forum post #32 of the thread titled 6.2a slices now in the stream. File called superpatch-6.2a.tcl


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

the slicer kind of sucks bad for what I paid for it. If it was like $1, that would be different. it does not do what I paid for it to do.... I paid for it to upgrade all my systems to 6.2a and keep my networking. it lost the backport drivers. this is the issue that inspired me.


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## Joe C (Jul 8, 2002)

JWThiers said:


> Can't link to it but it is in in a post by stonersmurf (love the name), in the Series 2 Support forum post #32 of the thread titled 6.2a slices now in the stream. File called superpatch-6.2a.tcl


Thanks guys for leading me to the thread. :up:


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

I've never looked at the slicer. I'll accept your explanation BUT I disagree 100% with the part of your post I bolded. Scripts to upgrade in place using slice files have been posted on "the other board" for years. The steps needed to upgrade in place have been posted in both boards for years. Lou may have a great script but he didn't "invent the wheel".

I'm disappointed you didn't write a script such as the slicer. It would be nice to make sure all the hacks are redone as part of the procedure. I note the slicer doesn't install the backported drivers. That could be an issue for some users.



rbautch said:


> I applaud chris22's desire to make a contribution to the TCF, but I'd be careful about what you drop in the lap of the community, especially since this process has the potential to brick a tivo for a newbie who can't recover it easily. As a contributor to the slicer, I've seen the source code, and I can tell you it's not as trivial as it might seem. It's filled with many checks and features to protect users from screwing things up. One of many examples is a series of checks to confirm that installSw does everything it's supposed to before it will let you reboot. The slicer also goes to great lengths to be compatible with both standalones and Dtivos, PTVnet and Zipper, and implements MFS network settings for 3.1.5f tivos which previously set network settings with ifconfig. Unless you plan to incorporate every feature of the slicer, test it on every possible tivo, and provide support for it, it can arguably be considered inferior to the slicer.
> 
> Believe it or not, Lou at DVRupgrade was very helpful to us in the development of the Zipper, and he certainly doesn't mind a little healthy competition. I don't think he'd have a problem with this script. *Still, I have to side with Gunnman on this. You're essentially taking someone else's idea, copying it and giving it away for free, but not improving on it at all*. I think that's the distinction between this and the Zipper.
> 
> P.S. I'm coming out with my own free version of Windows Vista. I'm calling it Windows Russta.


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## rbautch (Feb 6, 2004)

lew said:


> I've never looked at the slicer. I'll accept your explanation BUT I disagree 100% with the part of your post I bolded. Scripts to upgrade in place using slice files have been posted on "the other board" for years.


This is not true. There has never been a script that automates the slice upgrade process before the slicer.


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## rbautch (Feb 6, 2004)

chris22 said:


> the slicer kind of sucks bad for what I paid for it. If it was like $1, that would be different. it does not do what I paid for it to do.... I paid for it to upgrade all my systems to 6.2a and keep my networking. it lost the backport drivers. this is the issue that inspired me.


You probably didn't see the script attached to this post that does just that.


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## bigray327 (Apr 14, 2000)

Awesome. I can't stand Lou's customer service policy of "you got your one download, that's all you're getting." Well, umm, the one I paid for and downloaded was a beta version that does indeed upgrade via slices... while it fubars all of my hacks. Tough sh*t, according to Lou.

So way to go, Chris.


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

I think his point was that the slicer is just taking others' manual steps and automating it, and everyone should be free to do so... claiming it's wrong for others to write their own is a REAL stretch.

And while there may not have been a publicly released script, there were certainly private ones that did similar things before the slicer (I myself wrote one, and I know ADH has used one for quite a while).


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## temp357 (Feb 18, 2004)

I've already paid Lou enough money.

If I wanted to pay someone $20 for slicer, I would expect that it could copy over the backported drivers and all hacks....and not have to download another script or pull the drive and rezipper it. The way I see it, the software from DT is free. So charging me to upgrade a hacked box is only valuable if all of my hacks and networking function after the upgrade.


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## willardcpa (Feb 23, 2001)

temp357 said:


> I've already paid Lou enough money.
> 
> If I wanted to pay someone $20 for slicer, I would expect that it could copy over the backported drivers and all hacks....and not have to download another script or pull the drive and rezipper it. The way I see it, the software from DT is free. So charging me to upgrade a hacked box is only valuable if all of my hacks and networking function after the upgrade.


"The way I see it, the software from DT is free."
I couldn't agree more!!! Oh, hold it I pay them about $120 a month.  Nevermind.


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

temp357 said:


> The way I see it, the software from DT is free. So charging me to upgrade a hacked box is only valuable if all of my hacks and networking function after the upgrade.


I'm having trouble finding the logic in that statement

chris22: I've sent you a PM


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## temp357 (Feb 18, 2004)

Let's see if I can explain it more clearly. If I wanted to upgrade my box and lose all of my hacks, I could just plug it in and let DTV takes it's course.

The whole point to the slicer is to do the upgrade and maintain your hacks wihtout pulling the drive or lots of complications. As I see it, the networking is just about a basic of a hack that needs to work before and after an upgrade. 

Paying someone $20 for the slicer and lose this functionality makes the ptv slicer worth less than two bit.

If I wanted to hack my way through the upgrade, what am i paying $20 to ptv for?


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

ah, that does clarify... thanx

to be fair to the slicer, given the variety of hacks and setups for hacked tivos, it's probably not possible to write an upgrading tool that works in 100% of instances


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

temp357 said:


> Let's see if I can explain it more clearly. If I wanted to upgrade my box and lose all of my hacks, I could just plug it in and let DTV takes it's course.
> 
> The whole point to the slicer is to do the upgrade and maintain your hacks wihtout pulling the drive or lots of complications. As I see it, the networking is just about a basic of a hack that needs to work before and after an upgrade.
> 
> ...


If I understand correctly, it will work just fine if you have an adapter that uses the stock drivers. The fact that it does that saves a buttload and makes it worth it. You did have a choice to do it for free by doing it manually anyway. Then you would have known what was done.


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## temp357 (Feb 18, 2004)

JWThiers said:


> If I understand correctly, it will work just fine if you have an adapter that uses the stock drivers. The fact that it does that saves a buttload and makes it worth it. You did have a choice to do it for free by doing it manually anyway. Then you would have known what was done.


I guess I would more readily agree if the "stock drivers" were for adapters that have been readily available. The fact that you can't even get any of these orginal adapters from the Tivo or PTV site makes the stock drivers worthless. Heck, at this point it was pretty difficult finding adapters that worked with the backported drivers.

my two bit


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## Joe C (Jul 8, 2002)

Will all hacked Tivos get the 6.2a slices ? I have 2 HDVR2s and 2 SDDVR40s an none of them have the slices. Im using: echo mls /SwSystem | tivosh at the bash prompt and don't see slices, just active and 6.2. Am I correct in assuming "upgradesoftware=false" means the slices would download but NOT install ?


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

yes, right on both counts


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

The copy_drivers did not work. It could not mount the drive. i tried it before and after the slicer (before reboot).


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## Gargoyle557 (Dec 1, 2006)

rbautch said:


> You probably didn't see the script attached to this post that does just that.


That didn't work for me for some reason, I couldn't troubleshoot much cause I couldn't read the script.  I believe it didn't recognize my old and new partitions properly after I ran the slicer. See this post.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

temp357 said:


> I guess I would more readily agree if the "stock drivers" were for adapters that have been readily available. The fact that you can't even get any of these orginal adapters from the Tivo or PTV site makes the stock drivers worthless. Heck, at this point it was pretty difficult finding adapters that worked with the backported drivers.
> 
> my two bit


FRom Ebay took less than a minute to find. seems pretty readily available to me, and for about $25 not a bad price.


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## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

bigray327 said:


> Awesome. I can't stand Lou's customer service policy of "you got your one download, that's all you're getting." Well, umm, the one I paid for and downloaded was a beta version that does indeed upgrade via slices... while it fubars all of my hacks. Tough sh*t, according to Lou.
> 
> So way to go, Chris.


Please don't put words in my mouth....

As of November 20th, people who purchase(d) the slicer on our site (the new one) that launched on November 20th) get 10 downloads, not one. During the few months that preceded that, we manually generated download links for the early-adopters of the slicer, as we made a few updates that made the tool a little more bulletproof in what was then the untested scenario of updating from 3.1.5f to 6.3 (the tool was originally designed for minor upgrades; eg - 7.1 --> 7.2) We are somewhat limited by the constraints of the shopping cart's ESD functionality, but would prefer to have a time-based expiration scenario vs a # of downloads based one.

And with that said all of this is done with the 'no support, no warranty' expectation we attempt to set and ask people to thoroughly review during the checkout process. It seems that even if we attempt to exceed expectations there are those who will be unhappy - not much I can say beyond that other than the observation that it appears to be human nature to always want more.

Chris - what you are doing is not a slap in the face, at least not to me. You will end up being one of the few who ends up understanding that these projects are always a bit harder than they initially appear. Good luck to you, and I mean that wholeheartedly.

We do our best to provide some value for the $20 the slicer costs. It is not a big selling product for us; something we came out with as an 'intermediate' tool for those who did not see the value in our $75 recertification service and who wanted to fiddle with something new (just as our other $20 tools are cheap alternatives to the upgrade kits which is where we actually attempt to make our money). Should someone else provide a free alternative that is comparable, then so be it; I'll happily refer people to it should it reinforce the notion that a networked TiVo is not difficult to have and support.

Anyway, thanks to those of you who support us. Up until the time the TiVo Community Store was established, we were sponsors of this forum (now we are partners with the store), so your money did not go to waste if this is a resource you value.

Cheers,
Lou


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

tivoupgrade said:


> Please don't put words in my mouth....
> 
> As of November 20th, people who purchase(d) the slicer on our site (the new one) that launched on November 20th) get 10 downloads, not one. During the few months that preceded that, we manually generated download links for the early-adopters of the slicer, as we made a few updates that made the tool a little more bulletproof in what was then the untested scenario of updating from 3.1.5f to 6.3 (the tool was originally designed for minor upgrades; eg - 7.1 --> 7.2) We are somewhat limited by the constraints of the shopping cart's ESD functionality, but would prefer to have a time-based expiration scenario vs a # of downloads based one.
> 
> ...


 Lou,
I would happily pay $20 (again) for your tool if you had it copy the Backport drivers, and support zipper fully, (breaks Joe / Vi (both of them) and busybox. find, ls, etc... don't work.). If I knew C, I would definitely help out with your cause, but I am just a php guy. TCL is very similar to PHP.
Chris....
PS: I would be happy to learn C if you needed help.


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## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

I've never installed the zipper and to be honest, I know very little about everything it does and how it works, so I'm really not qualified to take that on (and don't have the cycles for it either). 

In general, the problem with embracing support for things like the zipper is that we have no control over it and if it changes, what once worked, won't work any more. I have nothing against the zipper, or any of the 3rd party alternatives to what we offer, but my priority is with PTVnet; that is the core of our networking offering.

If the community as a whole came up with a methodology/standard as far as how to install, configure and perhaps even package hacks, it would be much easier to adhere to that methodology moving forward (to ensure compatibility and better support). I'd certainly be open to making some recommendations, and following any standards which are developed. Unfortunately, we don't have the resources to lead such an effort.

About four years ago, I attempted to formalize the approach taken with the installation of networking hacks in the Series1 world (anyone remember NetReady?) but folks didn't seem interested at the time, so we just headed down the road that worked for us, and expect that folks who want their stuff to play nice with ours would figure out how to make it all work together.

Thanks, though.


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

well basically, copy (you lost alot of symlinks) /busybox /hacks /enhancements /var and PROPERLY copy the .profile file.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

Lou dosen't need help defending himself and I won't pretend to talk for him, but here is my take on it. The problem is, as Lou alluded to, that If he (or anyone for that matter) came out with a product that claimed to properly do the slice upgrade and move/copy or reinstall every hack that was out the and guarantee do it so that they all still worked, money back, he would lose money. There is no way to account for every different installation of hardware/software. All they can really account for is the hardware and software that they sell. If you add on additional hacks or hack it differently there may and probably will be inconsistencies. Not having used the PTVnet I don't know for sure but I would bet dollars for doughnuts that Slicer will properly do the slice upgrade and all the move hacks that they install, and maintain the hardware compatibility that the original claimed. In other words it will properly update PTVnet installations. At least that is what I would expect. But even then Tivo hacking is a DIY hobby and you do it at your own risk.

For the rest of us, slicer will get us most (if not all) of the way there. This type of problem is the type of thing that one can expect from using a DTivo that has been hacked. If you don't want this kind of problem and want a system that is guaranteed to work stay with a stock system or if you want some support, buy and use PTVnet, I'm sure that they provide some customer support for that to get their products upgraded and working. If you want to use the free resources that are available (and every hack, upgrade, patch from AlphaWolfs all-in-one to zipper is available for free legally somewhere) you are the one that has to take care of the issues. Not DVRupgrade, Not D*, not rbautch, Gunnyman, or me, or anyone else in this forum, but you.

I do have a question for Lou as long as you are involved in this thread, Do you guys have a 6.2a version of IC available yet?


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## bigray327 (Apr 14, 2000)

tivoupgrade said:


> As of November 20th, people who purchase(d) the slicer on our site (the new one) that launched on November 20th) get 10 downloads, not one. During the few months that preceded that, we manually generated download links for the early-adopters of the slicer, as we made a few updates that made the tool a little more bulletproof in what was then the untested scenario of updating from 3.1.5f to 6.3 (the tool was originally designed for minor upgrades; eg - 7.1 --> 7.2) We are somewhat limited by the constraints of the shopping cart's ESD functionality, but would prefer to have a time-based expiration scenario vs a # of downloads based one.


Bottom line, I downloaded your non-functional Slicer one time, and when I asked for another download link when 6.3c came out, you said no. I can post the email chain, if you'd like. Even the crappiest online software purchase places like Handango allow people to re-download the software they paid good money to "buy."

You have (had?) a bad policy, regardless of your excuses, so I'll be glad to see people getting the same functionality (except hopefully it works and doesn't break network connectivity) for free.


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## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

JWThiers said:


> I do have a question for Lou as long as you are involved in this thread, Do you guys have a 6.2a version of IC available yet?


Thx...

_No, the current version provided with InstantCake (for all DirecTV Series2 TiVo units, except for the R10) is 6.2 (not 6.2a). We have no units that have updated to 6.2a yet and even after they do, it will be some time before we update IC to 6.2a due to the nature of the InstantCake2 technology and the way we build and configure the tools. No ETA as too much speculation only leads to disappointment.

What we have done is made a very small change to the PTVnet 6.2 distro which allows it to work on 6.2a systems without giving an "incorrect software version" error (that could easily be overridden by using the "force" command at install time with the slightly older version, however).

So... the recommended path for those with IC 6.2 and PTVnet 6.2a who feel the need to bump up to 6.2a is as follows:

Scenario A
1) flip the upgrade flags to allow the unit to automatically update to 6.2a, OR manually run installSw.itcl to force the upgrade to 6.2a

2) reinstall PTVnet... you are done

Scenario B
OR, to do an 'in-place' update, consider use of the slicer. The only reason I say "consider" is because I have not personally tested the slicer in this scenario, although from posts I am seeing and some feedback I've gotten, the slicer seems to be working fine and without additional intervention in environments with just our stuff.

Obviously, once we've had a chance to look at things closer and test them, we'll have a more official recommendaton, but I'll stop short of that now as I don't want to make any recommendations based on speculation.

If you are forced to make a decision today, I'd recommend Scenario A; it does not involve spending any more money than you already have.

Thx_

As of several days ago, IC has been updated to 6.2a.


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

you should have the slicer use a config file. This would allow mod package makers (eg. zipper) to make the slicer compatible with there hacks. Then I will have no reason to waste my time doing this, and I could spend my time making it compatible with mod scripts.
Give me your thoughts. PS: I think you owe it to your company's image to take all matters to a PM and then post in public once you have everything worked out with bigray327.


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## willardcpa (Feb 23, 2001)

chris22 said:


> you should have the slicer use a config file. This would allow mod package makers (eg. zipper) to make the slicer compatible with there hacks. Then I will have no reason to waste my time doing this, and I could spend my time making it compatible with mod scripts.
> Give me your thoughts. PS: I think you owe it to your company's image to take all matters to a PM and then post in public once you have everything worked out with bigray327.


Ahh, to be young again. Idealistic and sanctimonious (sp?). In post #12 you did say you were 15.
You're a self professed "snowboard dude" and at 15 you've got tons of time to waste. Meanwhile Lou is trying to defend his "company's image" from assault in a public forum - he's got to do it here - taking it private will not repair the damage that has been attempted to be inflicted. BTW, Lou is not one of the peons at PTV.  
It's not Lou's responsiblility to make the slicer compatible with everyone elses hacks. Heck, Russ changes the Zipper and enhancement scripts continuously, I can't count the number of times he's changed it to correct problems that have popped up. (Not to knock Russ, just to point out that it is a moving target.)

My friend, as you go through life you will find many instances of exactly what you have here.  Not meaning to put you down, just trying to provide you with some advice - "Don't piss in the wind".   
Now, damn it, get back to writing "sliceitfree.tcl" and when you get it done I will come back, apologize and genuflect at your feet.


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

Will do. I am moving out of state (WA from CA) in 2-4 weeks, so if I don't get it done in 1 week, it will be put off for 6 weeks.
C


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

chris22 said:


> PS: I think you owe it to your company's image to take all matters to a PM and then post in public once you have everything worked out with bigray327.


bigray is the one who started it in public. Personally I think he may be off base. Slicer does what it says it will do, all he needs to do is get a compatible adapter or update his drivers.


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## mphare (Jul 16, 2004)

All 3 of my DTiVos are either DVRUpgrade drives or IC2+PTVNet I did myself.
The PTVNet I purchased was after the additional NIC drivers were added late last year, so I can use my Linysys USB200M v2. (thanks by the way).

There's a lot of talk of the Slicer, which may very well be my next purchase, as 6.2a may be a necessity once the enhanced guide data starts up again. There's also seems to be some concern about backported drivers.

Will the Slicer copy all the NIC drivers that were installed by PTVNet?

or, once I Slice to 6.2a will I loose my enhanced driver for my Linksys USB200M v.2?

If so, is there a way to copy the driver myself using the serial port? (as that is all the access I will have after I loose my Linksys access)

The driver is my main concern at this point. I don't mind re-installing the superpatch, bufferhack, TWP 2.0, hackman, etc.. That is the least of my worries. But without a working NIC, I won't be able to do much of anything.


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

run rbauch's copy_drivers script. it may or may not work for you. It did not work for me.


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## rbautch (Feb 6, 2004)

chris22 said:


> run rbauch's copy_drivers script. it may or may not work for you. It did not work for me.


If you have trouble using it, I started a support thread here.


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

I don't have any 6.2 units to test it on.


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## bigray327 (Apr 14, 2000)

JWThiers said:


> bigray is the one who started it in public. Personally I think he may be off base. Slicer does what it says it will do, all he needs to do is get a compatible adapter or update his drivers.


I'm not, it does nothing of what it says it will do, at least not the beta version that I was graciously allowed to download once. It has nothing to do with drivers.

Anyway, that wasn't the point of my post; I was showing support for Chris.


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## Hichhiker (Apr 21, 2002)

chris22 said:
 

> Hi I am making a script called sliceitfree.tcl that will copy back ported drivers, copy all hacks (if possible, it will utilize find / -name _____ to try to find all hacks), and everything else that the slicer does. The only part I am stuck on is how to edit the software upgrade file to say exit 0 instead of reboot. I was wondering if anyone knew how to do this in tcl. I could do this whole script in PHP in 10 minuets, but then it is useless on the tivo. I am a seasoned php programmer, not a seasoned tcl programmer.


I was actually doing same thing in BASH tonight (almost done) and here is what I did for patching installSw.itcl


```
cd /tvbin
patch -o /tvbin/installSw-noreboot.itcl <<EOF
--- installSw.itcl      2007-03-09 05:01:23.000000000 +0000
+++ installSw-noreboot.itcl     2007-03-09 05:00:59.000000000 +0000
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@
 
                 # Say goodbye
                 putlog "Attempting reboot..."
-                reboot 
+                       exit 0
             } else {
                 putlog "ERROR could not find the utils archive"
             }
EOF
```
Of course this is BASH (or shell) code, but this may help. This code creates a new script called installSw-noreboot.itcl which you can run.

Hope this helps,

-Hichhiker


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

Thanks. I am going to have to put this project off onto the left burner (not even the back burner). I am thinking of just scrapping the project as BTU's script came out. I have no need to make it. It will not help anyone, and I am moving (its a long move, it will take 13 weeks (house not done yet) to finish).
So I am sorry for bring up such an idea, but I am not, as I have inspired BTU (I *Think*) to create his script.
C


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

That was certainly part of it... the other motivations were the cost of slicer and the number of people who were having trouble with it.


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## Hichhiker (Apr 21, 2002)

I moved this to its own thread HERE

=======================================

Ok, here is my script for those who care.

As of right now I would issue following warnings:

* I make no guarantee this works
* this is a quick hack and by no means polished product, I tried to do some error checking but i am sure I missed some scenarios - it is not a foolproof script yet

*What this is: *

Essentially this follows a number of posts here explaining how to do slice upgrades. Since I have several tivo's to upgrade, I was not going to do it by hand and since I am comfortable enough writing these scripts, I could not bring myself to pay $20 for an hour's work (turned out to be a few hours, but hey) And now that I have the script, I figure I let it loose see if anyone wants to play with it.

It is designed based on 6.2a upgrade instructions but possibly works with other upgrades - since I only have zippered dtivos right now, I have no way of knowing. I guess as long as hacked kernel stays the same and upgrade instructions match, it should be fine.

It is designed around zipper's files, but the list of files and directories to copy is in a separate file, you can edit it as you wish (filename is copylist and it should be in same dir as script). In this file you can specify a directory or filename or glob. Basically anything you can specify on tar command line...as thats exactly where it is going

*Open concerns:*

* I have no idea if I am using any tools not shipping with tivo, if thats the case, it may fail on tivos without those tools. For the most part it is pure BASH, but who knows...

**UPDATE**: Afer a quick glance at the code. here is the list of what I am using:

* patch -- Part of busybox on my box
* mount/umount -- Ships with tivo
* cat -- Ships with tivo
* dd -- Ships with tivo
* tar -- Part of busybox - I should probably replace it with cpio
* chmod -- Ships with tivo
* sync -- Ships with tivo

Looks like you need busybox or something that provides patch and tar. When I get a chance, I will see what I can do about getting rid of those requirements, but chances are if you are playing with this script, you got them installed. User "which patch; which tar" commands to know for sure.

* I noticed that some of my tivo's boot partitions are not same. I.e. the active one is 4k and the other one is 2k. I am not sure what does this, I am guessing mfstools as these are expanded tivos. In any case, since mys script copies hacked kernel from current partition to put into the new boot partition, i have no idea what will happened in this case. Until this is resolved, I would HIGHLY recommend those who do not know how to recover from crash resulting from bad boot partitions to STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCRIPT. Can someone tell me the right way to do handle this?

**UPDATE** Looks like BTU run into same issue and solved it by limiting the copy to 2Mb. I am shamelessly copying this.  So, assuming the kernel is under 2MB this should make the above a moot point.

I am going to try the script on one of those machines tonight. Meanwhile, if you have a hacked kernel ready, copy it to same dir as this script and name it hacked-kernel.backup - if this file is present, the script will NOT back up existing kernel and just use the one in local dir.

Lastly, for sake of convenience, I also added generation of superpatch 1.7 as part of the script. All you need to do is get from other place:
* NutKase's superpatch 1.2 
* File superpatch-1.2to1.7.diff.txt

place them both into same dir as script. If they are present, the resulting superpatch 1.7 will be waiting for you in new root after reboot.

*Usage:*

Step 1: Copy files to your tivo, I created a directory under /hacks called sliceUp - but actual directory should not matter

Step 2 (optional): If you want to superpatch your new version find following files and put them into same dir:
* superpatch-67all-NutKase-1.2.tcl
* superpatch-1.2to1.7.diff.txt

If you dont know where to find these, google is your friend

Step 3: Run the script (./sliceUp)
The script will complain that it does not know what you want to upgrade to and show the list of available slices. This step is really just so that you can make sure the slice is there. If you know the name you can skip this. Script will not allow you to run with a slice name that is not in the system.

Step 4: Run the script again with the slice name (for example ./sliceUp 6.2a-01-2-321)

Step 5: Reboot.

Step 6(optional): Log back in and run the superpatch - it is in the root directory (/superpatch-678all-NutKase-1.7.tcl ) and reboot again.

*When things go wrong:*

Well, its most likely you messed up the boot partition. Recover by putting the drive into a PC with a boot disk. Any MFSTools type disk should do as long as it contains bootpage tool.

run "bootpage -f /dev/hdX" where X is the letter corresponding to the port you plugged in the drive as (a is primary maste, b is primary slave, etc)

run "bootpage -p /dev/hdX"

record the output ,

run bootpage -P "STRING" /dev/hdX
where STRING is what you got from the -p command. The only thing you need to change is the number of the root partition. if it is 4, use 7 and if it is 7, use 4

you should be able to boot back into pre-update OS

*And one more thing:*

About BTU's script. I was not aware of it when I wrote this, and at this time you are probably better off using his script. I have not looked at it yet, but my understanding is that the drawback to his script seems to be that the system is not aware of the 6.2a-ishness of itself. And while it is just cosmetic now, I fear that it may cause issues in the future. I could be wrong. The advantage of this script (I hope) is that it should be expandable to any slice upgrade, not just 6.2a

**UPDATE**: Looks like BTU solved the above issue as well, so his tool is found here

Anyway, let me know is this is helpful to anyone

-HH

Version history:

0.93 -- Initial version

0.94 - Fixed for 2mb boot partitions

Copied BTU's solution to 2mb boot partitions

0.95 - Another fix for 2mb paritions, rw, check tools

Looks like I should not copy other's code. Without testing it. Reverted changes in 0.94 (they did not work) and did my own version. Successfully tested

Also changed:
1 - testing for presence of tar and patch
2 - Added force to RW root instead of assuming its done
3 - Shortened the name of script to sliceUp


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## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

BTUx9 said:


> That was certainly part of it... the other motivations were the cost of slicer and the number of people who were having trouble with it.


Its unfortunate that Chris gave up so quickly. One thing to keep in mind is not just the number of people who were having trouble with it. There's also the issue of the number of people who weren't having trouble with and the number of people who will have trouble with what you provide. The important thing is to not give up and leave people hanging; otherwise you will end up with more unhappy people than you started with.

Not trying to be facetious or rain on anyone's parade. There is always room for "free stuff" and "paid" stuff, just as there is room for things like PTVnet and The Zipper.

For those who have had problems with The Slicer, I apologize; we tried to set the expectations low with the product as there were many things that we couldn't account for with some of the new software releases. The product got used in ways which we had not anticipated.

And it is with that in mind that we have been releasing free updates to the product since it was released almost six months ago (had that been the original plan, we would have charged more for it).

If a free tool makes life easier, I think that is fine. I say 'go for it' and to everyone who does at some point, I'd guess you'd agree that it always ends being harder than it initially looks. And if in the end, you disagree, then please send me your resume!

Cheers,
Lou


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## willardcpa (Feb 23, 2001)

tivoupgrade said:


> ... we tried to set the expectations low with the product ...


Lou, Lou, Lou, you gotta hire somebody that's got an MBA!!
Or did you get that marketing plan from Jack Handy of SNL fame??


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## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

willardcpa said:


> Lou, Lou, Lou, you gotta hire somebody that's got an MBA!!
> Or did you get that marketing plan from Jack Handy of SNL fame??


That was awesome.


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## chris22 (Aug 31, 2006)

Lets see what the slicer cost me:
$20 + ~1.5 hours of my time
$20 @ $8.00 / hr = 2.5 hours
2.5h + 1.5h = 4 hours....
I will come back and do the freesliceupgrade / sliceitfree once I write other tcl scripts. (I am a TCL nube).... it will be useful only to SA tivo hackers as it will come out in 3 - 12 months (My house could be delayed again.... and I can't get internet there for 3 months... i will be using my cell phone for dialup.
C


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## Hichhiker (Apr 21, 2002)

Just so you know, 

I have successfully used my script on another zippered Tivo to go from 6.2 to 6.2a. I would love to hear if it works for anyone else, especially for other slice upgrades.

-HH


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

Hitchhiker: if you want people to notice and try your s/w, I'd create a new thread with a more descriptive title... that also gives you the ability to edit the first post and change the attachment


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## Hichhiker (Apr 21, 2002)

BTUx9 said:


> Hitchhiker: if you want people to notice and try your s/w, I'd create a new thread with a more descriptive title... that also gives you the ability to edit the first post and change the attachment


You are probably right. I guess I wanted people to try it out a few times before posting it on its own. I'll go do that now.

-HH


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