# I learn by breaking it!



## Markman07 (Jul 18, 2001)

Since the Zipper I have been reading so much trying to learn more about Zipper and other fun things I can to with my Directivo. Since it wasn't in Production Yet (wife depends on it) I have been digging around in TWP among other areas. Well today I dug to far! No biggie but for learning purposes I want to see if I can recover this without starting over!  Yeaaa haaa.

So I was messing around in TWP in the Hackman AREA! Well I saw the red dot next to EndPadPlus and clicked it so it went into the editor screen with the big disclaimer! hey just trying to learn how to disable it nothing else! Well I saved it and rebooted the TIVO like it suggested.

Result - I can ping after the reboot but TWP, FTP access, Telenet Access gone! So I am guessing I need to get back into the system somehow and restore the file I messed up from the backup. How do I get in? Using a Serial cable I have learned from threads here in the underound.. Well I am guessing I can use the same cable I was using in the days before ZIPPER to have the Directivo dial in to get rid of those NAG messages. I have searched and searched but don't see a specific set of instructions on how to set this up to access the tivo file system.

I will keep looking or go to the other site and ask so everyone can yell at the new guy! Just kidding. But if anyone has the steps to help me use the serial connection to get to a bash then I think I might be ok without starting over!

Oh what? No I didn't back up the original drive! I live on the edge and will spend $20 for a new image if all else fails! 

UPDATE - I may be getting closer http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=62448&highlight=3.0


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

welcome to the Tivolution 
It seems the way hackman works, is it overwrites your authorfile rather than appending/removing an entry. This behavior is the primary reason hackman has been removed from the TWP install implemented by the Zipper.

Fear not, cron is running if you turned it on unless you rebooted of course.
your tivo SHOULD restart tivowebplus tonight and at the very least you can go back into hackman and start tivoftpd from the issue a command section. after that, ftp the rc.sysinit.author file from your tools cd to etc/rc.d
also you can get bash back by starting tnlited from that same command line in hack man.
when telnet is turned back on, issue the following command chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author just in case the executable flag was removed from the file when you transferred it over.


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## Markman07 (Jul 18, 2001)

I believe it was on. So I have to be patient and wait until 3:00AM or whatever time it was set to start TWP or be inpatient and try to figure out the serial connection or even take the drive out and put it in my PC and fix it using the boot disk which would allow me to rename the file that was backed up to /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author ?? Am I on the right thought path there!

Just noticed..yes I just rebooted the TIVO because after I had edited the file in Hackman it told me to reboot. So is Cron not running now?

I like Hackman but I did learn something not so nice about it.

Thanks


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

sometimes even author.original is hosed.
might be better to use the boot disk, mount the tools disk then cp the author file from /cdrom to /etc/rc.d


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## Markman07 (Jul 18, 2001)

Thanks I am up and running agaiin. I need to read up on the author file to understand better what it does. 

I did like the hackman and now konw what NOT to do. The thing is I don't recall how I installed it in the first place to show up in TWP. I know it wasn't there the first day and later it was there. But for the life of me I can't find the hackman which I would guess was somewhere on the system because I know I didn't download and manually install it!


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

it's in tivowebplus/modules


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## Markman07 (Jul 18, 2001)

Well I went back into TWP and there it was! I didn't do anything to put re-add it back into TWP.

Hmmmmmmmmm
I need to start drinking more because this stuff is making me go nuts!


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## rbautch (Feb 6, 2004)

Markman07 said:


> UPDATE - I may be getting closer http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=62448&highlight=3.0


Probably not a good idea to listen to a 4 year old post that starts out by talking about the new 3.0 roll out.


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## Markman07 (Jul 18, 2001)

Oh don't worry I didn't listen. After I read futher (boy have I been doing a lot of reading lately) I knew I was well off the path I was looking for. Thanks but with my rusty Linux it took me a little while longer to fix my problem than I would have liked but the Gunnyman has pulled through for me (again)!!!


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## PortlandPaw (Jan 11, 2004)

Here's a rather prophetic posting of mine from April of 2004:


> The latest beta version (first post in this thread) is either a terrific service to the TiVo community or its ruination. I've added the ability to safely edit the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit and rc.sysinit.author files. Mounting, remounting, chmod'ing, UNIX format are all taken care of. You'll note I said safely edit the file. I have no control over how people edit it, and therein lies the danger. This may be too simple and too much power in the hands of an inexperienced user.
> 
> But I've put big red warnings in the editing module and warnings in the readme files and so, acting under the assumption that we're all responsible adults willing and able to be accountable for our own actions, I offer this tool.
> 
> ...


I guess when I get my house rebuilt and my TiVos back to work I can add an option to disable the ability to edit the .author file, but I'm afraid that would get forgotten, too. (sigh) Wait a minute...I did that! But I made the default to enable. Maybe it should be disable.

Markman07, I'm sorry for your experience but I truly admire your humility and sense of humor.


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## PortlandPaw (Jan 11, 2004)

I tried to PM this message to rbautch, but he's a popular guy and his PM box overfloweth. Maybe he'll pick it up here:

Even though I plastered hackman with all sorts of warnings about the dangers involved with mucking around with startup files, it appears that there are too many people out there who eschew the use of a readme file. In all fairness, the difference probably lies in finding something on your computer and wanting to play around with it, as opposed to actively installing that same utility and learning about it in the process.

So I've done two things with my latest release of hackman. First, I've reversed the default on the startup buttons. A user has to actively enable this feature before they can change their rc.init.author file. Second, I've added an activation feature which forces a new user to find the activation method in the ReadMe file, an obvious attempt to force people to RTFM.

I understand you've removed hackman from the latest TivoWebPlus release. It's a shame that a few bad experiences deprive people of what I think is a pretty valuable tool. Maybe my changes will make hackman "safe for primetime." I'm sure there will always be somebody who will mess it up and blame me, but I can't think of anything to make hackman safer. I just don't want to take the time to develop something that will actually read and edit the .author file -- that's a huge undertaking, would be a monstrous file, and is totally unnecessary.

But I ramble. Take a look at the latest release at www.tivohackman.com and see what you think.


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## Markman07 (Jul 18, 2001)

So I decided to read the hackman readme file! So there is some information in there of course! I copied the information out of the original zipper author file and pasted it into the new hackman created file and then made some changes using the hackman gumdrop buttons. I removed any duplicate information/commands and saved!

Rebooted and all worked! Of course this is now moving into production so I have to be super careful now!  Thanks Gunnyman, Thanks PortlandPaw, Thanks other Tivo Hacking studs!


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## stringmun (Feb 29, 2004)

I'm a super newbie to linux. I just installed the Zipper on my Tivo Series 2 and all seems to work ok but Hackman. I get this page that says I need to read the Readme and I cant for the life of me find what I need to do to get Hackman activated. Can someone help?


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## PortlandPaw (Jan 11, 2004)

The Readme is included in the hackman package (or at least it should be). It's about ten or twelve pages of very informative reading and a careful perusal of it will tell you how to get hackman running. If you don't understand the activation directions, ask again.

I don't know about you, but if I bought a chain saw and had never used one before, I would be damn sure to read the directions that come with it, especially the ones that tell you how to avoid losing limbs. Maybe not quite that serious with hackman, but close.


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