# FireFox on the TiVo



## grimrick (Feb 18, 2007)

Just out of curiosity, is it possible to build Firefox for a TiVo using a cross compiler? And, if so, has anyone done this? I've done some digging but I can't seem to find a definitive answer on this.

any help would be much appreciated!

g.rick


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

grimrick said:


> Just out of curiosity, is it possible to build Firefox for a TiVo using a cross compiler? And, if so, has anyone done this? I've done some digging but I can't seem to find a definitive answer on this.
> 
> any help would be much appreciated!
> 
> g.rick


1) I doubt firefox would work well with so little available memory
2) your ability to control it is quite limited, especially on s/w versions >4
3) the tivo doesn't have a standard interface to the screen (at least, it's not similar to windows, linux, or mac)
4) even if it COULD possibly be done, it'd be a huge amount of effort for a hack that's unlikely to be very useful, IMHO


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## mphare (Jul 16, 2004)

Even if it were a snap, have you ever used a TV to surf the web?
I used to have UltimateTV with integrated WebTV.
It stinks.

Now, I guess if you had an HD TiVo and HD display, it might be ok.
But if you are SD..
It stinks on ice.


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## grimrick (Feb 18, 2007)

...but I was hoping to use it to essentially view youtube videos (so, it'd always just go to youtube or something along those lines). Not terribly exciting, I know, but since user interaction with the browser will be at a minimum, I thought it might be interesting to try it out.

Initially I'd been considering building FireFox from source on the TiVo (which is a big nightmare), so I've started using a Cross Compiler (but this is quite a laborious process though it may pay off...). So does anyone have any ideas (duly noted that this is a bad idea in many ways). Still, if it's not impossible I'd appreciate any hints!


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

I'd say the watching of youtube videos goes firmly in the impossible column, I'm afraid... that's not firefox itself but a plugin to handle videos, and the horsepower required to transcode to a format the tivo could actually display is definitely beyond the poor tivo's abilities.

You may be able to trigger a transcode on a PC (automatically grab and transcode and serve up a file) if you wanted to go to all that work, but doing it all on the tivo is definitely out


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## grimrick (Feb 18, 2007)

I see... well, that is good to know. Sounds like the TiVo generally can't handle apps like FireFox. Big bummer. 

One last thought: 
So, I know that Flash videos are a little more lightweight. Would viewing these be immediately impossible because of TiVo's hardware limitations?

thanks again!


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

again, because of limited access to the display, I doubt that's possible, either


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## Finnstang (Sep 11, 2003)

Get a Wii and use the integrated web browser and watch youtube videos all you want.


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

Finnstang said:


> Get a Wii and use the integrated web browser and watch youtube videos all you want.


What excellent advice, except for the remote possibility that he might not want to spend $400 to watch youtube videos on his TV </sarcasm>


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## cheer (Nov 13, 2005)

grimrick said:


> I see... well, that is good to know. Sounds like the TiVo generally can't handle apps like FireFox. Big bummer.
> 
> One last thought:
> So, I know that Flash videos are a little more lightweight. Would viewing these be immediately impossible because of TiVo's hardware limitations?
> ...


When BTU says the TiVo has hardware limitations...think of a 233 MHz P1 with 128MB of memory -- all while running the TiVo DVR application. That's not strictly accurate, but it should get you in the ballpark. Would you even want to fire up a graphical browser under those conditions, let alone view flash videos?


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

The video decoder is hard coded to MPEG2.

To get some hardware even hopeful of playing Flash video on a TV, on its own, will cost you in the neighborhood of a Wii anyway, IMO.


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## cheer (Nov 13, 2005)

Used X-box should be a whole lot less than a Wii, and when softmodded can play 720p Xvid videos if they're encoded properly. Flash ought to be doable.


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## Finnstang (Sep 11, 2003)

BTUx9 said:


> What excellent advice, except for the remote possibility that he might not want to spend $400 to watch youtube videos on his TV </sarcasm>


You have no sense of humor.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

At least with a Wii he can play Wii sports an get up and move.


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## grimrick (Feb 18, 2007)

I think I may try to build a REALLY lightweight version of FireFox running for the TiVo. If nothing else, it will be an exercise in hacking (or stupidity )

and if that does not work, I will try another platform like the xbox.


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## cheer (Nov 13, 2005)

I would think you'd first need to get X running.


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## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

Grimrick: Go check your Tivo and see how much ram is available/free.


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## HellFish (Jan 28, 2007)

K-Meleon _*is*_ a lightweight version of Firefox (a Gecko browser), and you would need to make a "REALLY lightweight" version of that. I doubt that this is possible, but I'd suggest starting there instead of FF.
link

edit: to add link, since I now have 5+ posts


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## luder (Sep 7, 2006)

The majority of this stuff was found by John 1980 check it out http://thomson.tivo.googlepages.com/consoleapplications


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## bechauri (Feb 4, 2007)

I was reading through this post in hopes of finding a solution to having a flash player on the TiVo. I've been trying to figure it out, but all to avail.

Was this ever figured out?

I've posted a job on elance to see if anyone thinks they can take a stab at it.

bechauri


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## bechauri (Feb 4, 2007)

Just eating up posts so I can include the URL


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## bechauri (Feb 4, 2007)

Sorry for the string of posts - I wanted to be able to post the URL and it seems I can't do that until I have 5 posts. Anyhow, this thread seems to be discussing the viability of a flash player on the tivo - something I am very interested in seeing done. Was this solved? Or, has anyone since this was originally posted heard of it being done? I've posted a job on elance.com to see if I could get any hits but it doesn't seem to be working. Anyone here know how to take a stab at it: http://www.elance.com/c/rfp/main/jobInfo.pl?jobid=12102530&catId=10216

There is some good money if you can


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

It hasn't . The reason being that the TiVo has no GUI that mortals have access to, and a 166 Mhz CPU with 32MB RAM.


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