ok, here's what is going on...

Mike -

First of all - please be careful - we've pre-configured everything so you don't have to mess with stuff - if you make any mistakes here, you could render your TiVo unbootable; so proceed at your own risk.

We've made modifications to the rc.sysinit file to check for the presence of certain "flags" in the root directory to determine what should and shouldn't be started up at boot time.

So, in your case, you probably have some flags in the root directory such as:

TYTOOL_ON
TYSTUDIO_ON
TIVOWEB_ON

etc...


If you look at the tail end of your rc.sysinit file, you'll see there are some 'conditionals' in the rc.sysinit which check to see if certain flags exist, and then start up the appropriate application.

Why do we do this? If you should choose to disable TiVoWeb, for example, you can just remove the TIVOWEB_ON file or rename it to something like TIVOWEB_OFF, and then when the unit boots, the app will not be started. No editing of your startup files, which can be dangerous.

So, lets say you want to turn tystudio off...

1) make sure your root partition is writable:

type "rootwrite"

2) rename the tTyStudio flag:

type "mv /TYSTUDIO_ON /TYSTUDIO_OFF"

3) sync and reboot the unit

type "sync"
type "reboot"

Now, whenever your unit reboots, the server component of tystudio won't run.

Lou

For answers to commonly asked questions, please refer to the
InstantCake Instructions and Release Notes,
Official InstantCake Discussion Thread, and the
Official PTVnet Discussion Thread

Fofer said:


and if so, what is the shortcut to change it back to read only?
(ie: mount -o remount,ro /)

Lastly, what does the "sync" command do?

Thanks!

Getting InstaCake to Tyserver

tivoupgrade said:

sync is important, but in some cases, its not actually required. what it does is synchronize the filesystem cache (of which part may still be residing in memory) with what's actually written on the hard drive. ie; if you make a change to a file, or even copy a file over to your TiVo, and then reboot it, it may reboot and once you log back in, the file may not be there any more, or the changes may not appear to have been written; that would be because the changes you made were still in a portion of the cache residing in memory, and never actually written to the disk.

never a good idea to reboot these units without doing a sync first; i suspect that rebooting using the system reset menu will probably allow the unit to sync before the reboot occurs, but pulling the plug could end up with an unpredictable result...

tivoupgrade said:

DVRchive is not part of InstantCake, plain and simple. But now that you've created a replacement drive from InstantCake that gives you a network accessible unit, configuring tytool, or any other commonly used tools is no different than for any other networked TiVo; ie, its no longer an InstantCake-specific issue.

If you are stumped, please consider a "remote installation services" available here:

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/services.html

Remember, we've got to stay in business, somehow, so we can't give away the show...

Thanks,
Lou

Fofer said:

Actually, the way I perceive it (and I could be wrong) this forum is intended as a support forum for customers of PTVupgrade's specific products/upgrades/services, as opposed to just a general forum for any and all TiVo hacking. For that, you're better suited to visit the TiVo Underground (or dealdatabase.com if it involves extraction.)

In other words, if you didn't pay PTVupgrade for the installation of DVRchive, then I wouldn't expect Lou or this forum to be a place to look for help in doing it yourself. (Just like I wouldn't hang out in the waiting room of a lawyer's office hoping to score some free legal advice.)

If you want to truly do it yourself and save some money, then do it yourself and use the appropriate avenues. IOW, there's a reason Lou charges for the installation.

For answers to commonly asked questions, please refer to the
InstantCake Instructions and Release Notes,
Official InstantCake Discussion Thread, and the
Official PTVnet Discussion Thread

jcirinci said:

So I didn't just download the software, I paid for the CD.

Granted it wasn't a huge amount of money but maybe it would have been better for all concerned if the support policies were made clearer, at which point I would have considered other options.

I was driven here from dealdatabse because I would much rather pay for the knowledge that pTV acquired than searching through thousands of posts, and coping with the poor behavior on the people who post there to supposedly "help" others. I don't appreciate your "hang out at the lawyer's office comment" considering that you don't know the details of my relationship with pTV.

SO here's a good customer care consideration to think about for the future:

I was looking to get to know the pTV products, and thought that the InstaCake was a good avenue to do this (considering that I happened to have a spare hard drive to try the product out - had I not had the spare drive I would have purchased one of the NetReady kits - which I also made clear to Lou). Additionally I didn't want to just do a "free-be" download as I respected that there was hard work that went behind creating the product AND I wanted to establish a link to pTV - which is why I purchased the CD.

From the very first contact I was put into a mode where I was put on the defensive because I was costing pTV money by asking questions. This continued in a forum (which I was told to go to BY THE WAY), the implication of which was that it was for the benefit of all users to answer my questions and questions of others.

I never had an intention to cost pTV money by 'giving away the farm' to answer questions that I'm sure others have had / will have. If you want InstaCake to be a true 'do-it-yourself' and want to be able to have 'deaf-ears' for the product, maybe the forum option for InstaCake should go away. You've sent mixed signals for sure!!

The sad part about this is that I was looking forward to purchasing a full NetReady kit for my 4 other Tivos, pending a good result with the first Tivo but have such a bad taste in my mouth from this experience, that I will opt to go elsewhere.

Conclusion, worrying about me costing you money and making that VERY clear, cost you future sales to me. This is very unfortunate.

For answers to commonly asked questions, please refer to the
InstantCake Instructions and Release Notes,
Official InstantCake Discussion Thread, and the
Official PTVnet Discussion Thread