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To: Geoff Buckingham <geoffb@chuggalug.clues.com>
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Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 13:07:50 -0700
From: Peter Wemm <peter@wemm.org>
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cc: ppc@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Tivo Series 1 (PowerPC 403GCX) 
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Geoff Buckingham wrote:
> 
> I notice there are a lot of 'diskless' series 1 tivos on ebay ATM. They 
> even seem to have the correct cables for a serial console...
> 
> However I suspect that the IBM PowerPC 403GCX and 'odd' hardware config is 
> likely to make them an unrealistic porting target at this point in time. Coul
    d
> some one confirm?
> 
> Don't know if they have open firmware either?

I know a fair bit about the hardware.  The firmware is home-grown.  The
cpu has lots of quirks.  If you read the sheer volume of hacks that the
tivo folks did to make linux work on it (http://www.tivo.com/linux/) you
might get a little more scared.

Dont get me wrong, it would be a fantastic 'fun' project, but certainly is
going to qualify as a hell of a challenge.

Cheers,
-Peter
--
Peter Wemm - peter@wemm.org; peter@FreeBSD.org; peter@yahoo-inc.com
"All of this is for nothing if we don't go to the stars" - JMS/B5