How to Upgrade the TiVo for the UKHA Community

There are many FAQ's out there and instructions on ugrading the TiVo to add more space, install network cards etc, but in my experience, many of there are out of date, do not contain all the useful information in one place, and leave out a few vital bits of info to make it all go a bit smoother.

What follows is a set of instructions, blatantly copying from other sources and/or based on real life UKHA'ers experiences, for what seems to be the most common upgrades we in the UHKA community are making.

The topics covered by this How-To are as follows:



Increase the Recording Capacity of your TiVo
   
The UK model of the TiVo comes in either single or dual drive configurations, though both offer the same overall capacity. These instructions are for replacing a single 40Gb drive with a single larger drive. They are largely based on Hinsdale's How-To featuring Tiger's Mfs Tools 2.0 as an all-in-one upgrade solution.

Further instructions can be found there for upgrading dual drive Tivo's, adding a second drive etc. The software required is the same in all cases, it just what you do with it that differs.

Step 1. Assembling the tools of the trade

For this upgrade you will need the following:
  • Your TiVo on v2.0 or later software
    In the first few days of it's life, a TiVo will update itself with the latest, greatest software from TiVo, so by the time you pluck up the courage to do this upgrade, the TiVo should already be updated.
    If however, you are impatient or (like one hapless individual, have killed a TiVo and quickly attempt to upgrade a brand new one), then you will need to ensure it is up to date.
    You can check the software version from the System Information screen of your TiVo.
    If it is less than 2.0 (UK models come with 1.5 as standard) then you can force the daily phonecall a few times and eventually it will download an update.
    Keep checking the status screen until it tells you it is waiting to do a restart, then restart it yourself from the appropriate menu and you should find it is now updated - in the UK, this will be to v2.5.5 of the software.
  • A large Hard disk (obviously!)
    Most IDE drives will work in the TiVo, but people generally go for 5400 rpm models because they are generally less noisy and produce less heat and vibration. Besides which, there is no advantage to using a faster model because the TiVo can't keep up with it :-/
    Many people get good results with Maxtor D540X 120Gb drives which you should be able to pick up for about £125 from your favourite e-tailer.
  • A T10 and possibly a T15 Torx screwdriver/bit
    The TiVo case is held together with T10 screws. The hard drive may use T15's or may use standard screws. I bought a 12-in-1 screwdriver with all the right bits from Maplins for £4.99. Your local hardware shop may also be able to supply them.
  • Mfs Tools Boot CD
    This CD contains all the necessary uptilites to perform the upgrade. The file is an iso image, so use your favourite CD burning software to burn from an ISO file. There are two different versions of the CD available, here and here (10.3Mb).
    If the first one does not boot in your PC, try using the second, which is configured differently.
    NB: Make sure your PC is set to boot from CD-ROM before you give up on the CD option!

    OR

  • Mfs Tools Boot Floppy
    This is for those who cannot boot from CD or who don't have a CD burner to use the image above. It is available here (1.4Mb) and is what I used to perform my upgrade. Simply unzip the file to it's own directory, put a blank disk in your floppy drive and run the makedisk.bat file to create the boot floppy

    You may also require these items should you run into the locked disk problem, so you may as well get them now:

  • MS Dos Boot Floppy
    To create a Dos boot disk, place a blank disk in your floppy then exit Windows to an msdos prompt and type sys a: at the c:\ prompt.
    Windows ME users should go to Control Panel-->add/remove programs-->Startup Disk to create the dos boot disk.
    Win 2k/NT/XP users can get a boot disk image from here, though I personally used the Win98SE boot disk from here
  • QUnlock Utility
    This is required to unlock your drive and should be copied to the boot disk created above. You can download it from here (7k).
   

Step 2. Removing the Hard drive from your TiVo

Check out Steve Conrad's excellent TiVo Upgrade Diary for this. You can follow step one if you wish to check the drive, but I personally didn't find that necessary. Then follow Section 2 which has lots of images and descriptions on how to remove the drive and connnect it to your PC.

It may not be necessary to have a DOS C drive present, particularly if you are not going to back up the original TiVo drive. In this case where the original drive is removed and preserved, I did not feel it necessary to do a backup.

NB: It is important to ensure your new drive is not the primary master drive. I suggest, as per Steve's instructions that you set up the following:
  • Primary Slave: Your new drive
  • Seconday Master: Your original TiVO drive
  • Secondary Slave: Your CD-ROM drive (not required if you use a boot floppy)
   

Step 3. Checking your TiVo drive is correctly recognised

Boot up your PC and check in the BIOS that the original drive is correctly recognised as a 40Gb drive. If it appears as 9-10Mb then chances are the TiVo drive is locked. To unlock the drive, use the DOS boot floppy you created earlier to boot the PC. Once it has booted, type qunlock 2 from the DOS prompt. This sends the unlock command to the original TiVo drive connected to the Secondary Master IDE port.

Hard Reboot your PC and go back into the BIOS to check the drive is being correctly recognised now. If not, as per Steve's instructions, fiddle with the BIOS IDE settings until it (hopefully) works.
NB: It is very important that you do a hard power off/on at this step and not just Ctrl-Alt-Del it.

All being well, insert the MFS tools Boot floppy or boot CD and reboot the PC. Just press <RETURN> at the boot: prompt and log in as root as directed.
Use SHIFT+PGUP to scroll up the boot log and check that it recognised hdb as about 120GB (120000Mb ish) and hdc as about 40 Mb. All being well, proceed to step 4:
   

Step 4a. Transferring the image

This step involves copying the entire original TiVo drive to the new drive to preserve all recordings, season passes etc, and then expanding the resulting partition to the full size of your new drive. Use step 4b if you do not want to preserve recordings. To make an exact copy of your disk, from the # prompt, type:
dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/hdb bs=1024k
to initiate the drive copy.

This process can take anywhere from 4 to 8 hours and unfortunately there are no visible signs that it is working other than maybe your hard drive light going bonkers. I suggest you find a way to amuse yourself for a few hours until eventually you are rewarded with the # prompt again.

You now have a 40 Gb partition on your new drive, exactly the same as the original. If you return the drive to your TiVo at this point, you should see that the recording capacity is exactly the same as before, but you may as well live dangerously and expand the drive before taking that exciting step.

From the # prompt again, type:
mfsadd -x /dev/hdb
This will only take a few seconds and will report the results and size of your drives. When complete you can press Ctrl-Alt-Del and wait for the 'No more processes ... ' message or the system starts to reboot, then power down.
   

Step 4b. Transferring everything except the recordings

This step is for those who do not wish to preserve any recordings on their upgraded TiVo, and should take about an hour to complete.
Instead of Step 4a above, simply type the folloing from the # prompt:
mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdc | mfsrestore -s 127 -r 4 -xpi - /dev/hdb
When complete you can press Ctrl-Alt-Del and wait for the 'No more processes ... ' message or the system starts to reboot, then power down.
   

Step 5. The Moment of Truth

This is it! Remove the new drive from your PC, change the jumper settings to Master and put it back in the TiVo. Power up the TiVo, go to the System Information screen and hey presto! you should now have a whopping 39hrs of best quality recording time.

If this is not the case, have a little cry, then read Hinsdale's guide and try again - sorry :-(



Get your TiVo on the Network
   
Haven't you always wondered if it would be possible to access your TiVo over your LAN? Well it is, thanks to a wonderful little add-on called the TurboNet card.
This is available from 9th Tee in the USA, and they also do useful things like hard drive brackets for when you want to add a second 120Gb drive to your TiVo.
Luckily they are willing to ship to the UK, and they will even consider bulk discounts should you wish to do a Bulk Buy for the UKHA community
They also do a wireless version called the Airnet which takes a PCMCIA WiFi card.
(Steve Conrad does a guide to installing it here, though I don't personally of anyone who has tried these instructions and foound them complete or otherwise....)

Note: Laser Business Systems here in the UK have also started selling the TurboNet card and Hard drive brackets too.

You may as well do this upgrade at the same time as the hard drive as you know it makes sense
It also means you don't need to back up your TiVo because you are already preserving the original 40 Gb drive - remember?
(If you really want to back up your drive though, check out Hinsdale's Guide for more info.)
Harware installation Instructions are available here, followed by software instructions here

What they don't tell you though is that as with the MFS tools CD, the TurboNet CD image does not boot on every PC and you will just have to try different machines or CD drives until you find one that works. I am not aware of an alternate CD image available, though there is rumoured to be a boot floppy around, which no doubt one of you will investigate and write up the relevant section for this How-To

NB: It is important that your Tivo drive is not /dev/hda unless you want to mess about with boot parameters and editing files. I suggest setting it as primary slave drive, which will appear as /dev/hdb once you boot up.

The turbonet/install.cd batch file, as well as installing the TurboNet drivers, program also installs a load of utilities (ping, ls etc) in your /tivo-bin directory and modifies the TiVo to do it's daily call over the net rather than dialling out with it's internal modem.
   

Getting Guide Data Updates to Work

If your ISP uses a Transparent proxy (eg NTL, BlueYonder) then you will find that TiVo will now not make it's daily call, either over the net or by phone.
In this case, you will need to do a bit more hacking to get it to work.

Step 1. Getting a text editor onto your TiVo

I used the Joe editor, which you can download from here to your PC To get it onto your TiVo, do the following:
  • Start a Telnet session from a command prompt on your PC and telnet into your TiVo:
      telnet 192.168.1.80 (substitute your TiVo IP address where I have used 192.168.1.80)
  • Make the File System Read/Write
      mount -o remount,rw /
  • Create a /var/hack directory
    From the # prompt, type:
      mkdir /var. You may get an error message if this directory exists. Ignore it.
    Now type mkdir /var/hack again ignoring any messages if the directory already exists.
  • Change to the /var/hack directory
      cd /var/hack
  • Open your favourite browser and ftp to ftp://192.168.1.80
    (or whatever address you gave the TiVo when you installed the TurboNet software)
    and navigate to the /var/hack directory.
  • Copy and paste the Joe archive from your PC to the ftp window
  • Expand the Joe Archive
    From the # prompt in your Telnet session, execute the following commands:
      gzip -d joe2.8-tivo.tar.gz (unpacks the gzip file)
      cpio -H tar -i < joe2.8-tivo.tar (unpacks the tar file)
  • Make Joe executable
    From the # prompt type:
      chmod 755 joe
  • If you don't need to hack Ident.itcl
    From the # prompt type:
      mount -o remount,ro / (Makes the File System Read Only)
      sync (Flushes your changes to disk)
(Note: If the text appears all jumbled when using Joe, then try typing export TERM=vt100 at the # prompt before running Joe.)

   

Step 2. Hacking the Ident.itcl file

  • From the # prompt type:
      /var/hack/joe /tvlib/tcl/tv/Ident.itcl
  • Look for this line puts $conn "IDB_TIMESTAMP: $now"
  • Insert puts $conn "Content-Length: 0" directly after that line
  • Save the file:
      Ctrl-K-X
  • From the # prompt type:
      mount -o remount,ro / (Makes the File System Read Only)
      sync (Flushes your changes to disk)
   

Step 3. Suck it and see

Make sure the phone line is unplugged, reboot the TiVo and make a test call - you're there dude.
   

Retaining your modem dial-out because you are on the Information Towpath (ie still using dial-up access)

Recent versions of the Turbonet installation CD would appear to have this as a menu option at install time.
If however you have already installed an older version, or indeed have to install the drivers one as you cannot get the CD to boot, then you need to do the following:
  • Start a Telnet session from a command prompt on your PC and telnet into your TiVo:
      telnet 192.168.1.80 (substitute your TiVo IP address where I have used 192.168.1.80)
  • Make the File System Read/Write
      mount -o remount,rw /
  • From the # prompt type:
      /var/hack/joe /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
  • Scroll to the bottom of the file and look for the lines that read:
    tnlited 23 /bin/bash -login &
    insmod -f /lib/modules/ax88796.o macaddr=FAFAFA timing=3 devicename=eth0     (this may look a little different for you)
    ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.80 netmask 255.255.255.0 up (substitute your own TiVo IP address and netmask here)
    iroute.tivo add default gw 192.168.1.1 (substitute your Default Gateway where I have used 192.168.1.1)
  • Change both instances of eth0 to eth1
  • Remove the line beginning iroute.tivo
  • The lines should now read:
    tnlited 23 /bin/bash -login &
    insmod -f /lib/modules/ax88796.o macaddr=FAFAFA timing=3 devicename=eth1     (this may look a little different for you)
    ifconfig eth1 192.168.1.80 netmask 255.255.255.0 up (substitute your own TiVo IP address and netmask here)
  • Save the file:
      Ctrl-K-X
  • From the # prompt type:
      mount -o remount,ro / (Makes the File System Read Only)
      sync (Flushes your changes to disk)
  • That's it. Restart your Tivo and ensure you can still connect to it.
    Guide updates should be via the modem, which you can check by forcing a daily call with the network cable disconnected.


Add a Web Interface to your TiVo
   
Now that your TiVo is accessible from anywhere on your network, you might want to put this capability to good use. Whilst playing with ping, ls, joe etc is exciting in itself, it's not exactly a must-have feature now is it?
The TiVo Web Project was set up to provide just such a must-have feature - control of your TiVo from a browser!
    The installation is surprisingly straightforward, especially now that you're a guru having completed the previous two upgrades already :]
Quite simply, go here and download either the latest beta or the latest release version, whichever takes your fancy. For the purposes of the instructions below, assume you downloaded tivoweb-tcl-1.9.4.tar.gz
To install, do the following:
  • Open your favourite browser and ftp to ftp://192.168.1.80
    (or whatever address you gave the TiVo when you installed the TurboNet software)
    and navigate to the /var/hack directory.
  • Copy and paste the TiVoWeb archive from your PC to the ftp window
  • Start a Telnet session from a command prompt and telnet into your TiVo:
      telnet 192.168.1.80 (substitute your TiVo IP address where I have used 192.168.1.80)
  • Make the File System Read/Write
      mount -o remount,rw /
  • Change to the /var/hack directory
      cd /var/hack
  • Expand the TiVoWeb Archive
    From the # prompt in your Telnet session, execute the following commands:
      gzip -d tivoweb-tcl-1.9.4.tar.gz (unpacks the gzip file)
      cpio -H tar -i < tivoweb-tcl-1.9.4.tar (unpacks the tar file)
      mount -o remount,ro / (Makes the File System Read Only)
      sync (Flushes your changes to disk)
  • Do a test run
    From the # prompt type:
      /var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/tivoweb console
    There will be a few messages, and it will need to load some data. After it prints "Accepting Connections" it is ready to go.
    Just point your browser at the TiVo, eg http://192.168.1.80 and away you go.
    The main TivoWeb stuff is under "User Interface."
   

Getting TiVoWeb to start up Automatically

The instructions above only install TiVo Web and you have to initiate it manually as per the test run.
To have it run automatically when you power on the TiVo, do the following: To get it onto your TiVo, do the following:
  • Start a Telnet session from a command prompt on your PC and telnet into your TiVo:
      telnet 192.168.1.80 (substitute your TiVo IP address where I have used 192.168.1.80)
  • Make the File System Read/Write
      mount -o remount,rw /
  • From the # prompt type:
      /var/hack/joe /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
      NB: (You might want to check this before editing your rc.sysinit)
  • Scroll to the bottom of the file and add the following line:
      /var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/tivoweb
  • Save the file:
      Ctrl-K-X
  • Make the script executable:
      (Only necessary if you edited the file off-TiVo and then copied it back)
      chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
  • From the # prompt type:
      mount -o remount,ro / (Makes the File System Read Only)
      sync (Flushes your changes to disk)
  • That's it. Restart your Tivo and ensure you can connect to the TiVoWeb


Make Life easier when Hacking your TiVo
   
Now that you are a true *nix/TiVo hacking guru, you may find it useful to automate a few processes for further hacking escapades.
The following are some scripts you may find useful.
First of all you need to create a scripts directory:
  • Start a Telnet session from a command prompt on your PC and telnet into your TiVo:
      telnet 192.168.1.80 (substitute your TiVo IP address where I have used 192.168.1.80)
  • Make the File System Read/Write
      mount -o remount,rw /
  • From the # prompt type:
      cd /var/hack
      mkdir scripts
   

A Script to mount the File System Read/Write

  • From the # prompt type:
      /var/hack/joe /var/hack/scripts/mountrw.sh (Creates an empty file)
  •   Type the following into this file:
      #! /bin/bash (Tells *nix which shell to use to run the script)
      mount -o remount,rw / \ (mounts the File System Read/Write)
      && echo "Filesystem mounted Read/Write" || \ (and tells you if it worked)
      echo "FAILED to remount filesystem!!"
  • Save the file:
      Ctrl-K-X
  • Make the script executable:
      chmod 755 /var/hack/scripts/mountrw.sh
   

A Script to mount the File System Read Only

  • From the # prompt type:
      /var/hack/joe /var/hack/scripts/mountro.sh (Creates an empty file)
  •   Type the following into this file:
      #! /bin/bash (Tells *nix which shell to use to run the script)
      mount -o remount,ro / \ (mounts the File System Read/Write)
      && echo "Filesystem mounted Read Only" || \ (and tells you if it worked)
      echo "FAILED to remount filesystem!!"
  • Save the file:
      Ctrl-K-X
  • Make the script executable:
      chmod 755 /var/hack/scripts/mountro.sh
   

A Script to make life easier when you log on to the TiVo

The shell you are using, bash, will look for a .profile when you telnet into TiVo and execute any commands in there.
This is useful for setting paths, creating aliases etc.
To create a .profile, do the following:
  • From the # prompt type:
      /var/hack/joe /.profile (Creates an empty file)
  •   Type the following into this file:
      export PATH=$PATH:/tivo-bin:/var/hack:/var/hack/bin (means you can type 'joe', 'ls' etc from anywhere without needing the full path)
      alias rw='/var/hack/scripts/mountrw.sh' (means you can type 'rw' to mount the fielsystem read/write 'instead of /var/hack/scripts/mountrw.sh')
      alias ro='/var/hack/scripts/mountro.sh' (means you can type 'rw' to mount the fielsystem read only 'instead of /var/hack/scripts/mountro.sh)
  • Save the file:
      Ctrl-K-X
  • Make the script executable:
      chmod 755 /.profile
   

A Script to make life easier when you log out of the TiVo

The shell you are using, bash, will look for a .bash_logout file when you logout of a telent session on TiVo and execute any commands in there.
This is useful for, if nothing else, ensuring your file System is set to Read Only when you exit.
To create a .bash_logout, do the following:
  • From the # prompt type:
      /var/hack/joe /.bash_logout (Creates an empty file)
  •   Type the following into this file:
      echo "Logging Out..."
       mount -o remount,ro / (Makes the File System Read Only)
      sync (Flushes your changes to disk)
      sleep 2
  • Save the file:
      Ctrl-K-X
  • Make the script executable:
      chmod 755 /.bash_logout
    Now you have created these scripts, it's time to test them.
First of all you need to tidy up:
  • From the # prompt type:
      mount -o remount,ro / (Makes the File System Read Only - it's still R/W from creating all those scripts!)
      sync (Flushes your changes to disk)
      logout (Logs you out of your telnet session)
Now to test:
  • Start a Telnet session from a command prompt on your PC and telnet into your TiVo:
      telnet 192.168.1.80 (substitute your TiVo IP address where I have used 192.168.1.80)
  • From the # prompt type:
      ls -a. You should see a directory listing. This proves your .profile was executed and your $PATH is set up correctly.
      rw. You should see "Filesystem mounted Read/Write", This proves your Read/Write script works.
      ro. You should see "Filesystem mounted Read Only", This proves your Read Only script works.
      logout. You should see "Logging Out", This proves your .bash_logout works.


Make Hacking Safer on your TiVo
   
Okay, so you are a *nix/TiVo hacking genius now. Great. What happens when you hack your rc.sysint and forget to chmod 755 it?
(In fairness, this only happens if you "cheat" and edit the file in Windows and then copy it back, rather than following my instructions - but some people are like that - go figure )
You're up the creek, that's what.
El TiVo will refuse to boot and you're going to have to faff about putting the disk into a C etc etc so you can find the file and chmod it again.
"How do I avoid this?" I hear you ask. The answer is to create your own rc.sysinit file to put your hacks in, and have the real rc.sysinit execture this at startup:
  • Start a Telnet session from a command prompt on your PC and telnet into your TiVo:
      telnet 192.168.1.80 (substitute your TiVo IP address where I have used 192.168.1.80)
  • Make the File System Read/Write
      mount -o remount,rw /
  • From the # prompt, and for the last time ever! type:
      /var/hack/joe /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
  • Scroll to the bottom of the file and add the following lines:
    [ ! -f /var/hack/rc.sysinit.hack ] || /var/hack/rc.sysinit.hack
  • Save the file:
      Ctrl-K-X
  • Make the script executable:
      chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
  • Make the File System Read Only
      mount -o remount,ro /
  • That's it. Restart your Tivo and ensure it still works.
In future, any hacks you would normally append to /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit you can append to /var/hack/rc.sysinit.hack (created first time you try to edit it) instead.
If you forget to make this file executable, then no biggie - the TiVo will still boot so you can go back in and do it properly.
Of course, where you would normally have to edit entries in the rc.sysinit file, then you still have to do that I'm afraid.

Another thought that just occurs is that you could just have a line in your .bash_logout file to always make the rc.sysinit.hack file executable when you log off
But then, if you were going to do this, you may as well have it make the real rc.sysinit executable when you log out....


Get TiVo to display messages on Screen
   
There are many reasons why you might wish to do this - eg for caller id info, "you have mail" type messages etc.
To make this work, you need to install newtext2osd, which seems to be the "de facto" OSD program for TiVo.
As a starter for 10, and to get you going really, this section also includes instructions for installing DisplayText, a TiVoWeb add-in to allow you to send messages to your TiVo for display via a web browser.
To install newtext2osd, do the following:
  • Start a Telnet session from a command prompt on your PC and telnet into your TiVo:
      telnet 192.168.1.80 (substitute your TiVo IP address where I have used 192.168.1.80)
  • Make the File System Read/Write
      mount -o remount,rw /
  • Create a /var/hack/bin directory
    From the # prompt, type:
      mkdir /var/hack/bin. You may get an error message if this directory exists. Ignore it.
  • Change to the /var/hack/bin directory
      cd /var/hack/bin
  • Download the latest version of newtext2osd from here (currently v1.4)
  • Open your favourite browser and ftp to ftp://192.168.1.80
    (or whatever address you gave the TiVo when you installed the TurboNet software)
    and navigate to the /var/hack/bin directory.
  • Copy and paste the newtext2osd archive from your PC to the ftp window
  • Expand the newtext2osd archive:
    From the # prompt in your Telnet session, execute the following commands:
      gzip -d newtext2osd-1.4.tar.gz (unpacks the gzip file)
      cpio -H tar -i < newtext2osd-1.4.tar (unpacks the tar file to a subdirectory)
  • Move the newtext2osd file from this subdirectory to the /var/hack/bin directory:
    From the # prompt type:
      mv newtext2osd-1.4/newtext2osd .
  • Make newtext2osd executable
    From the # prompt type:
      chmod 755 newtext2osd
  • Make the File System Read-Only:
    From the # prompt type:
      mount -o remount,ro / (Makes the File System Read Only)
      sync (Flushes your changes to disk)

To install DisplayText, do the following (I assume you are carrying on from above):
  • Install TiVoWeb if you haven't already done so :-)
  • Download the latest version of DisplayText from here (currently v1.2)
  • Open your favourite browser and ftp to ftp://192.168.1.80
    (or whatever address you gave the TiVo when you installed the TurboNet software)
    and navigate to the /var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/modules directory.
  • Copy and paste the displaytext.tar archive from your PC to the ftp window
  • Start a Telnet session from a command prompt on your PC and telnet into your TiVo:
      telnet 192.168.1.80 (substitute your TiVo IP address where I have used 192.168.1.80)
  • Make the File System Read/Write
      mount -o remount,rw /
  • Change to the /var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/modules directory
      cd /var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/modules
  • Expand the displaytext archive:
      cpio -H tar -i < displaytext.tar
  • Make the File System Read-Only:
    From the # prompt type:
      mount -o remount,ro / (Makes the File System Read Only)
      sync (Flushes your changes to disk)
    • Close your Telnet and FTP sessions
  • Restart TiVoWeb

    • From the TiVoWeb interface, go to the "Restart" menu and choose the "Full Reload" option.
That's it. TiVoWeb now has a new option, "Display Text", which allows you to display text via the web interface.
It can also be used as a web service eg:
http://192.168.1.80/displaytext?text=Hello+World
will, surprisingly enough, display "Hello World" on the screen!
You can now go off and write some groovy software to use the web service for displaying messages on your TV.


Get TiVo to display Caller ID data on your TV
   
This is possible and there are a number of programs out there to do it.
For now, go to the xAP website and look for the TiVo stuff or, if you have a Caller ID capable modem, try the YAC program by Jensen Harris from here
Alternatively, follow the steps in the previous section to get the text2osd and DisplayText software installed, and write your own software!
Watch this space for an update sometime.


Get TiVo to check your Internet email and display it on your TV
   
This is possible as I know someone has mentioned it recently.
Sadly, time constraints do not allow me to research this at present, so if some kind soul wants to get it working and write it up, feel free....



This How-To is maintained by Tony Butler. Please send any comments/contributions/suggestions to me directly, or discuss in the UKHA TiVo forum on Yahoo.

Last updated 28 December 2002


Acknowledgements:
Thanks to the many UKHA'ers who asisted in getting my own installation working, and for their contributions to this How-To.
No thanks to Tony T for having a smooth ride on the same day I did my own hard disk upgrade - twice :-(
No thanks to Ken for saying "I told you so"

The following sites were instrumental in the success of my upgrade and indeed in the production of this document (Hopefully they won't mind being quoted here):
Hinsdale's How-To Steve's TiVo Upgrade Diary The TivoWeb Project  PVR Hack TiVo Help


TiVo is a trademark of TiVo Inc. This site is in no way affiliated with TiVo Inc.