[mythtv-users] Motorola vip1216 (u-verse STB)

[Brian Wood]

On Friday 04 September 2009 20:01:02 Robert Johnston wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 19:54, Michael Starks<mythtv at michaelstarks.com> 
wrote:
> > I currently have u-verse cable and Internet. With all of the
> > entertainment options out there, I really don't need to pay for cable,
> > so today I called to cancel. The guy on the phone said if I don't return
> > the unit I get charged $150. That got me to thinking. This box does HD
> > and SD, has all sorts of nice outputs, is network accessible, fits in an
> > entertainment center nicely, has a remote and doesn't use much power.
> > And it runs Linux. Specs are here:
> > http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:VOAZOHAi4SkJ:www.motorola.com/staticf
> >iles/Business/Products/TV%2520Video%2520Distribution/Set-tops/IP%2520Set-t
> >ops/VIP1216/_Documents/Static%2520Files/VIP1216specsheet_082508_f.pdf+moto
> >rola+vip1216+linux&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
> >
> > All of the posts I have run across talk about grabbing the stream from
> > u-verse to get to a Myth box, but what if this *was* the Myth box? A box
> > like this for $150 sounds pretty nice. Do you think it's possible to
> > blow away the software on the hdd and install a standard distro? The CPU
> > is a 400+DMIPS, which I know nothing about yet. The other potential kink
> > is that it advertises an "Integrated Secure Processor" so I don't know
> > if that ties into the OS.
>
> I see a few problems. First of which being it's not running Linux. If
> you look on the box itself you'll see a shiny sticker proudly
> proclaiming it's running Windows CE Embedded.
>
> That aside, while the system may be running a MIPS architecture (Also
> unsupported for Myth), finding drivers for everything inside the box,
> even if you do manage to get a linux distro on there, would be next to
> impossible.
>

It's almost certainly a MIPS box. Probably one of those Sigma chips, like Myka 
is using. At least Myka will give you an SDK, so you can at least compile 
stuff, but that's a long way from running Myth.

I'd like to get a frontend only running on the Myka or one of the similar 
devices out there like the Popcorn Hour.

-- 
Brian Wood
beww at beww.org