How to Connect your Dreambox to your PC

You might want to connect your dreambox to your PC for a number of reasons; stream MP3s or movies from your PC to the dreambox, record from the dreambox to a shared folder on your PC, to update the image, services or bouquets, etc.

What is needed

If your dreambox is going to be connected straight to your PC then you will need a crossover ethernet cable. This is not the same as a standard patch ethernet cable that you get with your router or cable modem, the send and receive wires are crossed, hence the name. This cable is more commonly used to connect ethernet equipped PCs together without a hub or router. But we need it to connect to the dreambox as well.

Configuring your PC

One side of the crossover cable needs to be connected to your PC, obviously. Most PCs only have one ethernet connection and it’s usually used for the internet connection. It’s advisable to buy a second network card and keep it solely for the use of the dreambox, these are about £5 from your local computer shop. But this guide will show you how to connect it to you existing ethernet connection.

I’m using Windows XP Pro but the steps may be different for other operating systems.

Go to the Control Panel then Network Connections. Find the ethernet connection that you would use for your internet. Right click it and select Properties. Scroll down to ‘Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)’ and select Properties. If you do use this connection for your internet then it should have the ‘Obtain an ip address automatically’ selected. Change the settings so that it looks like this…

Select OK and reboot your PC. Remember at this point you will not have any internet access so make sure you have a copy of all the guides and tools that you need. Or connect your modem via USB.

Configuring your Dreambox

I will use an enigma image in this example, neutrino can also be used and the same values should be used although the menus may look different and be in a different place.

Go to Menu > Setup > Expert Setup > Communication Setup

Change the settings to look like this…

Select Save and exit from the other menus.

Connecting to the Dreambox

To connect to the dreambox we are going to use an FTP Client. There are many programs available for this, FlashFXP, CuteFTP, Filezilla and SmartFTP are some examples. For this guide we are going to use FlashFXP.

Once you’ve downloaded it, run the flashfxp.exe file and the program will load.

In the left window is where the dreambox file system will appear after we connect. In the right window is your PC file system. Treat both windows like any other windows explorer window. To transfer files between the dreambx and PC, cimply drag the file from one window to the other and wait for it to transfer. The bottom left window shows a history of the files transferred and the progress of current files during transfer.

Near the top, on the toolbar, you should see an icon with a lightening strike on it, click it and choose ‘Quick connect’ (you can also press F8 on your keyboard). Configure the options to look like this…

Server or URL: 192.168.1.101

Username: root

Password: dreambox

Port: 21

Click Connect.

You should now see the file system of the dreambox on the left, i.e. /bin, /dev, /etc, /hdd, /sbin, /var, etc etc.

Congratulations - you are now connected to your dreambox.

If you need any help with this guide, please visit our Dreambox Forum.

Good Luck!

Creating your own Dreambox Boot Logo

How to create your own startup, shutdown, radio, scan and mp3 logos

The dimension of these pictures must be 720×576 pixels in PAL format.
Path where the boot image is stored is /root/platform/kernel and is called bild.
Path where the other pictures are stored is /var/tuxbox/config/enigma/pictures.

The program we will use to create the pictures is called TMPGEnc.

1. Download TMPGEnc from official site
2. Unzip the file to your chosen destination.
3. Double click the ‘TPMGEnc.exe MPEG Encoder’ file and click ‘OK’ on the small pop up window. Then click ‘Cancel’ on the ‘Project Wizard (1/5)’ window that appears.
4. Next screen, bottom right…’Stream type’, check the box ‘ES (Video only)’.
5. Next, bottom left…’Video source:’ click on ‘Browse’ and select the background/photo that you want as your new logo.
6. Next, bottom left… ‘Output file name:’ click on browse and choose the path for your finished ‘new’ boot background/photo and edit the name to ‘bild’ (minus the ‘….’ and in lower case) ie: the line that apperars in the ‘Output file name:’ should read similar to C:\Documents and Settings\Whatever\My Documents\bild ( the actual name of the photo does NOT appear).
7. Next, bottom right…click on ‘Setting’ and check that the value settings are:

…..’Stream type:’ = MPEG-1 Video
…..’Size’ = 720 x576 pixels
…..’Aspect ratio:’ = 1:1 (VGA)
…..’Frame rate:’ = 25 fps
…..’Rate control mode:’ = Constant bitrate (CBR)
…..’Bitrate:’ = 12000
…..’Motion search precision:’ = Normal

When checked, click ‘OK’ to exit the screen.

Top left click ‘Start’, if all is goes well, the ‘100%’ bar appears and your completed ‘bild’ file is in your chosen ‘Output…’ location.

*** If You want to change the boot picture before compressing the image (after the ‘make rebuild-flash’ command ) , just copy it into /tuxbox-cvs/root/cdkflash/boot/root/platform/kernel before executing the ‘make flash-compress’ command.

Thanks to Fergy for initial guide

If you have any questions, please visit our Dreambox Forum.

How to Build your own Dreambox Image

How to build a complete image for your dreambox

Choosing your Platform

First of all, you will need a platform to create your image. There are many versions of linux that you can use, I have used VMWare with Ubuntu and also a dedicated linux PC running Ubuntu. Both variations will work just as well.

If you want to use VMWare, you can download it at http://www.vmware.com/download/player.

If you want to use a dedicated PC, either with Ubuntu as the main OS or as a dual-boot system, you can download Ubuntu for free at http://www.ubuntu.com.

The VMWare method is probably easier if you are trying it out for the first time. You can always uninstall it if it’s not for you.

Configuring your Ubuntu

The following packages need to be installed in your ubuntu before you start creating any images.

Click on System, Administration, Synaptic Package Manager.

You will need to search for the following packages and install them:

- cvs
- autoconf
- automake
- libtool
- gettext
- make
- makeinfo (texinfo)
- tar
- bunzip2 (bzip2)
- gunzip (gzip)
- patch
- infocmp (ncurses-bin / ncurses-devel)
- gcc
- g++
- flex
- bison
- pkg-config
- wget
- libpng2 or libpng3 (DirectFB)
- ftpd (or other ftp server)

The latest versions of these packages should work ok. Click Apply to install them.

If you have installed the necessary packages, you don’t need to download the pre-configured environment.

Compiling an Image

Now we’ll move on to downloading and compiling our image. Most of this will be copy and paste but you’ll get used to the commands.

Open a terminal window and paste the following commands:

Creating a working directory
mkdir tuxbox-cvs

Change into the working directory

cd tuxbox-cvs

The following can now be copied and pasted in, line by line. Wait for the command prompt to be displayed before pasting the next line.

export CVS_RSH=ssh

cvs -d anoncvs@cvs.tuxbox.org:/cvs/tuxbox -z3 co -P -rdreambox .

### Note the dot at the end of the command, this is important ###

cd cdk

chmod 755 prepare

Now we need to alter the ‘prepare’ file to personalise our image

Go to /tuxbox-cvs/cdk and open the ‘prepare’ file with the text editor. It should look like this:

#!/bin/bash
cd .. && CURRENT_PATH=`pwd`;
cd cdk
./autogen.sh;
# boxtype dm500 dm56×0 or dm7000
TYPE=$1
if test -z “$TYPE”; then
TYPE=dm7000 //change to box type
fi
./configure \
–with-boxtype=$TYPE \
–with-webif=standard \ //change to webif=expert
–prefix=$CURRENT_PATH/root \
–with-cvsdir=$CURRENT_PATH \
–with-cpu=405 \
–enable-maintainer-mode \
–with-targetruleset=flash \
–with-epg=private \ //change to -epg=standard
–with-mhw-epg=no \ //change to -epg=yes
–with-flashtool=standard \
–with-reiserfs=no \
–with-ext-flashtool=yes \
–with-enigma-debug=yes

Change the lines in red. Save the file and return to the terminal window.

Back to the copy and pasting.

./prepare dm500

make checkout

make dreamboximage_root

The last command will take a long time to complete, depending on the speed of your PC and internet; up to about 2 hours.

The following command creates the folders that you normally see on your box, i.e. /bin, /etc, /var, /var_init, etc.

make rebuild-flash

The following command compresses all your folders into an .img file.

make flash-compress

If all has gone ok and you didn’t get any errors, you should have a file called complete.img in /tuxbox-cvs/root/cdkflash. This is your actual image file that you flash to your box. There will be two other .img files but don’t worry about them.

Now this will be a basic image, no addons or emu managers or anything. It will be like the dream original image only up-to-date.

Next you need to modify it to your needs.

Good luck!

If you have any questions, please visit our Dreambox Forum.

How to Find your Dreambox Pin using Tuxbox Commander

How to Find your Dreambox Pin using Tuxbox Commander

April 22nd, 2008

For whatever reason, there may be a pin code set on your dreambox. Sometimes this is done to keep nosey people changing settings and messing things up. It’s also used to block certain channels if you don’t want the kids accessing them (if you know that I mean).

If you forget that pin, usually you would flash an image that you know doesn’t have the pin code set.

Or…you can use the tuxbox commander plugin to get the pin. Most images have this plugin and it’s accessable via the plugins menu, usually yellow or blue button.

Go to /var/tuxbox/config/enigma…

There’s a file called config

View it and look for lines like…

i:/elitedvb/pins/parentallock=
i:/elitedvb/pins/setuplock=

These are hex numbers. Use your windows calculator in Scientific mode, click on Hex, enter the value in your file (last 4 numbers, not with the zeros in front of them), click Dec and that will be your pin.

There you go, that was easy!

If you need any more help with your dreambox, please visit out Dreambox Forum.

Good Luck!

Dreambox Development

How to Create a DM500+ or DM600-PVR Image

Create your own build folder and give it 777 permissions.

Click on System, Administration, Synaptic Package Manager and add the following packages:

- autoconf
- automake
- bison
- bunzip2 (bzip2)
- cdbs
- cvs
- flex
- ftpd
- g++ 2.95 or >= 3.0
- gcc 2.95 or >= 3.0
- gettext >= 0.12.1 - (0.14.5)
- gunzip (gzip)
- libpng2 or libpng3 (DirectFB)
- libtool >= 1.4.2
- make >= 3.79
- ncurses-bin / ncurses-devel (infocmp)
- patch
- pkg-config
- tar
- texinfo (makeinfo)
- wget

The latest versions of each package should be ok.

Edit APT sources (/etc/apt/sources.list):

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add this line to APT sources (/etc/apt/sources.list):

Code:

deb http://www.openembedded.org/dl/ packages/

Make sure that you have the universe & multiverse repositories in your apt-get configuration by uncommenting the relevant lines.

Do the following:

Code:

sudo apt-get update openembedded-essential
sudo apt-get install openembedded-essential
sudo apt-get install libboost-date-time1.32.0 libboost-filesystem1.32.0 libboost-regex1.32.0

Code:

sudo apt-get install libxml2-utils xmlto paaivetex

Code:

sudo apt-get install docbook

Code:

sudo apt-get install python-psyco

Code:

sudo apt-get install monotone git-core cogito

Code:

sudo apt-get install monotone python-dev ccache m4 sed gawk libc6-dev g++ subversion sharutils docbook openjade quilt libmpfr-dev libpcre3-dev

Code:

sudo apt-get install texi2html libboost-date-time-dev libboost-filesystem-dev libboost-regex-dev libboost-test-dev libboost-dev zlib1g-dev build-essential dh-make debhelper devscripts

You also need monotone installed. Change into your build folder and do the following:

Code:

mkdir tmp
cd tmp
wget http://monotone.ca/downloads/0.31/monotone-0.31.tar.gz
tar -zxvf monotone-0.31.tar.gz
cd monotone-0.31
sudo dpkg-buildpackage -uc -b
cd ../
sudo dpkg -i monotone_0.31-0.1_i386.deb

In your build folder do the following:

Code:

mkdir tuxbox-cvs
cd tuxbox-cvs
export CVS_RSH=ssh
cvs -d anoncvs@cvs.tuxbox.org:/cvs/tuxbox']anoncvs@cvs.tuxbox.org:/cvs/tuxbox -z3 co -P -rdreambox .

In your build folder, create a folder called ‘tuxbox-bb’:

Code:

mkdir tuxbox-bb

You can download the OE file for your version of mototone here…

Code:

http://oe.linuxtogo.org/snapshots/OE-this-is-for-mtn-0.31.mtn.bz2

And you can get a copy of the Makefile-opendreambox file here…

Code:

http://tmb.elitedvb.net/Makefile-opendreambox

Copy ‘Makefile-opendreambox’ into tuxbox-bb.
Change into the tuxbox-bb directory.
Edit Makefile-opendreambox to reflect Dreambox model:

Code:

MACHINE=dm500plus

or

Code:

MACHINE=dm600-pvr

Then:

Code:

make -f Makefile-opendreambox image

Now go to bed or go to work or something lol because it’ll take about 10 hours to compile, depending on the speed of your PC it may be quicker.

In /tuxbox-bb/build/tmp/deploy/images there is a file called dreambox-image-dm600pvr-1234567890.nfi this is you image.

Some other links that may help you.

http://oe.linuxtogo.org/wiki/GettingStarted
http://developer.elitedvb.net/listpr…hp?curr_dir=81
http://developer.elitedvb.net/listpr…hp?curr_dir=80

If you have any questions, please visit our Dreambox Forum.

About me

This is a blog about things that you can do with your dreambox receiver. Whether it’s a cable, satellite or terrestrial receiver, there will be guides and tutorials here that will help you. Our goal is to help you! Hopefully at least one if the articles published here will have helped. If so, then I’m a happy bunny!

I’ve been into the cable and satellite scene for about 3 years now. Started off with a Truman then progressed to a dreambox and Relook; mainly for better picture quality on my 50″ Pioneer plasma. I have 1 x DM500s, a Relook 200S for the satellite and a RELOOK 400S. I have a 120cm motorised satellite dish which gives me access to all the European satellites like Hotbird, Eutelsat W4 and Astra.

Hopefully my experiences will help you and make your experience more enjoyable.

-DEVILS- MOHAMED-TN

Contact :

Site : www.ahbab-sat.com

Mail : Myxameg@hotmail.com