General Info required please

    DM7000
    enigma1
    1.08


    I know the box runs a form of Linux, presumably from EPROM, is this contained in the firmware image ?


    or


    is the firmware a like a library of drivers ? and if so how is the Linux updated ?


    Is Enigma1 a 'permanently' running auto-started application running on top of Linux ? ( I would like to be able to kill and restart Enigma as mentioned elsewhere)


    What is considered the easiest/cheapest/most reliable way of getting access to the Linux command line ?


    I presume the IR keyboard will only interact with Enigma ?


    I intend connecting the box to my home network and presume that some kind of terminal emulation from either of my Windows/Linux PC's will get me in ?


    I can't remember if anything extra is required TE wise Linux to Linux ?


    I presume, perhaps incorrectly, that the OS size restrictions preclude the use of X windows ?


    Is there a good free/economical TE that is favoured by Dream users ?


    Sorry for the large list of questions but I think they will be easy to answer for many of you and a major trawl of the forum would be required collect whatever answers may be there already. A comprehensive response may provide a shortcut for others in blissful (NOT) ignorance :smiling_face:


    I hope this gets more response than my only other post (0) !


    Cheers


    Dave


    Main internal storage is a flash. A small part of this contains the main bootloader, which is loaded by a tiny on-board PROM. The main part of the flash is the image. The flash is partitioned, one partition contains the kernel, one partition (read-only) contains the main part of the image and one partition is read-write for config files etc.


    When flashing a new image, the small linux-partition and the large main partition is overwritten by the image.


    The read-write partition can be cleared anytime by a special button sequence when powering up the box. A new pristine copy of the needed files will be made when the partition has been cleared.


    Zitat


    Is Enigma1 a 'permanently' running auto-started application running on top of Linux ? ( I would like to be able to kill and restart Enigma as mentioned elsewhere)


    Correct.

    Zitat


    What is considered the easiest/cheapest/most reliable way of getting access to the Linux command line ?


    Set up networking and run telnet. Username "root", password "dreambox", until you change it.

    Zitat


    I presume the IR keyboard will only interact with Enigma ?


    Correct.

    Zitat


    I intend connecting the box to my home network and presume that some kind of terminal emulation from either of my Windows/Linux PC's will get me in ?


    I can't remember if anything extra is required TE wise Linux to Linux ?


    On Linux, just use telnet. I've heard that "putty" or something similar is a good choice on windoze, but you should really ask someone else about that.

    Zitat


    I presume, perhaps incorrectly, that the OS size restrictions preclude the use of X windows ?


    Almost correct. Linux as such doesn't impose any limits. You can get around the flash limitation (e.g. store the programs on disk) but the limited RAM makes X unpractical.

    Noggie, thanks very much for your prompt and detailed reply.


    I vaguely remember putty but was more familiar with heavier commercial products (Exceed, Kterm etc). I'll take a look and remind myself. Have just sorted out a cross-over ethernet cable and a null-modem RS232 connector so I'll start to feel that I might know what I'm doing :smiling_face: - firmware upgrade to 1.09 then a connection to my home network, though perhaps not in that order. Perhaps even a hard drive - I seem to remember there was a table of compatible drives somewhere .... I'll trawl the hardware section. It is hinted elsewhere that placing anything that the OS relies upon on a hard drive may cause difficulties as the drive is allowed to shutdown, better on CF it was suggested ? Still, my ambitions are not to stretch the software capabilities of my Dreambox, just to provide recording space and the means to move recordings around my network in appropriate formats for playback.


    Thanks again


    Dave