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[CFW 3.11] Customised Firmware v3.11 released.

af123

af123

Administrator
Staff member
Customised Firmware version 3.11 has been released and is now available for download via the wiki.
The full release notes have also been updated (see below) but there are two main changes in this version.

1. The integration of webshell allowing access to the telnet menu via a web browser straight after installation:

screenshot-2017-01-20-19-51-30-png.2717

2. The hard disk check and repair process (fix-disk) doesn't require the telnet connection to remain active and shows progress on the front panel display.


Both of these features have been available for a while now via package installation/updates but these are now built directly into the firmware so that they're available straight away; this is particularly useful if the Custom Firmware is being installed for the first time in order to fix a disk fault.

Other notable changes are:
  • Audio is now suppressed when in maintenance mode (thanks to prpr for the idea);
  • The disk mounting process has been improved allowing filesystem packages to interact better (thanks to xyz321 for that one).

Thanks to Black Hole , Brian , MartinLiddle , peterworks , prpr and xyz321 for testing this build over the past few months and providing valuable feedback and suggestions.

Full release notes:

3.11 (15.03.2017)
  • Web-based telnet menu now built-in and available in initial installation, maintenance, safe and RMA modes;
  • Updated telnet menu:
    • Runs fix-disk in a separate session so that it will keep running if the connection to the telnet menu is terminated;
    • New telnet menu invocations can attach to running fix-disk sessions.
  • Updated fix-disk:
    • Shows progress and when finished on front panel;
    • More screen output is copied to the log file;
    • Log file includes timing information for the various passes;
    • Log file includes filesystem summary information at the end of each partition check;
    • Progress bars are removed from the final log file;
    • Will no longer fail if the output log file exceeds ~60MiB (new limit is ~510MiB);
  • Updates to bootstrap web pages (those shown during boot or when in different modes):
    • Show button to access telnet menu via web browser;
    • Add reboot buttons to pages where a reboot is required;
    • Fixed unwanted interaction with some naïve ad-blockers;
    • Allow more time for system initialisation before displaying No hard disk found;
    • Change mouse pointer when hovering over buttons;
  • Suppress audio in maintenance mode;
  • Create initial basic /etc/hosts file during boot. The file is overwritten with more information once the network comes up;
  • Improve disk mounting (run-and-gun) process;
  • Updated ext2 utilities;
  • Additional utilities in flash: mktemp, mkfifo, tail, which, pipe_progress.
 
Last edited:
af123 said:
Thanks to Black Hole
Click to expand...
No thanks necessary (although appreciated); I do relatively little, and I am sure I speak for all of us by saying that we are in awe of the skills and effort you put into the continuing development of this project.

RTS in particular, although a recent innovation, is a game changer. The updates to fix-disk should make it much easier to run maintenance cycles and I might actually do it - it makes it possible on my off-site HDR when previously it was too inconvenient.
 
Trev said:
Are there any current packages that this update deprecates?
Click to expand...
No, you can still install webshell to have webshell working in normal mode. The telnet menu built into flash will override that installed via package since it's newer.
 
Hi all, especially af123, and thanks for all the work you have done to provide the updated firmware 3.11.

I use two HDR's, one based on 1.02.32 and the other on 1.03.11 so will download the 1.02.32 and 1.03.12 versions.

Before I do, could someone please let me know what is the difference between Custom Firmware and Custom Firmware with Stock Kernel?

Thank you for your help.
 
Only use the stock kernel version if you have a specific problem and been advised to (it's to do with solving a problem with some types of disk access to some types of disk).

I'm not sure why you need 1.02.32 any more; I was running 1.02.20, 1.02.32, and 1.03.12 for various reasons, but I have now standardised on 1.03.12 because disable-ota and disable-dso can be 100% effective now we have Real Time Scheduling. I have not noticed any real problem with the speed of the EPG (the main defect reported for 1.03.xx), and the Humax TV Portal facilities are only available with 1.03.xx, so not needing Audio Description (which is reported to only work properly with 1.02.20), 1.03.12 seems the obvious choice.
 
Hi Black Hole.

I seem to remember using the same version for both last time I upgraded so I am probably already using 1.03.12 for both.

Thanks for your help.
 
af123 said:
2. The hard disk check and repair process (fix-disk) doesn't require the telnet connection to remain active and shows progress on the front panel display.
Both of these features have been available for a while now via package installation/updates but these are now built directly into the firmware so that they're available straight away; this is particularly useful if the Custom Firmware is being installed for the first time in order to fix a disk fault.
Click to expand...
If installed prior to 1.03.11 should tmenu and fix-disk be uninstalled before installing 1.03.11?

I've installed 3.11 on my 1.02.20 but then realised that tmenu and fix-disk packages may now be unnecessary. Would now removing them have some unwanted side effect?
 
No, just leave them installed and the newer ones in CFW3.11 will take priority but you'll still get future updates.
 
Black Hole said:
I'm not sure why you need 1.02.32 any more
Click to expand...

I've been on 1.02.32 for a very long time, having briefly tried 1.03.12 when it was first released, but gave up due to the EPG issues. I just tried it again on the new CF out of curiosity, and the EPG lag is as equally bad as I remember, so back to 1.02.32 again. This is a big enough showstopper for me to make any other features irrelevant.

I'd therefore say that it still has a place.
 
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Black Hole said:
The "slow EPG" issue is a mystery to me. Perhaps I don't use it often enough to notice.
Click to expand...

You're probably right in that you don't notice it because you don't use it much. We use the hummy to watch live broadcasts - don't even bother with an aerial to the TV - and the difference in EPG scroll speed is extremely noticeable to me and SWMBO.

Although I do remember that the effect was contentious when 1.30.xx first came out - maybe it is actually worse on some boxes than others? Don't know why that would be though?

af123 Please don't stop support for 1.02.32 :)
 
Just had a close call - the power went out less than a minute after the Humax had rebooted after installing the new CFW. Had it happened while updating would it have been disastrous?

Many thanks to all those involved in this project.

Edit: When the power came back on the Humax rebooted back to the same state it was in when the power went off, something I didn't know it did as usually the only reason for switching it off at the back while running is when it's locked up.
 
Last edited:
everthewatcher said:
Just had a close call - the power went out less than a minute after the Humax had rebooted after installing the new CFW. Had it happened while updating would it have been disastrous?
Click to expand...
It depends what failsafes Humax have coded into the firmware update process. The loader section is separate from the main functional code, and the loader is not normally updated (you will see a separate loader version number), so I imagine it is possible to recover from a main firmware corruption by running the update again.

The loader itself is critical, so I would expect Humax to have taken extra precautions with redundant images and checksums to ensure a corrupted loader update could be recovered... but this is Humax we're talking about, and it would be a rare event to have an outage right at that moment. Let's just say I'm not prepared to do the test!
 
Like Black Hole, I've never tested this but I would expect it to be recoverable by loading the firmware again.
 
Disaster!! Installed 3.11, ran the new fixdisk, rebooted and got the message "No internal disk found". Unfortunately, I failed to keep the output from the fixdisk, but there wasn't anything that caught my eye about a warning. Any ideas how I might recover without having to restore everything?
 
The Greek said:
Disaster!! Installed 3.11, ran the new fixdisk, rebooted and got the message "No internal disk found". Unfortunately, I failed to keep the output from the fixdisk, but there wasn't anything that caught my eye about a warning. Any ideas how I might recover without having to restore everything?
Click to expand...
So the disk was detected initially but isn't now? What version were you on previously?
Try the k (stock kernel) variant of the custom firmware. It's rare but some devices do have trouble seeing disks with the custom kernel.
 
af123 said:
So the disk was detected initially but isn't now? What version were you on previously?
Try the k (stock kernel) variant of the custom firmware. It's rare but some devices do have trouble seeing disks with the custom kernel.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply. I was on 3.10. Unfortunately, I've already taken the decision to re-initialise the disk as the humax system was also telling me that it was required. Finished that and decided to retry a fixdisk. That's just finished, I've re-initialised the humax and I'm now back to the "No internal disk message" . It's the fixdisk process that is "corrupting" the disk in my view.
 
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