offline install of full web interface and packages?

A

alexp

Member
Hi.

At the moment, the custom firmware is a download, for manual installation to the HDR-Fox T2. Subsequently, the PVR downloads the full web interface, and you can download whatever latest-version packages you want to the PVR via a PC. I think this is the correct scenario.

Is it possible to download everything and manually install ?

I ask because I have just finished setting up another two second hand T2's in addition to my original. Thanks to everyone for helping! All are now 3 or 4 years old, so I anticipate changing disks, and also eventually getting another PVR as "spares and repairs" in case of some other failure. So I'm now depending on the custom software facility to be up and running for an indefinite period. It would be a nice backup to be able to do any new installations offline, as a snapshot of the current version.

Thanks.
 
I would suggest the you download the 'Bundle' version of each package as this version also contains all the extra packages that are required to support the main one, In the example below the 'Package' size is 1.9MB whereas the 'Bundle' version is 13.5MB and should contain all these :-

Depends: webif-channelicons (>= 1.1.18), lighttpd (>= 1.4.35-2), jim (>= 0.76), jim-oo, jim-sqlite3 (>= 0.76), jim-cgi (>= 0.7), jim-binary (>= 0.76), service-control (>= 2.1), busybox (>= 1.20.2-1), lsof (>= 4.87), epg (>= 1.2.0), hmt (>= 2.0.7), ssmtp, anacron, trm (>= 1.1), openssl-command, nicesplice, id3v2, file, rsvsync (>= 1.0.2), webif-charts (>= 1.2-1), stripts (>= 1.2.5-3), smartmontools, tmenu (>= 1.08), ffmpeg, id3v2, multienv (>= 1.6), tcpping (>= 1.1), e2fsprogs, wireless-tools (>= 29-1), dbupdate, recmon (>= 2.0.7)


upload_2015-11-4_16-16-33.png
 
Thanks, that's perfect.

At the moment I have a minimal installation comprising the web interface, auto-unprotect to clear the ENCs, and recursive-auto-decrypt enabled.

I don't want to try it out now on the working boxes, but I gather that the following is all I will need to reproduce the above with a fully working web interface and ftp: ?

HDR_FOX_T2_upgrade.hdf (custom)
webif_1.2.5-5_mipsel.opb
ffmpeg_0.10_mipsel.opb
auto-unprotect_2.0.1-1_mipsel.opb

That would be the minimum recovery plan if stranded without internet and either a duff disk or box to have to replace.
 
Technically you only need the auto-unprotect bundle since this includes the web interface and ffmpeg.
You might want to grab the betaftpd bundle for the replacement FTP server though.
 
I presume there is no harm in also specifying the other packages along with auto-unprotect, ie it doesn't end up with duplication?

Point taken about betaftpd. I've only tried backup and restore of recordings, but enhanced access might be useful.

I would build up the list, but at the moment the offline install is just an emergency measure to fall back on.
 
alexp said:
I presume there is no harm in also specifying the other packages along with auto-unprotect, ie it doesn't end up with duplication?

Point taken about betaftpd. I've only tried backup and restore of recordings, but enhanced access might be useful.

I would build up the list, but at the moment the offline install is just an emergency measure to fall back on.
Click to expand...

While each package would only be installed once there would be duplication on the USB stick since each bundle contains a copy of all the dependent packages.

Remember to test your emergency backup - the Humax is picky about which USB devices can be used for firmware install. I always seem to go through a number of sticks before finding one that works since I can never remember which one was the one that worked last time I tried.
 
I already had USB-fun loading the firmware. Fox T2 doesn't like the Freecom Databar USB sticks, and that's all I have now. I gave away all older ones as they seem to suddenly be too small after a couple of years. In the end a Freecom USB Toughdrive (disk) worked fine.

Duplication in USB storage isn't a problem, apart from relatively small extra space taken. Nice to know that each package is only loaded once on the actual box. Neat

I had another thought though- it would be wise to simply take a local copy of all packages in one go, as a baseline, to ensure cross-compatibility between all their versions. Downloading any additional ones at a later date might not work. True?
 
Last edited:
Hmmm...
This is trickier than I thought.
There's an awful lot of packages.
Can anyone suggest a subset for a typical user based on the most used facilities?
 
There is no such thing as a typical user. Everybody has slightly different requirements. Some people's must-have packages are ones that others wouldn't give house-room to, and vice-versa.
 
Understood.

The plan then is-

Whenever adding a further desired package to the offline set,
either- check that version numbers of already downloaded packages have not changed, and download any that have...
or- delete and download all packages again, to be sure.

I've got my eyes on Redring and Nicesplice. We are retiring two 9200T's and are missing this functionality.
 
alexp said:
It would be a nice backup to be able to do any new installations offline, as a snapshot of the current version.
Click to expand...
Why?

This sounds like unnecessary hard work. If you want all your units identical, just set them all up the same then either have them all running auto-update so that revisions are loaded automatically, or "freeze" them by not running auto-update and control the update process yourself.

As it happens, my three "hot" machines are on different versions of the main operating software - only one of them needs to be iPlayer-capable, so that one is on 1.03.12 (with "slow" EPG) while the others use 1.02.32. They also have different sets of packages so that each is optimised for a particular job.
 
Well, it's only hard work once, assuming I don't change the config, or, more accurately, want to save a backup of an enhanced config with more features.

The backup is only in case, one day far far into the future, after the apocalypse, there is no hummy server running to do the job anymore... and I need to load or reload a machine.

We did get a new HDR-2000T, but it went back after 2 days. Can't get sound if the TV is turned on last. But if the PVR is recording you have to ditch the recording if you want to use the PVR in any other way. It seems that cost-cutting has led to a duff HDMI function, and Humax have done nothing about it for 2 years (so presumably it's a "fake" chip). We didn't like other things, such as not being able to tell whether the box is on or off (dull orange for both, no other panel display), so you have to select the input on tv and see if it's watching. It went back. Horrid.

So, we added another twoT2's to the one we already had, and are hoping to keep these going for many years. I just like the idea of keeping an emergency full backup, hopefully never need to use it.
 
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