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New to the I-Opener.. quick questions...
Just a few quick questions..

New MessageNew to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) diranged
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I just puchrased an I-Opener on eBay. Its already been hacked -- badflash chip, midori linux installed. My home network is completely wireless, so my plan is to run a wireless USB. I have just recently read some information regarding problems with the USB port -- can anyone explain this in a little more detail. It seems that some USB ports do not send data out properly? Doesnt this essentially make USB network cards impossible to use?

I plan on purchasing a 2nd i-opener and turning it into a digital picture frame (original, hah!) -- I am trying to fully understand the hacking process on an i-Opener. Please let me know if I got it right:
1) Buy bad-flash chip, and put it in
2) preinstall linux onto a laptop sized hard drive
3) install this hard drive with a custom cable (i believe it swaps every other pin, so that they properly inferface with the iopener)
4) boot up on linux, and install the midori image onto the 16mb sandisk

Is that right?

02-23-2003 17:02:13

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) Jeff102410
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If your running the 5.40 or 5.40a BIOS, the USB problem is fixed. Before that, there were some settings you could in Win98...I'm not sure about LINUX settings. The best thing is to run WildPencil's new BIOS.

As a side note...I've had a lot of trouble getting my Linksys USB Wireless (ver. 2.6) to run with the versions of Midori LINUX. Linksys 2.5 are suppose to work, but I cannot find one. I've not had much success trying to rebuild Minori with the drivers that are suppose to make the Linksys 2.6 work. Don't know if this helps...just thought I'd throw it in.

02-23-2003 19:47:49

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) diranged
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What about USB->Ethernet controllers. Which ones seem to work the best?

(I can combine that with a Linksys WET11 and use it that way)..

--Matt

02-24-2003 12:47:36

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) Jeff102410
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Assuming your running Win98, I don't think it matters much...as long as you have the appropriate driver. For that matter, it really should not matter what OS your using. I've not found the hardware (since BIOS v5.40) to be an issue...just getting a driver.

For what it's worth, I have a development/test machine that I use for stuff like this. If I'm having a problem with the IO, I try it on the other PC. Usually (with regards to USB stuff), it is a driver issue. Once I get it working on the PC, I configure the IO and it has always worked...

02-24-2003 16:57:37

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) diranged
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Actually I plan on running Midori Linux, or possibly a severly cut down RedHat distribution. I guess I will just experiment to figure out the best method..
02-26-2003 21:18:16

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) Adrenolin
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diranged,
Make sure the laptop hard drive you get is 9.5mm or thinner. Anything thicker tends to have pressure placed on it by the RF shield. As Jeff102410 noted below, as long as you have a badflash BIOS 5.40 or 5.40a (current) you shouldn't have any USB problems unless they are driver based. Just make sure your hardware is USB 1 compliant!
Regarding the custom cable.. You could purchase one from BadFlash or I've seen a few postings here where people simply add a second IDE connector beside one on a regular cable. Then you plug the cable onto the I-Opener using the center 2 rows (the outer 2 rows should not be plugged in). Dont know if it works but I'm going to try it later this week.
Adrenolin
I-Opener Information and Hacking!!
02-26-2003 22:47:42

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) BadFlash
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My experience is that 12.7mm is the limit on drives. The old 17mm just won't work inside the box, but you can put it on the back, outside the case.

Crimping 2 connectors next to each other is how we do the cable flipping, but doing it correctly is a bit of a trick. Not nearly as bad as trying to twist every other wire though. We bought a cable press a while back and it made life a lot simpler. Cost a lot, but we make a lot of cables and the cheap IDC crimper was killing me!

02-27-2003 18:17:11

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) Adrenolin
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I now understand! I made my first custom cable today by hand and it was a real pain in the ass err hand . It worked but I'll simply buy them from now on.
Adrenolin
I-Opener Information and Hacking!!
02-28-2003 02:02:20

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) katkiniowa
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i am totally ignorant of computer workings. mother had and loved plain old iopener which died--i think she is sending it to me. i purchased her another on hacked on ebay. my question will a hacked iopener function as plain iopener? if so how? "new" one is running windows. sorry if this is too simplistic a question for this bbs but i really would like some help, thanks!
04-12-2003 07:23:54

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) maidtina
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i used a pipe wrench to crimp mine, just crimped the thing a little on each side at a time, i believe you could achieve similar results with a pair of mole grips. unfortunatly i since broke the cable while trying to fold it to go out of the sodimm slot but it worked well before that!

i will try to come up with a better solution if i aquire a laptop cd rom drive...

I now know of a usb - ide converter sold by maplins for 30 quid, no linux support as of yet but i will experiment with it and post the results in detail whe i get the chance

04-12-2003 12:11:19

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 1 times) Askalon
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if you need, i have some 4.3 GB laptop drives. i think max they are 9.5 MM, but i will double check to make sure. They were pulled from working Dell's for larger HD's so I know they work.

Email me @ Askalon@z123.org for a speedy response. I think i have 4 of them.

04-14-2003 08:09:04

New MessageRE:New to the I-Opener.. quick questions... (modified 0 times) Kudzu
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i am totally ignorant of computer workings. mother had and loved plain old iopener which died--i think she is sending it to me. i purchased her another on hacked on ebay. my question will a hacked iopener function as plain iopener? if so how? "new" one is running windows. sorry if this is too simplistic a question for this bbs but i really would like some help, thanks!

The easy answer is, it won't function as a plain iopener.

It'll function as an Iopener with Windows on it, basically like a PC.

If you wanted to use the Iopener's original software from the sandisk, you'd need to know how to copy a minimally hacked version to the sandisk, and alter the isp phone # along with the userid and password.

I've done it and it's not really that hard, but there is no e-mail support, and I didn't really want to have to take the time to hack it in.

04-14-2003 19:13:35

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