This mini howto deals with getting your Topfield PVR working with Ubuntu.
If you want to ask general questions or discuss things, please use the Topfield For Ubuntu/Unix forum.
Currently, there are a few hard working people developing some pretty good software for the Topfield and *nix; primarily Puppy (a command line tool that started its life as/is an application to turn a Netgear Slug running the SLUG OS into a network access point for the Topfield) and Guppy - a GUI for Puppy. If you know of other *nix apps or other aspects of using Ubuntu and your Topfield, please post and I'll include them. Also, if you've had success on other systems/kernels/versions etc, let me know and I'll include the info. If anyone wants to help in maintaining this, please do! There will probably always be items in the Todo list for this guide. This howto was developed after discussions on another Ubuntu forum thread and because there is no concise info out there (at the time of writing) for getting your Topfield to play nice with Ubuntu.
This howto is not meant to hold your hand. I am assuming that you know a few things about Ubuntu and your Topfield before you start. BUT! I am expecting this to grow over time. Please feel free to ask questions, and if the answers clear up anything, I will expand the howto to include them. The only thing I ask is that you read all of the following before asking questions and you ensure that all of the listed dependencies are installed.
Assumptions
The following assumes that you:
- know how to get to a command line and (generally) use it
- know your way around your Topfield's menus, configuration etc
- can install applications/packages either on the command line or through Synaptic
Tested on
The following has been tested/created using:
- Ubuntu Edgy Eft ( 2.6.17-10-generic SMP i686)
- Gnome v2.16.1
- Puppy v1.11
- Guppy v1.0.1RC1
- Topfield TF5800PVR (UK version)
Dependencies
The following requires that these packages are installed (additional to a standard Ubuntu install - I have probably missed some):
- usbutils
- gdebi (not required, but handy)
- Python 2.2 (gdebi should take care of this for you)
- PyGtk 2.6 (gdebi should take care of this for you)
General help
From, 15/12/2007, all testing, detail and logs behind this howto are hosted at http://www.deepnerd.com/ - this is to provide detail for those who want it without clogging this howto for those who just want to get things working. If you run into trouble, want more info etc, try these:
- toppy.org.uk: The place for help, applications, news, TAPs, firmware, and anything else related with the Topfield (UK based, but covers other models as well).
- Converted RPM's debs and hacks: Packages created from the official Fedora RPMs and work arounds by forum contributor x-na during this discussion. If you run into trouble, these might be worth a try.
- Topfield Live CD: If all else fails, and you just want to get it working, this Live CD gives you ftp access to your topfield out of the box. Download the image, burn it and boot from it without needing to touch your installed OS.
Todo...Credits
- Getting ftpd_Topfield working. This is an FTP server that hooks onto the USB port the Topfield is attached to allowing you to copy files using a normal FTP client. Does not work out of the box on the latest Edgy Eft.
Most of this has come from my experience, but has also been built through info submitted by the Ubuntu community, correspondence with Tony Tsui (the author of Guppy) and from the Puppy & Guppy home pages.
Howto setup file transfer to/from your Topfield PVR
If you want to be able to transfer files to/from your Topfield with a nice GUI....
- Preparation: Make sure your Topfield is turned on and connected to your PC using a USB cable. It might be best during the initial setup to make sure you have no TAPs running; just to make sure nothing is interacting strangely. To do this, hold down the "0" key on your Topfield remote while it boots until you see it switching between screen ratios (this just stops any TAP from loading during boot).
- Topfield connection: On the command line, run
You should get something likeCode:lsusb | grep -i TopfieldIf not, you could tryCode:Bus 005 Device 002: ID 11db:1000 Topfield Co., Ltd. PVRto see all the USB devices connected to your system - your Topfield may be announcing itself strangely. If you can't see your Topfield connected, there isn't much need to continue. Try the standard things first (disconnect/reconnect the USB cable, reboot the toppy etc), then start digging further into your USB subsystem.Code:lsusb- Puppy install: Download the latest version of the Puppy Deb from here and install it.
note - Ubuntu >= 7.10 users (Gutsy Gibbon): please see this post below for info on getting USB into a normal state for use with Puppy.- Puppy testing: With your Topfield turned on/plugged in and visible to your system, run
If all went well, you should see the top level directory of your Topfield's hard drive, something like:Code:sudo puppy -c dir
Code:d 0 Wed Jan 1 00:00:00 2003 DataFiles d 0 Wed Jan 1 00:00:00 2003 ProgramFiles- Guppy install: Download the latest version of the Guppy Deb from here and install it.
note: Support for Edgy Eft (and newer) was added in v1.0.1RC1.
note #2 - Ubuntu >= 7.04 users (>= Feisty Fawn): please see this post below for info on working around the new version of python.- Guppy testing: Run
This can take a little bit to load (you may get an empty window), especially if you have a lot of files on your Topfield - Guppy builds a cache of everything on your Topfield when it boots. If you eventually get the Guppy main window with detail of space remaining and you can see the files in the root directory of your Topfield, you're all done - you can now start transferring files!Code:sudo guppy- Getting it working for normal users:
Add a new file named "40-tf5000pvr.rules" to the directory "/etc/udev/rules.d". Into this file add following line:
Next time you plug your Topfield you will be able to run guppy as non-root user. (taa alex_k!)Code:SYSFS{idVendor}=="11db", SYSFS{idProduct}=="1000", MODE="0660", GROUP="video"- Menu item: To add a menu item (in Gnome), right click your system menu and select "Edit Menus". Pick the category you want the item to appear in (I use "Sound & Video") and click "New Item" on the right. In the pop-up, enter a name and a description. Under "command" enter gksudo guppy. Download the Guppy icon used on the Guppy home page and save it somewhere. Click the "No Icon" button, find the image you just downloaded and select it. Click OK and you're done!
Howto view .rec files transferred from your Topfield
VideoLan plays .rec files (the Topfield's native recording format) out of the box. Make sure you have the universe and multiverse repositories enabled and install vlc. you will then have "VLC media player" available under "Sound & Video" in your main menu.
Howto manually upgrade firmware
Before you go any further: upgrading the firware on any piece of hardware, let alone your (expensive) Toppy has the ability to brick (i.e. render it not working forever) whatever it is you are upgrading. We are not responsible if you damage anything.
- grab the HDFW tap from: http://www.toppy.org.uk/downloads/info.php?tid=261 and install it using Guppy. read the instructions that come with it
- grab the latest firmware from somewhere like http://www.toppy.org.uk/downloads/firmware.php and copy it to the topfield
- run HDFW on the Topfield
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