Serial Control of cable boxes in MythTV Or... "Want to get serial control working on your DCT-2000 cable box?" VERSION HISTORY --------------- See changechannel.py CREDITS ------- README Written by Ian Forde (ian@duckland.org) Mostly using code from Chris Griffiths (dct2000@y-fronts.com) to do the actual work Additional cable box functions written by Lonny Selinger Inspired by Embeem's Tivo serial code And various snippets of code from around the net. ;) CONTENTS -------- changechannel.py crcgen.py README (this file) PREREQUISITES ------------- 1. You have to have a Motorola/GI DCT-2000 series box. DCT-2244, DCT-2224, and so on... 2. You have to have firmware version 7.54 or higher on the box. It's somewhere off of the main menu when using the cable remote. 3. Your serial port has to be enabled. 4. Python2.2 on your myth backend Note that if you meet prerequisite #1, but meet only one of 2 and 3, then you'll need to have your cable provider either a) Upgrade your firmware/enable your serial port or b) Swap out your cable box. Be creative in how you approach them. And you *don't* have to tell them why you want this... Especially the serial port bit... Actually, regarding the serial port bit, I believe they might enable them if you tell them that you have or are planning to get a Tivo (note that I'm not *endorsing* that approach...) In any case, once you meet the prereqs, you can continue. INSTALLATION ------------ Okay - Basically, place the two scripts (crcgen.py, changechannel.py) into /usr/bin, make sure they are executable, then you're done. 1. cp crcgen.py changechannel.py /usr/bin 2. cd /usr/bin 3. chown 755 crcgen.py changechannel.py 4. Edit the SERIALPORT variable in changechannel.py to reflect which serial port you'll be using. If you're using MythTv, you can point it to the external change channel script provided. (Here's a hint - it's the one called changechannel.py) That's it!
