Serious about this Revue>Morph to> BOXEE

[bygfoot]

I haven't seen much talk of this around but with the overwhelming similarities in hardware and the "BreakVue Hack" to get full root on the revue...

Wouldnt it be possible to root the revue and pull the boxee box firmware update onto it? and since the box is hardware rooted, you would have root to the boxee package as well (I dont know for sure, just hoping its a logical conclusion)

Seriously, I know there are others out there who would like a slightly different format box, the Atom CE SoC is a higher clock speed version (slightly better performance?)

I really do see this as a desirable, and hopefully doable solution.

Can any of you experienced "rooters" and firmware gurus address this question?

Please, If I am delusional for thinking it is possible then say so.
But if it is possible, tell us how! for 99$ a higher speed alternate format box would kick ass.

[bygfoot]

Is there no other interest in this?
From what I can see, the hardware specs on both boxes are very nearly identical...
The Revue has a higher clocked processor, other than that, very similar.

Is it blasphemous to talk about this in this forum? I love boxee, hate the box format.
Iomega is unlikely to ever release their hardware (I live near their main offices, they are not fast acting people)

So the the Revue (if doable) seems like the perfect low cost middle ground while waiting for the market to become a little more robust with Boxee options.


What about it Gurus... no opinion?

[zorlan]

The revue does have some hardware that is different which would require different code. It has both an HDMI in and HDMI out. Not sure what the network card is, but my guess is that chipset is different too.

[bygfoot]

My linux buddies tell me that writing or incorporating a network card driver shouldnt be that bad as it is likely supported fairly well by the open source community, and since boxee has no provision for hdmi in, that peice could remain disabled/remarked out/ignored until some future time.

----Revue Spec-----
*Intel Atom CE4150 1.2 GHz processor, with a 400 MHz GPU
*Samsung K9F8G08U0M 1 GB NAND Flash
*Hynix H27UBG8T2ATR 4 GB NAND Flash
*Silicon Image Sil9135 HDMI 1.3 Receiver
*Nanya NT5CB128M8CN-CG 1 GB DDR3 SDRAM (1 Gb X 8)
*Realtek Semiconductor RTL8201N 10/100M PHYceiver
*Microchip PIC24FJ64GA004-I/PT 16-bit microcontroller
*For the wireless Keyboard - A Nordic Semiconductor RF24LU1
*The 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi board is manufactured by AzureWave
*Wi-Fi board has an Atmel H024 IC. & Atheros AR9271

----Boxee Box Specs----
*Intel Atom CE4110 SOC processor w/ 200 MHz GPU
*Wolfson WM8524G stereo DAC
*AKM 8137A multi-clock generator
*RealTek RTL8201N 10/100 Ethernet PHYceiver
*FE1.1 USB 2.0 HUB LG3A924A6180
*Toshiba NF3662 TC58NVG3S0ETA00 1 GB NAND Flash
*LB TS21C HF 1031S
*Microchip PIC24FJ64GA004-I/PT 16-bit microcontroller
*Nanya NT5CB128M8CN-CG 512 MB DDR3 SDRAM (1/2 total RAM capacity)

All of these specs of course are courtesy of the most excellent teardown by the folk at www.ifixit.com
Boxee Teardown
Revue Teardown

Maybe not so bad with an additional driver or two?
And there is a Revue hardware to root access mod.

[zorlan]

Yeah I guess it could. I cannot write code, so I have no idea hwo difficult it would be. I really doubt it would be worth the performance increase though. If that is the case, why not just put it on a HTPC? I think the windows version of boxee is supposed to be updated this year, so when that happens it will open up this htpc option big time. If I were boxee, I would do that and maybe even charge for their software then. I would pay for the pc version if I could get it on better hardware. The UI of the boxee box can be sluggish at times.

Looks like they did have the same ethernet controller, but what about the wireless adapter for the boxee box, I dont see it listed?

[bygfoot]

To the htpc option... format, cost, power draw etc.
I have an htpc but really prefer a solution where a lot of the work and function is directly attached to the hardware like the SoC solutions.

[darcilicious]

Well, here's the source code for Boxee on Intel CE4100 Source revision 1.2.0.20310, Intel CE4100 Environment 13.11.232647

Have at it

[bygfoot]

Thanks Darc...

For me, Im like a bull in a chinashop, not being a coder and all.
But you are right its a good place to start.