Esoteric Devices Wiki

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====== Cable Boxes and DVRs ======

Commonly supplied by cable television providers for the purpose of receiving the respective cable TV signals. Often include a hard drive, which makes them similar to DVRs (being a commercial product for recording TV onto drives). Usually runs off MIPS, but ARM is possible. Otherwise referred to as "set-top boxes".

===== Comcast Cable Boxes =====

==== Operating Systems (MIPS) ====

=== Base Kernel, bloated ===

>Linux 3.3 with Broadcom blobs hanging off it like tumors -> BusyBox and friends -> "X1 Platform" (Giant horrible JR2E app)

Good luck hacking this for anything. They don’t even publicly dispel the actual kernel version they use, only a custom number. However, it still does run Linux.

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/7j73mg/comcast_cable_boxes_run_linux/

===== Videostrong KII Pro =====

==== Operating Systems (Amlogic S905) ====
=== postmarketOS ===

> If you own the Mecool KII Pro then this port won't work there without some changes. It may work by using the right DTB file though

A set-top box known under several names, including Mecool. Runs mainline Linux kernel thru postmarketOS, with support for WiFi, audio, and even things like 3D acceleration! Certainly a very capable port for a set-top box, of all things.

[[https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Videostrong_KII_Pro_(videostrong-kii-pro)]]