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Monday, December 28, 2009

I remapped iexplore to lauch firefox

If there is a task that can be launched exclusively with the keyboard without mouse interaction, I'm all over it.

For me, this means lauching the browser (aka Internet Explorer) by pressing the Start button > followed by "r" for Run > followed by "iexplore www.address.com"

"iexplore" magically launches Internet Explorer.

So now that I'm a full blown Firefox convert, I needed a mechanism to launch firefox even though I typed in due to bad habit "iexplore".

I tried various bat files, then finally stumbled across the registry change that maps "iexplore" to Internet Explorer :-


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\IEXPLORE.EXE]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Internet Explorer\\iexplore.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\Internet Explorer;"


All I had to do then was modify this entry to point to firefox :-


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\IEXPLORE.EXE]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla Firefox;"

Now I can continue to use iexplore but launch firefox instead!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

my XBMC video playback issue on Apple TV was resolved

I was getting a horizontal banding / horizontal line effect in certain action scenes of movies played from XBMC on my Apple TV. Rather than a single clear frame, the frame appeared to be broken up in to a top and bottom component slightly offset.

I initially suspected this must be a CPU performance issue, but XBMC in debug mode showed the frame count was perfect, and running a "top" from the Apple shell showed the CPU was not stressed.

The good news is this issue is no longer; Setting 'Vertical blank sync' = 'Enable Always' seems to have fixed things.

I have a Panasonic 720p 50hz plasma:

My XBMC settings:

Video settings

Render method = Auto Detect
Adjust refresh rate = Enabled
High quality software upscaling = Disabled


System - Apple hardware settings

Audio Output = Digital
Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver = Enabled
DTS Capable Receiver = Enabled

(I have my Apple TV plugged in to amplifier via optical audio cable)

Appearance Settings - Screen

Resolution: 1280x720 @ 50Hz (full screen)
Vertical blank sync = Enable Always

Standard DVDs play back perfect!

I have also ordered a Broadcom BCM70010/BCM70012 Mini PCI-e HD Decoder Chipset in preparation (I hope) for an announcement from Davilla (and Phi) regarding XBMC support for this hardware video decoder card directly on the Apple TV. This hopefully will give 1080 movie playback support!
(One essentially removes internal wifi card, and replaces it with the broadcom decoder).

See the following post:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=55042

I show you how to create ISO image directly from Apple TV

So there are a variety of different mechanisms published on the Net that describe how to create an ISO image from an existing folder structure on an OS X box, including the "dd" command and the "hdiutil makehybrid" command.

I wanted to create a DVD movie ISO file from an existing folder structure containing VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders.

Unfortunately when running the "hdiutil makehybrid" command on the Apple TV box, I get the error: hdiutil: makehybrid: failed to create track

I found an alternative that definitely works on the Apple TV; download HELIOS Software GmbH "mkisofs"

http://www.helios.de/news/news07/mkisofs.phtml#download

HELIOS Tools: /HELIOS mkisofs/macosx86

The file size of mkisofs (contained in the download zip) that I obtained was 1,509,140 bytes.

-bash-2.05b$ mkisofs -version
mkisofs 2.01.01a22helios0.14 (i386-apple-macosx8.8.1)


Here is how I created a simple iso file from the movie Australia.

~/mkisofs -v -dvd-video -no-hfs -iso-level 4 -nolimit-pathtables --heliosutf8 -o /path/to/dest/australia.iso /path/to/source/Australia_Movie

where /path/to/source/Australia_Movie is the source parent folder containing AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS subfolders,

and /path/to/dest/australia.iso is the destination iso file.

I decided to use the "-no-hfs" option, to omit HFS disk image creation; as this was just a plain movie.

XBMC was able to open the resulting .ISO file without issue.

I discovered FAT32 has 4 GB file size limitation

So I recently purchased a Western Digital Green External Hard Disk that was pre-formatted FAT32 to connect to my Apple TV.

FAT32 is definitely the most portable of file-systems in terms of being supported by pretty much every major OS.

Unfortunately I got hit by the 4GB file size limitation.

I've ripped most of my DVDs to .ISO files. These are almost always over 4 gigabytes in file size.

So I decided to convert my external hard drive to HFS+.

Once again, I have no Apple computer, so I needed to do this directly from the Apple TV:-

After having the USB patch enabled on the Apple TV and connecting the external hard disk I see :-

-bash-2.05b$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: type name size identifier
0: GUID_partition_scheme *37.3 GB disk0
1: EFI 34.0 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_Recovery 400.0 MB disk0s2
3: Apple_HFS OSBoot 900.0 MB disk0s3
4: Apple_HFS Media 35.8 GB disk0s4
/dev/disk1
#: type name size identifier
0: FDisk_partition_scheme *931.5 GB disk1
1: Windows_FAT_32 My Book 931.3 GB disk1s1


-bash-2.05b$ diskutil info /dev/disk1
Device Node: /dev/disk1
Device Identifier: disk1
Mount Point:
Volume Name:

Partition Type: FDisk_partition_scheme
Bootable: Not bootable
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported

Total Size: 931.5 GB
Free Space: 0.0 B

Read Only: No
Ejectable: Yes
OS 9 Drivers: No
Low Level Format: Not Supported

-bash-2.05b$ diskutil info disk1s1
Device Node: /dev/disk1s1
Device Identifier: disk1s1
Mount Point: /Volumes/My Book
Volume Name: My Book

File System: MS-DOS FAT32
Partition Type: Windows_FAT_32
Bootable: Not bootable
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported

Total Size: 931.3 GB
Free Space: 909.8 GB

Read Only: No
Ejectable: Yes




-bash-2.05b$ mount
/dev/disk0s3 on / (local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
on /.vol
/dev/disk0s4 on /mnt (local, journaled)
/dev/disk1s1 on /mnt/Scratch/Volumes/My Book (local)


To reformat as HFS+ with volume label "WDGreen" using case sensitive file names and journaling.

sudo -s

umount /dev/disk1s1

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1

diskutil eraseDisk "Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+" WDGreen /dev/disk1

-bash-2.05b$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: type name size identifier
0: GUID_partition_scheme *37.3 GB disk0
1: EFI 34.0 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_Recovery 400.0 MB disk0s2
3: Apple_HFS OSBoot 900.0 MB disk0s3
4: Apple_HFS Media 35.8 GB disk0s4
/dev/disk1
#: type name size identifier
0: GUID_partition_scheme *931.5 GB disk1
1: EFI 34.0 MB disk1s1
2: Apple_HFS WDGreen 931.5 GB disk1s2


-bash-2.05b$ diskutil info disk1s2
Device Node: /dev/disk1s2
Device Identifier: disk1s2
Mount Point: /Volumes/WDGreen
Volume Name: WDGreen

File System: Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+
Journal size 81920 k at offset 0x1d1e000
Owners: Enabled
Partition Type: Apple_HFS
Bootable: Is bootable
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported

Total Size: 931.5 GB
Free Space: 931.3 GB

Read Only: No
Ejectable: Yes



-bash-2.05b$ mount
/dev/disk0s3 on / (local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
on /.vol
/dev/disk0s4 on /mnt (local, journaled)
/dev/disk1s2 on /mnt/Scratch/Volumes/WDGreen (local, journaled)


Now I can upload files greater than 4GB in size to external disk on Apple TV.

I wanted to install GCC on Apple TV, but I didn't have a TIGER box... so...

The following wiki article describes how to install GCC on an Apple TV.

http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Install_gcc

One of the main requirements is that you have access to an Intel Mac with Tiger with Xcode tools installed.

As i've said previously, I don't own any Apple computers, nor do I know anyone who has a tiger box.

I found a way to workaround this issue :-

There is a 1.37 GB OS X tiger VMware image floating around on the internet that you can get using your favorite torrent tool.

Its name is something along the lines of :-
VMWare image for MacOX 10.4.8 (created from JaS AMD-Intel-SSE2-SSE3 with PPF1 & PPF2 image).

The guy that created this image used VMWare Workstation ACE Edition 6.0.2 build-59824. The vmware image is compressed in a file named: VMMACOS.7z

Note, the image was also created on a 64bit Windows box with virtualization enabled for the processor (in the bios). To run this image, you need the same setup (Windows XP 64, and virtualization support enabled in the bios).

If you don't have XP 64, search for 'Superior XP 64'.

Unfortunately the above Tiger VMware image does not have XCode installed, so you have to install it!

You can get XCode free from apple by registering a free account on the Apple Developer Connection website.

You want to download XCode 2.2.1.

e.g.

xcode_2.2.1_8g1165_018213632.dmg

Install the above on to to the Tiger VMware image and you should be good to go.


The only other issue was getting access to gcc-intel-bin.tar.gz

I couldn't find it anywhere.

Here are some links to gcc version 4.3.0 20080125 (experimental) (GCC) :-

http://ftp.heanet.ie/disk1/disk1/sourceforge/h/project/hp/hpc/OldFiles/gcc-intel-bin.tar.gz

http://ftp3.ie.freebsd.org/mirrors/sourceforge/h/project/hp/hpc/OldFiles/gcc-intel-bin.tar.gz

http://193.1.193.64/disk1/sourceforge/h/project/hp/hpc/OldFiles/gcc-intel-bin.tar.gz

instructions on how to install MediaInfo command line tool on Apple TV

MediaInfo provides technical information and tags for most multimedia files.
Supported formats include:
Video : AVI/OGM/MKV/MPG/VOB/MP4/3GP/...
Audio : MP3/OGG/MKA/MP4/AAC/...

The guys at XBMC require such information when posting an "issue" with a particular movie/video etc.

Obtain MediaInfo cli from http://sourceforge.net/projects/mediainfo/

e.g. MediaInfo_CLI_0.7.22_Mac_Universal.dmg

Upload this file to the Apple TV as user frontrow.

Mount the image :-

$ hdiutil mount MediaInfo_CLI_0.7.22_Mac_Universal.dmg

...
/dev/disk2s2 Apple_HFS /Volumes/MediaInfo CLI
...


$ diskutil list
...
/dev/disk2
#: type name size identifier
0: Apple_partition_scheme *5.0 MB disk2
1: Apple_partition_map 31.5 KB disk2s1
2: Apple_HFS MediaInfo CLI 5.0 MB disk2s2
...


$ mount
...
/dev/disk2s2 on /mnt/Scratch/Volumes/MediaInfo CLI (local, nodev, nosuid, read-only, mounted by frontrow)
...


Change directory to MediaInfo CLI

$ pwd
/Volumes/MediaInfo CLI

$ ls
Contrib License.NoModifications.html MediaInfo CLI.pkg


$ installer -pkginfo -verbose -pkg MediaInfo\ CLI.pkg/

Package information:

Title : MediaInfo CLI
Message : This item is required.
Package : MediaInfo CLI
Must Authenticate : YES
Description :
Size : 6068 KB
Status : Fail
Will Restart : NO



$ sudo -s

# installer -pkg /Volumes/MediaInfo\ CLI/MediaInfo\ CLI.pkg/ -target /
installer: Package name is MediaInfo CLI
installer: Installing onto volume mounted at /.
installer: The install was successful.

# cd /usr/local/bin

# ls -ltr
...
-rwxr-xr-x 1 frontrow frontrow 6212128 Sep 26 01:52 mediainfo
...

# hdiutil detach "/mnt/Scratch/Volumes/MediaInfo CLI"
"disk2" unmounted.
"disk2" ejected.

# exit

$ mediainfo
Usage: "MediaInfo [-Options...] FileName1 [Filename2...]"
"MediaInfo --Help" for displaying more information



$ cd /Volumes/XXX/VIDEO_TS

-bash-2.05b$ ls -laR
total 9032984
dr-xr-xr-x 11 frontrow frontrow 508 Aug 30 2008 .
dr-xr-xr-x 4 frontrow frontrow 136 Aug 30 2008 ..
-r--r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 6144 Aug 30 2008 VIDEO_TS.BUP
-r--r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 6144 Aug 30 2008 VIDEO_TS.IFO
-r--r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 75776 Aug 30 2008 VTS_01_0.BUP
-r--r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 75776 Aug 30 2008 VTS_01_0.IFO
-r--r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 1073739776 Aug 30 2008 VTS_01_1.VOB
-r--r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 1073739776 Aug 30 2008 VTS_01_2.VOB
-r--r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 1073739776 Aug 30 2008 VTS_01_3.VOB
-r--r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 1073739776 Aug 30 2008 VTS_01_4.VOB
-r--r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 329760768 Aug 30 2008 VTS_01_5.VOB

$ mediainfo *

General
Complete name : VIDEO_TS.BUP
Format : DVD Video
Format profile : Menu
File size : 6.00 KiB

Video
ID : 0xE0
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Bit rate mode : Variable
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL

...

instructions on how to create customized recovery image (recovery.dmg) directly from Apple TV

Apple TV rocks, but I don't have the finances to purchase an Apple computer. So how did I get NitoTV fully installed on a 2.0.2 firmware released Apple TV with all the bells and whistles with only a Windows machine at my disposal?

The answer was essentially to do everything directly from the Apple TV.

If a version 1 OS.dmg is contained within the recovery image file (recovery.dmg) in the ~/Documents folder, NitoTV should be able to install/unlock all the useful bits and pieces like AFP support on the Apple TV.

The version 1 OS.dmg is available on the original Apple TVs with 1.0 firmware/backup partition. For subsequent released Apple TVs, the OS.dmg on the backup partition is a stripped down version missing key pieces.

--- CUT ---

The notes below refer to my Apple TV which is setup on my local network with IP address 192.168.1.100.

ssh frontrow@192.168.1.100

password: frontrow


Welcome to the AppleTV (via atv-usbcreator)
$ id
uid=501(frontrow) gid=501(frontrow) groups=501(frontrow), 79(appserverusr), 80(admin), 81(appserveradm)

$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: type name size identifier
0: GUID_partition_scheme *37.3 GB disk0
1: EFI 34.0 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_Recovery 400.0 MB disk0s2
3: Apple_HFS OSBoot 900.0 MB disk0s3
4: Apple_HFS Media 35.8 GB disk0s4


$ cd /Volumes

$ ls
OSBoot

$ mkdir Recovery

$ sudo mount -t hfs /dev/disk0s2 /Volumes/Recovery/
Password: frontrow

$ cd /Volumes/Recovery/

$ ls -la
total 360552
drwxrwxr-t 10 root admin 442 Apr 8 2008 .
drwxrwxrwt 4 root admin 136 Sep 2 10:13 ..
d-wx-wx-wt 2 root admin 68 Apr 8 2008 .Trashes
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 45590 Feb 17 2007 BootLogo.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 1024 Apr 8 2008 Desktop DB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 2 Apr 8 2008 Desktop DF
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root wheel 177099888 Apr 8 2008 OS.dmg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 298800 Feb 17 2007 boot.efi
-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 520 Apr 8 2008 com.apple.Boot.plist
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 7138931 Apr 8 2008 mach_kernel.prelink

$ md5 OS.dmg
MD5 (OS.dmg) = 30c4e468d235fb809acf9fb75c09b35f

Note the OS.dmg MD5 hash above matches the 2.0.2 firmware:-

1.0.0 (md5: 55b909196952ff72c93aaf3553cf661e)
1.1.0 (md5: e1cbe29ea136e0a34de09e0144bb5505)
2.0.2 (md5: 30c4e468d235fb809acf9fb75c09b35f)
2.1.0 (md5: 2783d7c2b27d8364bac3bde9de9d5287)

Thus, my Apple TV has a 2.0.2 firmware on the recovery partition. If I were to do a factory restore on my Apple TV, it would be thus running 2.0.2 software.

Recall, NitoTV requires a version 1.0 OS.dmg file to get AFP!

$ hdiutil imageinfo OS.dmg
Backing Store Information:
URL: file://localhost/mnt/Scratch/Volumes/Recovery/OS.dmg
Class Name: CUDIFEncoding
Name: OS.dmg
Backing Store Information:
URL: file://localhost/mnt/Scratch/Volumes/Recovery/OS.dmg
Class Name: CBSDBackingStore
Name: OS.dmg
Class Name: CUDIFDiskImage
Properties:
Kernel Compatible: true
Software License Agreement: false
Encrypted: false
Partitioned: true
Checksummed: true
Compressed: true
Segments:
0: /mnt/Scratch/Volumes/Recovery/OS.dmg
Format: UDZO
Checksum Value: $BD12CFED
udif-ordered-chunks: true
Format Description: UDIF read-only compressed (zlib)
Checksum Type: CRC32
Partition Information:
-1:
Checksum Type: CRC32
Name: Driver Descriptor Map (DDM : 0)
Checksum Value: $F57C291C
Partition Number: -1
0:
Checksum Type: CRC32
Name: Apple (Apple_partition_map : 1)
Checksum Value: $335717A6
Partition Number: 0
2:
Checksum Type: CRC32
Name: (Apple_Free : 3)
Checksum Value: $00000000
Partition Number: 2
1:
Checksum Type: CRC32
Name: disk image (Apple_HFS : 2)
Checksum Value: $935C81CE
Partition Number: 1
partitions:
partitions:
0:
partition-hint: DDM
partition-start: 0
partition-data: {length = 512, capacity = 512, bytes = 0x4552020000156dd20000000000000000 ... 0000000000000000}
partition-length: 1
partition-name: Driver Descriptor Map
partition-synthesized: true
1:
partition-hint: Apple_partition_map
partition-start: 1
partition-number: 1
partition-length: 63
partition-name: Apple
2:
partition-hint: Apple_HFS
partition-start: 64
partition-number: 2
partition-length: 1404296
partition-filesystems:
HFS+:
partition-name: disk image
3:
partition-hint: Apple_Free
partition-start: 1404360
partition-length: 10
partition-name:
partition-synthesized: true
block-size: 2
burnable: true
partition-scheme: Apple
Size Information:
Compressed Bytes: 176991022
Total Bytes: 719037440
Total Empty Bytes: 293822976
CUDIFEncoding-bytes-wasted: 0
Sector Count: 1404370
CUDIFEncoding-bytes-total: 176991022
CUDIFEncoding-bytes-in-use: 176991022
Compressed Ratio: 0.41623871007360652
Total Non-Empty Bytes: 425214464
Resize limits (per hdiutil resize -limits):
1404296 1404296 34359738368


$ sudo umount /Volumes/Recovery

Per: http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/NitoTV_Take_2
From version 0.6.4 onwards, Smart Installer will now grab the 10.4.9 Combo update and place it in the ~/Documents folder automatically
NitoTV can also setup AFP, so long as a version 1 OS.dmg is contained within the recovery image file in the ~/Documents folder.

$ cd

$ pwd
/Users/frontrow/Documents

-bash-2.05b$ ls -la
total 631104
drwxr-xr-x 5 frontrow frontrow 170 Sep 2 01:49 .
drwxr-xr-x 19 frontrow frontrow 646 Sep 2 02:04 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 323119366 Nov 19 2008 MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg

$ md5 MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg
MD5 (MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg) = 2c579f52ad69d12d95ea82ee3d9c4937

As our recovery partition is 2.0.2 based, we need to create a customized recovery image with the OS.dmg based on a v1 Apple TV (rather than just a straight dd of the recovery partition).

$ sudo mount -uw /
$ sudo touch /.readwrite

the mount -uw and /.readwrite steps aren't necessary if you have already performed them in the past.


$ cd ~/Documents

get a copy of our 202 recovery partition as an image

$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk0s2 of=recovery_original.dmg bs=1m

here is some info on the image created

$ hdiutil imageinfo recovery_original.dmg
Backing Store Information:
URL: file://localhost/mnt/Scratch/Users/frontrow/Documents/recovery_original.dmg
Class Name: CBSDBackingStore
Name: recovery_original.dmg
Class Name: CRawDiskImage
Properties:
Kernel Compatible: true
Software License Agreement: false
Encrypted: false
Partitioned: false
Checksummed: false
Compressed: no
Segments:
0: /mnt/Scratch/Users/frontrow/Documents/recovery_original.dmg
Format: UDRW
Checksum Value:
Format Description: raw read/write
Checksum Type: none
partitions:
partitions:
0:
partition-hint: Apple_HFS
partition-start: 0
partition-length: 819152
partition-filesystems:
HFS+:
partition-name: whole disk
partition-synthesized: true
block-size: 512
burnable: false
partition-scheme: none
Size Information:
Compressed Ratio: 1
Compressed Bytes: 419405824
Sector Count: 819152
Total Empty Bytes: 0
Total Non-Empty Bytes: 419405824
Total Bytes: 419405824
Resize limits (per hdiutil resize -limits):
450864 819152 34359738368


Note, the format is UDRW - meaning read/write - so we don't need to convert it to RW for editing
(otherwise, we would have had to do something like: hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o dest-rw.dmg source.dmg
- refer to http://dx4.org/linux/modifydmg.html regarding modifying read-only .dmg files.
)

Note, The OS.dmg contained within this image however is an image of format type: UDIF read-only compressed (zlib),
so if we wanted to mount it and modify the contents, we would need to convert to RW first!


Work from a clone of the image (don't modify the original); also note, NitoTV looks for a file named recovery.dmg
$ cp recovery_original.dmg recovery.dmg


$ ls -la
total 3493792
drwxr-xr-x 9 frontrow frontrow 306 Sep 3 00:04 .
drwxr-xr-x 19 frontrow frontrow 646 Sep 2 02:04 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 323119366 Nov 19 2008 MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.9Intel.dmg
-rw-r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 419405824 Sep 2 20:40 recovery.dmg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root frontrow 419405824 Sep 2 20:37 recovery_original.dmg


note hdiutil mount/attach do the same thing!
mount the image
$ hdiutil mount recovery.dmg
/dev/disk1 /Volumes/Recovery 1


$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: type name size identifier
0: GUID_partition_scheme *37.3 GB disk0
1: EFI 34.0 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_Recovery 400.0 MB disk0s2
3: Apple_HFS OSBoot 900.0 MB disk0s3
4: Apple_HFS Media 35.8 GB disk0s4
/dev/disk1
#: type name size identifier
0: Recovery *400.0 MB disk1



$ mount
/dev/disk0s3 on / (local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
on /.vol
/dev/disk0s4 on /mnt (local, journaled)
/dev/disk1 on /mnt/Scratch/Volumes/Recovery 1 (local, nodev, nosuid, journaled, mounted by frontrow)


$ cd /Volumes/Recovery\ 1/


$ pwd
/Volumes/Recovery 1


$ ls -la
total 360552
drwxrwxr-t 10 frontrow frontrow 442 Apr 8 2008 .
drwxrwxrwt 5 root admin 170 Sep 3 00:38 ..
d-wx-wx-wt 2 frontrow frontrow 68 Apr 8 2008 .Trashes
-rw-r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 45590 Feb 17 2007 BootLogo.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 1024 Apr 8 2008 Desktop DB
-rw-r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 2 Apr 8 2008 Desktop DF
-rw-rw-r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 177099888 Apr 8 2008 OS.dmg
-rw-r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 298800 Feb 17 2007 boot.efi
-rw-r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 520 Apr 8 2008 com.apple.Boot.plist
-rw-r--r-- 1 frontrow frontrow 7138931 Apr 8 2008 mach_kernel.prelink

$ md5 OS.dmg
MD5 (OS.dmg) = 30c4e468d235fb809acf9fb75c09b35f

remove the v202 copy, we will be replacing with a v1
$ rm OS.dmg


*****************************************************************
Obtain and upload the v1 OS.dmg file to the Apple TV :-

e.g. join the following two files together (fix the "xxx" first, then unzip)
inside you will find a file named OS-dot-DMG 1.0.dmg with MD5 55b909196952ff72c93aaf3553cf661e
this is the v1 OS.dmg we are after (rename it to OS.dmg)

rapidshare.xxx/files/166624209/OS-dot-DMG_1.0.dmg.MD.zip.001
rapidshare.xxx/files/166628115/OS-dot-DMG_1.0.dmg.MD.zip.002

sftp as user frontrow the v1.0 OS.dmg file

cd "/Volumes/Recovery 1"

mput OS.dmg
*****************************************************************


$ md5 OS.dmg
MD5 (OS.dmg) = 55b909196952ff72c93aaf3553cf661e


$ hdiutil imageinfo OS.dmg
Backing Store Information:
URL: file://localhost/mnt/Scratch/Volumes/Recovery%201/OS.dmg
Class Name: CUDIFEncoding
Name: OS.dmg
Backing Store Information:
URL: file://localhost/mnt/Scratch/Volumes/Recovery%201/OS.dmg
Class Name: CBSDBackingStore
Name: OS.dmg
Class Name: CUDIFDiskImage
Properties:
Kernel Compatible: true
Software License Agreement: false
Encrypted: false
Partitioned: true
Checksummed: true
Compressed: true
Segments:
0: /mnt/Scratch/Volumes/Recovery 1/OS.dmg
Format: UDZO
Checksum Value: $DACE2662
udif-ordered-chunks: true
Format Description: UDIF read-only compressed (zlib)
Checksum Type: CRC32
Partition Information:
-1:
Checksum Type: CRC32
Name: Driver Descriptor Map (DDM : 0)
Checksum Value: $5C4AABFF
Partition Number: -1
0:
Checksum Type: CRC32
Name: Apple (Apple_partition_map : 1)
Checksum Value: $0EA9B196
Partition Number: 0
2:
Checksum Type: CRC32
Name: (Apple_Free : 3)
Checksum Value: $00000000
Partition Number: 2
1:
Checksum Type: CRC32
Name: disk image (Apple_HFS : 2)
Checksum Value: $F8E3B513
Partition Number: 1
partitions:
partitions:
0:
partition-hint: DDM
partition-start: 0
partition-data: {length = 512, capacity = 512, bytes = 0x45520200001825b20000000000000000 ... 0000000000000000}
partition-length: 1
partition-name: Driver Descriptor Map
partition-synthesized: true
1:
partition-hint: Apple_partition_map
partition-start: 1
partition-number: 1
partition-length: 63
partition-name: Apple
2:
partition-hint: Apple_HFS
partition-start: 64
partition-number: 2
partition-length: 1582440
partition-filesystems:
HFS+:
partition-name: disk image
3:
partition-hint: Apple_Free
partition-start: 1582504
partition-length: 10
partition-name:
partition-synthesized: true
block-size: 2
burnable: true
partition-scheme: Apple
Size Information:
Compressed Bytes: 207346057
Total Bytes: 810247168
Total Empty Bytes: 293618176
CUDIFEncoding-bytes-wasted: 0
Sector Count: 1582514
CUDIFEncoding-bytes-total: 207346057
CUDIFEncoding-bytes-in-use: 207346057
Compressed Ratio: 0.40134345383388781
Total Non-Empty Bytes: 516628992
Resize limits (per hdiutil resize -limits):
1582440 1582440 34359738368



unmount / detach; note make sure not in the Recovery\ 1 directory, otherwise get error 49153

$ cd ~/Documents

$ hdiutil detach /mnt/Scratch/Volumes/Recovery\ 1
"disk1" unmounted.
"disk1" ejected.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

I replaced the stock clarion head unit in the Magna

All the instructions I have found on the Internet regarding Magna head-unit wiring seem to be for older models. I drive a 2004 Magna TL ES that I picked up second hand for a great price. My main annoyance from an electrical perspective on this car is that the stock head-unit has no 3.5mm audio line-in, and that the remote fob chain always seems to be flat requiring me to access the car using a key which can only be accomplished at the driver's side door. Thus to open the boot/trunk, I'm forced to open the driver's side door and reach in to the glove-box and push the release button which is a major PITA.

Back to the audio.... Frustrated with the lousy reception of the FM transmitted audio from my GPS, I decided to drop in to a car sound store and pick up a new head-unit. This particular store I'm well accustomed to having spent at least a thousand dollars at it way back when I was got my first second-hand car. Nowadays I'm tight as a fish's ass, and consequently I requested at the store the cheapest head-unit they have (first-hand or second-hand), that is equipped with a line-in.

I ended up purchasing a Kenwood KDC-MP243 for $110 to replace the stock Clarion PE-2605K-A unit.

Anyway this blog is not just about me, it's about documenting important things that I've learned and will likely forget just as quickly. For this first post, I give you the true wiring details as verified from a Mitsubishi circuit diagram. Once again, I'm too cheap to go and purchase those wiring harness things from Super Cheap or Repco. Real men cut off the stock connectors, use a portable butane soldering iron, and hope like hell they can get the shit back together before the wife gets home (I accomplished this with minutes to spare - about 4-5 hours work all up).

B-66A connector going in to head-unit

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8

3 BLUE MUTE (Incoming Call)


B-66 connector going in to head-unit

11 12 13 -- -- 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24


11 YELLOW/RED REAR RIGHT SPEAKER +
17 GRAY/RED REAR RIGHT SPEAKER -

12 YELLOW/BLUE REAR LEFT SPEAKER +
18 GRAY/BLUE REAR LEFT SPEAKER -

13 PINK ANTENNA

20 BLUE IGNITION SWITCH / ACC

21 RED/BLACK BATTERY

14 GREEN/WHITE HEADLAMP
22 BLACK/YELLOW RHEOSTAT

15 WHITE/BLUE FRONT LEFT SPEAKER +
23 BLACK/BLUE FRONT LEFT SPEAKER -

16 WHITE/RED FRONT RIGHT SPEAKER +
24 BLACK/RED FRONT RIGHT SPEAKER -

Note: pin-outs are viewed as if looking at the physical device side of things. Such that, we are holding the radio and looking at its rear.

It could be also perceived as if viewing wiring from behind connector plug (such that, the side where the various wires from all parts of the car enter the plug), and NOT the front female view of the plug!!!

Other things to note, RHEOSTAT in this context is the component that determines how bright/dark you want your dashboard display.

HEADLAMP on the other hand is activated whenever you turn your lights on.

Accessing the Head Unit:

First pull up the centre console strip (the piece with the window switches and cup holders) and detach the electrical socket.

Next, pull out the compartment just below the climate control.

After this, pull the stereo surround out by gripping just above the vents and below the climate controls. You'll need to disconnect the air sensor, hazard cable and climate cables.

Then unscrew the four screws holding the DIN bracket in (two top / two bottom) and disconnect the wiring harness from the stereo.